Monday, April 12, 2004

yes ian..i haven't blogged in quite a while..sorry about that...don't ask me why...

anyway...my DSTA scholarship interview is tomorrow! i don't feel too nervous...maybe 'cos i won't be THAT disappointed if i don't do well...can't say so much for the teaching one or the speech therapy one. today in school ms. ng went "go do medicine! go be a doctor..don't be a teacher!" ah she and her ramblings...

anyway i changed job! from teaching in my old primary school to teaching in my old junior college! i'm thankful for this change...as i'd rather have intellectual discussions (most of the time...) than mindless nagging and scoldings with the kids. Ms. Ng was the one who msged me about the opening. asked if i was interested to teach JC biology. was quite honoured that she approached me...=) well...the situation is this...tj has 15 bio classes and only 3 permanent teachers...so jiahui my friend is there...together with me. help ease the load until the new teachers from NIE come in july.

i started last week...my time table's quite slack...only 3 classes of tutorials. we relief teachers can't take practicals cos it's SPA now...it's SPAstic i tell you...while we were at tj we did dry runs for SPA...and it sucks. so during my free time i help ms. ng with her science fair stuff....which is a super long story...in short..Science centre was supposed to organise it and tj just provide the venue for the event...in the end..ms ng and the science department becomes the organisers. so since ms ng is SOSO busy with a mountain load of stuff and the teachers are so stressed over SPA...we relief teachers help her do the admin work...data entry...catalouging...barcoding..sorting...

anyway the teaching is quite fun...=) being on the other side now...managed to answer questions...hope i don't teach them the wrong things.

aside from my job...i have been making new friends at the Clay Aiken Singapore forum boards...=) they're such nice people...and some of us go do volunteer work at Autism Children's Centre at Simei...(last sat i even drag louisa along). inspiration came from Clay himself...i think it;s such a sweet thing to do as a group of fans...for last sat i was the events journalist...i've written the article which will be part of a big article meant for the Blubel/Aiken Foundation website...

here it is....the weird names are the nicks of the CAS forum members...fynn, starry007, ixiem, grania, iadoreclay etc.

Clay Aiken Singapore
Volunteering at Autism Children’s Centre – Simei
10 April 2004
1030-1230

From the words of fynn, who is one of the people at CAS who initiated this project, "Clay's an inspiration – so as fans, we should do something worthwhile and something that actually matters."

This is her 3rd time here, volunteering with CAS members, spending her Saturday mornings cutting, pasting, laminating and coloring. "Feels like an art class," she quips cheerfully, drawing smiles and laughter from the 14 of us present.

For many of us, this is not only a chance to see CAS forum board members in the flesh, but also to learn more about Autism, an "invisible" developmental disorder which distorts senses, hinders social interaction and speech communications. Instead of just blindly coloring pictures, cutting and pasting photos of bags, shoes and clothes, we took the opportunity to ask Siow Ing, one of the 4 teachers at ACC – Simei, to explain to us how our work every other Saturday helps the children.

First she explained to us the different kinds of educational materials that we helped prepare. File folders with colored pictures in them help children who are naturally not motivated to learn to engage in a session of color matching. It's hard to get them to work independently; hence this training process takes quite a while. The children are seated next to 3 shelves which contain a puzzle, a folder or an educational toy. Each child will take an item from each shelf, complete his task and place it in the "finished" box. Teachers will start with concrete materials before moving on to worksheets and assignments.

As for those colored pictures of bags and shoes, they help children who have problems with language to learn names and to classify similar objects. For example, they start off by matching identical bags, followed by different bags. After which the teacher will teach them the word "bags". Other than object matching, gender matching is also taught. As learning can take quite long, different materials are used to demonstrate one similar concept/skill and this exposes the children to different things with no repetitions.

After this, Siow Ing gave us a tour of the school and its classrooms. Teachers work with their students one-to-one in one of the classrooms and each session lasts 1hr 45 mins. In each classroom, there are play toys as well as educational toys. A slide to a normal child is a play toy, where he can climb up and slide down. But for an Autistic child, the slide is part of an "obstacle" course for them to go through. Social skills such as 'waiting for your turn' or 'follow your friend up the slide' can be taught. The child can also be taught communication skills if he experiences trouble climbing up the slide – he can be taught to ask for help from the teacher, and words such as "help me, teacher" must be taught specifically.

A water play set is also an educational tool. Many children love to play with water, hence it gives the children great joy to be able to play with water at the centre. As many children can play with the set at one time, it gives them a chance to socialize and interact with each other. This allows them to pick up social, language, sensory and communication skills.

Educational toys aside, play toys are also available. A rocking horse, a trampoline, bean bags and soft toys are just some examples. Speaking of soft toys, they can be used to teach language and communication skills too. Siow Ing then showed us a cute pink pig which walks and oinks. "Factual information such as a pig is pink in color, has 4 legs and 2 ears and says 'oink' can be taught to the child," explains Siow Ing. She goes on to add, "Also, communication skills like 'Teacher, I want a pig' can be taught."

To help the children move around the school, they are given visual cue cards. Each room has a name (like Grape classroom), and a picture of grapes is pasted on its door. So when a child is given a cue card with grapes and the words 'Grape classroom', he knows to find the matching picture on a door. This is done for work stations (with the shelves), play corners and toilets. Each child also has a timetable where these visual cues are stuck to it. The child will go to his own timetable to obtain the visual cue cards and find where is he supposed to go next. For older children, their timetables are given in the form of words instead of cue cards. This timetabling gives the children a kind of mental preparation and helps them cope with their lessons. In addition, the children prefer predictability in their lives and such schedules gives them an idea what to expect.

Children with special needs are also well taken care of. Two children currently in the school cannot work in big spaces. So they have their lessons in a smaller room where it helps them to focus and learn more effectively. Some children are sensitive to light, so the classrooms have special light controls that can adjust the lighting in the classroom.

A quick check with Siow Ing confirms that there is no known cure for Autism. Some speculate the cause of the disorder is genetic, however it is not proven scientifically. As for 10% of the children, they are known as savants. They have special abilities in music, or drawing or numbers. On the bright side, some still manage to cope in society later in their lives, having received special education.

Siow Ing then explains the current statistics of the centre. There's a total enrolment of 24 children, with 4 teachers and a program director. Each teacher sees 3 children a day, one each time for 105 mins. Each child attends sessions with their teacher for 20 weeks and this costs parents a whooping $1800 plus. "It's already cheaper than private schools, who charge between $2000 - $3000!" Siow Ing exclaims as our eyes widen. Unfortunately, due to the lack of teachers, there is a waiting list for students. In the past, the new teachers used to do the work we are doing now. But since there are no new teachers around, Siow Ing told us they were so grateful for our help.

To other people, what we are doing at ACC seems like a small task. But to the teachers, we are easing their already-heavy schedules. Some may ask why we go through all the trouble. fynn then explains, "The centre is shorthanded, and new. So they are really thankful we came along to help. Also, we are a fan group, not a volunteer group. I believe we are probably the only fan group in Singapore doing stuff like this." starry007, our impromptu organizer for today’s session, adds, "This is fun – to be doing something meaningful for the kids with people whom I know and who share a common interest."

Ixiem, one of the 'regulars' on CAS boards agrees, and confesses, "It's good to do something for the kids instead of bumming around on a Saturday morning surfing (the net) and downloading (Clay) stuff." Once she said it, nods of agreement and much laughter were evident around the room. She then continues, more seriously this time, "I've learnt so much about Autism through this experience, and these are things you would not learn from a classroom or through books." Andromeda_Aiken seconds that, saying without a hint of hesitation, "I did this to help the children, to enrich myself and of course, to meet more claymates."

Some may think CAS is doing this for publicity. But fynn thinks it is wrong to carry that kind of mentality. We are not just fans who are perpetually obsessed with what Clay wears or what kind of milk he buys. Instead, through Clay, we become more aware of the existence of this gripping mental disorder. We believe we can make this difference, by making use of our time to help them, as well as to get more Clay fans in Singapore to know about an issue their idol is passionate about. Not just Clay fans, grania and iadoreclay have both brought their friends (who are neutral about Clay) to lend a helping hand.

fynn was most thankful to see this happening. "I'm very glad to see so many people! Clay fans bringing their friends along. This is essential because you won't appreciate till you learn it first hand." She then continues to say, "Autism is an "invisible" disability. It doesn't manifest physically like Down's syndrome. Hence when people interact with autistic kids, they are just brushed aside as rude, incompetent or aloof. Adults are discriminated against in society. Little do these people know they are suffering from a disability which has no known cure. Therefore, they do not get as much funding and attention as the other disabilities."

fynn ends off her interview aptly, with a thoughtful expression on her normally cheerful face, "It's just the right thing to do."

today i cut my finger while trying to help a student put her blade into the handle...sigh~ some of the girls are scared of the water bath!! quite funny to watch them getting freaked by the steam when they open the water bath...and using their cloths to carry the beaker of hot water as if it was SO hot...=) oh i was covering for ms ng who is away on course...and i shadowed mrs lam...today was their 2nd lecture test. very evil paper...brings back those nightmares where i didn't pass a single lecture test in yr 1....

been doing a lot of shopping...as usual..with melody and louisa. watched the prince and me (which is wrong english according to louisa...shld be the prince and I) with melody on maundy thursday...quite nice...=) the script wasn't gd...but the chemistry was good...and luke mably was SO gorgeous...

will check in again soon....and grace and sher..please don;t get so high at zouk k?? =)

This girl posted at 9:41 PM