Autistic children - Share your experiences here.

Hi srumpee

No, it's not bcos she is better but it's bcos he has seen results fr kids going to her, so it's jus so happened that she has many kids with speech delay going to her. But although she is not a speech therapist but I think the things they do r same or similar.

I heard of mindchamp but it's too exp (my friend said >$1k) but it's a normal school right? Apart fr the therapy he going, I intend to put him in special school as well as a normal preschool. So I'm hoping to find one that can ve 2-3x per wk instead of 5x, so that he can attend to both schools n not 2 school on the same day, he still take afternoon naps.

N actually my son only started saying words at 2+. He started calling mummy n daddy at 2 or 2+. I remember at 2yrs 3mths old, he call blue as "Ng" n Thomas as "tas" whilst his younger cousin during that time (2yrs old) can call Thomas as "tall-tall" which is 2 syllabus instead of 1, the therapist say for normal kids their brain automatically can digest that Thomas is a 2 syllabus word so they can learn to talk faster but for my son, he doesn't, that's y it's harder. B4 2 yrs old no words at all. But i think flashcards so help with vocabulary n talking. Initially he doesn't say anything when he watch, but after many many many times, he is now able to repeat what the flashcard video, game or when we play Hardcopy ones. So now he know words but still no sentences. Only lately this 2mths, he started with abit of phases like "make milk pls" but still no "I'm hungry" no "I want to eat", not even 1 word like "eat" "hungry" "yes" "no" although he know what they mean. I know he can pronounce them but he Is not using them.

He started pointing only this 3mths but not for things He want but rather on pictures. b4 He doesn't point at all, He will take my hand n bring to whatever he want to reach, he now still won't point at things. He doesn't ask qns n doesn't answer qns, not even yes or no answers. But if u ask him "what is this?" he can answer car, apple etc but single words. But dunno how to express verbally his feelings, jus throw tantrum n cry n sometimes scratch ppl face.

I'm thinking of putting him in St Gerard or kits4kids at telok kurau bcos they r nearest to my place n I will ve to look for a normal preschool with flexible timing as well. Gug Is too advance for him I think. Any feedbacks for these 2 special school? They 3x per wk fees r quite close. But I find kits4kids quite run down, it doesn't feel like a school but seem like many ppl in this thread send their kids to them, I wonder how r they now?
 


Hi

Just started the process of placing my boy in EIPIC. Was looking at the centres and narrowing down to ARC & AWWA. Any of your kids attending either of these 2 centres? Any comments/advice/opinions? thanks
happy.gif
 
Cyn
maybe you can see the past postings because which the mummies here have posted. It wasn't very long ago. That should give you a feel of the two schools.

U reminded me that I should take out my Glenn Doman flashcards again for my boy.

My boy will also pull my hand to bring him to the things he want. Pointing is usually for things that interest him such as light, bus, thomas book, moon and occassionally food.

Perhaps you can try out St Gerard. I read the website that they have both mainstream and special program. So maybe your kid can juggle beteen the two programme in the same school and no need to travel to and fro.
 
Hello Mummies
How is everyone doing?

I dreamt last night that my son could talk. Its is the 3rd time that I had such dream. Anyway, my boy can finally utter 'mum mum', sometimes he just blabbler and utter it with no meaning but there are times that when we are having our meals, he will run to us and said 'mum mum' to ask for food.

Whatever it is, I am happy. This is his first consonant for goodness sake. I hope this is the beginning of more good news to come.
 
scrumpee, like you say, your son is only turning two leh..=)
actually a lot of child only really speak at age 2.5 mths. My elder boy is one of them. When kids younger than him can talk pretty well...he couldnt.
At age 2 yrs 2 months, he can only say cat cat, mum mum...di di (daddy) etc...
but now he speaks fantastically.

So you dun worry too much...as long as he is interacting well with you...the other milestones ok....then stay cool yah??

cny, tell you huh....think you will like st gerard cos the school has a good environment and the teacher-student ratio is low.

but it is more like an intergrated school meaning they teach mainstream but has support for OT etc. And that will be around $1200 a month..after subsidy.

If you need OT session, 1 to 1, then it will be additional charges.
 
Enemum - ur son in St gerard? Or u know anyone there? 1200 is full day? They told me 3x per wk is 650 whilst 5x is 950, half days. V exp!

Scrumpee - dun worry too much yet for yr son, he is not even 2.. Boys r slower, quite common they start at 2.5 yrs like Enemum says. If 2.5 still no words, then start worry.
 
sccumpee...dun worry he will be fine if he is responding to you well.... =)

if you see other warning signs, then scare la

else we mummies really ming4 ku3....need to worry for a lot of things
 
Hi mummies!

How's eveyone getting on? Any news to share with us?
For my boy, he is progressing well though he is still non verbal n still has a gap of 2.5 years behind his peers .
We are working hard on his fine motor skills n pre verbal skills. I hv just enroll with yishun rainbow centre for "more than words" which will commerce in jun. Hopefully tat will help us to be able to engage him better .
Cheers
 
Hi Adeline and other mummies
great to know tt he is progressing well! mine is also doing fine and we just had his first IEP meeting. They had identified 3 main goals to work with him till end of term 3.

update on pathlight:
they will have SA in may. it is to prepare them for the actual SA when they go to primary school (eg no peeping, sit n wait quietly etc), as well as to assess where is their academic level. and in sep, they will conduct a 'classroom readiness test' on each student to see how prepared him/her going to the mainstream school. so when in july going for the primary school selection, if we got one place successfully at one mainstream school (yes, need to go thr balloting like others), we can request a letter from pathlight to tell the principal of that mainstream school to 'reserve' our place till Dec, as we need to assess his/her school readiness in Sep.

update on ARC: now they no longer has one to one session, even for serious case. at most is 2 to 2. and instead of 5 hr per week, now is 6 hrs per week. (everyone is 4 times per week, 1hr15min per session) they now focus alot on caregivers or parents.. who are expected to come every session.

hope the above helps..
 
sorry on update of ARC, shld be 1.5hr each session, 4 times a week. hence is 6hrs per week..
 
Hi Mummies
I am happy to know that your kids are progressing well.

I would like to share mine too. He finally has words. He can now say "eat", "bubble", "ma ma" and can call my sis "yee". Sometimes when we force him to say "I want", he will blurt out "I man". And the private speech therapist said we can reduce his therapy session to twice a week instead of every week.

We also noticed that he can now recognised basic colours like red, green, blue and yellow. And he loves to dance, whenever we play music or his favourite DVD, he will start dancing. He is also an expert with iPad and iPhone too, know how to select the game he wants.

Jia you everyone. We sure can see the light at the end of the tunnel one day.
 
Scumpee,

Im happy for you as well! So the improvement shown was mainly from speech therapies?

Im usually the one bringing my son for appts or therapies. Also i attend trainings alone. Ahhh.... Lucky i hv this channel to talk to you mummies 
 
Oh, I mean my boy only needs to go to therapy twice a mth now (not twice a week).

Adeline
Am not sure if is due to speech therapies but I feel that the hanen program does help us parents to communicate with them better. For private sessions, usually both hubby and me will go but there are a few sessions that my hubby brought my son there alone. For hanen at KKH, usually is me.
 
Hi Scrumpee,

Which centre you bring your son for speech therapy?

My son also like to play iphone vy much,always said "iphone" when request to play.
 
Thanks Scumpee! I have enrolled for june hanen prog at rainbow centre .... Hopefully i will be equip with more skills to work wirh my boy 
 
hi mummies
yes, i also claim handicapped child relief for him even tho just 1.5k higher.. anyone knows if they will be exempted from NS service?
 
Tam,

Alas! I submitted w/o claiming him as handicap as he has yet to go thru a formal test yet.

My cst recommeded me one cafe whom hire young adult of different disabilities..... Professor brawn gourmet pte ltd. At novena square #02-78 .... check it out
 
O...I never thought of claiming under the handicapped child relief.

Can only claim it after the formal assessment report is out?
 
Hi ladies
just like your advice here: i brought my son to ikea playground to let him socialise with other kids. he was playing at the ballpit area. a boy threw the balls at him, he looked at us looking for cues what is he supposed to do to react. both my hb n myself handsignal to him to throw the ball back at the boy..and he did with pleasure.. another incident he was very cheeky and purposely provoked other children by messing up their 'house set up' then ran saway..a boy chased after him and he pushed him and ds fell down. he wanted to cry but he controlled and looked at me to see what was he supposed to do next.. i didn't know what to tell him but gave him a sorry look that he fell down.. he went to tell the ikea assistant but the lady was not interested to interfere at all. we asked him out then. then my hb actually told him to push back the kid who pushed him.. hmmm.. it seem abit 'uncivilised'.. but somehow this work effectively at times.. but i did praise him for telling the 'auntie' instead of retaliate back.. however tis will only work in school..
last incident was some kids were laughing at him saying he had smelly backside. we could not hear what happen (he told us after the session)but we saw him covering his ears and laughing at the same time. so we actually taught him to 'retaliate' by telling them 'their mouths smellier than their backside..'.. i am just wondering if we had 'advise' him correctly..what would u have done in the above scenarios??
 
Tam

Boy pushing him: For me, I also don't want my son to be bullied. If is me, I will tell my boy to scold the boy who pushed him. Say "U push me again, I tell my mother to scold you".

Kids laughing at him: I will do the same as you, ask him to scold those kids back.

The thing is, I will tell my kids not to bully people but if they are being bullied, they must retaliate.
 
hi scrumpee
tks! we r worried for him to be bullied when he goes to p1 next year.. so instead of holding back and felt miserable, we thot to let him handle the bullies himself since he got the adv of being the tallest in class.. yes i always tell him n he knows he is not supposed to scold or hit or push others.. but since he is not good with expressing or explaining, complaining to teacher/caregiver/scolding the bully might not be a effective method to him.. hence his father keep on telling him to retaliate back on the spot... i guess this method only work if he is not the one at fault..
 
Hi mummies,

Any one of you encounter that your kid laughing & talking during eating & sleeping time. If yes, how to stop them doing that.

Thanks for advise.
 
Hi Yee
my boy does laugh n talk during eating time.. as he loves soup (which he will drink after meal) i will 'threaten' to finish the soup myself if he takes a long time to finish his meal as he keep on talking. he does giggle on things he finds funny when eating. we told him that we find it strange that he keeps on laughing.. n he will then tell us what is so funny.. but that only when with us. with outsiders, he is more reserved n self conscious..
 
Hi Tam,

Is hardly to use threaten method toward him as he not willing to eat by himself, he will waiting for us to feed or scoop for him. That makes his teacher vy frusted during lunch time with him.Another problem that I facing now.

Would it be lesser as he grow up (now 3.5 yrs)? Now, he have 3 words in sentance.Would he understood if I explain to him it strange if he keep on laughing/talking.
 
Hi Yee
my younger son who is normal is also about 3.5yo now and still need us to feed him. he can self feed if is something he likes to eat only.. he used to eat very slow about 1 hour (average) and can stretch to 2 hrs! (also partly due to maid take her own sweet time to feed him) now he can finish in 15 to 30 mins.. as he likes treats eg yoghurt, or sweet., i told him that he can eat it after his meal, so there's motivation for him to finish fast..

also need to see if u son has problem with auditory processing.. hence may affect his understanding if u use words to explain. how about using more exaggerated body language /facial expressions?

i remembered during arc snack time, there's a work system for the children. there were pic on sit good, eat, drink water. so when he start to laugh/talk, point to him the pics on 'eating' to redirect him.. maybe additional pics on 'no laughing' or 'no talking' may help too.
 
Hi all

We ve just seen the pd at nuh Cdu yesterday, he said my son do ve symptoms of autism but not conclusive unless go thru psychological assessment. The assessment appt is in sept! Superlong!! But he said to let him continue in mainstream preschool but also attend speech n ot n later eipic (once we get our place). Can I know what is eipic? My therapist say it's govt special school?

Btw what r the symptoms u see in ur child that makes u suspect he has autism ? Pd ask me can he play with other kids but I don't know how children at this age play together? Running catching? My son always play alone at home, so if go out how He know how to play with others?They ask me turn taking n sharing but then again many kids also dunno how to take turn or share what.
Socializing - my son only at home with me hubby n maid, he doesn't go out to playground or meet other ppl often, so how to expect him to know how to socialize? Whenever he hug n kiss me or hubby or grandparents, we praise him so he think it's acceptable social behavior so everywhere He go, if he like the gal he will go hug n kiss the gal... Fr Sch to malls or playground, even ppl he dunno or jus met for 1min.
Eye contact? He has eye contact but only when he want to.
Respond to qns? Depend on who he talking to n the subj of qns. But then he has language delay, there r times he don't know how to answer, so how to expect him to answer？

Fascination towards numbers, shapes, abc, colors - I tot every child has a "sensitive period" as what the Montessori method say whereby there will b a period when each child has a special interest in specific areas? Plus he is so exposed to these area (most preschool books n DVD r all abt these)

Short attention span or walking ard - if class or teacher is boring, as a adult u will also walk away or get bored so y do they expec children to react differently?

Spinning - my son used to spin alot but now alot lesser unless he throwing a tantrum. When he spin he think its funny n the dizzy feeling is new discovery.

Language delay - yes he can't talk v well but he only started talking single words at 2+ almost 3 yr old. Now only 3.5yr old, although obviously he is lacking bhind his peers but what do u expect his learning curve to b within less than 1 yr of officiAl talking? N bcos he is now Learning he will mimic the words he heard n repeat a few or many times, even normal toddlers learn to talk this way (I tot? That is y they say kids r parrots)?

R autism kids aware of their surroundings ? I noticed my son can b quite cunning or scheming. He know I don't allow him to play with my iPhone but when I not in the same RM as him, the moment I walk away, he know I put my iPhone on table n will take n play. N he lately like to put his nose dirt picking into his mouth n he know I will hit or scold him if he does Tat, n so when he pick his nose, he cAn see at the corner of his eyes I'm Lookin n he won't put in his mouth but at times he tot I not Lookin he will put into his mouth. Also he doesn't like my niece to share his portable DVD while he watchin so he know I will scold if he make a fuss so he pretend n slowly move her hand away fr his chair so she can go further fr him.. I tot autistic kids r v much in their own world? But I see he is not but rather if it doesn't interest him he can't b bothered..
All these really confuse me.
 
Cyn here
I am as confused as u when my son displayed signs of autism when he was between 15 months to 22 months. He has all the symptoms that you mentioned above, like speech delay, play alone, don't share toys etc. But now coming to 25 months, he has opened up alot and many of my friends see the difference. To me, I credit it to Childcare. And in fact, all the symptoms that he used to have, have sort of disappear or becoming less and less frequent.

So, if your son is still young, maybe give him some more time to evolve.
 
cyn here,

Regarding the awareness of surroundings, my son is aware of the surrounding, he knows where we keep his toys and itouch, even we do it discreetly
happy.gif
 
Hi Mommies,

Am new to this thread! My 32 month old daughter has just been diagnosed with autism at DCD KKH. Seems like a long wait (6-8 months) for Speech and Occupational Therapy.

Does anyone have any recommendations for private therapy that is not so ex? I have asked 2 so far and they are quite costly...
 
Hi vern,

Ot or speech at keledoscope ard 150 per session. Their therapists quite good.
Else at planet learning centre, just over 100 ++ dollars.
My son is attending early intervention at divinity which also provides ot n oral massaging.
 
Hi Vern,
My son is attending the Speech at S$ 150.00 & the OT is SGD 160.00 per hour.

Hi Cny here,
ASD kids is smart... just that they are unable to express themselves.. & they can observe the surrounding better than normal kids.... They can sense our feeling(sad/angry/happy) better too
 
Hi ladies,

I would like to find out more about the ARC programme at Pathlight. My son is coming to 4 and he has been on the wait list for about 9 months before we were offered a place. However, the session starts at 12 and there is no one at home to bring him there. I work part-time in the morning and will be home only after 1pm. Thus, we had to give up the placement, much to our reluctance. Now, we are still waiting for a afternoon placement.

I am now evaluating my working arrangement (to see if I should quit my job) and would like to find out more about the programme at ARC. Hope ladies familiar with their programme can help.

I understand that the kids usually start off 4 times a week for 1 and a half hour per session. As Tam has shared in one of the post quite some time back, caregiver can accompany them. There is also the twice per week (2 and a half hr per session) session. May I know when (or how) will the kid be transferred to twice per week? Can caregiver accompany the kid during such session?

I have check with ARC that there are no transport arrangement provided. May I know who usually bring the kids to ARC for their sessions? Parents? Maids? Are there such a practice where a few parents actually hire a school bus to ferry them to and back?

Also, anyone of your kids has attend Wee Care? They have a programme for SN kids.

Appreciate your sharing as I am reluctant to quit my job (financial point of view) but at the same time wants the best help for my son.

Thanks.
 
my cousin's son is already 13yr old and she has sent her for many types of therapies, jin jyut tsu and types of food. heard from her this morning, that she currently found help at this website and her son doesn't look autistic now, even if you sit next to him to eat.

last time, he used to shout and yelled but now he has quitened a lot with the supplements recommeneded. you may seek doc's advise on this website too.
 
i can't comment much on this website and it's help cos it depends on individual performance/acceptance. so, please discuss with your doc on this, should you want to give it a try.

my cousin's autistic son is in malaysia, while those in singapore may have better awareness of autisim - so best choose to seek doc's opinion before pursuing to any of the recommended steps in this website.

you may alternatively take this website as information purpose only.
 
Hi glymo, my son had been with ARC since Feb 2010, so I can answer some of your questions:



I understand that the kids usually start off 4 times a week for 1 and a half hour per session.
--- Well, it really depends on the assessment by the teachers prior to starting the program. My son was put on the 4 day intensive prog which was deemed to be able to help him more (a more regular intervention, rather than just twice weekly).

As Tam has shared in one of the post quite some time back, caregiver can accompany them.
--- Yes. My helper accompanies my son for about 2-3 days a week, while I try to make it at least once a week. (when I'm 'free-er' I'll go twice a week). Some kids had their grandparents with them too. One kid I know had a shadow teacher following.


There is also the twice per week (2 and a half hr per session) session. May I know when (or how) will the kid be transferred to twice per week? Can caregiver accompany the kid during such session? ----- My boy made some progress after the 4-times-a-week intervention last year, so his teachers recommended he go on the twice weekly intervention (a different intervention totally, doing different things)

I have check with ARC that there are no transport arrangement provided. May I know who usually bring the kids to ARC for their sessions? Parents? Maids? ---- parents, maids, grandparents, less common are shadow teachers.


Are there such a practice where a few parents actually hire a school bus to ferry them to and back? - parents are there during intervention, you can speak to them to see if anyone's interested. MEanwhile, you can try this bus driver who plies Sengkang to AMK area, he has ferried one of the kids to and fro home and ARC last year, I was interested, so I got the number from his mommy: 93820650

Hope the answers help. Do pm me if you have anymore queries.
happy.gif
 
Hi glymo, forgot to mention why the need for parents to be present for the intervention. Personally, I have benefitted from it as I actually pick up skills from the teachers in how to handle my son, and I can talk to the teachers about difficulties I face with him and they can try out strategies to address the difficulty, then advise me accordingly.
As we are working mothers, it is not possible for us to be there every session, but do try to make it at least once a week.
 


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