All About Autism

[sharonkhoo]

It’s too early to tell. Some kids are just less social anyway, but not necessarily ASD. Just encourage interaction and wait and see.

[tyeogh]

Prawny,

Good that you wrote details. Some signs are good, others not so good e.g flapping. Agree that it is still too early to assess. I have 3 NT kids, the eldest and brightest spoke only at 21 months. The other 2 about 6 months slower. My aspie at 3.5 y.o. My eldest first words were not mommy or daddy too. They were "ah pern please" because she wanted us to open her christmas present.

One thing I didnt like though. Stop letting your child watch youtube. Not even 1 hour. My aspie watched tv for >8 hours when he was about your child’s age. We thought he was learning something. It kept him quiet too. You know, too many kids and we wanted some peace. Turns out he was sucked into a world that is void of reality and human interactions. The TV exacerbated his condition, and may have even been the cause of it imo. So we went cold turkey. Zero tv, ipads, youtube etc. He was then forced to interact. And yea, do spend more time interacting with your child.

[Prawny]

Thanks for the reply. We are trying to cut down to no tv at all. Unfortunately as we are working full time my parents will be the main caretaker during weekdays before he goes to school and after he back from school. I couldn’t control my parents but told them not to let him watch so much tv. Right now they restrict to early morning once (15mins) and only during dinner time when he is having his meals. At times I really think he has ASD as he has all the red flags but sometimes he did something which let us feels he ok and normal. Recently, We start to bring him down to playground on weekend he doesn’t play with other kids but instead goes to those Uncle and aunties seated on the chair to hug them and smile at them. We taught him to throw tissue in the bin at home he also able to follo. Maybe I should really wait and see and continue doing all this interaction.

[sharonkhoo]

How do your parents interact with him? Do they do to-and-fro interaction, or do they mostly do all the talking and giving instructions? More to-and-fro is better - asking questions and waiting for an answer (can be an action, not necessarily speech), turn-taking, making him ask for things rather than pre-empting his wants etc. Childcare may help, but if the adult to child ratio is low, you can’t expect much. I also feel that the 8 hrs of TV a day may have something to do with his behaviour, and you may need to wait a while for the effects to wear off.


At his age, most kids don’t interact with other kids much, so it’s quite normal. They only start to interact at around 3yo, I think.

Non-ASD related, but I think that TV during meals is not a good idea. The child should be aware of what he is eating, and not just eat while his attention is on the TV. He should participate in meals and learn to sense when he is full. Watching TV during meals enables the feeders to feed the child quickly and usually more than the child would eat of his own accord, and it builds up poor eating habits in the long run.

[tyeogh]

Prawny,

Autism is a spectrum. Your son could be on the mild end, or not at all. If it is, don’t despair. My boy is on the mid end. He exhibits patchy and variegated traits of autism. Like yours. At 8 now, my boy operates like any other NT child. Friends and relatives tell me he is normal. Keep your doctors appointments. Check for developmental milestones. Increase/force the human interactions. Read more about early interventions - thats your best defence.

Edit: I don’t want to give you the wrong impression about my son. He didn’t become normal "naturally". My journey was as tough as other parents here. What I was trying to say is, It is not the end of the world. If it happens, stay positive and work through the challenges.

[ImMeeMee]

Prawny


You may also want to gather feedback from your son’s teachers about his behaviour in school, given that children may behave differently at home and in school. While school’s words are not be all end all, it does provide another source of information for you to possibly place the puzzle pieces together.

I can totally understand the anxiety of is it or is it not and having to wait to get an answer. Grit through it.

[ImMeeMee]

Prawny


You may also want to gather feedback from your son’s teachers about his behaviour in school, given that children may behave differently at home and in school. While school’s words are not be all end all, it does provide another source of information for you to possibly place the puzzle pieces together.

I can totally understand the anxiety of is it or is it not and having to wait to get an answer. Grit through it.

[kitty2]

Anyone heard of redox signaling ? My friend who has an autistic kid is taking a redox signaling supplement and he is getting better. It helps to renew,repair and rejuvenate the cells.She shared that kids having ADHD or adults having dementia also working well on them.

[Prawny]

slmkhoo:

How do your parents interact with him? Do they do to-and-fro interaction, or do they mostly do all the talking and giving instructions? More to-and-fro is better - asking questions and waiting for an answer (can be an action, not necessarily speech), turn-taking, making him ask for things rather than pre-empting his wants etc. Childcare may help, but if the adult to child ratio is low, you can't expect much. I also feel that the 8 hrs of TV a day may have something to do with his behaviour, and you may need to wait a while for the effects to wear off.


At his age, most kids don't interact with other kids much, so it's quite normal. They only start to interact at around 3yo, I think.

Non-ASD related, but I think that TV during meals is not a good idea. The child should be aware of what he is eating, and not just eat while his attention is on the TV. He should participate in meals and learn to sense when he is full. Watching TV during meals enables the feeders to feed the child quickly and usually more than the child would eat of his own accord, and it builds up poor eating habits in the long run.

Hi Khoo,

Most of time my parents give in to what he wants when he throw tantrums. They do talk to him or like when he did wrong or naughty they will tell him no etc and he can understand. Some of the evening they also bring him down to food court. But mostly they do the things for him. I also ask my parents to let my boy self feed but they refuse and told me he will self feed when he is ready.

Right now during the weekend I will try to have to and fro interaction with him. Example when I have food in hand I demand he says “mum mum (the only word he know) then I give him the food and he will say it. And also follow what the speech therapist told us to do wait for his eye contact as indication he want more then give it to him (I.e blowing soap bubbles).. recently we taught him to throw his diaper/used tissue in the bin in just a few tries he understood.. and now we say “throw” he will bring the diaper/tissue to the bin. I’m happy that he can actually follow instructions we taught him... even when my mum tried it out at her place he manage to find the bin and Throw.

As for meals I also disagree with having the tv on. But unable to convince my parents to stop doing it and can’t say much cause they help me to feed him dinner as by the time we pick him up is already almost 7pm. Weekend we will sat him at the dining table n eat without tv.

[Prawny]

tyeogh:

Prawny,

Autism is a spectrum. Your son could be on the mild end, or not at all. If it is, don't despair. My boy is on the mid end. He exhibits patchy and variegated traits of autism. Like yours. At 8 now, my boy operates like any other NT child. Friends and relatives tell me he is normal. Keep your doctors appointments. Check for developmental milestones. Increase/force the human interactions. Read more about early interventions - thats your best defence.

Edit: I don't want to give you the wrong impression about my son. He didn't become normal \"naturally\". My journey was as tough as other parents here. What I was trying to say is, It is not the end of the world. If it happens, stay positive and work through the challenges.

Tyeogh, can you share more on what are the challenges you went thru? I am trying my best to stay positive. Same as you my relative, friends and colleague all told me my boy is normal and just slow. But I don’t want to be complacent and miss anything if early intervention can help him. Was just thinking if music therapy will help?