All About Autism

[lavendery]

Hi Chibi,


Thanks you for your feedback. In this case I'll ask the KKH CDU doc not to discharge my girl too.
I thought it's a norm to be discharged by KKH once the kid reaches 7

It's so touching and comforting that knowing your girl is at pri 5 mainstream! I'm pretty sure your girl is doing pretty well.
Got such a dedicated mum revising and solving maths problem sums with her
Is mainstream academic and social tough for our ASD kids ?

[chibi]

Hi lavendery. Surprisingly my gal is coping quite well in mainstream pri sch. Seems like yest she just went into p1 but time flies so fast. She’s in p5 now and taking psle next year. I duno to cry anot cause it’s a huge jump from p4 to p5 work. Really sweat big time . Academically wise I will say she seems quite alright. She’s actually quite good in maths and in the 2nd best maths class. Ermm language wise she’s just average tho. She actually got the model pupil award last year during term 1 and gotten best progress award during her p4. Was quite surprised tho by her. In primary school teacher usually will give feedback over the sch app her maths teacher feedback last week that she’s coping well in class and seems very motivated and will help her classmates. I realized as she grows older she seems to mature a lot. She walks to school herself now. It’s a 15 minutes walk to sch. I started training her during the start of january for 2 weeks. She insisted on going school herself as she told me she needs to be prep for sec 1 2 years later.I teased her asking her I thought she commented that quite poor thing to go sch alone. But my heart aches tho cause her school bag is really big and heavy. She looks like a tortoise walking to school.I feel happy for her in my heart. What I thought not possible for her b4 she actually did it. I told a close friend whoever says my kid can’t do because of her condition I will tell them try us. Me and her together. My girl has a hobby now . She goes jogging weekly.

She can jog for 2.4km nonstop. She told me jogging relieves her stress. I guess that’s her way of coping when things get too overloaded for her.she has two younger siblings. The younger one is going p1 next year. My girl did tell me this ,"don’t tell me I need to carry didi bag for him to school next year. Oh no." My girl has her mood swings at times too. Just few days ago she gave me abit of attitude when I told her off for not checking her work.but was quite happy inside when she apologises next day over whatsapp telling me she wun do it again. Guess in life we win some we lose some. My girl has special needs. But it brought us closer. I know she been through a lot to get to p5. So next time whoever says our kids need try harder let’s tell them try us then.

[bs1975]

Hi experienced mummies,

Can share with me how EIPIC will help my kids in term of speech, joint attention, compliance and sensory issue.
My boy has attended eipic since last month and most of the time are spent on snack time, playground, art and craft. These things are also taught in childcare. I wonder how will these activities address his problem.
Today we have IEP meeting to set goal. Their expectation is very low as they set easy goals.
I really doubt if the so called early intervention is effective.

[Cool Cool]

Hi bs1975, My son is attending EIPIC in private centre. The main difference between EIPIC and main stream preschool is the students to teacher ratio. In my boy’s class, there are about 4-5 students and two teachers. For some schedule (e.g., ST, OT) there will be additional ST and OT therapist. So they can pay attention to individual student. Can work on one to one.


My son’s school time table includes Circle Time, Theme Based Numeracy, Early Language Skills, Fine Motor Play, Theme Based Literacy, Physical Play, Social & Motor Skills, Sensory Play, Numeracy, Theme Based Role Play, Core Language Skills, Literacy, Art and Crafts, Story time and vocabulary development, Music and Movement, Activities for Daily Living, Imaginary Play.

May be your son’s school also have that kind of time table and they follow according to the time table?

[bs1975]

Hi Cool Cool,

Which private eipic you are with? How many hours per week?
They can cover so many things?
My son eipic, only has circle time, some sensory play and art, playgym, hydrothetapy and snack time. That’s all.
I can’t find any pretend play toys in the class room!
Not much 1 on 1 OT and ST too. The therapist will only come in once in a while and advice teachers what to do.
No story telling session, no specific language session.
Maybe they think the kids are not able to do certain things such as pretend play and listening to story. So they don’t have these activities in the class.

[Cool Cool]

Hi bs1975,


My son is with Dynamics. The EIP runs 5-days a week with flexible options for 2, 3, or 5-day attendance. Dynamics offers half-day and full-days programs listed below.

9:00am – 12:00pm (Half Day)
1:30pm – 4:30pm (Half Day)
9:00am – 2:00pm (Full Day)

He is attending 3 days (half day) a week. How old is your son? My son is 3 yrs old and no speech yet. They have different classes according to condition and age of the kids. The lessons I listed are from their class’s time table for 5 days. My son misses out some of the lessons since he attends only 3 days. There may be some differences in lessons depending on the class.
Their ST and OT classes are not one to one also. It’s a group therapy. The therapist will be in the class for one section (30 min) with the students and the teachers.
After every class, the teacher briefs you what your LO did in the class. And they will also pass a written report 2 times a month.

It’s a subsidized private one but you have to go through with SG enable, I think.

[pinkamoon]

bs1975:

Hi experienced mummies,

Can share with me how EIPIC will help my kids in term of speech, joint attention, compliance and sensory issue.
My boy has attended eipic since last month and most of the time are spent on snack time, playground, art and craft. These things are also taught in childcare. I wonder how will these activities address his problem.
Today we have IEP meeting to set goal. Their expectation is very low as they set easy goals.
I really doubt if the so called early intervention is effective.

Hi bs1975!

I can share some of my experiences with you. My son was at Clementi EIPIC Centre when he was 4+. The teachers started the day with simple songs, checking attendance, weather, date and time. They use a chart with picture cards to engage the children. They also used simple instruments and played music. After that, there was snack time which was followed by simple work for the children. He had to match words-pictures and the teachers used a visual time table so that the children know what were the tasks they were supposed to finish.

When he was 6, it was like a classroom setting. Teachers used white board and children had desk bound work to do. Some simple copying, writing, stapling and filing. They also had 20-30 mins of OT time per week.

There were some pretend play toys in one of the rooms for children who arrived early.

The difference between EIPIC and CC is the teacher-pupil ratio and patience. In CC, our children do not get as much 1-1 attention. However, in EIPIC centre, the teachers are able to guide them better.

From my experience, I had to spend a lot of time guiding and playing with my son as well as reinforcing things taught in school and at EIPIC centre. Very often, our children do not only have autism but also attention deficit which impedes their learning as well.

You asked how EIPIC centre can help your child, I feel that, you must first identify which area your son is weak in. You have to zoom in to the root of the problem to help him. For my son, his problems were:
1) sleeping issues
2) head banging on sofa
3) poor self regulation
4) poor communication
5) stimming
6) poor eye contact

So, I had to work on his issues first before he could reap more benefits out of the interventions he was receiving. When I started dietary interventions with him, I resolved problem 1,2. Regulation became better and he could understand more.

The same thing with my daughters, I sent them to Mindchamps before transferring them to a Montessori school. I had to spend a lot of time with my son and had no time to monitor their progress. However, their learning was poor and at age 4, they had problems with learning and ABCs. Writing Chinese characters were even more difficult for them. Even after sending them for phonics lessons, they were still weak in reading. Now, I have found out the root of their problem. They have some attention deficit, thus they cannot focus well. No wonder during meal times and homework time they always fall asleep!

[bs1975]

Key problem of my boy:

1) no joint attention
2) no speech at 2.5 years old
3) tip toe
4) non compliance ie only want to do things he likes.

Current Eipic focuses on motor skills and I don’t understand why they don’t focus on communication as all his classmates are non verbal.
Eg for lesson today, they spend 10 mins walking backward on slope, 15 mins free play in classroom, 30 mins sensory play (scoop salt and sprinkle salt on glue), 20 mins on snack, 15 mins circle time.
How these activities can address my boy’s problem?!

[bs1975]

They don’t make use of every activity to teach the kids.

For example, at playground, they just let the kids run around. In my opinion, they can teach turn taking when the kids are playing on the slides.

[sharonkhoo]

bs1975:

Key problem of my boy:

1) no joint attention
2) no speech at 2.5 years old
3) tip toe
4) non compliance ie only want to do things he likes.

Current Eipic focuses on motor skills and I don't understand why they don't focus on communication as all his classmates are non verbal.
Eg for lesson today, they spend 10 mins walking backward on slope, 15 mins free play in classroom, 30 mins sensory play (scoop salt and sprinkle salt on glue), 20 mins on snack, 15 mins circle time.
How these activities can address my boy's problem?!

I think that doing things in a group will help with all the things you pointed out, even if not very directly, especially 1 and 4. With more need to communicate because of being in a group, speech will be encouraged. And more physical activity may help him stop tip-toeing.