What We Learned in Sibu

On June 7, 2012, National Early Childhood Intervention Council hosted their 4^th National Early Childhood Intervention Conference in Sibu, Sarawak. The theme of this year’s conference is “Family-Centred Practices – Early Childhood Intervention and Beyond”. The national conference featured prominent speakers internationally and locally. This year, it has attracted approximately 600 delegates from all over the world. At this Sibu conference, Yu Ying and I represented EAP Malaysia and presented a poster  titled -  “Increasing Predictability and Preparing for Change in Routine are Important for Children with Autism”.

At EAP Malaysia, we are constantly looking for opportunities to enhance our skills and knowledge, especially in the area of early intervention, so that we can continue to provide quality services to our children and families. Yu Ying and I attended a pre-conference workshop, “Teacher Talk: Make language learning happen all through the day,” for three full days from the 4^th to the 6^th of June. Our instructor, Cindy Smith, is a Speech Pathologist from the Hanen Centre in Sydney, Australia. These three areas were targeted during the workshop:

1)     Encouraging language development in early childhood settings.

2)     Let language lead the way to literacy.

3)     Fostering peer interaction in early childhood settings.

We found the workshop very refreshing and most of the recommended  strategies were in-line with EAP’s approach! On the second day of the conference, Cindy also did a short presentation specifically for families of children with ASD.

The next three days, after our pre-conference workshop, were filled with many interesting and informative sessions. Yu Ying and I had so many choices and we had a hard time deciding which one to go to! To fully maximize our attendance, we decided that we will go our separate ways and attend the sessions that are most applicable to the families whom we serve. Below are some of  the sessions that we attended:

-        Self-Care for Parents by Dr. Rachel Ting

-        Keys to Understanding and Working with the Spectrum of Autism by Dr. Wendy   Lawson

-        Special Needs Children and Sexuality Education by Dr. Peter Lau

-        More than Words® by Cindy Smith

-        Sleep Problems in Infants and Toddlers by Dr. Rick Jarman

-        Television and Screen Activities – benefits & harmful effects on children by 

      Dr. Rajini Sarvananthan

-        Pre-School Inclusive Education by Associate Professor Chuang Chiung-Hui

By the end of the conference, both Yu Ying and I felt physically and mentally exhausted. However, we were also very much inspired and rejuvenated by the talks that we attended and the people whom we met. EAP Malaysia pledge to continue to bring quality services to our families and view families as the key to successful early intervention.

Yu Ying and I will be sharing our thoughts on some of the talks that we both found to be very inspiring and eye-opening. Stick around for more interesting updates on our adventures in Sibu!

Written by 
Huey Sien
Senior Consultant, EAP Malaysia