All About Autism
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Thanks tabgha
Appreciate the long email on the various types of activities, the pottery one looks interesting! It will definitely hone their motor skills if they take to it.
There many schools of music/art or activity centres out there but prefer if there are specific recommendations from parents here rather than do a cold calling trial and error. All will say yes initially (it is business after all) and then give up after finding them too much to handle. After paying up admin/course fees and then forfeiting $$ a few times, I also have the “why bother” attitude too. Sure there will still be instances where the boys can’t adapt after trial but chances would be better if the centre is honestly receptive to having ASD kids in the first place.
Hope there are such places out there in Singapore which don’t cost too much. -
belachanbabe
I agree with tabgha. Don’t shut out the chances for your kids to be exposed to the world outside because of their condition. The more u protect them from the world outside, they more difficult it will be for them to adapt when they grow up. Just have to be very very thick skin, there’s no alternative except to just suck it up and go through it. I make it a point to bring my son out every weekend, to indoor playground, swimming, zoo etc. I am not too sure how both your boys behave in public but my son too went through a hard period when he had frequent meltdowns and refuses to go to dark places. And when I forced it on him, he will scream murder but I just become very think skin about it and carry him in ( he is close to 20kg, no mean feat). Sure he would cry and scream but usually after about 15 mins or so, he will calm down. I will also prepare snacks to console him.
My point is, if you don’t bring your boys out while they are still young and u can have control over them, it will be more difficult when they reach teenage years and adulthood when they are all strong and mighty.
If u are worried that they will to the sea at the beach, can try to find an area that is not so near the sea? like Sentosa’s beach is wider and bigger unlike East Coast. But if they really like the water, just let them and follow them.
U can also try places like Marina Barrage, is a nice place to rest and relax and see all the beautiful kites flying in the sky and they get to see Singapore’s beautiful city skyline, best of all, is free.
Do your boys like to scoot? Can let them try to take up this sport, it think is a very good sport to train concentration and balancing. My boy loves it and can scoot very well now ( he scoots every day at the void deck). -
Try Clay Cove. It's fun. They have blocks of 4 sessions. I think about 1.5 - 2 hrs each time. My friend's ASD son attended and enjoyed himself. So, can just try a once off workshop for 4 sessions and see if your child enjoys the activity.
http://www.claycove.com/pottery_courses.html#schedules -
For art classes, can look out for NAFA holiday programmes for pre-schooler and primary/secondary school students. Again, these are once off activities which u can expose your child to. Usually abt 3hrs (each day) for 3-5 days.
For pre-schoolers, the activities are either art or craft work. Sometimes there's a Christmas theme. Makes me want to me a kid to join in some of their sessions.
Check out NAFA's website (http://www.nafa.edu.sg). They usually announce end Oct for the students' holiday programmes. -
Thanks once again tabgha, I am signing up for the parent/child session *cross fingers and hopes for the best*. Will share the experience after. Probably art classes for the Dec hols
Double E, I wholly agree that we shouldn’t let ASD stop us. The position I am coming from is to seek more friendly/safe activities for them to do on a regular basis, preferably not to have to justify their condition to others repeatedly and not having to worry about them accidently hurting others and destroying property.
Like the parents here; skin has become fairly thick after apologising and explaining countless times to people. Disapproving looks and thoughtless comments all experienced before. Storeroom full of trial and errors i.e abandoned scooters, keyboards, kites and even ukuleles, lost count of $$ down the drain (and for me its X 2 btw)
Even if you are a strong person, it does wear you down after a while. Fighters don’t want to have to fight all the time even if they have the skills. -
belachanbabe
I can understand your anguish, since you are working with not one but two children with ASD … It must have been real tough.
I got my doter to try out Clay Cove sometime last year. The two lady owners are really kind and understanding. By age my doter was due for the one-and-half hour program, but they were willing to place her on the 45 min program after I explained our situation. Granted, they placed her in a non-peak slot and we agreed that we would not attend holiday programs as those are their peak periods. My doter enjoyed herself very much and I even told the lady owners that I would be happy to write a testimonial for them where required.
Recently we tried placing all three gals into a mainstream weekend art class. We also explained our situation to the art teacher, and he was kind enough to accommodate my ASD doter. We are currently still trying this out and hopefully if my ASD doter takes to the class under the care of her two sisters, it may be another step forward for her to blend into mainstream.
So you see, don’t lose heart, there are kind people out there. We just need to keep looking.
BTW, what happened to your PL application? You need another psy report? I was told that the psy report is valid for two years? -
Thanks for the encouragement ImMeeMee
The PL application is on \"waitlist\", at this late stage of the year it can only mean = reapply next year. The reason I am willing to redo the psy report is that the one my boy has was below the 70 IQ cut off. I wasn’t very happy with the psychologist; felt she was too clinical and rote with her assessment methods. With the progress he has made this year, the new report should show a marked improvement. Thanks also for the earlier suggestion regarding visiting his school instead of doing it at PL, I spoke to the student admissions officer to arrange for that but he said that they will only do that for very special cases. He sounded very harassed though, didn’t want to push too much. Pray and hope for the best next year. Maybe this round just wasn’t his time yet.
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belachanbabe:
I see. We got our psy assessment done at KKH CDU and we were lucky to meet a senior psychologist who was reasonable and relatively fair. We went in through the subsidized route and I think we paid about $200 plus for the psy assessment. You may want to think about it.Thanks for the encouragement ImMeeMee
The PL application is on \"waitlist\", at this late stage of the year it can only mean = reapply next year. The reason I am willing to redo the psy report is that the one my boy has was below the 70 IQ cut off. I wasn’t very happy with the psychologist; felt she was too clinical and rote with her assessment methods. With the progress he has made this year, the new report should show a marked improvement. Thanks also for the earlier suggestion regarding visiting his school instead of doing it at PL, I spoke to the student admissions officer to arrange for that but he said that they will only do that for very special cases. He sounded very harassed though, didn’t want to push too much. Pray and hope for the best next year. Maybe this round just wasn’t his time yet.
Yes, my ASD doter has taught me that its never too late for anything. If its not now, it will be later. And there is only one way - that is forward.
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Hi All,
I am new to this forum. I am wondering if anyone can give some pointers on my situation. My 4th child is 3 years 8 months. Being the 4th, we neglected him a bit and put him in front of the TV for 8 hours a day. By 2 years, DS was non verbal and had poor eye contact. We suspected something amiss and had DS tested at NUH. The child development doctor was looking for Autism. A psychologist did a Diagnostics on DS. He met the cut-off for one autistic test (barely), a large part due to poor eye contact and was placed in the non-autistic range for the second. The final result read something like \"Diagnostics Withheld\", which is like a WTF to me, do you really know whats happening to my son or not?? but yes, do go for early intervention which we did.
So we enrolled DS into a mainstream kindergarten, AWWA EIPIC and a private ST. I can't remember why we omitted OT. All that happened so fast we did not question the why's. We just went through the motions and the yo-yo emotions, while reading up on Autism.
One and a half years later, I am none the wiser. I am sure glad I found this forum to share my thoughts (and angst). You see, from the hundreds of articles I have read on Autism, almost every described it as a condition with difficulty interacting or communicating. Herein in my gripe: my DS is just the opposite. He loves attention, interactions and lately, communications. He was just non verbal. I have no idea why the attending doctor was looking for Autism only and I cannot figure DS's exact problem, which is the frustrating part. Autism? Apraxia? Dyslexia? All of the above, none of the above or am I just in denial?
Btw, I have poor eye contact too. Did DS inherit my habit? I am not autistic as far as i know. My other son too has poor eye contact, had difficulties pronouncing and was late to talk. After he started talking, he is just like any NT child except that he does not like to make friends. My two daughters have no speech or interaction issues.
Some info on DS. He started babbling only at 3 after all the early intervention efforts. By now, he has a small diction of 50-80 words and can string 4 words together. He pronounces poorly but he has a lot of things to say, so he will run up to me or his siblings every now and then to babble a string of meaningless words unabashedly. He has a strong will and knows exactly what he wants. Anything less, he will tantrum. When we subsequently ignored him, his tantrums were reduced to just wailing. Now that he is talking, lesser tantrums, just straight into wailing. He has some difficulties adjusting to new situations though, like transiting from TV to bed. But that's about it. He does not flap, repeat, tip toe or line items. Has no sensory issues, is normal on the receptive language. Just delayed on the expressive front. His mainstream kindergarten teacher is of course upset with DS because DS is not as easy to handle as other kids (speech delayed) so they brought in another assistant teacher to handle DS which works out great for DS. DS takes to new people easily. His EIPIC teachers love him to bits.
Anyone with views of what I should do or expect from here? I am just thinking ARC, Pathlight and a merry life without Mother Tongue. PL's splendid teacher student ratio should profit DS. Then again, is he really autistic? Sigh....lost....
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Am with you on the “none the wiser after reading hundreds of articles/news” part. The way some are written and presented, one can make an armchair diagnosis that everybody is autistic in some way or the other.
But whether he is really ASD would be irrelevant since it sounds as though he is responding well to EIPIC and ST. That’s the important bit. And you don’t have to decide now. You still have a year to go as to whether you want to register him in PL or mainstream by end of next year.
Feel free to vent or angst here, we need the release once in a while. My gripe today is a wish that my well-meaning friends stop tagging me on each and every amateur video or half-researched article about ASD they come across on the Internet. I don’t need to know how tough it is to handle ASD kids, I KNOW already. And am obliged to thank them like they are doing me a favour. Gimme something useful like how to manage the behaviours or inspiring success stories like Temple Grandlin’s then I’ll be truly grateful.
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