Autistic children - Share your experiences here.


Hi Adeline! I've been there. Had even wanted to work for them but it didn't pan out in the end. Was really touched cos the 2 people who set it up are not making money from it (everything goes back to the kids) and they are also not parents of SN kids, just people who really want to help. It was kind of odd seeing SN youths at work at first, but it's amazing to see them actually being able to carry out all their tasks themselves. I hope there are more of these around so my son might get a good chance of actually earning his own keep. As Momto3 mentioned, we'd prob not outlive our kids and I do get panic attacks at times thinking about what will happen to my boy then
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Hey yvonne, your son is very intelliegent hence i do not think you need to worry on that ...... My son is vast behind yours ..... Need to work harder tis year
 
Yvonne
Thanks for the explanation. Will ask my ST for her opinion if my son needs OT.

I am confused about the condition of my son, sometimes he look so normal and intelligent but when I compare him to his peers, he seems to lag behind. For example, I can write words like feet, hand, eye, ear, bottle, pillow, star, moon etc on the board and read out to him, he will point at all the things correctly. And for some of the words, I don't even need to read out, he could recognise and point it out to me correctly. But at school today, a girl in his class could do the shape sorter very well, but my son couldn't...so, don't know if he is really slow or he is just not interested in the shape sorter. Does OT work on such things? And how do I determine if my son has weak muscle tone?
 
Hi Adeline! We all start somewhere... Am sure things will get better. Jia you!

Hi Srumpee! Not too sure about all the signs of low muscle tone, but here are some my boy has. Unclear speech, problems writing and coloring properly, couldn't sit for long, very weak when we asked him to push or pull things. Most of the time, it gets better with exercise and in some mild cases, it'd iron itself out as the child gets older. Sounds like your kid's iq is good, so u'd have less to worry academically. As for shape sorters and other puzzles, I find that it's a matter of exposure and training before the kid gets the hang of things. Different OTs seem to have different strategies, guess pending the child's needs. I used to go to one in town who had all kinds of structures hanging from the celing. Our present OT uses more puzzles and small scale stuff. We saw improvements under both OTs, so guess it doesn't really matter what they do, as long as there's progress.
 
Hi Yvonne,

Did your son still attending the neurofeeback program?

Can he communicate like the typical child?
 
Hi Srumpee! The OT's Ailin from Planet Learning Centre n no is 64876008. She can identify if a kid has low muscle tone, but I think all OTs should be able to as well. She suggested getting kid to swim cos it excercises whole body.

Hi Yee! My boy stopped neurofeedback for now cos am a liitle busy with his baby sis but am planning to put him back on it when things are less hectic at home and I've a little more time. He can hold a conversation like a regular kid but think his pronunciation's not too clear sometimes (ST says its cos his poor muscle tone.) He can also give logical alternative suggestions if he's not keen on what we tell him to do and initiate conversations. He started doing all these after nerofeedback. Before, his speech was only very functional and he'd mainly only talk when someone asks him something.
 
neurofeedback is neurowiring?

Yvonne, thanks. Your kid seems to be doing well now. How old is he?

Hiaz, my poor boy is having a fever and sore throat. Now don't want to open his mouth because scared of swallowing the saliva. Sianzz..already can't speak and trying to get him to speak but with this sore throat, he lagi won't open his mouth.
 
Hi scrumpee, hope your boy will get well soon! my boy never speaks a word after abt 18-19 mths... And now he seldom even makes any sound n he will be 4 years old tis year....


Hi yvonne, i spoke to hubby on NJ cafe and he asked wat will become of our son when he grows up ..... I also duno wat to say
 
Hi Srumpee! Poor boy! Hope he gets well in time to enjoy CNY goodies. My son's going 6 end Mar. We've been dealing with his issues for 3 years and am starting to see some light at the end if the tunnel! Am sure all our kid's will improve. Just need time and sometimes they go thru learning spurts. Capitalize on those periods when u notice them. In a strange way, Autism has made me a better parent and given us a better work-life balance. Guess things always happens for a reason.

Hi Adeline! Your kid has so much potential to improve, so try to take one day at a time. I go into worry mode too but take comfort in knowing many famous talents in past also Autistic...
 
Hi Srumpee, hope your son get well soon...

Hi Adeline, this is what I always think what can they do when they grow up.. Sometimes, very worry coz I dun hv much $$$ for him. Also cannot depend of his sis coz is it not fair for her.Always think why is our son? What we do wrong???

Hi Yvonne, my son have 70 to 80 words but he dun know how to use it. He know how to request saying "help" or "I want" but sometimes we need to prompt him. How to assist him to speak in sentence? Btw,initially when ur son start talking it is the same case like my son?
 
Hi Yee! Yes he was. His ST worked with him in stages. First getting him to speak in phrases, then 5 words sentences, then 7 words sentences...She taught him connecting words , descriptive words, etc., and made him practice putting them together. At home, we kept encouraging him to be more specific in his requests. Example, if he asks for noodles, we'd try to get him to describe what kind of noodles. Over time, he was able to put more info into one sentence by himself. To increase his vocab, we used alot of flash cards and also tried to bring him out as much as possible to point out things to him. In the beginning, he only spoke to ask for things. Later, he could give accounts of things when we specifically asked him. After that stage, he would volunteer info about things like what happened in school. Now, he is able to "joke", banter and ask relevant questions or make comments to others. Besides drilling vocab, try to get your kid to be aware of surroundings. It'd help him move beyond functional speech.
 
Hi scrumpee/ yee, i did called the slt fm kkh. She said for hanen prog, my son only can take more than words prog but this is not offered by kkh... Need to take thru pte therapy centre.

Hi yvonne, i hope so.... His progress is slowwww
 
What's more than words program?

Anyway my boy was admitted to kkh on Wednesday for hand foot mouth, so sian but luckily can still celebrate cny and he is discharging today. But will miss cc for two weeks which means he has to go thru the familiarization process again.
 
Scrumpee,

Yup, hate it too, next week my boy gg to miss aas too for the whole week (3 days PH, incld eve), darn sianz .....
 
Scrumpee,

Nope, cuz aas is for 3 days (n all the 3 days are PH), I dun like him to miss lessons unless sick
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Hi mummies

Would like to know if anyone had experience with Therapy Services Network? Thinking ofgetting some feedback on tat place b4 bringing my son there for OT. Thanks
 
Happy Rabbit year to all

How is your CNY? I didn't really have a pleasant one because my son was sick, he got infection in the vocal cords after recovering from HFMD. As a result, he has missed childcare for 3 weeks and didn't do very well at his ST yesterday. It will be a struggle all over again when I send him back to CC next week. Sigh...and I am now contemplating to send him for OT because my boy's bad habit of looking at straight lines with the corner of his eyes is getting more obsessive and makes him look abnormal.

He will walk up and down looking at the same direction with the corner of his eyes when he is bored. Sometimes, we think he did it on purpose because he knows we are looking at him and will scold him if he does that. He will insist on doing that but sheepishly smililng away when he heard us scold him.

Anyone heard of this problem ?
 
Hi Mummies...

I have been searching for healing for autism, it only points out that the only way for complete autism healing is supernatural healing from Jesus.

If we depend on all our self effort, it will end up with exhaustion,stress out like i was. I was practically paralysed, stressed out, went for counselling, broke into tears in my workplace, no peace in my heart, bad thoughts, feeling all the world collapsed, fear of my daughter etc....

I recently read daily message from facebook (Joseph prince) and i found peace in Jesus.

I just want to share good news to all mums here, as Jesus does not want us to focus on our children's disabilities, but focus on healing that Jesus had paid on the cross. Jesus that is sinless is an overpayment to our sin on the cross. As Jesus had paid it on the cross, our children will no need to suffer. And, our part is to claim the healing for our children!

Few quotes that i love the most :

-Jesus was crucified on the cross, that by His stripes we are HEALED.
-Surely He has bore ALL our sickness, and diseases, pain, and grievances on the cross.
-ALL who comes to Jesus were HEALED
-Jesus GIVES good things to whoever ask Him, and when we pray in Jesus's name, He will do it for us.
-ASK and we shall RECEIVE, seek and we shall find, knock and the door will be opened for us.

Mummies, would you give me a chance to pray for all our our children for receiving God's free healing gifts?

THis year, the message that pastor Price received from God is, God will crown us with His goodness (there is complete healing in year 2011) and our path shall be dripping with abundance.

Let me know your children 's name (as well as parents name), and i will bring into my daily prayer until the healing manifested into your children's life.

You can also join into prayer with me at anytime anywhere you are.

Keep believing that our children is perfect, not by what we see, what they can or can not do, but by the finished work at the cross that Jesus had paid...


As i write this, i am learning to constantly remind myself on Jesus's finished work at the cross that had paid and given complete healing to my daughter kathleen.....
 
Adeline n momto3
Thanks for the feedback. I hv called my psychologist for 2 second appt to seek her opinion. Besides looking at straight lines, he likes to clap his hands . I m really scared now, just when we thot he is just delayed in speech, it seems like these behaviors r sensory issues that we should not ignore and that he could be autistic afterall. Sigh!

Btw momto3, has your son started talking? How old is he? My boy is turning 2 next mth. I had dreamt that he could talk, how silly I am. And I feel sad that I could remember these dreams becos dreams that you can recall often will not happen. Will my dream ever come true? 
 
Srumpee,

Sadly my boy hasnt started talking
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he is turning 4 next week, however he has started calling me 'Mommy' when I point my nose and ask 'who is this ?' he are able to say those in my household and my parents. His diction is poor, as he has probs with 'b' 'm' 'p' sounds, so he will call me 'ommy', but I dun mind, I take it as an endearment term from him
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......
I also think that you should seek 2nd opinion w the psychologist and addresses yr concern......
 
Hi Scrumpee

my son used to look from the corner of his eyes too..OT told us tt he was looking for visual stimulation.. he also occasionally walked on tip toes (like ballet dancers!) when he was 1+. he also like to flap his hands when he was excited or happy. and sometimes he still do now..
 
Tam, does he still look at the corner of his eyes now? And wat is visual stimulation? Btw u mention your son is 6 rite? When did he start talking?
 
Hi Scrumpee

now he don't.. not sure why though.. OT said he was seeking visual stimulation. this is also related to their senses not being
well-integrated. some of them have senses that are overly stimulated.. eg if hearing too sensitive, they are very affected by even the softest sound.. some not getting enough stimulation, they will 'seek' for that stimulation. eg could not feel the feet/toes, will want to stand on toes just to 'feel' them to be around.. or look at fans to get the visual stimulation.. i think.

yes he is 6. he babbles before 1. he start 'talking' at 2plus.. btw, is it becos of weak jaw muscle that they refuse to talk? my son chews food very well cos he loves to eat..
 
Tam,

I agree, my son according to the OT, his jaw muscles are weak, that could be the reason he is not talking yet.

Scrumpee,

My son has a classmate (in AAS), he can eat anything and can chew very well but he still cant talk .......
 
Hi Adeline! You can buy regular toys like treading toys, any games using tweezers to pick up things to help improve motor skills. U can also get food sets and tea sets to play with your kid- try role playing to teach him how to react. Simple things like whistles n bubbles can help improve their mouth muscles. These are just some examples of things you can find anywhere and can be used to help ASD kids. U can check out The Better Toy Store at Née Ann City, Early Learning Centre and some of those toy stores specializing in educational toys and scout for toys that would help your child practice or learn skills he might be lacking in.
 
Thanks yvonne! I need to spend time scouting for toys to prove my son's fine motor skills. Any online purchase avail that you know of?
 
Hi mummies,

I have an asd kid who is 3 and a half and I have been following this thread.

Just want to share some inexpensive 'games' and activities you can play with your kid to improve their motor and fine motot skills.

Bring them to the playground as it is a good place to help improve their motor skills. There is this blog by an occupational therapist who advocate this.
http://roomfulloffun.blogspot.com/

As for fine motor skill, we don't need to spend lots of money on buying toys. A lot of things at home can be used. Some examples:
1. Give them a spoon, containers and some beans (red beans, green beans, etc) or pasta and they will have fun scooping. Cautions: have them scope it on a big tray that can contain the beans
2. Give them a tweezer/tongs and some cotton balls/pasta and they can transfer them to different containers or ice tray or baking tray. Add some counting activity by labelling the tray with a number and guide them to count and transfer to the required number.
3. Give them a shoe lace and some paste (tube kind) and they will have fun lacing them.
4. Give them some playdoh and some moulds, etc

I got these ideas from some homeschooling websites. Here is an example of a good one... have a look if you have time... will save you some money!

http://activitymom.blogspot.com/search/label/Motor%20Skills

But for our kids, we will have to show them how to carry out the activities and guide them (hand over hand initially). Can incorporate some speech therapy along the way as we can label the activity as we do them... eg. scoping, beans,etc

Hope this helps.
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Hi
Brought my son to see the psychologist again last week as we have concern about him looking at straight lines with the corner of his eyes. The psychologist asked if we want to do a full diagnosis on him since we are so concern but said that based on her interaction with my son, she is not likely to give him a high score. After discussion, we decided to give my son another 3 months to see if he has any improvement. I cross my fingers.

Anyway, the psychologist said we can proceed with OT if we want to improve on his hand coordination skills since he can't seem to point very well with his index fingers (among other skills). So I signed him up for 5 sessions first to see if is really helpful.

My ex-supervisor who has a 5 year old ASD son (but seems to recover now) said she don't find the OT very useful, its basically exercise session. Hmmm, mummies what are your views?
Because I already signed my son for Sunday gymboree class? U think OT is still necessary?

Anyway, he is turning 2 next month. I was looking at his 1 year old birthday party photos just now, looking at his photos, I would never have expected him to be autistic.
 
Hi Srumpee! Since every child with Autism has different problems, it's difficult to say if OT is going to be useful for your boy. Go for the 5 sessions you've signed up for then decide if u need anymore after that. In my case, I thought it was not necessary too before I started. But after the first few sessions, the OT was able to identify problems I wasn't aware of and it helped me understand some of my boy's actions better, so I can help him. Some of the things I learnt from OT in the beginning was that my kid got problems establishing his midline movement (affects how he looks at things and also to establish him as either a right or left hander), which areas he is weak at (so I can target the exercises appropriately) and training him in areas that he'd potentially lag behind his peers in (simple things like how to colour a whole picture, instead of focusing only on one spot). You r quite right in saying most of the OT activities can be done ourselves but it may help to get a professional to help pinpoint which areas need help.

I am not a pro and be wrong but I think your kid's got a good shot at turning out alright. He's less than 2 and you've already started doing so much for him, plus the doc cannot tell for sure if he's got Autism just observing him so he probably don't have too many traits. Jia you!!!
 
Hi scrumpee,

For me, i wasted time going to kkh's st whereby ot was then more important for my son as he has motor planning delays, low muscle tone n short attention span due to sensory integration issues. Now that his sensory needs are being address by his ot, he is starting to be able to learn things .... Though at a snail's pace. As yvonne said, you are starting intervention for your son at such a young age, he should be able to catch up with his peers soon 
 
Yvonne and Adeline,
Thanks for the feedback. I think I will try out 5 sessions of OT on my boy then.

Btw, kkh's hanen program is finally going to start. Will be going to the video session this coming tue.
 
Hi, I'm a mother a lovely 4 year old boy with Autism, and a 14 month old neaurotypical young lady.

Its good to find this thread!

We have gone thru (and are still going thru, of course!) our fair parcels of therapies. We were 1st brought to attention of a delay when he was 15 months old. The suggestion to send him to a special school was heartbreaking.

He's still non verbal, not requesting much, tho these skills seem to be emerging.

Anyone doing brushing and compressions for the child?
 
Reading thru some of the posts..

Scrumpee: My boy likes to clap for self stim too. He used to be stim-free when he was 2, the stims came on quite strong when we had our 2nd baby. Maybe coz i had less time to work with him. He used to mouth things alot. He taps his head too. We try to redirect these stims to pointing to show us what is getting him excited.

Eye contact: Not sure if any parents are doing supplementation but I'm sure many of you have read on it. We give cod liver oil. And it substantially improved eye contact within days. Of course we never attempt anything beyond what you would give a neurotypical child tho some supplementation theories suggest otherwise.
 
Shauna
My boy's stim also came after I have the 2nd baby.

U said you boy mouth things alot? u mean talking?

and what is brushing and compression?

Childcare
Today my boy surprises me. HE DID NOT CRY when we left him at the CC! He waved us goodbye and gave us goodbye kiss! I was so surprised as I had expected him to cry as usual. Furthermore, his favourite teacher is on MC today, I thought he will sure cry badly, but he was all calm and cooperative.

Pointing
My son has been doing lots of pointing accompanied with making sounds lately, especially after he started cc in Jan. Before that, he has never point to indicate his interest. Now he will point at the bus, car, star, moon, anything that interest him. And he will do some action to indicate to us to sing Itsy Bitsy spider. And if I sing Twinkle Twinkle little star instead, he will make the 'urgh urgh' sound to indicate that I sang the wrong song.
 


Hi scumpee,

Wow ... Looks like he is progressing well on track! May i noe if the hanen prog is call it tales two to talk or more than words?


Hi shauna,

My son is coming to 4 years old tis year. He is still non verbal and cannot request properly. We started brushing n deep compression once a day since dec last year. My son will stim if there is no sensory diet or him or if he is under stress. When my bb girl aarive last year, it took him 2 mths to adapt seeing her at home. Now we still continue to place them apart 
 
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