7 year-old girl, delayed speech and poor eye contact when spoken. Took 1 course of REVAMP and 1 course of Fast ForWord

My daughter was what I thought, a fairly normal child. She was a happy baby and never really much of a problem. She was always on the go and up and walking at 14 months. Like a lot of children, she was hard to potty train.

At the age of 3 it was obvious that my daughter preferred solitary playing as opposed to be socially associated to children of her age group. Being the first child in the family, I thought she needed some time to get along with other kids since she had no siblings.

By the time she was 4 years old, she had problems playing with other children. Children, including her cousins, refused to play with her and so she spent much of her time playing alone.

Although she could pronounce certain words clearly, I as a parent was deprived of the beauty of interaction between a mother and her child. The communication between her and others was always minimal. She seemed to be “parroting” the questions you asked or words said to her. She couldn’t sit still to watch a tv show or get involved in any activity for long. From then on I realised that she had a very short attention span.

When someone spoke to her, she would not have that eye contact with you. That really bothered me & my husband when we found out that it was one of the symptoms of having autism, so we began pursuing this issue with a Child Psychiatrist at KK Children’s Hospital in Singapore.

Hearing tests were done and soon she was taking speech therapy at a local centre run by a friend’s contact. It was a trial and error approach as the therapist lacked equipment because she was renting her friend’s place. As we couldn’t afford to seek assistance from established centres since it was not financially feasible for us, we had to live with what was available then.

Subsequently, her therapy sessions in Singapore were disrupted when her father got a job offer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and brought the entire family along. We hoped the problems would fade away as she grew older but that did not materialise. Her behaviour problems became more apparent and new problems arose when she was put into a classroom setting. She could not perform simple functions such as cutting, drawing, writing, copying etc. She couldn't sit still in her seat. She often spent her hours in class, wandering aimlessly through the classroom touching everything, unable to stay on task no matter what she chose to do. The teacher, over burdened with many children, claimed they had no time for her. As long as she didn't bother other students, she was allowed to wander through the class doing as she pleased.

It was heartbreaking to watch as she never got called upon to act out the little stories that they learned. Her papers were never chosen to be placed on the wall, she was never invited to play with the other children when they were having outdoor gaming sessions, all of her behaviour. We now had something else to worry about, her self-esteem.

The diagnoses from her school teachers was Psychosis. "Your child is Psychotic" (although they weren’t that blunt). “She speaks to herself in class as if she is acting in her own world and that often became the laughing stock of her classmates”. Those statements were very painful for us as parents to absorb. Soon after, we withdrew her from the school.

We started to do some research about child behavioural and learning problems over the internet. After acquiring some knowledge about Autism, ADHD etc, we started to search for solutions. That’s when we stumbled on KidzGrow’s website. That we must say was the turning point. And the rest before it is history, not a good one obviously.

Our first encounter in Kidzgrow was a pleasant experience … although there were doubts in us whether the program will really work for our child.

After the evaluation, she was recommended to take REVAMP for her first level of therapy sessions. She can be very difficult to work with, but after 6 weeks of undergoing REVAMP, she looked forward to coming for it. There is no way to put a price tag on a child's self-esteem. My daughter’s struggles in school with reading and handwriting had destroyed her self-esteem.

Now, she can keep her writing in the lines and read at her grade level. Her confidence in herself has returned. Additionally, her ability to catch and throw balls and small objects improved greatly. She went through REVAMP for 2 sessions.

She showed signs of improvement one month after beginning Fast ForWord, which she had undergone for 5 times a week. Now, after completion of 2 sessions of Fast ForWord, she finishes her homework within a short period, no complaints, picks up her favourite books to read (in bed, in the car, on the morning before school), and has improved in spelling and comprehension to a great degree. Most importantly, she is much more comfortable in an academic environment now. Her interest and performance match her level of intelligence more closely
Feedback from her school form teacher is very encouraging. According to her teacher in this new school, she participates enthusiastically and is responsive to interactive activities. Now, she can even create conversations with her teachers and classmates.

If you told me a year ago, that I can get a product which can make my so-called labelled “psychotic” child do well in school, I probably would have said that you really have a good sense of humour.

REVAMP & Fast ForWord can't be the solution to all problems, but gives me all more energy to focus on the areas where work still needs to be done. The programmes helped my daughter’s problems with reading, writing and comprehension and overall school performance. Her improved communication skills with others is absolutely noticeable. She has good friends in her new school now and her cousins who used to isolate her in game plays have accepted her into their social circle.

As parents, we sent her to KidzGrow without the expectation of her to become a genius, but rather to make her socially acceptable among her peer group and help her ability to be educated like any normal child.

My daughter is a happier child now. I think the programs have made a real difference in her life, and she’s definitely not that “psychotic” child like what some people labelled her to be.

Thank you KidzGrow. You have proven those type casters wrong.

Keep up your good work!

Happy Mum

-Background:
Delayed speech and poor eye contact when spoken to. Had left-right confusion. Her LSE results show severe difficulties in motor coordination, weaknesses in recognizing and discriminating reversals of letters and numbers, poor copying and handwriting skills, auditory processing difficulty and poor attention abilities.

-Parent's concerns:
attention, handwriting, learning, memory and social skills.

-Sessions of programmes:
1 course of REVAMP - 24 sessions in 12 weeks
1 course of Fast ForWord - 40 sessions in 8 weeks

-Results:

• After REVAMP
  RFT (Reversals Frequency Test): Imrpoved from invalid (due to inability to perform) to 80%.
  Visual Perception: improved from 0.4% to 42%
  DEM (Developmental Eye Movement Test): improved in speed of eye movement from invalid (due to inability to perform) to 70%
  
• After Fast ForWord
  TAPS (Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills): improved in number memory from 6% to 58%