Tag: special needs

The Role of Occupational Therapy in Helping Kids Manage Motor, Attention, and Sensory Challenges

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in About Us, Others, Tips for Parents.

Occupational therapy (OT) plays a crucial role in helping children with special needs to develop essential skills. It provides support to improve motor skills, build attention span, and regulate emotions, particularly for children with developmental delays, ADHD, autism, or sensory processing issues. Below is a breakdown of how OT helps in three key areas, followed by a sample case to illustrate its impact. 1. Motor Skills Development Motor skills allow children to perform everyday activities such as writing, dressing, and running. Occupational Therapy focuses on both when helping children with special needs: Fine motor skills (like holding a pencil or buttoning a shirt) Gross motor skills (like jumping or balancing on one foot) Through fun and engaging activities such as cutting paper, obstacle courses, or threading beads, children build the strength, coordination, and precision needed for daily tasks. 2. Attention Skills Children with attention difficulties...

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Parenting Tips: The Struggles of Encouraging Play and Social Skills in Autism

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in Social Skills training, Tips for Parents.

For parents of children with autism, fostering play and social skills can be a challenging and often misunderstood process. Many parents believe that simply providing opportunities for their child to interact with typical children—such as sending them to kindergarten, group classes, or family gatherings—will naturally improve their social abilities. However, this well-meaning approach often falls short, especially for children with moderate to severe autism. The Misconception of Learning Through Exposure Parents often hope that placing their autistic child in a typical social environment will lead to improvements in socialization and play skills. While this might work for children who are high-functioning or on the mild end of the autism spectrum. It overlooks the fact that most autistic children lack the ability to learn purely from exposure or observation. Children with high-functioning autism may be able to pick up social cues and behaviors by watching and interacting...

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Parenting Tips: Setting Boundaries Without Punishment

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in Tips for Parents.

In recent years, more and more parents are becoming aware that punishment often does not lead to long-term benefits when it comes to disciplining and educating children. This shift in understanding is crucial, especially for parents of children with special needs. However, this change in mindset has led some parents to face confusion. In their efforts to avoid punishment, they often struggle to set clear boundaries, which can result in their child becoming harder to manage over time. The key lies in understanding that while punishment may not be effective, boundaries are still essential. Children need structure, guidance, and an understanding of what is right and wrong to feel secure and develop properly. Without boundaries, children can feel lost, and behavior may become increasingly challenging to manage. This issue is even more critical for children with special needs, where consistency and clarity are necessary to foster growth and learning. The Misconception About Positive...

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FAQs on Early Intervention: Addressing Common Concerns of Parents with Special Needs Children

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in Early Intervention Program.

A real-life looks at special needs When a child has just been diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, Speech Delays or Developmental Delays, questions and concerns immediately flood in parents’ mind. Parents would like to know what they need to do first, what they need to know and where to looks for treatment to help their child. We understand how parents feel and we hope that This article could offer guidance to parents by providing insights into early intervention program. Right from the start, we would like parents to keep in mind that children with special needs are children too. Just like typical child, they have things that they like or hate. They have their own personality. He or she might be shy, cheerful or sensitive. However, the primary difference lies in their learning process, as they face additional challenges in acquiring new skills. Child with special needs face more challenges in learning compare to typical child. BehaviorsMay children with special needs exhibit poor...

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Readiness for Mainstream Education: Is Your Child Prepared?

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in Tips for Parents.

School Readiness: Is my child ready to go to mainstream? Choosing the right school for children with ASD and ADHD can be tough for parents. When kids reach school age, parents often feel pressured to enroll them. However, we’ve seen that some children struggle in school because they aren’t fully prepared. This can lead to stress for both parents and children. Story 1: A Boy with ADHD Meet Ken, a 7-year-old boy having a hard time at school. He finds it tough to stay calm, often daydreams in class, and has trouble following rules. Teachers complain that he interrupts class a lot and doesn’t listen. When teachers correct him, he sometimes throws tantrums and gets sent to a discipline room. He also gets upset easily and even fights with his classmates. Story 2: A Boy with ASD Now let’s look at Tim, an 8-year-old boy with his own school struggles. Loud noises bother him, and he shouts at his classmates when it’s too noisy. He doesn’t...

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Developmental Delays: What Every Parent Needs to Know

Written by Sook Wah Chew on . Posted in Tips for Parents.

From Crawling to Conversing: The Developmental Milestones of Three-Year-Olds At 3 years old, children typically demonstrate a range of developmental milestones. Here are some common skills and abilities that 3-year-olds may display: Language development: 3-year-olds can usually speak in simple sentences of 3-4 words like I want play ball, look at this, cold water, I don’t want, help me; they also use pronouns such as “I” and “you,” and use basic grammar. They may ask lots of questions like where is it? When we go? Who give this? They also enjoy telling stories, and enjoy singing songs. Cognitive development: 3-year-olds can typically sort objects by shape and color, understand basic concepts such as “big” and “small,” and count one to three. They can complete simple puzzles and match objects. They enjoy using their imaginations to create pretend scenarios with toy kitchens, doctor kits, and playhouses. Motor development: 3-year-old...

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