The Breakdown

 I thought it might be helpful if I listed the classes we go for and what I hope to achieve from these classes. 

1. Early Intervention - 4 times a week/3 hours a session: $800/month

2. Occupational Therapy - Once a week: $80/session

3. Speech Therapy: Once a week (1 hour session): $210/session

4. Behavioural Therapy: once a week (1 hour session): $353/session

5. Piano class: once a week (45 minutes/session); $100/session

6. Mainstream kindergarten: $1,800/term

7. Hanen course: there were about 8 classes I think, to coach me in the Hanen way in communication. 

I want to be clear that this was not intended to be more classes the merrier type situation. It was through trial and error, finding classes that addressed a particular need. In all fairness, anyone working fulltime would find it very tough to fit this all in their schedule. I worked part time for close to 6 months, and managed to do Speech and Behavioural during weekdays after school and also my Hanen course. 

Now that I’m back full time at work he goes for intervention in the morning and mainstream school in the afternoon. We do the speech, behavioural and piano during the weekend. 

Something that I was in a dilemma in, was, do I still put Ren in a mainstream pre-school? Is that a requirement, if not what is the purpose. Social exposure was one thing I knew that would be hard for me to replicate for Ren if he did not attend kindergarten. My Paediatrician also shared that, we want to give him as much exposure as we can, thinking long term as he integrates into society, it is good for him to be around neurotypical kids and build his social skills. I suppose everyone has different goals and ideals, I felt that this made alot of sense to me. 

As for the extra therapy, we faced quite a lot of challenges with Ren transitioning, listening to instructions and being quite rigid. Hence, we took on Behavioural therapy to help him understand certain concepts, like listening during class, taking turns.. etc. and till date, I have seen massive improvement and so we continue to attend this now. 

Speech therapy, I cannot emphasise enough, how important it is to meet a therapist with the same amount as passion as you, to want to see a child succeed. She is my Hanen coach and also Ren’s Speech therapist. Since starting these courses, Ren has been able to express himself so much better with words, request for things, comment on things, ask questions! The improvement he made in the past 6 months surpassed anything I had set expectations on. And I cannot credit our speech therapist more for this. 

Piano class was something extra, I wanted to also have him learn a skill and also work on his finger motor skills and instruction taking. I spent quite alot of time in the class with him, but now he attends it independently. We have the most patient and creative teacher who comes up with ways to help him thrive! 

Looking back, there were hits and misses, time wasted and wins. It isn’t a perfect journey. To be honest I started these extra classes and piano only this year, that was after spending 1 full year in Early Intervention and whilst he improved, there was still a lot more work to do. 

There is no perfect route, did I wish I had all the money in the world and time to devote everything to Ren? Sure! I would if I could, I remember going for a trial to a center that was highly rated and had proven scientific methods for helping ASD children improve. It costs at least 10k-20k a month, and the other question was, why am I doing this? Am I hoping he will become “normal” but what is normal anyway. I felt like I’ve completely let him down when I couldn’t afford it. But looking back, it’s all a blessing, because I made a career pivot, spent more time and effort with him and became much more involved. I think that’s what he needed, our time, love and support. 

Sending love to all the parents out there, you’re doing amazing!