Singapore Expats

I am looking for someone who can help me get inside my son's head - he's 11 and completely distracted. He's bright but off in a world on his own. I don't want someone who's just going to put him on Adderal or other drugs but can TALK to him and work out what his core issues are. PM me please if you wish.

Sorry to hear that OSOD. Seems to me that your son is suffering from autism (but I may be wrong). Since I do not know anyone specific to recommend, I can only refer these links of the organisations based in Singapore:

http://www.autism.org.sg/main/index.php

By Singhealth
http://www.singhealth.com.sg/PatientCar ... eSupport=1

http://www.autismsg.org/main/index.php

http://autismsingapore.com/

I will ask my educational psychologist friend if she knows anything or anyone.

Here is the link I was looking for...

http://www.imh.com.sg/uploadedFiles/Pub ... re_NBC.pdf

the lynx wrote:Sorry to hear that OSOD. Seems to me that your son is suffering from autism (but I may be wrong). Since I do not know anyone specific to recommend, I can only refer these links of the organisations based in Singapore:

http://www.autism.org.sg/main/index.php

By Singhealth
http://www.singhealth.com.sg/PatientCar ... eSupport=1

http://www.autismsg.org/main/index.php

http://autismsingapore.com/

I will ask my educational psychologist friend if she knows anything or anyone.

He's not autistic - he's one of the most social people I know. I am not sure how to characterise his issues but as my wife (a high school teacher from the USA) says; he'd be fine in a US or Australian school.

my completely untrained 2c - he's not stimulated enough and needs more challenges this will help him focus - yes I know its hard work being the parent of a bright kid. as you say the school system here doesn't work. perhaps you may need to look at home schooling?

If you don't need someone specialising in autism (sounds like you want someone more general) try Katy Harris at Kaleidoscope. She's not a psychologist, but a behavioural therapist. Might be able to help.

offshoreoildude wrote:He's not autistic - he's one of the most social people I know. I am not sure how to characterise his issues but as my wife (a high school teacher from the USA) says; he'd be fine in a US or Australian school.

i didn't see this earlier.

the best thing is to have him properly assessed for any developmental disorders by a certified psychologist in order to rule out what he is or isn't.

you could try to go through DSM-IV and have a look see what doctors use for general assessment/diagnosis...

http://behavenet.com/apa-diagnostic-cla ... -dsm-iv-tr

http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html

when used by a layperson, it's just a guide, but i hope one that is enlightening.

i recommend the psychologist at LP Clinic ONLY because the psychiatrist (medical doctor) in the same clinic is awesome and i often seen her psychologist working with children. i don't know what the psychologist's name is or whether it is suitable for your child.

their number is 6735 4526. good luck!

taxico wrote: the best thing is to have him properly assessed for any developmental disorders by a certified psychologist in order to rule out what he is or isn't.

I think this is sensible - he mightnoteven have any kindofdisorder, but could benefit from some behavioural strategies to make things easier (at school in particular).

Proceed with caution on the DSM-IV. Everyone has at least some of the symptoms for lots of the disorders and it's hard to know what is "abnormal" unless you're treating those people day in, day out.

OSOD, I was also thinking that your son might just be what they call an "introverted intuitive" temprament (yes, introverts can still be social), which means that he would live in his head a lot of the time and be perfectly healthy. If you're interested in that type of stuff, there are a lot of tests of temprament out there. I guess Myers Briggs would be the place to start.

After moving to Singapore with a child with documented ADD, we met an American pediatrician who told us there are far fewer child psychiatrists here compared with the US. Nevertheless, we have met for a small number of sessions with Dr Perrera who is at Psychological Well Being clinic on Bukit Timah Rd and have been happy with her. I have worked in the mental health field myself for many years. I always suggest starting with a child psychologist who will administer the Weschler Intelligence Test for Children (WISC) because it has a tremendous amount of research behind it. More than just providing a intelligence score, it will compare a child's skills across many cognitive areas and pick up of very specific cognitive difficulties a child may have. Good luck.

DSM-IV is now DSM-V
http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx

It's regrettable to see a benchmark resource has now broadened itself out to medicalise things like a supposed 'Internet Gaming Disorder' !!?

JR8 wrote:DSM-IV is now DSM-V
http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx

It's regrettable to see a benchmark resource has now broadened itself out to medicalise things like a supposed 'Internet Gaming Disorder' !!?

Seriously, if we were to take everything DSMV says, we would be, technically, with at least one type of mental disorder listed in it.

A test like this is only as good as the person who makes the asessment.

I found DSM-IV extremely useful, within my own life and experience at that particular time.

I agree that it does not equip Everyman to miraculously diagnose; but if referenced in a scientific (impartial) and intelligent way, it can be of great value.

---

For example, most people do not even know what a medically recognised Personality Disorder is --- DESPITE the fact that they will have certainly encountered people who have them.

... Lift the scales from upon thine eyes (and help others to do the same lol)...

JR8 wrote:I found DSM-IV extremely useful, within my own life and experience at that particular time.

I agree that it does not equip Everyman to miraculously diagnose; but if referenced in a scientific (impartial) and intelligent way, it can be of great value.

I think it is not entirely correct.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sid ... port-dsm-5

"DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure."

That's the whole problem. Also these symptoms are also often judged subjectively and the symptoms are not unique to a specific disorder.
If the case is obvious then there is no doubt of course but then again typically you don't need a systematic test to make a conclusion. If it is less obvious DSM may not help at all.

While I am all for greater recognition, openness and awareness of mental illness, I must say I find it staggering to see such manuals with many 100's or perhaps even 1000's of such disorders. Despite the impressive economic growth and technological progress of recent decades there's apparently a raft of "first world problems" that come with it ???