Follow Up Visit at Sunway Medical

Yesterday we met up with the developmental pediatrician for a follow up consultation. The first meeting was 6 months ago. We spent an hour and a half with her. She did some developmental test with Reese, we had a chat about his progress over a couple of issues (mainly social). 

Overal there were improvement but there are still a few key issues that we need to continue to work on. His lack of empathy, his inability to 'blend in' with people, taking instructions from others and co-operate in group activities/ learning. Hopefully in the long run with time and maturity he will improve in these areas. 

The doctor also asked about our future plans for Reese. I always knew what I wanted for my son and yet when she asked us I was a little lost for words. I told her that I will continue to homeschool him as long as I can and when he is older we will enroll him for gifted programs from U.S. Deep down in my heart I knew I need guidance. My son is no ordinary kid. Hopefully the pedi can guide us along the way. 

The pedi said that by this year, Reese will have to take a series of IQ test and then we work from there. He should be ready for them. If we want to enroll him for any gifted programs, we will need those test scores.  It's not going to be cheap. 

So does Reese have Aspergers Syndrome? Maybe and maybe not. It's complicated. There are some signs that say yes he has and yet there are some that are contradicting. The pedi does not want to label him and just said that at the end of the day, what is important is that we are able to help him over come some of his social issues and thus able to blend-in in society. We agree. 

The pedi was also impressed with Reese's artwork but she commented that all his drawings lack human presence! She actually shown some of Reese's work to another expert and the first thing the expert commented was "There were no people in his drawings!". It's true. Reese never likes drawing people. It's not normal. Mmmm... 

It was a good meeting and we are looking forward to hearing from her about the testing. All these years, I have been wondering how gifted is Reese. There are a few levels of giftedness and each level of giftedness can be very different from the other. 

Level of Giftedness
Gifted or moderately gifted - IQ 130-145
Highly gifted - IQ 145-160
Exceptionally gifted - IQ 160+
Profoundly gifted - IQ 170+

Educational Board Games

Think Toys (The Curve) is having a moving out sale and everything is 50% off. I went to their educational section and was so happy to see all the Learning Resources educational games. They have games for Language Arts and Math. It's really a bargain! Mostly priced around RM79 per set and after discount RM39.50. I bought 3 games. Came home did some research and all the games I bought have good reviews. :)

I bought Reading Riddle Maze, Cooking Up Sentences and Alpha-Bug-Soup

We also bought this for Reese since he asked for it. It was quite an impressive set. Has secret passage way and even a dungeon and a draw bridge. It comes with a few figurines as well. It was RM99.50 after 50% discount.

Alpha-Bug-Soup

As they play, early readers build letter recognition and vocabulary skills. Players roll the die, pick up disks, and move the little critters. Then they call out words using the selected letters and collect bug disks when correct. Skilled players can make the game more challenging by adding new twists and turns. One variates is to increase the amount of words called out and used more letter disks. Add the timer and the pressure is on! It includes 16 Critters, 84 Letter disks, 4 game cards, 1 sand timer, 2 number cubes (Dice), 72 transparent chips and game board. For 2 to 4 players.

 Cooking Up Sentences

Proper grammar—easy as pie! “Chefs” follow recipes to make complete sentences by gathering and correctly identifying parts of speech. Draw a Free Ingredient Card, and add the funny word of your choice to the mix. Read complete sentences aloud for giggles and spoken grammar practice. Parts of Speech Cards feature color-coded backs for self-checking. Includes 19" square game board, 150 Parts of Speech Cards, 4 double-sided Sentence Recipe Cards, pawns and spinner. For 2-4 players.

 Reading Riddle Maze

Kids improve their reading and listening comprehension skills without even realizing it! Players read a riddle, then move across game board maze to collect the tile with the riddle's answer. Maze pieces, which can be rearranged, allow for multiple ways to reach the answer tiles. The first player to collect three riddle cards wins. Double-sided tiles provides two levels of play. For 2-4 players. Includes game board, 81 tile cards, 80 riddle cards and instructions.

January 2012

Been busy with work and getting into a routine for our homeschooling after all the holidays. We got a little lazy! Our schooling journey thus far was quite good. Reese was reluctant to do his work and was always finding ways to get out of it! It was tough and my temper did not help either. But after a week of scolding, crying and talking, Reese finally realized that he has no choice. I had to explain to him that if he wants a better life in the future, he needs to learn and earn money the easy way! I gave him examples of hard labour equals very little money and one has to toil under the hot sun and vice versa. At the moment, he equates money to better life but he doesn't understand that there are other factors that will make living life meaningful (Will have to tackle this area when he is older) :)

Reese is playing better with other children. In fact, every time  when a playmate has to go home, Reese will complain that he has no one to play with him. He has been asking me to arrange playmates for him. 

As with adults, whether familiar or not, he communicates well with them. :) I think socially he has matured quite a bit.

Next Wednesday we will be having a follow up session with the developmental pediatrician. I am glad to say that we have only good things to tell her about Reese and hopefully she will declare Reese normal and disassociate him from Aspergers Syndrome. :)

Waiting at the concert hall...

Last Sunday we went for a concert at MPO's Family Fun Concert. It was our first as a family. A little bit of drama happened because we were not aware of the dress code (Smart Casual). We were there an hour before the concert and had to dash home to change clothes! We live in Kota Damansara. Anyway, it was quite good and Reese enjoyed the experience. We will go for the next in April!

January is coming to an end and we will be traveling to Penang this Sunday at 4am or 5am (to avoid traffic jam) for CNY and be back in KL on Tuesday! Crazy but no choice. Hubby can't take any more leave else it would be nice to stay longer instead of just 2 nights. Really not looking forward to the hot weather and traffic jam in Penang!

We are all counting down to our trip in February! 31 days to go.... yes!

Fun Activities Just Before The End of 2011

With no classes and lots of free time, lazy me finally did a few activities that were long over due. We baked and made jellies! Did some crafts too. We went to the science centre a few times, did some science experiments at home. Overall it was a good break for all of us.

Reese helping me to mash bananas. Our first experience in baking a cake together!

Banana cake came out moist and yummy!

Silly me bought whipped cream and it melted in no time! So decorating the cake was not possible. Reese ate up all the M&Ms.

We made a batch of jellies together for the first time. Not bad at all.

Daddy taught Reese how to use a screw driver. Boy's thingy!

Both busy at work!

There.... a wooden truck.

Painting time!

I am King Arthur! We made the crown and decorated it together. Reese is very much into role play.

Do You Remember KALKITOS?

Back in the 80's, there is one childhood activity that I loved very much. I actually forgot the name but after describing it to hubby, he told me it was Kalkitos. What is Kalkitos? It is a collection of rub-down transfer activity game. Players are given sheets of blank scenery which they can fill up wherever they like with transfer pictures of people, animals, objects, vehicles to create their own unique stories. It is simply a great way to let your imagination runs free!

I have been wondering why it is no longer available for this generation of children. It was such a waste until a month or two ago I saw it at Cziplee Bangsar! Yes! I found my Kalkitos!! BUT... it is expensive. RM22 per pack. So that deterred me from buying and it doesn't look very appealing in terms of the illustration. 

Yesterday I was at the bookshop again and this time, I decided to buy one because deep down in my heart, I really missed it. :) I bought one of the K-Atlas series. Since it has some of the famous landmarks my son loves, why not? educational right? 

After opening it, I was a little disappointed with the content. For RM22, I expected more pictures for transferring. Anyhow, everything now is more expensive. Can't wait to introduce it to Reese. Here is their website http://www.kalkitos.sg/  

Hands feeling itchy! :)

All Set for 2012!

We had a simple Christmas celebration this year. Nothing fancy just dinner with love ones and celebrated my father's birthday. Reese got quite a lot of gifts. Educational toys which will add hours of fun for him :)

Some of the books for next year

In less than a week it will be new year. Time sure flies huh? Well, it is going to be an exciting year for us! Reese will be starting his homeschooling again and we will be doing 1st of 2 years of World History under Sonlight program. I am very excited. Science looks interesting too. Now, Math... mmmm... Reese dislikes Math and thus I slow down a lot. He will be doing Grade 2 Math and I hope he will show more interest next year! 

Homeschooling has become easier as I have learned quite a few things from experience. This time, I am more organized and preparation time was less. We have just set up a new workstation for Reese as he has outgrown his table and chairs. 

New workstation 

There will be more field trips and activities for Reese next year. Oh, and more playmates too! We are also looking forward to our Europe trip in February. It is going to be a really wonderful field trip for Reese. He will be learning about Ancient Rome next year and being able to be at those historical sites for real.... ah... just wonderful! Reese is a lucky boy. :)

My Instructor's Guide and program schedule all done for the 1st 3 months!

Obscene and Embarrassing!

A couple of days ago, while on our way to a picnic lunch with my friend and her twin girls, Reese started talking about sexual organs in the car. First he exclaimed loudly that his testicles hurt! Then he said his penis hurts! It was really embarrassing! I was apologizing to my friend and the more I asked Reese to stop the more he talked about them! Then he went on to talk about fallopian tube, vagina and a whole lot more! My friend was chuckling away and I felt very uncomfortable. Luckily the girls didn't know what those words were. 

He has been talking about production of sperms and how they swim into the vagina, milky liquid and everything about reproduction! He talks about it at home and also when we are outside. When I tell him not to talk about it while outside he will ask why not? So hard to explain to him. Imagine strangers who do not know us and listen to our conversation or the things Reese talks about.... what would these people think of us parents? Gosh.... 

Hope this interest on human production will quickly pass..... 

The amount of knowledge he knew about human anatomy at this point in time is equivalent to 5th-7th grade biology! And probably secondary level for certain specialized topics of human anatomy. Seriously. 

He can describe with scientific names the digestion process, functions of the different organs in the human body and draws the organs in the right positions in the body, the nervous system, muscular system, the skeletal system, immune system, division of chromosomes and etc. Do you know the names of the 3 white blood cells? I don't but my dear son knows... they are neutrophills, macrophages and lymphocytes!! Quite a mouthful right? 

I seriously need to catch up but I don't quite like biology!