A Singaporean In Australia

How are you doing? I am an avid reader of your blog and enjoy reading your stories especially the one on SG mum M as it strikes a chord in me. 

My son was diagnosed with ASD at 3 and ever since then I spend my every waking moment (drama a bit but you get what I mean ;) ) working on giving him a fighting chance to thrive eventually as an adult in Singapore. I put him through therapies, assessments and tuitions, indeed he blossoms into a lively talkative 11 years old. But SG education system is like a bullet train, once you slow down it's hard to catch up. In aid to pull up his English (as he suffered speech delay when young), his Chinese is neglected. On top of that, he is still weak in English and it's affecting his Science.

The short of it is even though we are putting in long hours daily on his studies, we will be lucky if he gets into express stream. And he is only in primary school! Probably need to study 20 hours daily to get a pass in sec school :x As such, I'm throwing in the towel and applying for PR in Oz. 

I know that SG mum M had a list of references in her guest blog on her experience 3 years since she came. Can you share the list with me please (with her consent)? I have thought about this for a while and the only thing I can't really work out is on how to know which neighbourhood and school have good environment? I'm not into rat race school system again, just want find a school that is conducive and relatively crime free. I am also concerned about chances of school bullying.

Will appreciate if you can share any info that you have, many thanks!

Hello,

I'm good.

At this rate, Singaporean Mum, M will turn out to be a legend among Singaporean migrants, at least in the tiny community that revolves around the blog. (i.e. I got to know a small and slow growing community via this.) That is because Singaporean Mum, M is a precious knowledge resource for those being concerned, such as yourself. There isn't many you can seek for real advice than someone who walked the talk like Singaporean Mum, M.

Just a quick update for Singaporean Mum, D [link], who came over to Perth after just a week of communicating with Singaporean Mum, M. Like M, D spent her first few weeks in Perth like a frightened mouse. There might be a lot of drama mamas event that happened since but from the way I observed, D has settled down brilliantly despite the hiccups. She even got both her children over. The older one has been enrolled and attending school. We, the older birds, may be critical over new migrants' decision making skills because we have forgotten how difficult and frightening it is as a new migrant. I haven't because I remind myself constantly of the early days I had went through when I first arrived. If not, I will lose the empathy that is needed to (at least) reach out to new and lost sheep.

Having said that, not all who wanders are lost. I skipped many emails I received because of 3 reasons. One, I lost them among the junk emails I am receiving. Two, I have no idea how to help. Three. Pure laziness which eventually leads to forgetting to reply. Singaporean M told me that she observed a soft spot in me to respond to Singaporean mothers in particular, perhaps because I am a parent myself. It is a decent reason. On other days, she may say I have a MILF fetish.

Singaporean Mum, M had have a list of useful links in the her guest post for me [link] but I have since removed the links because she was paranoid that she would be "tracked down" if people analyse the links. Remember, we Singaporeans live under 4 climates. Sunny, fucking sunny, rainy and fear. The fourth doesn't change even if the first three do, anywhere we go. Thus, I respected her wishes and got the links permanently removed. I shall seek her consent and let her decide if I can send you the links (and if she is interested in doing another good deed in helping you out like she did for D)

Meanwhile, regarding school bully, are you concerned about your boy being bullied or bullying the others?