Teachers’ Day Training @ Red SchoolHouse
We are honoured to be invited to Red SchoolHouse for their Teachers’ Training for helping children with special needs in a school setting. The training was conducted in both English and Mandarin. We are grateful for the warm welcome and like to also thank Red SchoolHouse for the gifts of appreciation.
We look forward to conduct more trainings for more preschools. Happy Teachers’ Day!
Liyuan, Clinical Director of AutismSTEP, on UFM 100.3!
Our Clinical Director, Liyuan, was featured on UFM 100.3 earlier today! Liyuan was invited to be one of the writer for a Handbook for parents with children with Autism. Mandarin radio channel, UFM 100.3, interviewed Liyuan to ask about his contribution to the book and also his journey as a therapist and tips for parents for children with Autism.
Below are some candid shots of Liyuan at Singapore Press Holding (SPH), while waiting for the interview.
Entrance
Waiting Area
Walkway to live studio
In the recording studio
Live interview!
Below is the footage of the whole interview!
Teachers’ Training at Eshkol Valley
Our Clinical Director, Liyuan, had an opportunity to conduct a Teachers’ Training session for the teachers in Eshkol Valley Preschool today.
Eshkol Valley believes in all round nurturing for every child. The school accept children as young as 2 months to 7 years old and believes in keeping teacher to student ratio low so as to provide better attention and support for every child. They have also won Cherish Junior Award and Healthy Eating Award.
On behalf of AutismSTEP, we will like to thank Eshkol Valley for giving us the opportunity to share with their teachers what we know about Autism and how we can better help our children.
Autism STEP won the Best in Early Intervention Programme for Children with Autism for the 2nd time!
Autism STEP has recently won the Best in Early Intervention Programme for Children with Autism for 2017/2018. This is the 2nd time that Autism STEP has won this title. 
We will like to take this chance to thank all the families that has supported and trusted in us. We are also very thankful to have a great team of Case Managers and Therapists to have helped us be the 2 time winner for this award.
Preparation for Charity Run: Autism STEP Towel
We have just received the towel that will be one of the items within the goodie bag for the upcoming Autism STEP Charity Run that will happening on 30th September 2017 at 4.00pm at Punggol Waterway Park.
Tickets are still available for sale at: https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/autism-step-charity-run-2017-tickets-36242610624
Hope to see all of you on the 30th September 2017!
Autism STEP and National Parks Collaboration: To Build Playground for Children With Special Needs
National Parks has kindly invited Autism STEP as their consultant to give feedback and suggestions on a playground that they are going to build in Jurong Lake Garden (JLG) for children with special needs. St Andrew Autism School and Eden School are part of the consulting team as well. Liyuan, Clinical Director of Autism STEP will be representing Autism STEP to help out in this project.
A 2 hectares land size will be used to build a playground that will be suitable for children with special needs and disabilities. A total of 8 sub section will be created based on the characteristics of animals for our children.
Liyuan had went for the first meeting earlier today and has express great enthusiasm. He is also looking forward to see the changes that will be taking place in the next few years. The playground is expected to be completed in 2019. In no time, there will be a playground that will be designed and catered to our children.
‘I’m not bad, I’m not ill, I’m autistic’: Woman’s relief on being finally diagnosed at 42
Loud noises and bright lights terrified her, school gave her meltdowns. For years Dawn-joy Leong didn’t know why, until she found out she had Asperger’s Syndrome, she tells On the Red Dot.
SINGAPORE: For over 40 years, Dr Dawn-joy Leong struggled to come to terms with some of her eccentricities and social awkwardness.
She had always known that she was different from her friends and relatives, but couldn’t figure out why.
It was only 10 years ago, when she was 42 and her struggle neared breaking point, that she discovered that she was on the autism spectrum – and it all made perfect sense, as people with the disorder sometimes face difficulties communicating and interacting with others.
Unlike autistic children who are diagnosed early and if need be, attend special needs schools, Dr Leong attended a regular school which turned out to be daunting – at times, even traumatic.
Dr Leong is extra sensitive to sound and light, common among people with autism spectrum disorder. “School gave me endless meltdowns. I spent all my energies in school coping with the lights and the sounds.
“Classroom sounds were excruciating because the children dragged their chairs and desks were moved around,” she recalled.
‘I COULD HEAR CHICKENS SCREAMING’
The sensory overload also resulted in her having frequent meltdowns at public places such as wet markets.
“I grew up at a time where the wet markets allowed the fresh slaughter of chickens. I could hear the chickens screaming and the water boiling.
“For a regular person, it was probably nothing, part of the background noise. But in my head, it was like an orchestra, very loud,” recounted Dr Leong, now 52.
Charity Run 2017 – Autism STEP
5km Charity Run organized by Autism STEP to help fund the children with autism for their therapy and treatments.
Come along to our annual charity event in aid of our families with children with autism.
This event is organized by volunteers from Autism STEP and money raised through sale of tickets and donations will be 100% used to help these families in need.
Bring along your friends and families to help support this event!
Event Details
Date: 30 Sep 2017, Saturday
Time: 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Venue : Punggol Waterway Park
4.00pm: Registration and tickets collection (Event Lawn @ Recreation Zone)
4.30pm: Briefing and warm up
4.45pm: Let’s run!
6.00pm: Prize presentation
6.30pm: Dismissal
Attire: Casual (Jogging attire)
Tickets must be purchased in advance, there are no ticket sales on the door. Please collect your tickets at Event Lawn @ Recreation Zone on the day of the event.
Tickets and donations can be made through: https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/autism-step-charity-run-2017-tickets-36242610624
Free admission for children below 12 years old.
Feel free to email us at signup@autismstep.com if you need further clarifications.
Thank you and hope to see you at the Charity Run on 30th September 2017!!
Special needs kids go missing in the blink of an eye
A 16-year-old boy with autism wandered the streets and braved the elements for a stretch of 10 days last month.
The slim-built boy had gone missing at about noon on March 14 at Tah Ching Road, off Yuan Chin Road in Jurong. The police sent out a missing person appeal on its Twitter account on March 16.
His frantic parents and staff from his school Grace Orchard, which caters to students with mild intellectual disabilities, combed the island, but were not able to find him.
Friends went online to help them spread the word about the lost boy but, for more than a week, there was no news of him.
It was only a full 10 days later, on March 24, that the teen was found by members of the public in Bukit Panjang. He was wearing the same clothes which he was last seen in – a red and white colour striped shirt and brown shorts – and believed to be barefooted.
It is still not clear how he managed over those 10 days – what he ate, what he drank, where he slept, how he spent his days – but the family was overjoyed to get him back in good shape.
His parents declined to speak to the media.
Incidences of children or teenagers with special needs going missing seem to be happening more frequently, say people in the special needs community, though there are no official statistics.
According to the latest data, 1,839 people went missing in 2015, up from 1,776 in 2014.
The police do not have a breakdown on the specific numbers of young people with special needs who have gone missing.
Apart from the 16-year-old teenager, several other similar appeals circulated on social media recently.
Last Sunday, a student from Rainbow Centre also went missing, and was found after a four-hour search at night.
In February, Calder Kam, a 12-year-old boy with autism, was found at Changi Airport after a three-hour search.
His mother Brenda Tan had let him out of sight for just a few moments in Hougang, and the boy had boarded a bus in that time and taken a one-hour bus journey to the airport.
Said Dr Lam Chee Meng, principal autism consultant at Autism Resource Centre: “We observe that more families are resorting to social media to help find their children with special needs who may be missing, and this development may have led to the observation that more are reported missing.”
He added: “More parents are also open to taking out their children with special needs compared with the past.”
Said Dr Yang Chien Hui, senior lecturer of the early childhood education programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences: “More children with special needs seem to be going missing because the number of children with special needs has increased in recent years, and the public also has better awareness.”
In the case of the 16-year-old boy, The Sunday Times understands that he was lost and unaccounted for several times last year.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development said it has since worked with various parties “to provide the boy and his family with the necessary support to ensure his safety and well-being”.
Ms Koh Soek Ying, 51, whose son Ryan, 21, has autism, said it is a delicate balancing act of trying to train him to be independent, yet knowing that his “cognitive ability will forever leave him vulnerable to the world”.
Ms Koh herself had a huge scare a few years ago.
Her son had a swimming competition at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. The teacher was leading them in, but paused for a moment to look at the scoreboard outside.
In the blink of an eye, her son vanished. The teacher panicked and went to the spectator stands to alert Ms Koh.
Fortunately, they found him in the warm-up pool not too long after.
Ms Koh said: “We do keep them accompanied all the time, and we try to act like a 360-degree surveillance camera, but they are easily distracted and can disappear within seconds.
For full article, please visit: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/special-needs-kids-go-missing-in-the-blink-of-an-eye
4 Easy Steps To Get Your Child Started On Our ABA Program
We often receive feedback from parents about long waiting list and long waiting time to go through consultation, assessment and placement in centres and schools for their children. In Autism STEP, your child can have assessment as soon as the very next week and therapy can commence in no more than 3 weeks!