All About Autism

[tyeogh]

slmkhoo:

tyeogh:

I am beginning to question whether it has something to do with singlish/chinese/asian languages requiring tonal and emotive skills which a asd child lacks . For e.g. in  \"How are you ah\", the ah is added to express an emotion. Hence a asd child speaks with proper english minus the emotive part?  

I don't think it's anything to do with tonal or non-tonal languages. My ASD girl was in Chinese kindy and Pr school for 4 yrs and could speak Mandarin OK, but similarly, was very 'proper' in her speech compared to her classmates. And all languages require intonation even if they are non-tonal. My ASD girl doesn't do expressive intonation very well, even in English, which is her main language.

So she can carve out the tones but not use it express emotions in speech, hence sounding 'proper'?

[tyeogh]

Parents,

Televsion: boon or bane? How much TV do you allow your child and do you think it contributed to their condition?

[sharonkhoo]

tyeogh:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"tyeogh\"]I am beginning to question whether it has something to do with singlish/chinese/asian languages requiring tonal and emotive skills which a asd child lacks . For e.g. in  \"How are you ah\", the ah is added to express an emotion. Hence a asd child speaks with proper english minus the emotive part?  

I don't think it's anything to do with tonal or non-tonal languages. My ASD girl was in Chinese kindy and Pr school for 4 yrs and could speak Mandarin OK, but similarly, was very 'proper' in her speech compared to her classmates. And all languages require intonation even if they are non-tonal. My ASD girl doesn't do expressive intonation very well, even in English, which is her main language.

So she can carve out the tones but not use it express emotions in speech, hence sounding 'proper'?[/quote]Yes, she can say the tones, although it took a while to get it into her! She tends to speak like the written word, in either Chinese or English, and doesn't really express emotion (only anger and frustration, when her pitch and speed goes up).

[wamin]

@tyeogh

I am not sure what to say, i know one of my friend who’s kids even watched TV in mid of night and they are ok.

[sharonkhoo]

tyeogh:

Parents,

Televsion: boon or bane? How much TV do you allow your child and do you think it contributed to their condition?

My daughter only watched less than an hour of TV a day in her preschool years. When she started school, she probably only watched 3-4 times a week of not more than an hour, except perhaps a couple of hours in the weekend. She was not introduced to the computer until 6yo, and only allowed 30mins about twice a week until she was about 10yo. So I am sure TV and computer exposure did not contribute to her condition. In fact, thinking back to her babyhood (she had difficulties even as a baby, long before her MMR), I am convinced that she was born with the condition.

And thinking more about it, if you choose the shows carefully and talk about them with your child, they can be good ways to teach social skills and social understanding too. My child was the elder, and didn't have anyone to practise on except me most of the time, so it was sometimes helpful to have additional material from TV to illustrate a point or talk about.

And to add, my NT child, being the younger, always got more TV and computer time for her age than her older sister had had (all of you with more than 1 child know how that happens!).

[ImMeeMee]

tyeogh:

Parents,

Televsion: boon or bane? How much TV do you allow your child and do you think it contributed to their condition?

I certainly don't think it contributes to their condition.

Some age-appropriate TV is good cos it expands their vocab and knowledge, at least that applies to my doter. But too much of anything will not be healthy, and that applies to TV too, whether for NT or ASD children.

My assessment of 'too much' in not just TV, but all else, is when the child becomes so addicted that he/she keeps asking for it non-stop throughout the course of the day. That's when I will make changes to curb it.

[helplessmum3]

ImMeeMee:

My therapist mentioned before that I should teach my doter some 'lah' and 'leh' in her speech so that her speech becomes more 'real' in our context.


I suppose its a case of them not being able to appreciate the finer nuancing of language which is actually part of social interactions.

As long as she is communicative with a spoken language, never mind the slang or lack of, I am thankful. My FIL chides us quite often for not teaching her Chinese and Mandarin, and I always think to myself 'She is able to speak in one language, we should tao cheo liao ...'

ya lor ya lor... one languages already so difficult.

[Double E]

ImMeeMee:

tyeogh:

Parents,

Televsion: boon or bane? How much TV do you allow your child and do you think it contributed to their condition?

I certainly don't think it contributes to their condition.

Some age-appropriate TV is good cos it expands their vocab and knowledge, at least that applies to my doter. But too much of anything will not be healthy, and that applies to TV too, whether for NT or ASD children.

My assessment of 'too much' in not just TV, but all else, is when the child becomes so addicted that he/she keeps asking for it non-stop throughout the course of the day. That's when I will make changes to curb it.

I don't think is TV either. As compared to my friend's children, my kids watch the least TV.

My boy was developing well as a baby, he even walked at 11 mths and likes to make lots of noise like trying to talk to us. But of course, his words didn't come until he was 26 mths and he could read when he was around 2. Words like mouth, eye, ear, head.

[tyeogh]

Ok. So far 3 parents think the TV has no adverse effect on their child. Any more?


Let me re-phrase. Having been born with the condition, did the presence of the TV make it worse for your child?

My NUH doctor seems to think it does. We were advised to cut down. So my kids went from 3-8 hrs a day to 0 hrs. They went absolutely berserk. Then they adjusted. Their piano skills improved, they played more Lego, went to the playground more, quarrelled more, fought more (nothing else to do). The aspie boy had to string along.

I started out thinking Dora the Explorer helps my kids learn stuffs. Now, I hate it bec parts of me think it worsen my boy's condition. So to me, it's a bane. I was also less tired then when the tv was pertually switched on ........ :stupid:

[sharonkhoo]

tyeogh:

Let me re-phrase. Having been born with the condition, did the presence of the TV make it worse for your child?


My NUH doctor seems to think it does. We were advised to cut down. So my kids went from 3-8 hrs a day to 0 hrs. They went absolutely berserk. Then they adjusted. Their piano skills improved, they played more Lego, went to the playground more, quarrelled more, fought more (nothing else to do). The aspie boy had to string along.

I think too much TV affects all kids adversely, NT or ASD. We kept TV to a low amount because we knew that it was very passive, and we wanted our kids to be active in engaging with the environment, people and objects around them. We got them to play with toys that required actual engagement (not just pushing buttons) and I read to them and talked to them a lot. This was before we knew about ASD or that one of our kids had it, and yes, I'm sure it wouldn't have been good for her if we had let her watch a lot. Till today, my kids still watch quite little TV, and I have no regrets being so strict when they were young.