Dear blurblueberry,


Usually a report from the psychologist that recommends mother tongue exemption is sufficient.

However, just to let you know, MOE has been quite strict on giving mother tongue exemptions these days and will now usually recommend a downgrade to Foundation Chinese instead.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Rachel Tan
https://thealternative.education/

blurblueberry:

Hi,
Besides a psychologist report which recommends for mother tongue exemption, do we need other supporting documents/reports? Is the report from the psychologist sufficient? TIA.

Dear RayMum,


As far as I am aware, you can use the psychological report to push for Chinese exemption from MOE due to the severity of the case. You can engage the support of the teachers also to push through for the exemption.

There is no Chinese dyslexia assessment tool available on the market based on my understanding though I hear there are plans to develop one.

However, MOE recognises a valid psychological report, so that would do. You can perhaps further substantiate it with comments from his teachers and include your observations on his difficultiess too.

If your son is still in primary school, you can consider enrolling him into the DAS Chinese Programme where teach Chinese in a fun and non-threatening way, using methods developed in-house catered specifically to dyslexic children. Most of my students who have enrolled there report a positive learning experience when they go there for classes.

Hope that is helpful. And all the best.

Regards,
Rachel Tan
The Alternative Education

RayMum:

Dear Parents,

I need help to find a clinical educational psychologist who is recognised by MOE and can conduct Chinese Dyslexia Diagnosis Assessment and give me a psychological report on my boy's condition. He was diagnosed with mild dyslexia when he was in K2 but all along we noticed that he has speech impairment and no matter how attentive he is in class, his Mother Tongue teachers have been feedbacking to us that he is not absorbing but he is not those disruptive type. He would sit in his seat quietly and paying attention and we were told to do more Mother Tongue with him at home. In fact, he spent more time revising and working on learning Mother Tongue compared to his other subjects. He attended DAS which helped him alot in his English and we work daily with him at home.

We have submitted the Psychological Diagnosed Report as well as NUH Doctors' letter to asked for exemption for Mother Tongue. He has tried very hard to the extend that it is hurting his well-being that he has nightmares, sleeptalks and sit up in the middle of the night screaming. And he broke down once at home when we told him to go to bed as it was already 10p.m. and he insisted he still needed to revise for his Mother Tongue and cried that it is better to be dead than to be so stupid that he could not do his own Mother Tongue.

We have fought for the right for him to see a psychologist in NUH. And further revelation from the NUH psychologist was really shocking to us as he is really at the verge of a breakdown where he had already plan out how he could take his life to prove to those adults and classmates that thought that he was not working hard and that he was lying when he mentioned that he could not absorb and remember Chinese Characters no matter how much he has tried and spent time on them. And with that revelation, we have sent him to see a private psychiatrist and she has assessed him and she agreed that he has serious issues in learning his language because he has dyslexia and not all children have dyslexia can learn 2 languages and he has done exceptionally well to master English considering that he could not even read or write when he was 1 month short of going to Primary 1 and being a very determined boy, he has come a long way.

Please help if you know of any clinical psychologist who can conduct the Chinese Dyslexia Assessment. Thank You.

From
A very desperate mum.

Dear parents,


If you'd like to brush up your child's English this holidays, I've written an article, \"Good methods to help a dyslexic kid with English\" and it's up at the front page of Kiasu Parents. Here's the link:

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/good-methods-to-help-a-dyslexic-kid-with-english/

Of course, if you prefer professional help from trained Educational Therapists, you can check out our website over at https://thealternative.education/ to find out more about our services or contact us at 8749 2441 or email us at [email protected]

Yours sincerely,
Rachel Tan

Dear all,


I wrote an article for the online publication “Kids and Parenting” about Dyslexia and Early Intervention.

You can access it here: http://www.kidsandparenting.com/kidsandp/parenting/health/how-to-spot-dyslexia-early-and-why-its-important

For more information on our services, do check out our website: https://thealternative.education/

Yours sincerely,
Rachel Tan
Senior Educational Therapist

beautyseek:

Thanks for all who replied. I am kind of in denial... All good points raised.My child is in P1 and it takes so much effort and time to teach him. I really admire all of you especially the working parents who still can juggle everything. When he was having speech delay, I read up the theories and techniques in the Hanen book but I found it so difficult to apply in real life. Now this dyslexia thing, i am not confident of mastering those techniques etc discussed in this forum here leh...

Hi beautyseek,

Like the other members in this forum advised, I'd encourage you to get your child tested as soon as possible. There is also affordable remediation options out there like at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore where students go twice weekly for 1 hour lessons to improve on their reading and writing. The earlier the better. Progress is fastest when the child enters at a younger age.

Also, every school should have trained AEDs that provide learning support for children with dyslexia, you can find out more from the general office of your child's school or via the school counsellor I believe.

Of course, you can also check out my website over at https://thealternative.education/ which provide similar home tuition services at the comfort of your own home by trained tutors.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Rachel Tan

C.H Chow:

Hi i am new here and hope to seek some advice. I have a 7 year old son, and we suspect that he is dyslexic. When he was 4, we enrolled him into nursery and he started to learn numbers. we noticed that his progress was slow, but thought that he was just slow on the pick up and did not give it much thought. But when he enrolled into primary school this year, he had many difficulties with numbers and also reading, and has not been performing well in his class tests. Should i send him for a dyslexia assessment, or should i wait for awhile longer. I am worried that if he is tested positive for dyslexia, it may affect his self esteem as he may think that his is not as bright as his peers. he was also initially resistant to the idea of going for a dyslexia test as he thinks that his friends will laugh at him if they found out about it. If anyone has any experience in this issue please let me know your thoughts and advice. Thanks in advance.

Dear Chow,

As a former Senior Educational Therapist at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore, I highly recommend getting your child assessed as soon as possible. In my experience, early intervention works best. When I had Primary 1 students and Primary 4 students (in separate classes) both entering unable to read, I found that the younger ones learnt much faster and improved at a quicker rate than the older ones.

If your child is resistant because of getting laughed at, you can go for a private assessment at places like Kids Testing and Dyslexia Centre ($750), The Gifted Lab ($1200), and if cost is an issue, you can head over to the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) where there is 25% - 100% bursary for the assessment based on the income level of the family.

This would ensure that you get the best of both worlds - having an assessment to see if it really is dyslexia that is hindering your child's learning, and having the anonymity from his classmates which he might not have if he goes through the school teacher/school counsellor.

The benefits of having an assessment would be that he can either enroll in the school's dyslexia remediation programme or have subsidized classes at DAS (if he is a Singaporean). Alternatively, you can call me to arrange for private home tuition if you'd rather not have his classmates know about his diagnosis (if positive).

Hope this helps!

As always, if you have more questions, you can email me at [email protected], text me at 8749 2441, or visit our website: https://thealternative.education/ if you'd like to find out more about our services.

Rachel Tan

Dear all,


My name is Rachel Tan, the founder of The Alternative Education and a former Senior Educational Therapist at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) with 7 years of experience helping students with dyslexia.

I shall attempt to post (hopefully unbiased) replies to several questions raised here in the forum in recent months and hope it will be of help to the parents in this forum.

If you wish to contact me for private tuition, I have a network of former Senior Educational Therapists from the DAS working as freelance private tutors around the island. You can Whatsapp me at 87492441 or email me at [email protected] for more details.

Alternatively, you can check out the website https://thealternative.education/ for more information.

Cheers.

lgerline:

My P2 boy is not holding the pencil correctly, no matter how many times we remind him to change. Anyone can help / suggest how to change? Thanks in advance

Hi lgerline,

I am Rachel, an educator who recently attended a workshop on \"Handwriting Remediation and Strategies\" by an experienced Occupational Therapist.

Here are some suggestions.

If your child is not holding the pencil correctly, you can get short pencils (pencils the length of IKEA pencils or shorter) for him to write. This is because using a short pencil would usually allow one's hand to hold it the correct way because of its length.

Alternatively, you can also try engaging the services of an Occupational Therapist. He is trained to help kids to improve in their fine motor control skills which would help make their handwriting better. I have also posted something (3 posts before this) on other helpful techniques he educated me about.

If you are interested to find out more, you can Whatsapp me at 8100 9641 to find out more.

Hope this has been helpful!

Cheers,
Rachel Tan

Oh My Gosh:

How to correct kids who could not make out his own handwriting after a few hours? Sigh... that is how bad my son's handwriting is.

Hi Oh My Gosh,

I am Rachel, an educator who recently attended a workshop on \"Handwriting Remediation and Strategies\" by an experienced Occupational Therapist.

There are several methods to help improve a child's handwriting. I have commented on some in an earlier post you can refer to (2 posts before this).

A good website you can try to get resources from is \"Handwriting Without Tears\". You can access it here: http://www.hwtears.com/

Of course, having an experienced professional guiding your child in improving his/her handwriting is the best solution. It may be costly but the benefits greatly outweigh the cons since he/she will have to write in school for about 12 years in Singapore.

If you would like to find out more, you can Whatsapp me at 8100 9641.

Hope this was helpful!

Cheers,
Rachel Tan

broken:

I bought this 'chin rest' which is clipped onto my boy's desk. It's adjustable and actually not that uncomfortable, but my boy didnt want to use it after a while. It's meant to straighten his back while writing. Though I believe it might work for younger kids who are more 'obedient'. Mine just stubborn....

Hi broken,

Something you could also try is a Slant Board. You can get it at Rysel Toys and the following is a link to click to see what it looks like (http://ryseltoys.com.sg/product/slant-board/).

An Occupational Therapist suggested I use this for my student who are reluctant to sit straight.

A cheaper alternative he also suggested is to make one using a ring file and a clipboard.

Let me know if it works?

Cheers,
Rachel Tan