Change in Venue and Updated Information

Due to the high level of response from potential attendees of the October 15 talk, we have booked a larger venue that is only five minutes away from the original venue. Here is the address of the new location:

Paya Lebar Kovan Community Club, Badminton Hall
Blk 207, Hougang St. 21
Singapore 53027
Contact No.: 6284 4261

Currently, there are parents who are already interested in signing up for the parent training programmes. Please e-mail me at kchoo7@gmail.com for a registration form and payment information. Parents who would prefer to hear the talk before making any commitment will have the opportunity to sign up for the programmes after the talk. At this juncture, the parent training programmes are definitely on, although the days of the sessions have not been finalised – it will be dependent on your response.

The children’s learning programme will only be launched if there is a sufficient response and interest. Since additional preparations will be needed for the implementation of this programme, your early expression of your interest in the programme will be necessary for us to decide whether to hold the programme.

Alternative options such as individualised consultations for the creation of the home-based programme are also available. Please e-mail me to let me know of your interest. We can also discuss other possibilities and ways to meet your needs and concerns. I would like to help all the families as much as I can.

Individualised Parent-Based Training Programme

Individualised Parent-Based Training Programme

The following offers a concise summary of the ten-week parent training programme for parents of autistic children. Details about the sessions and the comments are provided in the table below – Please READ them very carefully to help you make your decisions about which sessions will be of interest to you.

Cost: $40/session – Each session is 3 hours long. All handouts and learning materials are included. Parents who are attending all ten sessions will get a discounted rate of $350.00.

Venue: Please contact me at kchoo7@gmail.com or 8163 4509

Time period: Ten-week period (once per week); Available days of the week are Monday, Friday or Saturday, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Parents can choose which days they would prefer to attend the training course. The first course may start as early as the week of October 24th.

Please note: The available days are dependent on the level of demand.

Class size: In order to ensure the effectiveness of the training session and adequate attention for all participants, the class size will be set at no larger than 20 participants.

Weekly Session Topics

Week 1: Introductory Session
Ø Philosophical Tenets of the Training Programme – To help parents to shape their mindset and perspectives on how to work successfully with their children.
Ø Individualised Evaluation of the Child – To help parents to learn how to create a constructive profile of their child in order to develop an appropriate individualized learning programme.
Ø Overview of the Five Components of the Learning Programme: Academic, Social, Sensory, Living Skills and Exercises – To highlight the key areas of concern that should be addressed by parents in their formulation of an individualized learning programme.
Ø Basic Techniques for Teaching and Interacting with Child – To give parents a fundamental understanding of how they should implement the learning programme.
Ø Description of the Remaining Sessions – To enhance parents’ ability to work effectively with their children beyond the learning programme.

* It is advised that all parents who are interested in this training programme attend the introductory session to determine which areas of the training and learning programme are of interest to them. The subsequent sessions will focus on each of the five components of the learning programme; stress reduction strategies for parents; and the opportunities to apply learning to their children in the training setting.

Week 2: Academic Component of Learning Programme
Ø How to design an individualized learning programme based on the profile created in the evaluation of the child.
Ø How to select and modify various types of therapeutic approaches and communication systems that are effective for eliciting learning: Behavioral modification approaches; Floortime Therapy; Sensory Integration; Social Stories; Picture Exchange Communication System; and etc.
Ø How to select and utilize a variety of media and aids for eliciting academic learning that caters to the child’s unique learning styles: opportunities for hands-on learning; visual organizers; use of computers; sensory objects; and Fischertechnik building toys.
Ø How to design an appropriate learning environment for your child: Apart from the physical design and the atmosphere for learning, the parent also has to take into consideration how the learning should be done – the schedule; the inclusion of sensory breaks; the options for children to do their work in different ways.
Ø Samples of work created for Sebastien will be used as an example of how the academic learning programme is created: The idea is for parents to understand the rationale of the programme, not to replicate it blindly. Rather, parents need to understand why they have selected the task.

Week 3: Social Component of Learning Programme
Ø How to elicit eye contact from child.
Ø How to help child learn the social scripts for daily functioning: greetings; basic courtesies; and etc.
Ø How to address anti-social behaviours such as non-compliance, transition difficulties and aggression.
Ø How to engage in spontaneous interactions with your child – story time and play time.
Ø How to use embedded teaching to maximise your child’s use of social skills at all times.

Week 4: Sensory Component of Learning Programme
Ø Help parents to understand the significance of the sensory difficulties experienced by your child;
Ø Affordable strategies for dealing with your child – using daily items and yourself (yes, you are the best sensory tool for your child).
Ø Examples of items and live demonstrations of strategies.

* In my opinion, this is the 2nd highly recommended session to attend.

Week 5: Living Skills Component of Learning Programme
Ø How to teach your child self-care skills necessary for daily life.
Ø How to help your child participate in mainstream activities in public settings.
Ø How to help your child develop the skills necessary for functioning in mainstream society such as recognizing the value of money and using the MRT.

Week 6: Exercises Component of Learning Programme
Ø How to utilize exercises to elicit the best performance in your child
Ø Live demonstrations of exercises such as breathing exercises and yoga will be provided.
* Because this component is going to be underrated by all of you, I would like to let you know that your child will learn best when he or she is physically and sensorily stimulated. This is where the exercises come in. To me, you cannot compartmentalise a person into separate aspects: physical, mental and spiritual. It is particularly the case with an autistic child. Something that affects one area will also influence the other.

Week 7: Healing and Stress Reduction Strategies for Parents
Ø To learn about the importance of your own healing and stress reduction in your child’s learning experience.
Ø To acquire basic breathing and meditation strategies.
Ø Live demonstrations and practices will be used.

* Once again, I feel that this area will be under-rated by all you parents because it does not deal with your child directly. To me, this session is another must-do session because your child will function at his or her best when you are functioning at your best – there is no question about it. In order to be successful in delivering an individualized programme, you must be in good shape – physically, mentally, psychologically and spiritually. Raising an autistic child is like running a marathon and you have to have the stamina to keep going day after day. This session will teach you how to replenish your energies and recharge your batteries for you to survive your challenges on a day-to-day basis.

Week 8: Creation of the Individualized Education Programme
Ø How to create an individualized education programme based on the profile of your child.
Ø Small-group discussions and individualized assistance will be provided to help parents create their individualized education programme.

* This is the promise of the training course that parents will leave with a ready-made individualized education programme that can be used immediately.

Week 9: Honing the Individualized Education Programme
Ø After one week of trying out the programme, parents have the opportunity to use this session to identify any problems or strengths in their programme.
Ø Small-group discussions and individualized assistance will be provided: This is the session to help individual parents to fine-tune your programme.

Week 10: Bring Your Children Day: Application of Behavioural and Sensory Strategies
Ø This will undoubtedly be a highly challenging session because we are introducing our children.
Ø Its purpose is to allow parents to apply some of the educational approaches and sensory strategies discussed in this programme.
Ø A nurturing and fun setting will be provided for the children.

* As stated above, this will be a tough session. Parents who believe that their children will be able to function in a new group setting are encouraged to bring their children. Otherwise, it is up to you to decide to skip this session. The objective of this session is to allow me and other parents to see whether your application of the approaches and strategies is appropriate for your children.

In order to assist us in our preparations and implementation of the courses, please e-mail me at kchoo7@gmail.com to let me know which of the three days work for you. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. Please include in the e-mail the age and the functioning level of your child. We will try to group parents based these criteria.

Amidst the Choices between Nightmares, Parents Should be Empowered to Educate Their Autistic Children

In the U.S., the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) entitles children with disabilities to a “free and appropriate education.” To parents of autistic children in Singapore, the U.S. must seem like a paradise, in the face of chronic shortages of affordable services for their children. However, before all you parents start packing your bags, I must warn you that the quality of the services in the U.S. leaves much to be desired. Many parents of autistic children from Asia and the Middle East have already made the move to the U.S., only to return home, disillusioned by their experience with the public school system. After one year, they realize that the quality of the education received by their children was definitely not worth the sacrifices of separating from their loved ones and their homelands.

Before you shake your head in disbelief, let me introduce you to just a small sample of the “inappropriate” professionals I had encountered in my seven-year navigation of the special needs education system in the U.S. They include: a manipulative and abusive teacher with Asperger’s Syndrome (a high-functioning form of autism) who could not interact properly with either the children or the parents; a speech therapist who suffered from speech defects; a School Psychologist with unintelligible speech; along with apathetic teachers and classroom aides who were not interested in helping the children to learn.

When parents complain about these professionals and seek their removal, they encounter bureaucratic and political barriers. Fearing the financial repercussions of lawsuits launched by these individuals, school districts dole out indefinite “second chances”; transfer them from school to school; or leave them on the payrolls even when they are no longer working. The interests of the diverse adult parties are thus promoted at the expense of the well-being of the children.

Confronted with these choices between nightmares, what is a parent of an autistic child supposed to do? Even though I was living in a country that purportedly had the best practices and widely available services, I was compelled to take the initiative to be the “expert” of my son. As I observed the specialists and educators struggle to get my son to make eye contact, follow directions and interact with them, I realized early on that I could not simply depend on them to lead my son out of his world.

Consequently, over the last seven years, I acquired a treasure trove of ideas and strategies that were modified or extended from their traditional versions. I became aware of the power of my knowledge and experience when the changes I made to the professionals’ approaches were effective in helping my son to discriminate between a ball and a diaper; imitate speech; read and write. This awareness was further affirmed when I found myself alone in my efforts to identify strategies to curb my son’s aggression and succeeded.

Looking back on these few years, I realize that I had invested the greatest effort in helping my son. Not because I was the most knowledgeable, or even the most experienced, professional. Rather, it was simply because I had the intrinsic motivation and the natural incentive to do so. At the end of the day, after the school bell rings, when the hour of the therapy session is up, the professionals have the luxury of bidding my child and his issues farewell, till the next time. For me, there is no real reprieve. If I do not find the solutions to combat his difficulties, I know that they will continue to wreak havoc in our lives, long after his therapists and educators have departed.

Because of my own journey, I believe that parents are an invaluable and untapped resource that should be used to address the lack of affordable services for autistic children in Singapore. Instead of waiting for specialized professionals and institutions to come to the rescue, parents in Singapore should rise to the challenge of educating their children. By enrolling in various training programmes, participating in autism conferences and forging connections with their peers, parents can serve as a viable substitute. To contribute to this endeavour, I have created a learning programme in order to train parents to provide quality home-based educational services to their children.

It is time for parents to empower themselves by converting their frustration and helplessness into meaningful activity. With our accumulated knowledge, experience and commitment to our children, we can make a difference in their lives. Although the road ahead is paved with difficulties, parents who are willing to embark on this path of self-sufficiency will never look back in regret, as they accompany their children on their challenging paths.

Redefining Achievement: Acknowledging the Achievements of Individuals with Disabilities

Recently, Singapore celebrated its four decades of existence by broadcasting the achievements of Singaporeans from all walks of life in the MRTs. While these images appear to project an inclusive vision of Singapore, they do not include individuals with various types of disabilities, particularly those with developmental disorders such as autism. On the surface, it may seem obvious why one would exclude individuals with disabilities from a discussion on achievement. However, I would like to implore my readers to open their minds to an alternative definition of “achievement” – one that would embrace individuals with disabilities.

What are the achievements of individuals with disabilities?

The achievements of individuals with disabilities can be found in their perseverance in carving a niche in a world that makes little accommodations for their difficulties and sensibilities. For them, every step of the way, which we take with ease and for granted, is paved with hardship and difficulty. Yet, they continue to take these baby steps.

I would know because I have been trudging on this rocky path with Sebastien, my nine-year-old son, since he was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. Because of his autistic condition, my son’s mind, with regard to social norms and interactions with others, was akin to an empty slate. While typical children are seemingly preprogrammed to acquire social expectations and language, Sebastien needed to be taught about them from scratch.

Our path forward has been a painstaking journey in which steps forward are often followed by multiple steps backwards. Yet, however painstaking these steps have been for me, this journey has been infinitely harder for Sebastien. Lacking the trust in his limited language capacity, Sebastien has to confront his fear of the unknown everyday, never knowing what is happening for sure until it is actually taking place. The sights and sounds that overwhelm his senses are also challenges that he confronts on his own.

Nonetheless, over the last seven years, I have watched him take those baby steps, get lost amidst the detours of aggression and retrace his footsteps onto the right path. He has certainly come a long way since his initial diagnosis. The following are just a few examples:
At two years of age, Sebastien could not make eye contact with anyone for a fleeting second. In avoiding the human gaze, Sebastien had erected a safe fortress to protect himself from the unpredictability of human beings. Today, he can maintain a sustained gaze with anyone. He possesses a limited curiosity about human beings around him and acknowledges them with his brief looks and even hugs and kisses, when prompted.

Starting from a place of virtual muteness, Sebastien now speaks in full sentences with prompts, along with one- to two-word utterances spontaneously. Instead of flipping through books from cover to cover at the speed of light, he now willingly labours over each word on the page.

While the prospect of visiting new places used to fill his two-year-old self with fear and anxiety, Sebastien is now able to go to diverse settings that would be considered sensory nightmares for most autistic children. He had mingled with crowds amidst the blaring sounds of slot machines and flashy lights of Las Vegas. In Singapore, he blends into the flow of human traffic that surges in and out of the MRTs during peak hours.

Finally, the two-year-old child who used to tantrum and engage in aggression when asked to do academic work has transformed into someone who embraces “homework” as one of his preferred activities.

Although Sebastien’s achievements may pale in comparison to those of his typical counterparts, they challenge Singaporeans as a society to rethink the meaning of “achievement.” Through their efforts, individuals with disabilities demonstrate how human beings can transcend incredible odds to lead a meaningful life. In their courage and will to live, individuals with disabilities have much to teach those of us who take our existence and our abilities for granted.

So, to my son and all individuals with disabilities, I salute you and your indomitable spirit. Keep on fighting the good fight.

Sebastien on his 6th birthday 

Kah Ying and Sebastien 18/9/05 

An Invitation to Parents of Autistic Children to Join Me
On an Extraordinary Journey

Overview

Faced with the chronic shortages of affordable educational and therapeutic services for autistic children in Singapore, what can a parent do? Instead of waiting for agencies and specialised professionals to come to our rescue, I, a parent of a nine-year-old autistic child, invite you to embark on a rewarding journey to learn how to do it yourself.
If you are interested, please join me in a parents’ share session where I will introduce my individualised parent-based learning programme for children with autism. The objective of this programme is to train parents to carry out their own individualised learning programmes that cater to the unique learning needs of their children. A pilot learning programme may also be available for children with autism, depending on the level of demand.

My Background

In this session, I will share with you my personal journey of educating my son in the U.S. Even though there were many therapists and educators who provided services for my son, I discovered early on that my involvement was critical in ensuring the effectiveness of the learning experience for my son. As a result of my extensive involvement, I learned from the good and the bad professionals -- what to do and also what not to do, respectively. My confidence in wanting to share my knowledge and experience with you stems from the success of my efforts in helping my son to learn and improve over the last seven and a half years, often without the effective assistance of outside professionals. In fact, over the last few years, I found that I was increasingly relying on my own resources and strategies to deal with my son’s learning difficulties and behavioural issues.

Parent-Based Training Programme

I will also describe in brief my individualised parent-based learning programme for children with autism, which targets the following five areas:

Academic: Individualised teaching approaches that are shaped to cater to the specific learning needs, preferences and styles of the students will be used.

Social: The social component will address the following concerns of autistic children: eye contact; basic courtesies and social scripts; behavioral modification for anti-social behavior; story time, circle time and play time for group interaction; along with embedded teaching to ensure that children are practicing social skills at all times.

Sensory: Various activities will be used to deal with autistic children’s sensory disintegration that affects their ability to process the environmental stimuli effectively. They include body work such as brushing, deep pressure, stretching of joints; and the use of household items to serve as therapeutic tools.

Living Skills: The purpose of the living skills component is to help the children to acquire skills for caring for their daily needs; participating in mainstream community by exhibiting appropriate behaviours; and dealing with the challenges in the mainstream world such as understanding traffic lights and the value of money. A field trip into the community will occur on a weekly basis.

Exercises: Apart from regular physical activity such as playing at the playground, students will also have the opportunity to engage in exercises such as yoga designed specifically for children with special needs; relaxation exercises; and stretches.

By the end of the ten-week training programme, parents would have learned how to design and implement an individualised learning programme for their children, as well as other autistic children. Parents will acquire the basic teaching approaches and strategies for working successfully with their children. Furthermore, parents will also be taught self-care skills to cater to their physical, mental and psychological well-being. We need to be functioning at our best in order to help our children. The demonstration of simple breathing and meditation exercises will be offered in one of the sessions.

Format of Teaching

Live demonstrations of teaching child
Handouts
Samples of work that can be created for child
Interactive participation with group work and strategising

Learning Programme for Autistic Children

For parents who do not have the time and the resources to create and implement such a programme, we will also be creating a pilot programme for children with autism, which will cover the five aforementioned areas, depending on the demand and availability of staff. The adult to student ratio will be 1:3. Apart from learning in the classroom setting, students will be led on weekly excursions to places of interest such as the zoo, the birdpark, the science centre and other places.

Venue: Learning to Learn Centre
Blk 221 Hougang St. 21, #01-90
Singapore 530221 (opp. NTUC)
(Kovan MRT station, exit Heartland Mall)

Time: October 15, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

If you can make it, please let me know.