Wednesday, August 18, 2010

No more tuition

My parenting skills are again being put the the test again. Yesterday, Gordon's tuition teacher informed me she can no longer accommodate him in her class starting next month. For many other moms who hear news like this, it's easy to just go look for another. But for me, it's not. I've asked a few before and none is willing to help Gordon out once i've explained to them my kid's autistic. On  the positive side, i get to save 120 bucks each month.

No, i'm not going to go round looking for tutors for my kid anymore. In fact, i dont even want to send my kid over to her for the remaining days of the month even though i've paid. No point as he's not paying attention there. I now have to restructure his study hours properly. Final exams is drawing near and i intend to give him a good head start. Most important now is i dont stress him out with too much boring study hours.

My biggest barrier is the Chinese language. Both hubby and i doesnt speak nor read Mandarin. The only thing i can do now is to wait for a friend to SMS me the day's homework hopefully before 8pm. Then, drive over to my sis and ask my nieces to explain to me the homework, especially those in chinese for his activity books. Whatever that i cannot finish by bedtime will have to be done the following day before class commences. That means, i have to leave the house as early as possible to catch a parent so that i can ask her for help.

See, it's more like i'm the one going back to school all over again. And this time, i have to study Chinese too @#$%^&*(). If i cannot handle the Chinese subjects, i cant expect my kid to perform well too. I can only help Gordon score for all the other subjects in English & BM. What to do? Oh, dont tell me to switch him to another school. Dont even give me suggestions unless you've handled autistic kids on a 24/7 basis. You wont understand how difficult it can be for autistic kids to get used to a new environment all over again. Damn.... i'm so farking tired...... both mentally and physically.

2 comments:

Anob Sdn Bhd said...

Ure going organic?? Make sure u pay us a visit! :)

ymk said...

I truly sympathise with you. I have a child who was diagnosed as speech delayed when she was turning 3 and after attending theraphy classes (OT and speech) for almost 4 years, she 'graduated' from these classes and is able to cope with normal school when she entered Year 1. Even then, we dare not put her in a Chinese school as both of us do not speak nor know Chinese. The therapists told us to minimise language exposure for speech delayed kids. I also found out she is very slow when it comes to learning language especially Chinese. Guess we don't speak the language and it is hard for her to pick up.

I also have a nephew who is autistic and can understand the situation that you are in now. He is in a special school for autistic kids. My guess is your son has very mild autism and perhaps with time and training, he can grow out of it.

My advise is if he is not coping well in school esp with Chinese language, maybe you should think of changing him to a better environment which can cater to his special needs?

My two older kids are in Chinese school and they struggle with the language even with tuition and all. Main thing is we don't speak the language at home. The standard of Chinese gets harder and harder as they grow older and you will not be able to cope teaching him without a tuition teacher. Just my two cents opinion.