Speech Intervention Program
Posted on July 4, 2008
When the new school terms starts, No.1 will be going for a speech intervention program. Earlier in the year, a request form was sent home, asking if I wanted him to be assessed by a Speech Pathologist. There wasn’t any fees stated, so I happily signed up.
Then, earlier this week, the speech pathologist called up making the appointment. Why is No.1 going for a speech intervention program? He never really talked much, until he was about 3 1/2. It was his pre-school that helped him blossom into a talker. However, they didn’t emphasize much on proper pronounciation during their everyday talk, so his pronounciation of “l’s” and “r’s”, isn’t very good.
When he came here, his teacher noted of that and told me to do some simple mouth exercises. And practice saying these “La, Lu, Li, Lo”. But I think WMD has a post which has more fun exercises to do.
Anyway, when I attend his program, I shall see what the speech pathologist does…and perhaps do it at home too.
While he reads and writes well, I think if he doesn’t improve his speech, he may be rejected by his friends as he doesn’t communicate with them well enough. Even though his teacher recommended that I arrange playdates (which I have, in exhaustion!), he still needs that one-to-one treatment.
If you think your child has a speech delay, read this first. Quite a good informational site. Do check it out.
Other sites to see are :
- For stuttering : http://www3.fhs.usyd.edu.au/asrcwww/index.html
- For articulation and phonological disorders fact sheet : http://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/factsheets.cfm?doc_id=10325
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Sucked in!
Posted on July 2, 2008
It’s the school holidays over here. Two weeks of it. Do you know what that means?
Yes…Mama here does double duty. Pleasing the kids..and taking care of the household. It’s only 8pm here, and I gotta tell you…I am dead tired.
Why? Because I got sucked in. Y’see, just before the hols started, I had to see my No.1’s prep teacher. Kind of a teacher-parent meeting. She looks super strict..but she is SUPER NICE! Anyway, one of the things that she mentioned was that how quiet he was in class. Now…at the back of my mind, I was like “HUH???! He’s so damn bloody noisy at home! I’m always yelling at telling him to be quiet!”.
Anyway…one of the strategies for him to open up in class was to have his friends over for a playdate. That way, he will see them as friends and not as classmates.
SO! I have been planning with some of the mummies to dump their kids over here. Everyday, there is at least one kid (and a sibling or two, sometimes).
Can you imagine the aftermath??!!! I’ve been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I feel like a sucker! All that energy spent!!!!!!! I wish I had the Dirt Devil’s AccuCharge Stick Vac … it would be effortless!!! If I had it, I would also get huge savings on my energy bills as it is the first cordless cleaning technology to earn Energy Star Rating!
Now..that kinda sucker, would be nice! 
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Post Natal Depression
Posted on July 1, 2008
It’s real. It’s there. I don’t know why people call it baby blues…when it doesn’t feel as cute as it sounds.
Why am I talking about it? Because when my lil guy turned three months, there was an assessment done on me. ME! By the Maternal and Child Health Services. Who ever thought of checking about the mom’s wellbeing is a SAINT! It’s a questionnaire basically asking me how I was feeling at that point of time. The last being, whether I had ever thought of harming myself. What? Ram into a tree and hurt myself?
If I was really REALLY suffering from PND, I probably might. But, luckily, the only thought that came to mind is that I want to run away. Run far far far FAR away. I told my MCH Nurse that..and she laughed and laughed and laughed. She said, if all the mothers could get a nice vacation away from kids, then we wouldn’t be suffering from PND.
Anyway, when I completed the questionnaire, I scored a 10. That’s a borderline to PND. If I had scored an 11….who knows who I had to see. That’s one good thing about the support system here….they really do support your emotional needs here.
There is another assessment when the lil guy turns 6 months old. Same questionnaire, but they basically check if you’re feeling about the same or not.
Women who go through any childbirth should realise that they are not alone in feeling inadequate, alone, scared, panicky, anxious, etc. When lil babies cry..it brings out the worse in us..and we react irrationally. Although our partners are supposed to help.. it’s hard for them to understand why we feel this way. We yell at them for helping. We yell at them for not helping.
In short… talk to someone if you feel horrible. Go to parenting forums or seek help. Don’t for one second think that it’s not normal to feel this way.
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Review : How To Survive The Real World.
Posted on July 1, 2008
Now, this is a book any parent or grandparent can give to their ‘adult’ child upon graduation. If anything, every human being prefers to seek advices from perfect strangers rather than their loved ones. When loving parents part good sound advice, it all comes out as ‘nagging’ . Instead, this fabulous book, “How to Survive the Real World” compiles advices/suggestions/tips from hundreds of graduates who have been there, done that. It’s a really handy survival guide for any first time graduate who are completely clueless about the real world.
Everytime I read a snippet of advice in this book, I find myself nodding my head. In fact, I nodded my head so much, I felt it was going to roll off any minute!
Basically, “How to Survive the Real World” by Hundreds of Heads, covers everything a graduate needs to know from the emotional aspect of leaving the college lifestyle and your friends, how people manage their finances, how to deal with the real working world. There are various perspectives from different people, which makes it an eye-opener. I mean, different strokes for different folks, especially when it comes to whether one should still be living with their parents or not! Some say, it saves them money (and time doing the laundry), whilst others say, there is freedom and independence that is hard to get when you’re with your parents.
Tons of graduates stepping into the real world for the first time, wear rose-tinted glasses when it comes to working. They think it’s glamourous, cool and exciting, typing away at their laptops or having their coffee breaks or going for cosmos after work.
Little do they know that this tv-version of the real world, only exists in the TV land. I know alot of graduates who just started work still have this rose-tinted version, hoping that their 2nd job, would somehow emulate that glamorous lifestyle. Well, wake up and smell the coffee, guys…or rather read this book!
No matter where you are in the world, all these advices are borderless. They apply in every city, every town, every office you may ever work at. This is a really fantastic gift for anybody who is going to work for their very first time…or are having problems dealing with the real world. The sooner you accept the hard facts of life..the more you’ll learn to appreciate the good stuff in life.
Now…..I shall present this book to my Sister-in-Law who just graduated and is working at her very first job. I can see that she is constantly wearing those rose-tinted glasses… she thinks her life will change with a more glamorous job title… ha ha ha!! Boy…does she need to wake up!!!
They have other “How to..” books, covering home & family, relationships, health, but, I am going to see if I can get the Hundreds of Heads, “Surviving your Teenagers”! Nothing like preparing for it now! Three hard-headed boys in this household will just drive me bonkers… I need all the help I can, from other Hundreds of Parents!!!
I’ll like to thank Parent Reviewers and Hundreds of Heads for giving me the opportunity in reviewing this book.
- Title : How To Survive The Real World
- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Hundreds of Heads Books (April 1, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1933512032
- ISBN-13: 978-1933512037
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Sex and the city
Posted on July 1, 2008
I was supposed to see this with Mr.T, but I told him, that since it was a chick flick, I’ll gather some chicks and watch with them. Then, when the time came to gather those chicks, they couldn’t make it. And subsequently, I forgot! Now, that it’s not showing anymore..I wish I had some home theater furniture so that I can relax, sit back and have a good laugh/cry.
Funnily enough, I thought I’d be dying to see this movie..but I preferred to watch Indy instead. Unfortunately, Indiana Jones really disappointed me. Just no chemistry between father and son, like him and Sean Connery.
Haizzzzzzzzzzzz…
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Dob a Litter-bug
Posted on July 1, 2008
Don’t you just hate it when a car in front of you, suddenly throws out a piece of paper or ciggie stub? I mean, today, as I passed a number of reno hotels, on the way to the petrol station, a piece of tissue suddenly came flying into my windscreen! The bloody car in front of me, just littered like it was his grandfather’s road!
Damn! That makes me really pissed! Then, I heard on the radio, that I can actually dob in a litter-bug. Just by calling this number 1800-NOLITTER, give them the date, time, type of litter and car registration number! Then a happy fine will find its’ way to the owner! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Cool or what?
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Review : See Me Read.
Posted on June 28, 2008
“See Me Read™” is a method that was developed by a mom, who found her son showed early signs of wanting to read. Some of early reading signs include :
- understanding that words have meaning
- sees that words and sentences are read from left to right
- can hear specific sounds in words.
These are just some of the signs, for more signs, you can click here to check if your child is ready to read.
When No.1 was a toddler, I wasn’t paying too close an attention to his reading skills, as he seemed to have a speech developmental delay. Whilst I read to him many stories everyday..and we sang quite alot of songs, I didn’t realise that I could have easily taught him how to read at an early age. Now, that he’s almost 6 years old and will be going to Year 1 (Primary) next year, it looks like he’s got a lot of catching up to do (at least that’s what I thought!).
Having an opportunity to create a kit from “See Me Read™”, I was hoping that he’ll be able to ‘catch’ on some of the words I’ve used. Each “See Me Read™” Kit has personalised pictures of him and/or his home and family, with its’ relevant words. That way, it focuses on the whole-word method of reading instruction, it provides repeated exposure to familiar words that children encounter in their daily lives.
A Complete Kit (as shown above) includes :
- 1 set of flash cards
- 1 Level 1 Book
- 1 Level 2 Book
- 1 Writing Pad
- 1 set of Personalized Labels
Creating your own kit is a fairly simple process, but you do need your own digital camera. With it, you can take pictures of your child on a chair, or at the table, or his home. Under each pictorial card, there would be a descriptive sentence to help your child relate each word to the item. Once I received the kit, I got to ‘work’ straight away with No.1, with the Level 1 book…and to my surprise, he already knew all of its words. Perhaps it was the pictures that helped him. So, I decided to test him, by just showing him the words. Lo and behold, he does know how to read. It really looks like this Mama hasn’t been paying attention to him at all! Yikes!
Then, we read the Level 2 book..and this took awhile for him to read. He found new words and luckily, he wasn’t perturbed by them. Instead, he brings out this book to read every night. He still hasn’t mastered reading this level yet, but given that it’s just been a few days, that’s ok.
Although my eldest son could read all the words on the cards, I could still use them on my second child, the 3 year old.. So, again, the two of us, spent a considerable amount of time reading it. Although it had his elder brother’s picture on it, I felt that No.2 was able to read and relate some of the words to the pictured item.
I think one has to ensure proper pronounciation of the words, so that phonetically they can hear it..and then recognise the words through the alphabets. With this type of new personalized learning product, I think it is easier for the child to ‘read’ the words because of the pictures. The visual aspect of it does help the child recognise each word perfectly. Although it’s meant to be educational, it is pretty fun and exciting for my kids to see their cute lil faces printed in the cards.
That being said. when ordering it, and taking the photos, it’s best you try to take very good photos. They have tips and tricks on how to take better quality photos, here. Plus, there is a promotional code you can use (BBCP0001) that will get you free shipping and handling (in U.S only), worthed $8.99! This is a very good learning/reading tool to start with, for parents who want to instill a love for reading. I’m so glad that my two kids have been finding books very fun. Especially the elder one, whom I struggled with, initially. He seems to whizz through books now!
I’d like to thank Parent Reviewers and See Me Read™ for giving this enriching experience and opportunity for my kids to learn!
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Kids, the instant faucets
Posted on June 27, 2008
Is this true or not?
When you admonish them for doing something illegal (in your house), they turn on the faucets. And so easily too. Sometimes, with a loud wail. Sometimes, with a whimper and a look that says, “B-b-b-b-b-ut… I didn’t mean to!!”.
Like yesterday, my mother-in-law introduced the *rotan to them. Oh..how they mocked her! They kept laughing at her and mimicking her waving around the rotan. Of course, you could also see she wasn’t that serious, because all she wanted to do was scare them.
Then she gently tapped it on No.2’s padded backside..and he screamed like he was being burnt and started crying like mad.
No.1 was still laughing away. So, I took it and also tapped it on his thigh. He too turned on the faucets…
*rolls eyes*
Oh man… kids!
*rotan-cane or in this case, a feather/wool duster
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Could you access my site?
Posted on June 26, 2008
Not sure whether Izea’s Social Spark script was affecting it..but I couldn’t even access my own site! Had to belakang-mari and removed the script, so that I could see my very own site!
Complained here that the Izea sites - payperpost and social spark, were down.
But at least they updated their blog.
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The con-chiropractor
Posted on June 25, 2008
Mr.T got conned the other day. Poor fella….by a Piao-Mei*!
Hahaha..ok, she’s not a Piao Mei but she’s from the same country. She owns a chiropractic practice in the Outer Banks of Melbourne. She asked him to design a logo for her practice which incorporates the water (as she is near the banks of Bayside) and her hands.
He worked on it over 3 nights..even asking for my opinion, which I grumpily gave. Then, when he had done it, emailed it to her…she turned around and said that she had already asked someone else to do it. He was sooo angry. She had committed via email that she was very interested .. and then this happens! Now, he is charging her for penalty fees…but, she being a Piao Mei… let’s just say, it’s a lost cause.
Poor fella!
*Piao Mei - Lady “companion” from China.
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