CHEERS LS:

Dear Desertwind,


There are pros and cons putting your child in Pathlight and mainstream.

For Pathlight, the pros are that your child gets specialised attention. There are 2 teachers in a classroom of 8-12 students (Primary track). Your child will also feel relatively secured as the school is well-run with a supportive system, good teachers and clear structure. The cons are that you child may miss out of the 'real' social setting in the mainstream school and finds it difficult to integrate with other children. To counter this, PL has a collaborative approach with Townsville Pri and other primary schools. The children meet during one of their lunch period per week to have lunch or play games together.

For Mainstream school, a usual comment is that there are cases of bullying as your child is different in the way he/she interact with others. For children with mild autism, this is not a big issue. They will still be able to adapt over the years despite the initial years of adjustment. For many of them, as they grow older, their issues gets less pronounced and they integrate better in the society. In terms of curriculum, Literature or English essay writing may be a struggle for them as they find it difficult to take perspective. You will have to liaise closely with the school counsellor or allied educator through the years.

CHEERS LS
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Dear CHEERS,
thank you so much for your insightful comment on both Pl and mainstream, i am also in the struggle of, if to send my boy to MS or PL.... he is diagnosed with mild autism, but i do see some small littles gaps in the social aspect of him but i do also think that if once he is being taken out and exposed to the MS, will he be able to adapt it. This is so stressful, is it right to put him into PL where is a very setup setting instead of the MS where the real world and setting is? so hard....>.<...

lovejetty:

Muaji:

Hi all, my boy will be in PL standard class next year in 2019! Been struggling if to enroll him to normal sch or PL, he has been accepted by both and his intervention sch teacher from Rainbow and KK doc also say he is ok for both, but i do see small social gaps in him if he goes to mainstream... was really a dilemma and stressful period for us...Just wanna check if any parent whose kid will be in PL standard class as well??

Hi, my son was accepted into pathlight p1 standard for 2019 too! Was a struggle for me initially as I really wish for him to mix with nt kids more. But my fren advised me, most impt is my son must be happy, otherwise go neighbourhood mainstream also no use. Also I'm very scare he will get bullied at mainstream school. Hence decided to accept PL offer. Hope to see you at the nov orientation!:D

Hello lovejetty! Yes! lets meet at the orientation and support each other, any other mummies are all welcome! :rahrah:

ImMeeMee:

Muaji:

Hi all, my boy will be in PL standard class next year in 2019! Been struggling if to enroll him to normal sch or PL, he has been accepted by both and his intervention sch teacher from Rainbow and KK doc also say he is ok for both, but i do see small social gaps in him if he goes to mainstream... was really a dilemma and stressful period for us...Just wanna check if any parent whose kid will be in PL standard class as well??

Muaji

My DD3 is in PL p5 this year.

I can't give you a definite answer to your question, but your thoughts about your child's social gaps in this thread and the other thread seem quite telling.

If i may share, one major concern we have about our children is bullying in school, and this relates to social skills and social interactions with the peers. A more structured environment like PL is more controlled in that sense.

I have come across parents who enrol their children in PL during early years and then switch to mainstream after a couple years when they deem the child ready. There are also parents who enrol their children in PL for primary years and then switch back to mainstream during secondary school. It's not impossible though there is another learning curve to overcome then.

Hope these insights could help you in your decision making. There's no right and wrong and I had similar struggles back then. If all else fails, follow your gut feel and do what's best for the child here and now. With the unknown in our special children, we can only take one step at a time and not think too far ahead.

All the best!

Thank you so much ImMeeMee! Yes, i think i have made up my mind somehow...ultimately my main goal is for him to be happy and enjoy going school to learn new things everyday... so true that we can only take one step at a time.... we will see how he goes and if can pull him out and transfer to mainstream after pr 3 and hopefully he will be more mature to manage, accept and adapt to the mainstream setting...

How is your boy coping in PL so far? i heard the school work is quite heavy and they are rather strict with parent's involvement as well, am abit nervous and excited abt that tho....

Hi all, my boy will be in PL standard class next year in 2019! Been struggling if to enroll him to normal sch or PL, he has been accepted by both and his intervention sch teacher from Rainbow and KK doc also say he is ok for both, but i do see small social gaps in him if he goes to mainstream... was really a dilemma and stressful period for us...Just wanna check if any parent whose kid will be in PL standard class as well??

slmkhoo:

Muaji:

...but then another worry is that if he could adapt to the mainstream after he leaves PL? ...His OT therapist told me that PL is a structured and setup environment but it’s not the real world...which I do agree... but the main purpose is for him to be able to enjoy learning and go school happily Everyday.. I am really in dilemma....

If you think he will do better at PL now, then I think you should send him there. Some of the other skills and getting adjusted to mainstream will be easier when he is more mature and has higher cognitive abilities. You can use social stories to help him at that point, and when he is older, he will be able to understand them better. I believe PL will also help with social understanding.

My daughter has Aspergers and grew up overseas. She was in a small mainstream school with understanding teachers and peers, and I did a lot of work with her at home. I'm not sure if a Singapore mainstream environment would be as kind. Anyway, such kids use their cognitive abilities to learn social \"rules\", and they learn them more easily when they are more mature. Not that you shouldn't teach the rules now, but you can give him more growing-up time if he is PL.

slmkhoo:[quote=\"slmkhoo\"] Dear Simkhoo, thank you for replying to my thread....yes, that is what is i am seriously considering now as i have a deadline to get back to Pathlight and I know if i give up this seat then I will not be able to get in so easily thereafter as their waitlist is very very long. The mainstream i enrolled him in is a very good sch and it is just a pedestrian away from my current place, there is a devil and angel in me now, devil says goes to mainstream, it will help my boy in long run coz it is a good sch and even if he is just average, as long as he graduate from the sch, it would not be too bad and he should be able cope it no matter how, kids have higher adapting abilities anyway, mostly imptly is that he will be label as special need kid when ppl know that he graduate from PL, not normal sch... and if he can adapt to mainstream (normal/real world setting) after he leaves PL?.... then the angel will tell me that PL is more suitable and he can learn according to his pace, rather than he doesn't unstd what teacher is teaching in the 1 teacher to 30 students class and he will be left unseen if he is not extremely notty that would caught teachers' attention... with only 1-2 AEDs resources in each mainstream, the AEDs are not able to cope with all the special need kids in the whole sch... with that, he might as well spend the school hours and PL and really learn something there.... >.<... damn stressed over these, over the past few days

Which country are you residing now? If you do not mind to share and hows the school is taking it for special needs kids?
sorry for the long post...>.<....

pinkamoon:

Snow24:

Hi


What kind of support for ASD child require if he goes mainstream? What are the issues that any of you have faced in mainstream primary school?

Hi Snow24!
My ds is in mainstream this year. From my experience, you do not get a lot of support in school. He gets only 6 sessions with the AED and counsellor together with other children from the same level. Other than that, I had 1 meeting with the counsellor, 1 with the principal (who hinted that he is very protective of his teachers and social skills is important for his students) and 2 meet the teachers session (school wide).

Basically, teachers have a lot to deal with, thus if our child can follow instructions and not make trouble, teachers do not 'complain' that much. I have friends whose children are in PL and they also get complaints from teachers when their children have meltdowns.

Although my ds was not recommended for mainstream by the psychologist (at age 5), I deferred him for 1 year in the hope that he would not appear too childish. So far, I have received 2-3 phone calls from his form teacher since the beginning of the year but he has gotten used to Primary school life and the last I spoke to the teacher, things are quite alright.

I cannot really tell you what problems your child may face because every child is unique. My ds gets complaints because he is the only one to answer 'Maybe later' when teacher wants him to do work and he wants his names to be at the top during group work. There was once he cried because he could not find his eraser and the whole class had to find it for him. So things like that happened to him. To me, these do not sound terrible. Every child has their own issues in school and they have their moments. It depends on how the teachers tackle such issues. Each time I receive complaints, I will explain the consequences to him and he is receptive to change. So generally, the teacher is happy with his progress since start of school because he does not pose a challenge to classroom teaching.

Frankly speaking, I am very pleased with his progress because I had to beg his childcare principal to keep him (3 hours half day 3 times a week because he was at EIPIC centre on 2 other days). My helper had to shadow him everyday for 2 years. It was really a lot of sweat and tears for me. :frustrated:

Dear Pinkamoon, thank you for your sharing, really appreciates! My boy is being accepted by both PL and mainstream, but I can tell that there are still social gaps in him that if he goes to mainstream if he will suffer, my boy belongs to high performance group and to outsiders they looked perfectly normal and very expressive, but like u mentioned, he will always reply with ‘maybe later, later’ if it’s the things that he do not want to face or do... and also, very often if my boy does not know how to answer certain questions that he doesn’t know, he would just replied with something else which others might find it weird or ‘I am not asking you that’ that kinda of reaction...and he does not like loud noises like lion dance performance, or large crowds like in an auditorium or hall with full of people..he is not able to accept if like say his bff keep mocking at him, he would get really upset and moody....all these actually make me ponder if I should send him to PL, but then another worry is that if he could adapt to the mainstream after he leaves PL? Mummy Pinkamoon, how is your boy adapting in sch now and how do you manage those difficult moments when there is limited support at mainstream? His OT therapist told me that PL is a structured and setup environment but it’s not the real world...which I do agree... but the main purpose is for him to be able to enjoy learning and go school happily Everyday.. I am really in dilemma....

Dear Pinkamoon, thank you for your sharing, really appreciates! My boy is being accepted by both PL and mainstream, but I can tell that there are still social gaps in him that if he goes to mainstream if he will suffer, my boy belongs to high performance group and to outsiders they looked perfectly normal and very expressive, but like u mentioned, he will always reply with ‘maybe later, later’ if it’s the things that he do not want to face or do… and also, very often if my boy does not know how to answer certain questions that he doesn’t know, he would just replied with something else which others might find it weird or ‘I am not asking you that’ that kinda of reaction…and he does not like loud noises like lion dance performance, or large crowds like in an auditorium or hall with full of people…he is not able to accept if like say his bff keep mocking at him, he would get really upset and moody…all these actually make me ponder if I should send him to PL, but then another worry is that if he could adapt to the mainstream after he leaves PL? Mummy Pinkamoon, how is your boy adapting in sch now and how do you manage those difficult moments when there is limited support at mainstream? His OT therapist told me that PL is a structured and setup environment but it’s not the real world…which I do agree… but the main purpose is for him to be able to enjoy learning and go school happily Everyday… I am really in dilemma…>.<…