In South Africa

[Sonja]

Hi everybody I just want to know if there ar anybody from South Africa on the Network? I stay in the Northern Cape and we have started a SNAP Program it does wonderous for my 2 ASD kids age 11 and 7.
Today went very well. My 11year old daughter is also going to her tutor from 2 to 4 in the afternoons that helps alot specially for me to pay more attention to my 3rd son who is normal and age 9. It is sometimes very hectic. But we try to cope.
Hear from you soon

[Noctivagus]

I'm not in South Africa, but I have never heard of the SNAP program. Can you tell us what it is?

I hope somebody here is also from South Africa

All the very best wishes to you and your children

[Sonja]

Hi

Thank you for your response.

SNAP means Special Needs Adapted Programme.

The child has 1 tutor and they work in a classroom one to one. Learning them about colors, shapes, numbers and the alphabet. They also learn How to set the table for example. How to do acting for example going to the dentist. Then after that they take the child really to the dentist or the farm., Our kids went to the store to buy the fruit they learned about in the class. It was great fun.

When the child doesn't want to co operate with teh tutor then the tutor says: "I a waiting for you.. I have a lot of time.." and if the child still doesn't want to work or build the blocks or whatever. The Tutor would ask the child "Can I help you?" Then the tutor takes the childs hand and motor him or her throught by picking up the puzzle piece and put it in the right place or the block on top of the other blocks. for example. I hope you understand. It does wonderous for my 11 year old daughter,. Even my 7 year old ASD son is doing so much better. His speech is very bad but it gets beter.

Nice meeting you Where do you live?

Have a great day. You can look at http://www.snap.org.za

(08-18-2009 02:16 PM)Noctivagus Wrote:  I'm not in South Africa, but I have never heard of the SNAP program. Can you tell us what it is?

I hope somebody here is also from South Africa

All the very best wishes to you and your children

[Noctivagus]

(08-19-2009 01:26 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Nice meeting you Where do you live?

Nice e-meeting you also, Sonja Thanks for taking the time to explain SNAP and I'm glad it is working so well for your children

I live in the UK on the South Coast

[Sonja]

That is so far from us. We live near the Kalahari. Lovely to stay here far from the buzz of the city, My children enjoy the farm live very much we only go to the farm on weekends.

Our Spring is due now in Sept but boy it is freezing cold.

Do I understand you correct do you have Autism yourself? Sorry to ask but Austism Toolbar is a new thing for me and I think I read it on your reply to me. Maybe I am confussed. lol

Talk to you later,

(08-19-2009 02:35 PM)Noctivagus Wrote:  

(08-19-2009 01:26 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Nice meeting you Where do you live?

Nice e-meeting you also, Sonja Thanks for taking the time to explain SNAP and I'm glad it is working so well for your children

I live in the UK on the South Coast

[Noctivagus]

(08-19-2009 05:13 PM)Sonja Wrote:  That is so far from us. We live near the Kalahari. Lovely to stay here far from the buzz of the city, My children enjoy the farm live very much we only go to the farm on weekends.

That sounds a wonderful place to grow up Mind you, where I live we have the New Forest in one direction, the Purbeck chalklands in another direction, a beautiful heathland right at the top of our road, two big towns which we live on the edge of (near the borders of both), and the omni-present beaches We even have a beautiful island nearby in the harbour that we visit in the Summer. I was brought up in the middle of town, but where we live now is the closest to the countryside I've ever lived (though not countryside really).

(08-19-2009 05:13 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Do I understand you correct do you have Autism yourself? Sorry to ask but Austism Toolbar is a new thing for me and I think I read it on your reply to me.

No need to be sorry for asking... Yes, I am Autistic I was diagnosed as an adult in 2002. I am HFA (but not Aspie)... same with both my children My wife is non-Autistic though... but she is Swiss and so from a different society. So far she and I have had 21 happy years together as Hubby and Wife I am very fortunate.

[cyberpedz]

Hi and a very warm welcome to the Autism Network

[Sonja]

(08-19-2009 07:48 PM)Noctivagus Wrote:  

(08-19-2009 05:13 PM)Sonja Wrote:  That is so far from us. We live near the Kalahari. Lovely to stay here far from the buzz of the city, My children enjoy the farm live very much we only go to the farm on weekends.

That sounds a wonderful place to grow up Mind you, where I live we have the New Forest in one direction, the Purbeck chalklands in another direction, a beautiful heathland right at the top of our road, two big towns which we live on the edge of (near the borders of both), and the omni-present beaches We even have a beautiful island nearby in the harbour that we visit in the Summer. I was brought up in the middle of town, but where we live now is the closest to the countryside I've ever lived (though not countryside really).

(08-19-2009 05:13 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Do I understand you correct do you have Autism yourself? Sorry to ask but Austism Toolbar is a new thing for me and I think I read it on your reply to me.

No need to be sorry for asking... Yes, I am Autistic I was diagnosed as an adult in 2002. I am HFA (but not Aspie)... same with both my children My wife is non-Autistic though... but she is Swiss and so from a different society. So far she and I have had 21 happy years together as Hubby and Wife I am very fortunate.

Hi this is so interesting for me. My girl 11 can not really talk in other words communicate with us properly. But we understand her. The middle son 8 is fine and the youngest 7 has also speech problems. But with their tutor they do very good in their class.

My hubby and I a non Autistic, We never knew such a thing as autism so it was a terrible shock when we found out about Juanre when she was about 5 years old.

I am very thankful for my husband he is so wonderful specially with the kids we have been married now for 17 wonderful years.

Juanre also has Epilepsy and that makes my nerves finished lol. She stops breathing when she gets a bad one. But luckly she doesn't get it so much she is on medication. Convulex .

Well I have to go now my hubby is nearly home from his work away from home, about 1000km this time. But everything worked out fine.

Take care and talk to you soon

\

[Noctivagus]

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Hi this is so interesting for me. My girl 11 can not really talk in other words communicate with us properly. But we understand her. The middle son 8 is fine and the youngest 7 has also speech problems. But with their tutor they do very good in their class.

My daughter is 8. She has Autism and has communication difficulties (but a large vocabulary for her age), but can talk when she wishes to, but not in a reciprocative fashion. My son is 5 and has only just started talking... mirroring myself... I didn't talk until some months past my fifth birthday.

I have very mild communication problems... mostly to do with reciprocative conversation - I tend to monolog. Until recently, I was known to monolog at a person for about 15 minutes, then look right at them and say 'You speak now!' A friend made me aware of how uncomfortable it felt for people to be suddenly instructed to speak following a detailed monolog.

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  We never knew such a thing as autism so it was a terrible shock when we found out about Juanre when she was about 5 years old.

A friend on the internet was the first to suggest I might be Autistic... this back in the mid 1990s. All I knew about Autism at that time came from the film 'Rainman' so you can perhaps imagine the misconceptions I had. Then, when my wife became pregnant with our daughter, knowing that Autism tends to run in some families, it gave me the courage to seek out professional confirmation as to whether I was Autistic or not. I was diagnosed in May 2002.

Both my son and daughter were around two when they were diagnosed... and were investigated for Autism from around 1 year old due to tell-tale signs being noticed. I actually suspected my daughter was Autistic from around three weeks old (And our health visitor was convinced when my daughter was around 8 months)... it was partially because of her behaviour with music - though I'm not saying any clinical certainty could be attached to the signs... it was just an odd reaction for a child only a matter of weeks old. Not anything that could officially aid early diagnosis at all... more a feeling than anything.

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Juanre also has Epilepsy and that makes my nerves finished lol. She stops breathing when she gets a bad one. But luckly she doesn't get it so much she is on medication. Convulex .

Fortunately, neither my children nor I, suffer from fits. I know many Autistics do... and my sister (who may perhaps be Autistic) does suffer fits - but not Epileptic type. When Juanre stops breathing... that must be really scarey.

I'm very anxious at the moment, because my daughter is going to have surgery on Monday in hospital... an ovarian cyst removal... yes, I was surprised this can happen with an 8 year old girl also I am so very scared of something going wrong, even though it is quite a standard operation. I'm also anxious (I tend to be anxious a lot) about how my daughter will cope with hospital... and hospital cope with her

Goodness knows how you must have felt whenever your's stopped breathing. It must be dredful when that happens, even though you may be used to it in a sense. Poor you

The only medication my daughter is on is to help her sleep (she has insomnia) - melatonin. My son and I are completely non-medicated for anything Autism related... though I have pills for my arthritis, and my son has prevention medicine because he has one kidney and it is important that it doesn't get an infection due to reflux. He hasn't had any kidney infection to date - its just prevention.

Very best wishes to you and your family

[Sonja]

(08-21-2009 04:59 PM)Noctivagus Wrote:  

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Hi this is so interesting for me. My girl 11 can not really talk in other words communicate with us properly. But we understand her. The middle son 8 is fine and the youngest 7 has also speech problems. But with their tutor they do very good in their class.

My daughter is 8. She has Autism and has communication difficulties (but a large vocabulary for her age), but can talk when she wishes to, but not in a reciprocative fashion. My son is 5 and has only just started talking... mirroring myself... I didn't talk until some months past my fifth birthday.

I have very mild communication problems... mostly to do with reciprocative conversation - I tend to monolog. Until recently, I was known to monolog at a person for about 15 minutes, then look right at them and say 'You speak now!' A friend made me aware of how uncomfortable it felt for people to be suddenly instructed to speak following a detailed monolog.

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  We never knew such a thing as autism so it was a terrible shock when we found out about Juanre when she was about 5 years old.

A friend on the internet was the first to suggest I might be Autistic... this back in the mid 1990s. All I knew about Autism at that time came from the film 'Rainman' so you can perhaps imagine the misconceptions I had. Then, when my wife became pregnant with our daughter, knowing that Autism tends to run in some families, it gave me the courage to seek out professional confirmation as to whether I was Autistic or not. I was diagnosed in May 2002.

Both my son and daughter were around two when they were diagnosed... and were investigated for Autism from around 1 year old due to tell-tale signs being noticed. I actually suspected my daughter was Autistic from around three weeks old (And our health visitor was convinced when my daughter was around 8 months)... it was partially because of her behaviour with music - though I'm not saying any clinical certainty could be attached to the signs... it was just an odd reaction for a child only a matter of weeks old. Not anything that could officially aid early diagnosis at all... more a feeling than anything.

(08-20-2009 04:09 PM)Sonja Wrote:  Juanre also has Epilepsy and that makes my nerves finished lol. She stops breathing when she gets a bad one. But luckly she doesn't get it so much she is on medication. Convulex .

Fortunately, neither my children nor I, suffer from fits. I know many Autistics do... and my sister (who may perhaps be Autistic) does suffer fits - but not Epileptic type. When Juanre stops breathing... that must be really scarey.

I'm very anxious at the moment, because my daughter is going to have surgery on Monday in hospital... an ovarian cyst removal... yes, I was surprised this can happen with an 8 year old girl also I am so very scared of something going wrong, even though it is quite a standard operation. I'm also anxious (I tend to be anxious a lot) about how my daughter will cope with hospital... and hospital cope with her

Goodness knows how you must have felt whenever your's stopped breathing. It must be dredful when that happens, even though you may be used to it in a sense. Poor you

The only medication my daughter is on is to help her sleep (she has insomnia) - melatonin. My son and I are completely non-medicated for anything Autism related... though I have pills for my arthritis, and my son has prevention medicine because he has one kidney and it is important that it doesn't get an infection due to reflux. He hasn't had any kidney infection to date - its just prevention.

Very best wishes to you and your family

Hi There

Oh you poor thing you and your wife. I will pray for you and your wife and your little girl for Mondays operation. Everything will be fine.

Yes my girl makes me stress alot.: You would not believe it she has a cold, runny nose ect. And this morning she had a mild fit. Thank the Lord it was just light. Not like the one where she stops breathing. That makes me 80 years older.

Yes with our youngest son we saw some Autistic behavior also earlier than our daughter. They are so beautiful and you would never say that there is something wrong.

It is really interesting you as an adult writing and talking I thought all Autistic people can not talk or write like you do.

O well I am very tired tonight. So it is of to bed for us. Enjoy your weekend. And take care.