All About Autism
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tyeogh:
so the sch fee subsidy was from $420 drop to $370 first, then now to $350.jme:
isnt school fee $350?
Yours could be after subsidy. Win liao lor. Got subsidy. Maybe i can go complain....
Er....if you can get subsidy for school fees, confirm can get for transport. Maybe you should go check it out. Nett nett could be a lot less than $290.
(so, drop about $ 70) -
tyeogh:
$350 no subsidy lajme:
isnt school fee $350?
Yours could be after subsidy. Win liao lor. Got subsidy. Maybe i can go complain....
Er....if you can get subsidy for school fees, confirm can get for transport. Maybe you should go check it out. Nett nett could be a lot less than $290.
http://www.pathlight.org.sg/admissions/ ... -subsidies -
PL is famous for loads of homework and there's also the online portion... Taiko, don't worry about running out of things to complain
The weekend journal is kinda fun. The teachers will also get the kids to read out what they wrote to the rest of the class. Helps in their speech and confidence. Now at P2 the themes get really specific instead of just describing your weekend. Last week we got the topic of describing a sound, chim-ness. -
Meaning my son in mainstream is more relax? Hardly any homework. Even if there is, not more than 2 pages. Wonder if I should be happy or worry.
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Happy. Homework is bad for marriage. One should never go through school twice. They should give HIM the homework, not me!
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Double E:
Meaning my son in mainstream is more relax? Hardly any homework. Even if there is, not more than 2 pages. Wonder if I should be happy or worry.
Hi Double E,
Yours got Chinese spelling? -
Gisten
Now that your child is in the secondary track, care to share the journey in reaching this stage? eg. in choosing subject combination (ie. standard vs foundation), PSLE and what does the secondary track offers. As well as the satellite model.
TIA. -
Indeed how time flies. It looks as though it was just yesterday that we were jumping in joy when we received Pathlight's acceptance letter. My boy wasn't very verbal and not too responsive when he started in Preparatory class (now it has been replaced by P1 Foundation), and very rigid in his routines too. He was attending ST and OT at SPD then. However I stopped his ST at the end of the year after attending for 3 years because SPD had been engaging therapists from India. We found that my boy had somehow picked up the Indian accent. Within a year, he had 3 Indian speech therapists.
In P1, my boy continued to be rigid and lacked of space concept too. His form teacher had to make him some visual cues to remind him not to stand too close to people. Also, I had to feedback to his teacher how successful the Daily Living Skill lesson was when the students were taught of the emergencies phone numbers. Apparently my boy had made numerous silent calls to the police, until one fine day the police called back to issue us a warning.
In P2, my boy started to become competitive. He wanted to be the first in everything, especially during exams. Not first being the top scorer, but first to complete the exam papers. Needless to say, his results weren't that pretty. However, the father was very proud and satisfied when he saw our son completing the 25-pages Math exam papers in just 17 min and yet scoring a 71, but that was not the point. Since then before each and every exam, I have to painstakingly remind my boy to do it slowly and steadily, instead of doing it fast but all rubbish. This year, he was selected to join the school Performing Arts team and still is even up till today, which I think it really helps to build up his confidence and be more open up. Also, I stopped his OT at SPD end of the year because ever since the therapist whom my son had worked with for 4 years left, the replacement hadn't been consistent with the sessions. She was in the midst of her course and she constantly took study leave and it was very disruptive to our schedule. So, no more ST and OT, only the educational therapist whom my son had been working with since 6 years old.
In P3, he became quite verbal, and less rigid. He still kept track of the time closely though and would erase the whiteboard promptly for next lesson whether or not his classmates had finished copying. Overall, we were seeing more improvement in him. With the introduction of Science, it was more academically emphasized. Mini class tests were nothing unusual.
In P4, my boy was very verbal and his awareness was high. His antenna could even reach to other classes and other levels. He could tell me who were the newly transferred students and previously from which school. He even \"volunteered\" himself to be a student councillor. Before I could help him in preparing for interview, he told me the interview was over and soon later I received letter that he was selected for student councillor. P4 can be quite a stressful year due to the course banding end of the year. My boy repeatedly told his teachers that he wanted to take standard course, though deep inside my heart I knew with his calibre he couldn't cope with the vigorous curriculum. However, at IEP I still opted for him the full standard course, as what he had always wanted. In Pathlight, there are full standard, merged and full foundation courses. In merged class, one will do standard English, with either Math or Science being at foundation level, or both Math and Science at foundation level. Also, for those taking standard subjects, there will be a 6-month probation to see if the child is suitable and can cope with the curriculum, the management will review the suitability after P5 SA1. Like mainstream schools, parents have total say in the decision making and can disagree with the teachers'recommendation. I made a deal with him that if he really couldn't make it and was asked to drop to foundation class, he could not complain and must accept the reality. He agreed.
The first half of P5 was nightmare. Just as I expected, my boy had difficulty coping with the subjects. Even his forte subject Math also didn't do too well. What do you expect when the problem sums are nothing but a big chunk of words? Sometimes I really don't understand if primary school Math is testing on language or Math solving skills. Thus, he was dropped to foundation after SA1. The school was very nice by supplying us the foundation textbooks and workbooks for free! Initially I was still worried that money would be wasted getting both the standard and foundation books. After dropping to foundation, my boy was actually happier and his self esteem was also higher as now he could perform decently well in his exams. Unlike in mainstream schools, whereby some students with results in the 30s or even 20s are still taking standard course; in Pathlight to be eligible to take a subject at standard level is 45 marks. In this year, parents have no say in the decision making, but can appeal if you strongly think that your child will definitely do well in PSLE by taking it at standard level.
In P6, it's all about preparing for PSLE, very academic driven. There are supplementary classes twice a week, no more outing, supplementary classes during school holidays too. Many of my friends and even some parents think that Pathlight students are sitting for different set of PSLE which meet their abilities. This is totally no true! Pathlighters are taking the very SAME PSLE exam as the mainstreamers, no special discount. So meaning that our children's results are also put on the same bell curves as all others, as what other parents are talking about in the PSLE thread. The only special thing that the Pathlighters have, depending on individual's needs, is that the child may be allowed to bring in a comforting toy, or to take the exam in a separate room, or to have a reader to read out the questions if the child is diagnosed to have dyslexia, etc. Other than that, the exam papers are exactly the same as what the national cohort is taking. The fun only came after PSLE whereby the P6 students went for outings, movie watching, and also manning pushcart selling tidbits, small toys and stationeries during recesses. The boldest thing I have ever done to my boy was to sign him up for the 5D4N graduation trip to Perth. It was the very first time he went on a trip without parents by the side, but I was confident that he would be in good hands, think the teachers were more worried than the parents. Indeed, he enjoyed himself very much and took many photos. Each pupil was given an iPad to take photos and pen down his/her reflections. After the trip, all the photos taken by the child would be saved and stored in a thumb drive and passed to the parents. The students also learnt about fine dining etiquette for their graduation night where they would be wearing formal wear and having fine dining.
Now my boy is in Sec 1, with new set of worries like puberty, and Internet addiction etc, super headache. The Sec 1s will report at Campus 1 for morning assembly and after which will transit to Bishan Park Sec School for their lessons. The curriculum for Express and Normal Academic courses are the same as the mainstream schools except that in Pathlight, the students do not learn Literature, 1 subject lesser. Normal Technical course is the same. For Express and Normal Technical courses, it will be a 5-year programme to O level and N level respectively instead of 4 years in mainstream, and Normal Academic is 6 years to O Level instead of 5. That is the school allows an extra 1 year to prepare the students for the national exams. For lower secondary, Pathlight students are only using the facilities in the satellite schools, no classroom integration with the mainstreamers. That is, the Pathlight students have their own classrooms in satellite schools and the teachers are from Pathlight too. The only integration is probably during recess, but according to my boy, Pathlighters sit and eat among themselves whereas the BPSS students sit and eat among themselves, no mingling yet. Only at upper secondary, then there will be chances of having integrated lessons with the satellite school students. But again, these pupils are handpicked ones, not all will have the chance to have integrated lessons.
Well, this is my boy's journey in Pathlight so far... A very long post, hope didn't bore anyone... -
Gisten
Thank you for the positive sharing. It makes me like the school even more. My boy has just started his foundation class. Not much homework yet... Maybe because it is still the honeymoon period. There are plenty of updates from teachers n school. Just today I received notes on what was taught for English, maths,discovery,IT, daily living skills, SEM and even PE. It is quite reassuring for the parent to know what the child is doing/learning in school
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Niu2009:
Yes, both Eng and Chinese.Double E:
Meaning my son in mainstream is more relax? Hardly any homework. Even if there is, not more than 2 pages. Wonder if I should be happy or worry.
Hi Double E,
Yours got Chinese spelling?
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