Thanks tyeogh for adding me. The experiences help.

tyeogh:

Hi everyone,
There are a few responses. So I have set up a WeChat group for Autism. To discuss things, share info and support each other. Or just cry.

Do leave your WeChat ID here or PM me. I will add you to the Autism Support group. Hope more parents will join!

:thankyou:

Dear all,

Has anyone any experiences with Singapore Brain Development Center? I am interested with their Sensory Integration sessions coupled with music therapy.

chickamums:

https://i.postimg.cc/Gmzpjtjy/8-A8172-C7-CD27-4827-9-DF0-184-FFF71617-E.jpg\">

Hi Chickamums,
Thanks for the information. we are now considering this. Given that KKH is running this gives some minute hope.

swortionery:

Glad to hear your boy's made good progress! Kids on the spectrum have different degrees of the typical traits of ASD. I would say the best gauge would be a couple of years from now when your boy's maturing, to see how he copes with situations of different stress levels. Echolalia, stimming, etc, while common, may not apply to everyone who's on the spectrum. I've had clients before who were diagnosed with ASD, but seemed almost neurotypical (until I noticed a couple of giveaways). I've had students with ASD who simply couldn't make eye contact for more than 3 seconds, but could get humour, figurative language, etc. I've also had students who could maintain eye contact, but who had difficulty verbalising or expressing their thoughts in a conventional manner.


At the end of the day though, it shouldn't really matter what the label is. I still believe it is important, at least for the purpose of better understanding the child's needs, but post-intervention, when the child understands how to adhere to expectations, then the label doesn't really matter anymore. In fact, there's a cliche in my line of work that most neurotypical people, to some degree, have experienced traits from a learning difficulty at least once in their lives. Hard to ascertain its veracity, but it does make a point about how differently our minds work, even those under a label.

Hi Swortionery,
Thanks for the insights! Helps clarify a lot.
Thanks!

Dear Parents,

I am father of a 4 year boy who was assessed by KKH a year ago. The developmental paediatric doc there suggested he has ASD. he was exactly 3yrs 4 months at the time. When he was between 2 and 3 years old, we did notice odd signs but made the mistake of assuming those were normal delays - until we saw a doc who noticed some key behavioural issues. What we noticed were issues like: not answering to his name, keeping to himself, not responding to requests. At KKH at age 3.4 yrs, many other aspects were observed like very less eye contact, 1-2 word speech only, not understanding verbal cues, lining up cars, not being able to jump, not expressing himslef at all, not poinitng.
Fast fwd to now at 3 yr 11months, after interventions of 6 days a week (social,behavioral and kiddie gym), my son is able to talk 5-8 word sentences, responds 7-8/10 times to his name or to requests, expresses almost all his needs well, enjoys playing with peers/friends downstairs but does limit fully interacting with peers, has 70-80% eye contact, happy and cheerful most of the time (as always), comments while we read books, rarely lines up cars. At school however, his teacher mentions that he barely talks to peers- only sometimes. But he does respond to her questions and instructions. And is on par academically (its just Nursery1 though).
With his progress in 7months of intervention, we are now wondering if it’s truly ASD. Could anyone share their experiences if you have had improvements at similar pace? i would still continue with interventions no matter what, as we are still searching for ways to being him on par with NTs, but would like to hear your experiences.
Also, we have seen him improve in spurts every 2.5-3 months. In his last spurt when there were no interventions (due to 1.5 month holidays from mid Nov) was when we saw his best spurt where we saw him speak more and more and express more.
A long one sorry, hope to hear from you. Thanks for reading.