PICS of the celebration

I have been good

Yeah, Can say so, Darren has been very good this week, that's why I have nothing to write since the last time I wrote something on Sunday until now. He throws less tantrum now, and he can focus more. He can sit down and do his tasks for 30 mins at least now. Eventough still no speech, but I belive it will come soon, just have to be patient.

He will have his performace on Friday for Christmas, at Fei Yue. Eventough just a small role, but just like Uncle Ng said, u need small roles to do big roles. So, this is a good start for Darren. He will be able to do something bigger the next time, I believe this.

Today is Jie Jie Jing Jing's b'day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIE JIE! Eventough Darren & Derrick were not there to celebrate with you, because we sleep early. But we wish you here :-)

Drooling & blinking of eyes

It has been a week, Darren keeps blinking his eyes & lets his saliva go down to his chin. I asked Sanjay abt this when we met him just now. He said maybe it's because his focusing level is higher now and he always forget to swallow his saliva. As, for the blinking, he has no definite answer, it's a mystery of the autism world.

I played the CD that Sanjay lent to me last week, but he didn'y like it and always cry. So, we are changing to "Samonas" CD - Guitar & flute. Let him listen to it a while a go before his bedtime. He seems to like it a lot, keeps laughing and flipping his hands. I hope this has to be the right CD to help him to improve. We are still waiting anxiously for the day when he can talk to come, so far nothing with meaning yet.

Tomorrow supposed to have a session of ST with suan lin, but not sure if she will can cancel it again or not. Darren likes to go to that place, maybe it's because suan lin usually will let him do whatever he wanna do. No forcing... so he adores her, haha.

Tomorrow it's hiking time again, hope it will not be raining............Rain rain go away, come again some other day.......little children want to play..........

WHEAT!!

I was looking at the bottle of Brown rice powder Darren always drink with his soya milk, and to my horror, it contains 5% of wheat! GF/CF diet Darren is on is avoiding, Casein (animal milk, dairy products), gluten (baker products), yeast, wheat, soya, sugar. So, I have to stop his "kids chelat" for 2 weeks at least, to heal his leaky gut caused by yeast overgrowth, to make sure it's okay before starting the chelation process again. So, that it will not backfire.

Summary from "Children with starving brains" book:

What parents can administer themselves (All can be purchased from www.kirkmanlabs.com) :

* GF/CF Diet, info can be found all over the internet. (NO animal milk, dairy products, baker products, sugar, sugar from apple & grapes, chocolate, etc)

* Enzyme; to balance the impurity caused by eating non GF/CF food by mistakes.

Given in every meal. Kirkman Labs sell 2 types DPP-IV Forte or Enzyme complete with DPP- IV.

* Probiotics, to heal leaky gut.

* Multivitamin & mineral without copper. For overall well being.

* B6 & Magnesium

* Calcium

* Vitamin C

* Vitamin E

* Vitamin A or Cod Liver Oil

* Essential fatty acids; EPA, DHA & GLA

* DMG/TMG & folic acid

* Folate

* Vitamin B12

* Grapefruit extract. For immune system.

Darren is doing better & beter each day. Today he went to Fei Yue. The teacher doesn't have to drag him to his seat now, he walked there & sit down all by himself. And teacher reported that he is very excited today, over everything. Means his attention level is higher now. He is aware of his surrounding.

Potato milk

Today is Fei Yue for Darren, he is happy, laughing & giggling away. That's what the teacher told me. And she reported that his concentration is higher nowadays & able to sit for 30 mins to do his tasks, which is a good sign.

Sanjay suggested that we started him on sound therapy. He lent me his CD & I play it everyday at around 7 or 8 PM for 10 mins. Since we have difficulty asking him to put on his headphone. I decided to foget about it and just play the music from our cd player inside his bedroom. I will put on headphone & listen to my own song while i accompany him during the sound therapy session. He has the therapy for 3 days already, so far he is very happy with the music, but i can't really see big leap in his performance yet.

This afternoon was at the library reading a book called "Children with starving brains", it's about biomedical treatment for autism kids. They mentioned about GFCF diet (Darren is in it), Vitamin B6 & magnesium (Darren is in it), Calcium (Darren is in it), Probiotics (Darren is in it), Milk thistle (Darren is in it), Vitamin C (Darren is in it), Multivitamin (Darren is in it). I think Darren need to add some other supplements in his diet; to maintain the minerals & vitamins lost during his chealtion process, they are selenium, zinc, cod liver oil (Omega-3), vitamin E & multi amino acids. The book also mention that GFCF diet need to avoid soy also, but now Darren is drinking soya milk, so I am a bit worried. Because they believe soya is feeding the yeast inside his body, which is not good, it will caused yeast overgrowth & causing gut leaking, which will make the chelation process backfire. I think no choice, we have to buy the potato milk from kirkman labs also. sigh... I can't believe how other autistic parents think that drinking goat milk is okay for their children, when i know that goat milk also contains casein, which is not good for autistic kids. But, well everyone has their own beliefs.

The holiday is coming very soon......... Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.....

Kirkman rocks!

Finally the shipment from Kirkman Labs is here! I am so grateful for the speedy shipment. I mean they are doing autistic kids business, so they know what is speedy shipment is.
I gave him his B12 injection today, hope he will not have difficulty sleeping tonight, as always happen after he got the jab.

He took his nap for 15 mins only today. Nowadays he seldom take his nap, and after school usually he will feel very sleepy and throw a big tantrum. And he must go into his room by 8 PM. But he will only sleep at around 9.30 PM to 10 PM.

Today is going to Fei Yue, his favourite place. But holiday is coming.... for a month. from 1 Dec'07 till 1 Jan'08. I was thinking wanna let him learn swimming for the holiday, but the instructor told me that this month is a rainy season, so usually they don't advise us to take any lessons as it will be a lot of cancellations because of the rain. So got to be next year then.
I found the swimming instructors' contacts from the forum, they have some experiences working with children with special needs. U see, that's one of the advantage of peeping into autism forum. Parents of another autistic kids know best of everything.

Since he can't take his swimming lesson, I am thinking of letting him go to piano lesson instead, because he likes piano a lot. But until now have not found any instructor who has experience working with children with special needs.

The teacher at Fei Yue said he can sit for longer period & very focus today. Maybe it's due to the B12 jab. And because he took in his calcium & probiotics before go to school. So, you see, you can't deny that supplements help him a lot :-)

Darren will be involved in a performance on 30th nov'07 @ 4.30PM at his school. haha. Papa was wondering yesterday what kind of role can he play? he can't even be a tree who doesn't need to act, because he can't stand still at a place. So, I asked his teacher this afternoon. She said he will be just ringing a bell with the jingle bells song. wahahaha. Even that task is maybe too difficult for him, as he will run away. We shall see ;-p

Darren..Na..na...na

Yeah, that's what Darren is able to utter after more than a month on "kids chelat". He is a lot more aware of his surrounding now. Able to turn when being called, and will turn to see if he heard someone screaming behind 0r near to him. This is one great improvement!
I believe he will be able to talk in a while, which will make me less worried, as he will be able to say what he want and need, so temper tantrum will be less.

Today he is doing quite well at PCS JW, after the teacher followed some advices by Vivian. He is able to sit down on the chair and do his tasks. His teacher is really greatful that she made that trip to Fei Yue. haha.

He has not taken his probiotics & calcium powder for 3 days, and he keeps blinking his eyes nowadays. I am still waiting for the shipment from Kirkman labs to arrived. As I will stop buying from SIngapore source which is quite costly. Hope the shipment will be here tomorrow....

"Classic Autism"

"There is general agreement that, in its full-blown form, autism involves a triad of impairments—in social interaction, in communication and the use of language, and in limited imagination as reflected in restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour and activities. Those who combine all three impairments to a marked degree have the classic form of autism, so named by Leo Kanner, a psychistrist at Johns Hopkins University, in 1943. But much larger numbers have some of the traits of autism."

This is what I found from the internet about classic autism. Because today Vivian told me about Darren, and that he has classic form of autism. Because some autistic kids have only one or two of impairment/s described in "classic autism", but Darren has 3 of them, which is impairment in language, social skill & limited imagination. Which, sad to say is quite right.

Till today, he has not utter a single meaningful word, he doesn't really look at strangers and sometimes doesn't even realised that someone else is in the room. But this has improved a bit, at least he will look for a while when someone enter the room, & he still plays the same toys everyday, balls, musical toys, shakers & bubbles. He does play with toy cars, ride-on car or puzzles sometimes.

His teacher from PCS JW was visiting him at Fei Yue today, because she is still very puzzled by Darren's resistance of not seating on the chair during his task at her centre. She was surprised to see that Darren can sit for a good 25 to 30 mins at Fei Yue. So Vivian was sharing with her, that Darren needs to be "cornered" when doing tasks. As in have to put him in a very small place which he can't move around, no escape route. So, he will focus and concentrate on the tasks given to him. He is also not up to the level where he could move from one point to another point just to let him see the picture cards of doing the next task. But the teacher doesn't seems to agree, she said she will do it because she has one successful case, so we have nothing to say. And Vivian was also sharing with her that Darren can't be asked to do like set of 8 tasks then given break, because he is still a very young boy and his impairments makes him even harder to focus. So, she suggested on doing 2 tasks, then break, then move on to the next 2 tasks & so on. Which I think it's quite right.

PCS is an integrated cildcare, I am hoping he can do his N1 to K2 there & be ready for his NORMAL Primary 1 when he turns 7 yo. That's my short term goal.

Vivian told me Darren has got lots of improvement. He shows more eye contacts now, more focus, able to use picture card to ask for his snacks, less temper tantrum, & better social skill (he likes his friend Jarrick, and will follow him around during OT sessions :-), this sounds like heaven to me! Papa, we should feel happy that Darren has move on to this stage, I can't imagine if I am still working and leave him with the maid, what will happen to him. SO, papa, all your hard works to earn money to feed so many of us doesn't go down the drain, Darren will be better in no time. :-) we love you

More & more normal

Darren likes being cuddle nowadays. He will want me to hold him in my arms for long period of time, which i can't really take it anymore as he has grown up, 14 kgs! This is also a good sign, as i observe that Derrick also like being cuddle & hold in our arms.

When Darren is crying, I will imitate him, and usually he will stop in a while. But it's quite tiring for me. haha. The teacher at Fei Yue asked me about the bump on his head. Told her is self inflicted injury, as he likes to bang his head against the floor when he is upset for God knows reasons. Yesterday he cried and he said "nen..nen..nen" But he just finished his milk. So I kept asking him what he want, but didn't manage to force any words out from him. I will keep doing this, asking him what he want when he is upset, maybe miracle will happen and he will say what he want out of desperation, hehe.

The teacher at Fei Yue will consult their head psychologist and they will try to come out with a solution to stop him from his self injury behaviour. His tapping is less now, but he still tap, on cupboard, on glass, any surfaces that can make sound, according to Fei Yue this is one of bad habit, but according to Sanjay, this is just a way of coping, because he can't do a lot of things so he resulted to tapping, just to release himself. Just like when we can't do our exam questions and we will bite our nails. So, i am not sure who is telling the right thing. But his tapping is nothing compare with his biting & licking of non-food objects, that is one behaviour i categorised as bad behaviour, as it's not very hygienic. But until now, noone ever come out with good way to prevent him from biting & licking non-food objects. God knows when he will get over this.

Crying whole day long

Darren is crying the whole day today. I guess it's because we added the chelation liquid to 7 drops now. He was like that also the last time we added the dose from 3 drops to 5 drops. I think the body just need to get used to it. That's why he cries a lot and fidgets a lot.

I tried giving him big hug & squeeze him between my arms, he just loves it. I think I read before from a book, that autistic individual doesn't show affection such as hug, because some of them are sensitive to touch, that's why they invented a machine just to squeeze the person in between impersonating big hug. We are lucky because Darren is not sensitive to touch, only sometimes a little too much feeling ticklish. hehe. & he is still very obsessed with his bags.

Now I realised that the chelation liquid is so expensive, it's around SGD 70+ not inclusive of delivery charge (+ SGD 27.75 delivery charge), but if it can make Darren more normal, we are willing to do anything. I decided to purchased all of his supplements from kirkman labs now, as it will be a lot cheaper. Milk thistle, calcium, multivitamin, probiotics, DMG & Folic acid, Magnesium & Vitamin B6. It will set us back around SGD400+, but it will last for many months compares to buying it from Singapore, which will only lasts for a month.

Derrick can imitate a lot nowadays, from the adults & from TV shows. For example, usually when he did something wrong, i will reprimand him by saying.....hah hah hah hah...see see see...i told you so!, now whenever he sees us drop something he will say that also. wahahahaha. Papa says he is just like a "small adult". Smart but very naughty! sometimes can't take it!

West coast park

We went to west coast park for a while yesterday. Brought Darren & Derrick. But by 7+ PM Darren showed that he is distress with the "kum...kum...kum.." sound. I don't know how to describe it. haha.

Derrick ran around the park & seemed to be very happy. But he fell asleep after we reached home, and so was Darren.

They have lots of sand pit playgrounds at west coast park, but Darren & Derrick don't like the feeling of sands on their little feet, so we moved to grassy area. This is Darren's favourite. He likes the texture of trees & grass.

I have increased the chelation liquid to 7 drops by this week. He shows great improvement in speech. He talks & babbles a lot more nowadays. Hope his vocab will improve in no time.

His understanding of language & gestures are better also. The teacher at Fei Yue told me that he could bring his snack box & water bottle to the small cubicle on the wall where his bag is, with only verbal prompting & pointing.

But his temper tantrum is getting worse. He has blueblack on his forehead resulted from him banging his head against the floor. He needs attention all the time, whenever we step out to do some household chores or just to drink water at the kitchen, he will get very upset because he can't see us around him.

Darren & Derrick are asleep now. So it's my own time now.... TV & computer.

Derrick is still as rebellious. Nowadays, whenever he is angry, he will knock his head against the wall or floor just like Darren. So, usually I will let him be, to let him know that is not the way of trying to get our attention. Hope he will learn that it's a totally wrong way. He has the habit of throwing objects also, just to show his anger. Usually I will slap his hands for this. Real bad habit....... He has a nickname now "MAFIA BABY".....hahaha

Speech is coming up

Darren seems to take real good reaction to brushing. He make more speech now. He will experiment with his mouth & tounge to make different kind of sounds. I am happy for him, but I think I will forgo the vitamin B12 injections from next month onwards. It really pained me to see him have to endure all the injections. If he is okay with supplements, OT, ST & brusching, I think it's more than enough.

Finally the famous yahoo group for parents with autistic kids approved of my membership with them, so now i can look at all the posting by parents there. Yeah, we need all the support we can get. As some of the parents have been though a lot. More years of struggling, more years of experiences than us. I hope i will not say the wrong thing there. I usually dislike forums. Whatever u say, sure got ppl say something, so usually I will only read up the postings, but seldom post anything.

My maid is leaving end of this year. But papa said we will have to get another maid, as sometimes we need to go out for relaxing a bit or run errands. We will still need someone to look after the kids for us. But this time round, I will be looking for a christian maid, as it will be easier for her to blend into our family. She will be able to cook, & to eat together with us. We dislike it when maid has to be treated as a maid. All our previous maids have real good lives with us, but none of them appreciated it......

Darren has fetish for his school bag now. Keeps dragging it around the house, sleeps with it & plays with it. Just check out the pic, hahaha

All the hell broke loose!

Finally my maid confessed to me that she indeed has a bf here in Singapore! She said they have known each other since April 2007. So, we decided not to renew her work permit once it's expired. But papa said, she can go and find a new employer now, and just go when she can find one. We treated her not bad at all, that's what i feel. But she does this thing to us. We are a bit dissapointed. We still thought we have found a good maid who can maybe work for us for many many years. But, too bad....

It will be a hard period on us, but i belive we will go through this. Once the kids have grown up. I can do whatever I wanna do.

So temporarily, will be no exercises sessions for me. But still can exercise at home......

Darren is good today, nothing much to say.

Papa's power

Derrick is only afraid of papa now. When papa is out working, we are having a hard time trying to tell him to do the right things. He sleeps with papa every night now, so no more sleeping at 12 midnight or waking up in the middle of the night and walk around the room. He tends to throw things to show his anger, which is not an acceptable behaviour. His toys are all damaged because of this bad behaviour.

I am thinking of putting him at the child care for half a day, as he is not verbal because at home his koko is not talking also. He might pick up some languages mixing with other kids at the centre. For now, as the maid is still here. We are thinking of putting him from 7 am till 1pm, so that when i am sending Darren to school, she can't go anywhere as Derrick is around.

I started do brushing for Darren yesterday. Once in the morning & once at night before he retires to bed. Seem to be working well this time. He slept throughout the night & woke up at 7.30 am.And he keeps babbling to himself today.

I was doing a set of floor time activity with him yesterday & he likes it. But have to wait till Derrick is not around, then I can teach Darren properly. He is such a nuisance, trying to be in front when i am trying to teach Darren. Next month he will be at the childcare centre for sure.

Went to bukit timah hill for our sunday exercise again yesterday. I can cope better as this is not the 1st time already. I have to build up my stamina & keeps going. Wanted to go jogging this morning but it's raining. Maybe will go in the evening. I saw some interesting mushrooms at bukit timah hill yesterday. Check out the pics!

Listen to your mama!

Finally I managed to put song to this blog with help from Jin Jing. hehe. thanks girl! I think this song is more suitable, as Darren & Derrick always never listen to whatever i am trying to say. Especially Derrick! He is so rebellious now, when I ask him to do something, he will do the opposite of what he was being told to do. He has joined the opposition party!

Darren cried for more than 2 hours last night, according to the maid. Slept at 11 PM, woke up at 5 AM, slept again, woke up at 7 AM. That's why her face was so black last night when we reach home. This afternoon, Darren pointed to his stomach when papa asked him why he is crying, so papa guessed that he has stomach ache, so rubbed some oil on it. He smiled after that.

Went to his ST at Citris today. Everything was fine. He was happy. And he was very angry over Derrick this afternoon, because whatever he was trying to play with, Derrick will snatch it! He cried, ran around the house, & tried to bang his head to the floor. He also said di...di...di...di, so papa beat didi, and brought him to the room to take his nap. At least now Darren is able to show his emotion, which is a good sign.

Seminar on sensory integration & communication

I attended a seminar on sensory integration & communication at Sanjay's. I am amazed when i found out that in order for an individual to communicate, you will need a whole lot of stuffs to function together. For example, have to be able to stay compose/calm, be able to relate & read the facial expression of the person you wanna talk to, be able to organize yourself & have ideas on what you need to say, etc. Now i understand why communication & language don't come easy for those with developmental disorder, as a lot of their body function is not in order, it's not supporting each other well. Thus, resulting in jumble up of sensations & make them do or say something odd ot the rest of the world.

From there, i also learnt that Darren falls under "under aroused" category, as he is hyperactive, his anxiety is high whenever he sees something he doesn't like & he can't stay focus on one task.And i realised now why sometimes he runs from room to room for a good 25 mins without stopping, according to sanjay, it's because he is not given any task or activity to occupy himself with. So, I decided, maybe i will try out the brushing on him again starting from tomorrow. We have to try everything we can, as long as it will not do him any harm. I will try to implement floor time play activity with him 3 to 4 times per day, 30 mins each time. That's my resolution starting from Monday. I want to see result, We want to succeed in helping Darren, so I have to do this no matter how hard I find it to be, as he doesn't really wanna do anything for long with me. He likes to step on my legs and pulls my hair.........

Went to Jin Jing's place today for spaghetti. Quite yummy "yum yum". Thanks Mr & Mrs Ng for the invite. And, I am not sure if the food was prepared by our god daughter? Too bad I had to go late, because the seminar ended at 9 PM. But the kids are really noisy in playing games, until neighbor comes to the door. So malu!

Woah! It's Sunday again. Ah Bee going to tumble tots in the morning, and in the afternoon is Ah boy's ST session at Citris (not sure if she will cancel the class again tomorrow? hehe). Because I am craving for "Kolo Mee" near Citris. Yum yum, it tastes like my hometown. Yeah, I miss my hometown foods always.

Mrs. Mohan from PCS JW was telling me that she wanna go to Fei Yue on Monday to see how Ah boy is doing over there. I consulted Vivian Lau, the head psychologist at Fei Yue, she said they would like Mrs. Mohan to write email or phone her, so they will see when it's convenient. Yeah, I think that's the way too. Will have to tell Mrs. Mohan on Monday morning.

Ah boy refuses to sit at all at PCS JW, but he can sit for 20 mins doing his table tasks at Fei Yue. That's why Mrs. Mohan is puzzled & wanna see how Fei Yue makes him sit. hehe

Another friend is getting married

Went to a friend's ROM dinner last night. Brought Derrick along, but it proofed me stupid. He made the whole lot of noise when he is denied access to anything that is dangerous (e.q china plates, bowls, etc). And he wanted to run around the restaurant, which design is not kids friendly, with lots of steps around. I swear, I will never bring him along on another outings.

Darren was already asleep when we reached home. He woke up at 5.30 AM this morning. Didn't make any noise but smiling instead. I made milk for him and he finished it swiftly. Crawled to the mattress when he saw me coming with the milk in hand. I am so happy to see that. At least he was not crying and beating his own head. He is becoming more and more "normal" now.

I am trying to set up an online business, selling bags and fashion jewelleries, because i think i can make use of my computers since i like to play with it so much. Another small income for this fulltime home maker. I really hope i can contribute something to the family, because Papa is very stressed up with big responsibility. But no matter how small a business is, sure still needs some capital. So can't do it that big yet as all suppliers has Minimum order quantity (MOQ).

uuuhhmmm

Yeah, I really don't know what to write today. But Darren was sleeping well last night. He woke up at 7 AM this morning, so it's not that bad.
He screamed the whole morning and woke Derrick up at 8 AM. Now they are having their breakfast at the living room.

Issue to ponder about:

Do you think that maid having boyfriends in Singapore is a social problem? Yes, I think so. Once they have bfs, they will not perform well. Those organisation for migrant worker always said that it's not wrong for maids to have bfs, yeah it's not wrong, but when their having bfs is affecting their work performance, that is serious, as we employers pay 500+ bucks for them every month.I will not like the idea of supporting my maid having bfs here in Singapore. Even those with husbands back home, are also having a bfs here in Singapore. I just can't stand the sight of seeing my maid with her mobile phone every min of the day I look at her. Well, just close one eye for now, till contract is finished in March next year.

I think next year can put Derrick in half day child care, so that i can do a bit of house work and bring Darren to school. Without maid is inconvenient, but I'd rather do all myself, than have to stand them with their bad behaviours.

Derrick refuses to eat home cooked soup + rice now, he wanna eat out everyday. But I don't let it, as the food from coffee shop has a lot of "ajinomoto" which is not good for baby like him. So, he losed a bit of weight because of this. He just refuses to eat rice or drink milk, but we are forcing him to eat, so he will gain back a bit of his baby fats.