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newmummy
My son's KKH doc said, even if the kid improves, it will not change the diagnosis as to them, the kid improves because of intervention, hence the underlying conditions still remain. But i guess delaying it helps so that he is better behave for the doc to have a more accurate diagnosis and probably can concentrate better to do IQ test. IQ test is impt cos if the child can't attend mainstream, he needs to score at least 70 to get into Pathlight.

Also, u need to assess the need for diagnosis. If he is already getting intervention and going to school, then why need the diagnosis now? cos it is going to affect his future insurance etc. My doc advises me to diagnose my boy when he reaches K2 since he may need it to assess what school he can go to. For me, I will try to delay and just do IQ test only if he can cope in mainstream.
 


HI Srumpee,u mean just delay for the diagnosis first for psycho therapy?but it come with the IQ test...i still dunno shall let him hv the accessment first or delay first...
 
newmummy
for sessions with the psychologist, you don't need to have the full 3 hour assessment. The psychologist only spent an hour each time with my boy to observe him and give us advise on how to manage him. That's all, not a formal diagnosis.

I don't know what your psycho therapy entails but at least for my boy's case, that's all.
 
Hi newmummy08

Ours was also 3hrs assessment and we returned for the feedback session separately tho the psychologist did ask if we wanted to finish up the whole session on that same day.
My son was almost 5yrs old before he was assessed as all those while he was the in between kind and no one can definitely said he has ASD. Thus, wait & see till we really pushed for it.

After the assessment, the psychologist shared with us the assessment findings such as what kind of spectrum he's in (mild or severe), high functioning, etc. & also provided the recommendations on the next progress my boy could take.

We are currently looking to register my boy in mainstream P1 next wk & we spoke to the KKH medical doctor abt it as we are concerned if we need to send any report to the school once he got a placement and in fact, she mentioned that they will send a copy of the assessment report to the school on our behalf once we signed the consent form.

Also, my understanding on Pathlight is to get into it, the child has to be diagnosed as having ASD and they require the submission of the report. Perhaps, Tam or the rest of the mummies whose kids are/had been with Pathlight can share more info on this?
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Yes - to get into Pathlight, it has to be a definite autism spectrum disorder diagnosis otherwise cannot be considered for entry ....

There is the EIP programme at Autism Resource Centre which is located in that same venue as Pathlight school ... this programme is for kids below primary school age ... website for more info on their programme and entry requirements is: http://www.autism.org.sg/earlyintervention/

@Odae - I would ask the assessment psychologist to clarify if your child will be fine in mainstream .. it depends on many factors. Like for my son, it was clear a special school is good for him but for my daughter whose IQ was in the 98% percentile, she would have been 'wasted' in a special school with the mental abilities she has. For some children, the mainstream environment would prove too much for their sensory load capacity or emotional levels .. so check and confirm and trust your instincts if your child is 'appropriate' in mainsteam environment. There are pros and cons but I think as a parent, you would know your child best and not put him/her in a school just because it's mainsteam if it turns out a special school would serve your child better in the long-run. :) It's good to have a clear assessment with a clear diagnosis - not because we want to label the child but it would be useful with a clear-cut diagnosis for application into the academic institutions/schools that we want our child to be in which would help him/her the most. I would also keep copies of reports and assessments and pass it to whichever school your child is in DIRECT. Although the doctors or hospitals say they would, always better to go direct and make sure the school gets it for sure.

For complete assessments/diagnosis, it's a full 4 hours on average and may need to return to finish it up if not complete within the 4 hours on first session. With this diagnosis, it would be a full report stating the clear diagnosis and recommendations for the child. For me, because I wanted my son to enter the pathlight system, I asked my psychologist to add in the recommendation of suggesting my child enter a school like pathlight which will serve him best.

I did two assessments - one at age 3 plus and another at age 5-5plus years - this ensures I have a track record with clear diagnosis right from the start - may seem a little kiasu but with the schooling system here, everything needs black and white and tracked from day 1. Some of you may think otherwise - so go with whatever you deem best for you and your child ... everyone's different in handling the kids' journey with special needs I believe.

:) Hugs!
 
so i thk i shall hv an accessment for him?he is now 3yo plus...37mths old...
acording to the teacher in kits4kids,he may not ready for the accessment yet as he might not be ready for the diagnostic test as his compliance is not 100% yet...and they always ad parent if kids below 3.5yo,will wait till then as in terms of development growth...there might be changes during that period..
so...i still cant decide yet shall hv or not...

btw,get an update frm the cc teacher said now aday he like to scratch his classmates face again!oh my!and wat happen is every evening back to home,he like to cry for nothing and so loud!just throw tantrum!wat i surpose to do with him!!
 
hi mine did the 3 hr assessments at 3+ yo for formal medical diagnosis in order to get into EPIC programme. and another at 5 yo for IQ assessment by education psychologist as required by pathlight.
 
Hi - mine did the same assessments and timing of age as Tam ...

As for how to handle tantrums, it's a physical reaction of the autism trait with the intent to communicate but does not know how to control and express appropriately. Some ways to help cope with these meltdowns will take time and lots of patience. One way I found useful is to be able to hug the child until the meltdown is de-escalated and the fuse has run out on the emotional rise. The key is not to feed more energy to the meltdown moment - hugging tightly is one way to help to de-escalate - you may end up hugging for a long time while the kid is still screaming and kicking - the help as parent we give is to defuse the situation instead of giving more rise to it.

Another way for older kids is to 'arrest the situation' by having them talk it out and communicate fully without any interrupting them on what the problem is for them which gives rise to the escalation of emotions. Usually the kids get annoyed when we keep interrupting them and so all that pent up energy in them gets choked up and leads to frequent meltdowns...

Hope this helps somewhat? :)
 
I recently bought straws ftom therapy resource and they are very nice. U csn goggle their website n get the straws horns n stuff..leapfrog uses that n kkh st also si that the child will know how to blow
 
yesterday my son dunno wathappen make a big fuss!keep on crying and my hubby loss contro and beat him!then he stop seems he knw we are angry...his eye itchy and body itchy, he will throw tantrum and make noise...i don knw how to comfort him!i thk his temper is quite hot!But i know beat him is not the correct way...
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same for my hb tooo ..hugging is the better way..i usually will bring him to a room n let him cry..but my mil will scream a t me....
 
I dunno..the dr will say I change his routine n he cried but he like things his way like alphabet n no n u dun give him he cries but gives him he stopped
 
ya..my son also same..sometimes wen u abit good mood,when he want somethg,u tell him will gv him later or tmr..then he can tolerate with it and will also repeat himself by saying wait till tmr...
if mood bad..then even is itchness on his body or mosquito bite,he will keep on scratch his body and make noise and cry!vy diff to please!

Btw,any mummies go for RDI?
 
I suspect my daughter may have ADHD...

Does anyone have good recommendation on a doctor for proper diagnosis?

Thanks.
 
Hi Hoshi, when my boy was 2, doc said too early to conduct observation. I am now putting him under OT and ST.
Anybody has heard of the below private therapy centers:
1) Hand in Hand Occupational Therapy Centre
2) Kaleidoscope Therapy Centre for Children
3) Kidz Pediatric Occupational Therapy Consultants Pte Ltd
4) Ovspring Developmental Clinic
please share if you have any reviews or information
 
I had my son do OT and Sensory Therapy with Hand in Hand - very experienced therapist there... apparently, the success rates of their therapy there seems to be higher than elsewhere due to how they intervene and do the therapies... most parents who have gone there before would agree also ...
 
Liz,any idea how much?
jus got a plan sharing by the teacher in k4k,suggest that my son may go for the psychologist therapy abt 3.5 yo...by then is sept...do u all feels it too late?coz she said don want him to be "labe;" as ASD as he may just need more time to improve himself,seems now he at k4k4,alot progress will do it on himm...wat so u all thk?
 
Thanks ladies, helping to confirm that the shortlisted centres do have good reviews.
Will go down with my son to get a feel of it.
newmummy, what do you mean by Psychologist Therapy? is it different from OT and ST?
 
Thanks to all; these are the confirmations I need before going there with my son to get a feel of the center since I dont know when the EPIC can give my son a place after I rejected the timing (12-230pm).
Newmummy, what exactly is Psychologist therapy? Different from OT / ST?
 
Mummies
I am deciding between Kidz POTC and Hand in Hand.
Called both to find out the charges. Both require initial assessment sessions but the price differs greatly. For Hand in Hand, the initial assessment is $400 and Kidz POTC only $192. I have heard good reviews from both

Now don't know which one to go
 
Hi Louise,psychological therapy is diff fem
OT/ST as it more on behavior monitoring...
So mummies,u all talk abt d assessment is wat purpose?
 
Scrumpee - how about monthly charges which is long-term?
which center you and your son are more comfortable with in terms of the space, the IN-Charge and the therapist?
Any reviews on that particular therapist?
well, these will be my considerations when I visit the centers next month.
Newmummy, what method will given your son during the PT session?
we are quite clear on OT / ST.
 
Louise
I haven't visit the centres. I think cannot just visit, have to make appt for assessment and is chargable.

I will go to Kidz POTC for assessment, monthly wise also more affordable. And Kidz POTC accepts baby bonus, HIH does not accept baby bonus
 
Hi Scrumpee,

I read from other thread, you are saying that your son has improved verbally and communication skill. May I know why you still need to look for OT?

I ask you before in another thread for psychologist. I brought to see psychologist at TMC. They only assess but asked for full assessment which is quite costly.

Newmummy08
May I know which branch of k4k your kid attend? I call cck branch before but feel that the principal is not very helpful. I ask whether they have speech therapy and she said that she will check with the therapist but never call me again.

If the kid has not being labelled yet, will they provide IEP for that kid?

I am now looking for more advices and sources to improve my son. My son has not gone through detailed assessment. I am now thinking whether I can bring my son to attend any program to improve him first while waiting for NUH appointment.

My son 3 year 10 months only can mumble mono syllabic words. I brought him to see speech therapist, ST diagnosis him as verbal dyspraxia.
 
Hi Star
Yes he has improved but still need to continue with OT to be better especially when he gets older, he needs to work on his hand writing etc which I forsee he will have problem. For our delayed kids, I believe the therapies will need to continue even though there are improvements as they still have so many other skills to acquire.

Yes, I think the full assessment is about $1800.
 
Star
did you see Tee Shan Shan at TMC? She also diagnose your boy as dyspraxia?

When is your NUH appointment? I do suggest u push for a nearer date cos if too late, your boy will miss the chance to go EIPIC
 
Ot can go pte gym n playground n I bot a big bouncing ball.. Tarpaulin n swing are good too...to others like mil I but I just am funny. But no choice till older
 
Loiuse,Im not too sure abt waht method,but i ask the k4k,she said mostlikely is monitor him while gv him task see wat is his reaction...can compliant or not..then will finalist and diagnose him...so for him i was thk is it "fair" for him to go this assessment and get "label"?so was thk to let him go mayb when he turn 3.5 yo...i dunno will it be too late, but while this period will carry on all the intervemtion program frm k4k..

Srumpee, wer is Kidz POTC?is private intervention ctr?Btw, TMX is chinese method?doeant it help for ASD kids?
Star,my son at TPY outlet,wats the principal name there?my principal is Nida,but the MD person in charge is Jessica Wong...she is nice...Y not u try call them again and req speck to her instead?
 
Scrumpee
My boy was assessed by Frances Yeo. She didnt give any diagnosis to my boy. Only suggest my boy to go for autism and IQ test.

My boy takes very long to warm up with new environment. I am hesitating whether eipic will be suitable for him.

I will bring him to NUH this Monday.

Newmummy
I will call k4k again.

Btw, mummies, who bring your kids for intervention program while you are working?
 
Star
Don't worry about your boy not warming to new environment. He will settle down after a few sessions. Very likely NUH will refer your boy to CEL to help him get an EIPIC centre. For me, my hubby brings my boy to all his EIPIC and invention programmes as he is self-employed so time is flexible. If he is busy, I will take leave to bring my boy to his lessons but rarely. However, I do have a very understanding boss and she allows me to take 2 hour lunches on the days that my boy has EIPIC classes so that I can be there to see how he perform in class.

newmummy
Kidz POTC is private OT centre.
 
Which EIPIC u send ur son to?it require caregiver to be around?but i thk rainbow ctr no need,tats y i choose it.Even now he is at k4k,im not even know how is he "perform" in d the daily program.Just get the feedback frm teacher he is doing good.all the mentioned is just good thg,but seldom mentioned abt the bad thgs...im wonder..
 
For those interested in Hand in Hand, many of the teachers and therapists I have spoken to says that their sensory interventions at Hand Hand is by far the one that shows the most progress compared to other interventions... hope this helps.

Cheers
Lisa
 
Hi All,

Just saw this thread. I had a son who has autism diagnosed around 4 years old. He got minimum speech, poor social interaction and tantrum issues. He started with K4K in CCK and concurrently in childcare. After 6 months, we moved him to EIPIC at Yew Tee.

I really regretted for not detecting his autism traits until such a late stage. Early Intervention does help greatly.

He progressed to Pathlight for preparatory class and now he is in P1 mainstream school. He coped so well in the mainstream that teachers are unable to tell that he is ASD. The only struggle he got is chinese as during his time in EIPIC and Pathlight, he did not attend any chinese lesson. I thought he can get exemption right from P1 but was told only able to get exemption in P3 or P4. We manage to convince him to attend Berries for his chinese. Hopefully he can catch up.

Newmummy

I would say its good to get the diagnosis, you can get them to keep it confidential and not required to inform the mainstream school if you do not want to.

Though I felt that the diagnosis of low functioning autism on my son is inaccurate but
with formal diagnosis, I'm able to send him for EIPIC with IEP in place. I felt that it really really helps.

Over at EIPIC, they are able to share strategies in handling tantrum. Sometimes, ASD kids may be sensory overload, the steam is building up in them, there must be ways for them to release it.

Don't care about the label, the strategies they used in EIPIC is very good infact it is useful for normal kids as well. It will help to improve their behavior.

Tantrum and complaince are not the only thing that will cause the pschylogist to diagnose the kids as ASD. They must fulfil criteria like no eye contact, no social interaction more keen on things rather than people, repetitive habits etc before they can diagnose the kids as ASD.

To me its good to do a IQ test at a around 5 years old, the report will be able to tell the strength and weakness on the child. So that we as parents do not over demand on the kids in the area that he is weak on. We can understand more on their limitation.

It's a long and tough road but continue to believe they will get better as each days goes by.
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My gal just had a full 'escalated meltdown' a few days back ... she has Asperger and it seems that she was 'knocked down' with sensory overload and with her own thoughts taking a life of its own and she feeling that she could not control the impending 'breakdown' ... took 2 hours to calm her down and before she was 'back to normal' with no visible signs of whatever just happened. That was totally emotionally and mentally draining ... my hubby and I were just flat out after that incident... I guess one of the many more moments similar to that which will happen from time to time. I realised wat it was reading this article which was precisely what was happening with my daughter: http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2010/06/aspergers-tantrums-rage-and-meltdowns.html ...any one else can relate to this?
 
Hi ec73...
thx for the info..
i will sure brg him for the dignose, but mayb 3.5 yo first?now i let him at k4k for the intervention, and OT,etc...to see how is the progress first...do u thk too late?coz i was thk if let him go for therapy first and c his progress then only go for the dignose..
 
Hi Newmummy,

Yup, you can do the diagnosis later as long as there is early intervention in place. K4K does IEP for individual child and they do communicate through their communication book weekly. So you should have a good guage on how is your child progresing. They do set quarterly goals as well for the child.

The benefits of doing the diagnosis is enable you to access to early intervention from various charities bodies. The pschylogist will have review every half yearly, you can raise the issues that you are facing and probably they can give professional advise on where and who that you can go approach to tackle the problems.
 
HI ec73,K4K did hv their com book weekly,but seems all d comment was good and positive thgs...but i wan to knw any -ve thg if do happen to him.Coz all the activities she mentioned seems always claimed my son did compliance,but at home he didnt!i vy worry as spend money so much but he nvr gget improvement!
At this moment,i really don know my son is ASD or not,as eye contact,he has,when called his name,repeatative,he has,sometimes no.but one thg for sure,he will cry for somethg he want to get!if not then will throw tantrum and cry scream shout!K4K teach us ignore him,we did,it seems works but only after a "good" cry then calm down only will listen to us.
Now i thk i want to get more therapy on behavior for him,but not sure wer can i go to...is he need dignose first only can get therapy?
 
Scrumpee
You are right. The doctor made appointment for me to meet social worker to arrange for eipic. The doctor days he does not look like an autism. He interacted well with the doctor. But very delay, because he only mumble one word. I got appointment with occupational and speech therapy too.

EC73
How long do you queue for Yew Tee Eipic? Do they mix asd and non asd? How many teacher student ratio? Are the teachers caring? Very likely I will queue at this centre because it is the nearest to my house.
 
hi,would like to hear some advice.i suspect my son might hv autism.he is 19 mths old & does not say a single word besides "ah".he does not respond much to people since he was a bb, maybe except to his dad & caregiver.his twin sister is ok, very vocal & expressive.we hv send him for the detailed hearing test & found nothing wrong.But his response to sound is below the normal level (it's like he choose to listen to things he want to listen).hv already schedule him to c a developement paed in CDU tis mth who will access him. but that is only referral from NHU for speech development, not for autism. i called a few private clinic & most is not willing to do autism test on so young as my boy.
 



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