Hello!


Any updates?

Thinking of where to enroll my DS.

Thank you!!

Slmkhoo,


I think I misrepresented that statement.

The psychologist was trying to explain to me what the problem was since I often live by that long river in Egypt.

I probably said, "how can u tell?"

And that was probably her reply to it… He can grasp many concepts and is intelligent and yet there’s this problem of mind and perspective.

So ya… I did not accept the diagnosis for a long time. Sometimes I still struggle with it. But then he’s quite a textbook case in terms of social awareness and communication.

Double E,


I tried bringing my boy to the dentist four times since he was abt 3/4 yrs old.

Every child is different and react differently but here's what mine went thru.

First time, he refused to sit in the chair after 30mins. Even I called it a day.

Second time, he sat on the chair but refused to open his mouth.

Third time, he open his mouth they counted his teeth but that was it.

Last time, the dentist managed to brush one tooth manually without paste. Hahaha

All the sessions lasted 30-45 mins. And that was all the dentist could get him to do.

But now he's in P1 and has seen the school dentist. He didn't tell me what happened but he did bring back a Spider-man toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste... And I have received any calls.

Here's the funny thing. I've shared this in like page 400+


My boy is my first child so everything he did/does is \"normal\" to me. What books or sites say is \"normal\" was just ignored - like \"every child is different and develop at different pace (right?). Also he was advance in some ways (talking) but obviously slow in others (gross motor skills). And while he can talk, communication is quite another thing.

But now I have a 7 mth old daughter and now I realise she's hitting all the \"normal\" milestones and that's \"normal\". Okay, she's very lazy physically so in that respect she's slow too. But I put it down to having pretty lazy parents - it's in the genes.

Anyway, he was only diagnosed last yr. Since nursery (N2 - he started sch then), since the first day of sch I've gotten complains abt him. Just went with the flow and assume teachers are biased cos he's not kuai kuai, cute cute, sit there and stone kind. They labelled him as active.

Fast forward to the end of K1, a pd who observed him in a class setting spoke to me after the class and practically \"force\" me to get him diagnosed - in a nice way. But I was still offended. Heh. But she recommended the public route (polyclinic, kkh). So after I simmered down I brought him to the poly clinic and the rest as they say is history.

The moment the case worker interviewed us and interacted minimally with him (K2) she agreed with the pd's suspicion of Asperger's. And ordered various test for him. Again I was not happy cos these things cannot anyhow say have after seeing for two hours, right?

So half a yr later he completed all his tests and it became official.

I think we were very fortunate that he seemed to have gotten quite a bit of help, in terms of sessions, from KKH cdu. And he did learn from his sessions there.

So ya, my child is one of those cases who's obvious to the professionals and totally obscure to lay ppl (myself included). Most lay ppl would just think he's difficult, fussy, sensitive, rude. Now after reading up more and attending sessions with him I see the quirks. But it takes time to accept that \"he doesn't get it\" for many social things.

As the kkh psychologist said to me (when she gave me the diagnosis), \"for someone so intelligent, how can he not know these things?\" My reply was \"then he's just not so smart after all\". :oops:

My son asked for the piano (actually violin) since he was 2.5yrs old. But I didn't let him learn till he was five. I told him to wait till he was 5. But it lasted all of a little over a yr before he gave up cos it's too difficult (which I told him it'll be. Haha)


What's IM? I'm not sure what he's doing w OT except that he's under Vera. She's asked us about some music cd but I somehow don't get it so we're not doing that.

We call OT, gym class.

So the tkd sch next to potc is good? But it’s too far. Already I struggle to having to go that area three times a week. Haha


Mostly I wait for the child to ask for lessons then we do it. For OT and SLT we just make him go. But he loves OT and wishes he can do it everyday. Haha. The therapist wants him in a group class soon we’ll see how that goes.

He also experienced bullying but he’s trying to handle it. Cos he’s who he is, it’s quite funny.

One day he said with frustration and tears in his eyes, "they (aed, therapists) tell me to do this this this this this (in order) when there’s a bully. I did. But the bully never follow the order!"

Hahaha.

And he says he has no frens. So my hb went on one of the sch trips as a volunteer and he told me the kids are fond of my child. But somehow my child doesn’t recognize it!

So thats the other thing to work on.

As for spelling and ting xie. First time was okay since ting xie is just hanyu pinying. But now he has decided he’ll just fail and do corrections since he doesn’t see why he has to learn in those (prescribed) words.

Hello again


Music therapy
Well, my son likes music and was learning the piano. But he's a bit of the perfectionist sort so... Long story short, two things happened and he stopped piano altogether.

Firstly, he was pushed to progress to quickly too soon. It didn't work well with his \"perfectionistic\" personality cos he would practice two hours a day and still struggle to get it right. And he was too young (my view).

Second, he made a three mistakes during a performance last yr and he's been scarred by it since. Hahaha. Sigh.

Anyway, music therapy is for him to explore music and musicing. The therapist uses music to explore social traits, let him blow off his \"creative steam\" within boundaries, coordination and sequencing... In the teacher's words

\"The main differences could be found in the goals and interventions we use. In Music therapy, we focus on other aspects of the child development though as opposed to working solely on acquisition of instrumental skills. For instance, connectedness, attention span, being communicative through music. It is a child-centered ( not child-led approach) where I try to structure each music session around who is he in the moment and the music/ideas that he brings in with him.\"

She's also part psychologist for my kid cos they have a connectedness now and every now and then he'll bring up something that's bothering him. And he looks forward to the spot of chess he gets to play at the end of lessons. Haha

TKD
He did it when he was 4.5yo. Then when he was 5 and realise his peers have gone on to the bigger kids class and he's still with the toddlers he wondered why. well, he couldn't bow to the flag cos it was wrong to him in principle. And he couldn't follow the steps or even kick higher than ankle height without falling over!

But he's interested to learn again and seeing how his coordination has improved slightly (probably at the 5yo level) we might let him try again second half of this yr.

Hi!


It's been a while since I've checked back in this forum.

Thought some parents might like an update for my child who started mainstream P1 this yr.

The start of the yr was pretty rough cos the letter kkh sent to the sch fell between the cracks as the sch changed Principal.

First week of school, I found the AED and made an appt to see her and the form teacher to explain the boy's peculiarities. Then they found the letter. He's been seeing her 30mins a week to chat and it's nice. But of course now his classmates wonder why he always have to see the school counsellor (as they call her).

Met up with the principal a few weeks later and she explained (and apologized) for the rough start. Stopped receiving phone calls every other day from the school since.

Academically he's okay (I guess, since no complaints). But socially he's adjusting.

He took the school bus and the problem with bullies always (only) happens after school while waiting for the bus to make it's journey home and during the bus ride. There are older kids and they know to pick on him. Heh.

On the home front, we don't have time for extra assessment books ( :yikes: found out from his ex kindy classmates parents) like other kids. Nor does he attend any academic classes (Tien Hsia, berries, math whatever).

His extra classes are OT (kidz potc @ tanglin shopping centre), group SLT (Speech Inc @ Delphi orchard) and music therapy (teacher's home).

He's enjoying all his extra classes and I believe there's improvement in coordination and planning (OT), social communication and behavior (group SLT) and he gets his release from music therapy.

Brought him to the polyclinic recently for a referral to IMH child guidance clinic. Our appt is in May.

Overall it's hasn't been bad. It's been pretty good considering.

Thanks taolao and junemum72 for your replies

Hi,


I’m going through the packing list for P1 for the first two days of school.

Just wondering, what is the "Pupil’s Handbook"?

Also, are parents allowed in school on the first day or do we just drop off at the gate?

Thank you!