All About Autism

[nugget]

happystar:

Hi nugget, are you participating in the P1 registration this year? St Andrews Primary seems too far for me. I will be sending my child to River Valley Primary.

Hi Happystar,

I will need to enroll my kid next year. Am already starting to look out now. In case I need to do PV for the school lolz. I am very kiasu hor. Hee hee.. :boogie:

[nugget]

chibi:

hi helplessmum3,

you have to be more positive.
our kids are different but definately not less.
i told my girl she is special in her own unique way, and this is what makes her her.
all of us here have gone a long way with our kids, but it will only get better. trust me, they will cope better and improve as they grow up.
you will be smiling at little steps of improvement they make every day. :celebrate:

Hi Chibi,

How do you explain to your girl she is special? Did you teach her to tell her friends that she is special as well?

I feel my son is becoming aware that he is different from others. I wanted to tell him that he is different from others, and its okay being so. As he is only 4 yr ++, I am not sure how to tell him without being too \"deep\".

[cnimed]

How about using plants as analogy? Different plants need different types of soil and different climates to thrive but are all part of our landscape and have their uses. you can go on and on from there or keep it basic, and kids can see the differences in plants with their own eyes.


At 4 plus, it is not her job to tell the rest that she is different. That is the teacher’s job but if she is inexperienced, she may need some guidance and tips from you. My son’s kindy teacher explained to them that their special needs classmate is younger and needs more help and will seat the child next to someone who has the temperament to help.

[nugget]

helplessmum3:

Chibi,

Time and time again I will always lost control of myself . And start to hate God.

Helplessmum3,

Please be strong. All of us here have been through what you went through. After the psychological assessment and if your child is really confirmed under ASD, you will go through another emotional turmoil again.

This is not a easy road and ASD is not something that can be cured. Most importantly help your child while you can. He is only 2.5 yrs old. Early intervention will be very very helpful for him.

[chibi]

hi nugget,

i think deminc did a good explanation :please:
but for me, haha , my explanation was quite silly.
i told her to look at mi lu egg, her favourite character now, its a taiwanese ( i suppose so) ( braised egg)
i told her she is like mi lu egg, special , not common yet so unique.
haha surprisingly she aceept it but i can tell she was abit silly explanation, but i will go more into it when she grows up more. :xedfingers:
she often ask me tho, why is she so sensitive to loud noises and strong smells? i told her , mummy is also very scared at times if a smell gets so strong, but mummy knows how to cover her nose and control her sensitivity .
i guess my daughter's classmates should know that she is a little bit different from them. but i am glad that they accept her for who she is. sometimes i pick her up from school when i am on leave, and i can see them calling her and waving to her when we leaving the school. they seem to accept her for who she is.
she even tell me her buddy always encourage her and tell her don't always be scared of this n that, she will hold my daughter hand and support her .

[chibi]

hi helplessmum3 :snuggles:

you are not alone.
till now, sometime i will still lose control. but just remember to pick yourself up after that .
you need to be strong to help your son.
I usually have a good cry and after that, its 's battle time again for my daughter!
its like going to battle in my opinion, never lose heart and hope.
:nunchuk:
i remember i can't go past a point where i don't cry when i talk to her therapists about her condition, its tears dwell up in the eyes and i start to sob when talking to them.
but our kids can sense it if we are upset . and positive feelings attact positive feelings. you need to be strong , and your son can feel your strength.

[nugget]

chibi:

hi helplessmum3 :snuggles:

i remember i can't go past a point where i don't cry when i talk to her therapists about her condition, its tears dwell up in the eyes and i start to sob when talking to them.
but our kids can sense it if we are upset . and positive feelings attact positive feelings. you need to be strong , and your son can feel your strength.

Chibi!
I am like you. I broke down and cry when I talk to my son's PD about his condition in KKH. Aiyo.. so malu! But I guessed they are used to it ba. Also at his EIPIC centre, talk and talk until I almost cry as well. Sigh I am trying very hard to control my emotions as well.

Yes I do agree that kids can sense when we are upset so I try not to display so many negative vibes in front of them.

Why I was watching Temple Grandin, my tears flow like river as well. Maybe become I pregnant now, more emotional Hahah (excuses)

But if they naughty, still must discipline. Cos is 2 different matter together.

[nugget]

deminc:

How about using plants as analogy? Different plants need different types of soil and different climates to thrive but are all part of our landscape and have their uses. you can go on and on from there or keep it basic, and kids can see the differences in plants with their own eyes.


At 4 plus, it is not her job to tell the rest that she is different. That is the teacher's job but if she is inexperienced, she may need some guidance and tips from you. My son's kindy teacher explained to them that their special needs classmate is younger and needs more help and will seat the child next to someone who has the temperament to help.

Thanks Chibi and Deminc,

The plant is a good one. Let me go think about a story and tell him. Thanks so much for the suggestions.

Lately he is really more interactive (will pull me to show me things and ask me to play with him) and talks more to me as well. I am soo happy. :boogie: :boogie: :boogie:

However he is still not talking much to students in his class. I guess one step at a time ba.

[cnimed]

chibi:

she often ask me tho, why is she so sensitive to loud noises and strong smells? i told her , mummy is also very scared at times if a smell gets so strong, but mummy knows how to cover her nose and control her sensitivity .

Chibi,
I tell my sons (one doesn't like loud noises one doesn't like strong smells) with their help, I can definitely survive in the jungle because one can smell all danger and one can hear all preys and predators.

I share with them the importance of our senses - smelling helps our ancesters determined what food is still safe to eat, to detect fumes etc. I also inform them of jobs such as perfume making where a very keen sense of smell is prized. It is NOT a bad thing. They just have to be aware that other people do not have as keen a sense of smell and adjust their expectations of others. If your daughter has a keen sense of smell, cultivate it! Let her smell the different flowers. Smell food and see if she can tell the ingredients that went in through the smell. Learn about the different notes in perfume and let her explore!

For sound, again, it is not a bad thing. They are valuable commodity if we are living in a rural setting. (erm, for boys you can tell them they will make excellent hunters and spies.) Cultivate their ear - learn to distinguish different instruments, and at the same time, teach them to politely move away from noisy environments to give themselves a break.

[specialboymum]

windie:

specialboymum:

most of our kids are 'visual learner' and are very good in memorizing.

For my boy, he learnt all the roads in Singapore by playing with the iphone google map app (the one that have photos). He is now our walking GPS and street directory. Visual aids is always helpful when we are teaching visual learner. For my son, I got to use fingers to help my son to learn the 4 intonation in hanyu pinyin, which he is struggling with.

Regarding reading people's expression/feelings, it can be taught, but then must first build up eye contact.

my son also struggles w the 4 intonation in HYPY. Can u share how you teach?

Actually I'm still at the trying stage, so the method hasn't shown to be 100% successful yet. My boy has no problem with the pinyin but will always get confused with the word should be '1st', '2nd' tone and so forth, he can imitate each tone but have difficulties corresponding each tone to its right order. To help him, I have to put up 4 fingers, point to 1st finger and said the 1st tone, 2nd finger for 2nd tone etc, if I have papers and pens around, I will just write each of the sign with corresponding number 1-4 for him to see.
Er... not sure if you understand what I'm trying to explain, very difficult to explain through writing.

So far, the 'visual aid' helps slightly but once I remove the aids, he forgets everything and start struggling again, so I'm still trying to find ways to fine tune the teaching method.

Anyway, I wonder which high flyer, probably a government scholar officer in MOE came out with this brilliant idea of learning hanyu pinyin before learning the chinese words.. I don't think is a correct approach. sigh! but what to do?