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 It seems that every time I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of being a parent, life throws me another bend. We recently completed a round of assessments at the National University Hospital (NUH)’s Child Development Unit (CDU) on my daughter Gabby. The reasons for these tests start 2 years ago, with a passing remark from a paediatrician. Gabby’s lack of eye contact and attention span, during a visit to the children’s emergency at NUH late one night, sent alarm bells going off for the doctor attending to her. He felt we might want to test Gabby for autism.
When I bring this story up to people, the word ‘Autism’ sends most of them into a panic. Well, back then, we freaked out too. Now, I know autism to be a spectrum disorder. What that means is that it affects people to varying degrees. There are those who are very mildly autistic. They get by like normal people but may seem quirky to others. Then there are those severely autistic, like the character in the movie ‘Rain Man’. We couldn’t get confirmation about the autism 2 years ago because Gabby was too young to be tested. But I know Gabby’s no rain man so I thought she might be sitting on the border, and I soon forgot about this. Until this year, with Gabby now in Kindergarten 1, there’s an increase in work like writing and reading. The husband and I noticed her short attention spans creating a problem for her in school. So we went back to the CDU.
We’re only getting the detailed report later in June but what we do know is that Gabby’s IQ score puts her at the border of mildly gifted and gifted. I think a number of parents would rejoice at being told their child is gifted. But I’m taking it with a pinch of salt. Since I’m the ex-teacher in my family and also the one with the Masters in Early Childhood education, the husband turned to me and asked what’s our next step to address her giftedness? I told him let’s look at history. Both my husband and I qualified for the local Gifted Education Program. Difference is that I entered the program but he remained in mainstream. Learning from history, it is up to us to work with Gabby’s teachers to challenge her academically. It is when she has a chance to idle that she gets up to some mischief.
As for the specifics of what we have planned, I can only say “akan datang”…
- Grace
This is Grace's first blog @ the EduCommunity. As an ex-secondary school teacher who discovered a calling for a younger audience, her sojourn into the world of Science has taken her from the classroom, to Science Centre Singapore, and finally to ePopular, where she is our very own in-house Science editor.
What are your thoughts on this blog? Do you have similar experiences to share? We would love to hear from you.
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