Primary 1 school admission exercise for the final time / Discovery of SPD
And so... almost 3 years on, we are just about to register #3 into formal school. Just yesterday, #2's school admin staff called up and requested for us to send over some documents to facilitate the registration. I'm glad that we are spared from the pains of the exercise, having balloted previously for #2 to be admitted to the school of our choice. During that exercise, I was fortunate to be "agonised" only for the first few minutes as his was the 3rd number called out.
Clearly (from the lack of updates), we have been busy in the last couple of years but I am determined to revive this blog - though it would mostly as a platform to share information about Sensory Processing Disorder (or SPD). I've come to realised in the recent months that many things that we take for granted really doesn't come naturally for some. The behaviours labelled as "lazy" and "naughty" for e.g. actually has another story to it.
While primary school has mostly been smooth sailing with #1, I can hardly say the same for #2. Thinking back, I really can't think of any incidents that would have "caused" his neurological dysfunction, particularly in the area of proprioceptive and vestibular development. He was an easy child from birth - naturally birthed and entered the world at his own timing (he was my only child that was not induced). He nursed well, slept well, fussed little and was generally easy to manage. He also reached the various developmental milestones on time and we really had no reason to be concerned.
Fast forward to K1 - the year that children turning five would embark on formal school preparations in the preschool that he attended. The little ones start to have some homework, have more writing to embark on as well as weekly spelling to conquer. #2 was able to spell the words verbally and easily when I sounded them out to him as they are taught phonics from the time they enter the preschool. Imagine my horror (& surprise) when I discovered that he was in fact getting zero for all the spelling tests during mid-term parent-teacher conference. Remember I said earlier, he was able to spell all the words VERBALLY when I "tested" him on the way to school. Only then did we discover that he was in fact dyslexic!
In the following months, I read up about dyslexia and eventually brought him to Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). Due to his age, he could not do the computerised screening for a "formal" result. However, the therapist did a couple of exercises with him and concluded that it was highly possible that he was dyslexic. She recommended that we enrol him for weekly lessons at DAS to help him manage the condition. We did as suggested and in the months that followed, we saw significant improvement in his writing and reading ability. Towards the end of K2, DAS informed us that he had to do the computerised screening test in order to continue with the lessons at the centre. After much deliberation, we decided that 1) he was coping well enough to stop the lessons 2) we did not want him to have a "learning difficulty" record with MOE and so, pulled the plug on the weekly sessions.
Entering formal schooling was probably a "shock" for him - he loved pre-school and enjoyed the various activities that the Montessori method adopted. He was exploring through his senses in his small group of friends with a child-centered approach, learning with manipulatives for both languages and mathematics. And suddenly, he was in a class of 30, fully of noisy boys (as opposed to gentle girls in pre-school), all shouting and misbehaving. I also noticed the shift in his character - he became louder and rough. At some point between primary one and primary two, his form teacher shared her observation with me about how he was unable to pay attention and how he would constantly be putting things in his mouth (chew, bite and sometimes swallowing). The tipping point came when I found out that he swallowed staple bullets. To cut the long story short, we began the journey of finding the cause and eventually starting him on therapy. There is still so much I do not understand and need to learn but I've taken a complete shift on how I deal with him ever since.
Clearly (from the lack of updates), we have been busy in the last couple of years but I am determined to revive this blog - though it would mostly as a platform to share information about Sensory Processing Disorder (or SPD). I've come to realised in the recent months that many things that we take for granted really doesn't come naturally for some. The behaviours labelled as "lazy" and "naughty" for e.g. actually has another story to it.
While primary school has mostly been smooth sailing with #1, I can hardly say the same for #2. Thinking back, I really can't think of any incidents that would have "caused" his neurological dysfunction, particularly in the area of proprioceptive and vestibular development. He was an easy child from birth - naturally birthed and entered the world at his own timing (he was my only child that was not induced). He nursed well, slept well, fussed little and was generally easy to manage. He also reached the various developmental milestones on time and we really had no reason to be concerned.
Fast forward to K1 - the year that children turning five would embark on formal school preparations in the preschool that he attended. The little ones start to have some homework, have more writing to embark on as well as weekly spelling to conquer. #2 was able to spell the words verbally and easily when I sounded them out to him as they are taught phonics from the time they enter the preschool. Imagine my horror (& surprise) when I discovered that he was in fact getting zero for all the spelling tests during mid-term parent-teacher conference. Remember I said earlier, he was able to spell all the words VERBALLY when I "tested" him on the way to school. Only then did we discover that he was in fact dyslexic!
In the following months, I read up about dyslexia and eventually brought him to Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). Due to his age, he could not do the computerised screening for a "formal" result. However, the therapist did a couple of exercises with him and concluded that it was highly possible that he was dyslexic. She recommended that we enrol him for weekly lessons at DAS to help him manage the condition. We did as suggested and in the months that followed, we saw significant improvement in his writing and reading ability. Towards the end of K2, DAS informed us that he had to do the computerised screening test in order to continue with the lessons at the centre. After much deliberation, we decided that 1) he was coping well enough to stop the lessons 2) we did not want him to have a "learning difficulty" record with MOE and so, pulled the plug on the weekly sessions.
Entering formal schooling was probably a "shock" for him - he loved pre-school and enjoyed the various activities that the Montessori method adopted. He was exploring through his senses in his small group of friends with a child-centered approach, learning with manipulatives for both languages and mathematics. And suddenly, he was in a class of 30, fully of noisy boys (as opposed to gentle girls in pre-school), all shouting and misbehaving. I also noticed the shift in his character - he became louder and rough. At some point between primary one and primary two, his form teacher shared her observation with me about how he was unable to pay attention and how he would constantly be putting things in his mouth (chew, bite and sometimes swallowing). The tipping point came when I found out that he swallowed staple bullets. To cut the long story short, we began the journey of finding the cause and eventually starting him on therapy. There is still so much I do not understand and need to learn but I've taken a complete shift on how I deal with him ever since.
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