School Shadow Workshop

Calling all therapists working as school shadows, and parents who are prepping their children with special needs for school. You'll want to sign up for this one! Just send an email to nisha@autismmalaysia.com to register! More details to follow. 

What We Learned in Sibu. Part 2.

Hello! As promised, we are back with more updates from our participation in the National Early Childhood Intervention Conference. The following is an abstract of the poster presentation prepared by Yu Ying and I. In the poster, we identified three strategies to help our children cope with change. This is the first strategy.

Increasing Predictability and Preparing for Changes in Routine are Important for Children with Autism

Predictability represents a significant challenge for children with Autism. Their lack of coping skills to deal with changes often cause them stress and frustration, which may result in difficult behaviours. These behaviours have direct impact on the quality of life of our children and family. This poster presentation review three common strategies to increase predictability, prepare our children for change, and learn coping strategies.

Strategy: Social Stories (Developed by Carol Gray)

What: Helps children understand social cues and expected responses to situations

How:

-       Use simple or child’s language

-       Use clear and real pictures (drawing works too)

-       Social Story Layout

o   Description – Describe where situation occurs, who is involved, what they are doing and why

o   Perspective – Describe and explain if necessary the reactions and feelings of others in the given situation

o   Directive – State what the child is expected to do or say

o   Control (coping skills) – strategies to help child to remember what to do or how to understand the situation

-       

     Focus on teaching one specific skill per story

-       Do what works for your child

When:

-       Explaining and relieving anxiety about a situation (death, new sibling, relocation, different eating utensils, detours, etc.)

-       Explaining a routine (shower, toileting, going out, paying at the counter, haircut, etc.)

-       Teaching social skills/social language (birthday parties, greetings, conversation, handling rejections, proximity, etc.)

-       Desensitisation of fears (dentist visits, blender, new food, making mistakes, losing, etc.)

Implementation:

-       Read  Social Story together with the child

-       Role play specific skills and coping strategies (focus on one skill at a time)

-       Reinforce child for participation

-       Repetition is important

Stay tuned for the second and third strategy! 

Written by 

Huey Sien

Senior Consultant, EAP Malaysia

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

Sibling Day

The 9^th of June 2012 was a very fun day at our Stepping Stones center in Bangsar. New friendships were made, new games were learnt, everyone laughed till their tummy hurt, and most importantly the concept of same/different brought a whole different meaning to five different children who had siblings with special needs.

Sibling day is a day where brothers and sisters of children with special needs get to meet other siblings in a fun and relaxed environment. This day is designed for siblings ages 6 -13 and the activities usually run for about three hours.

To break the ice we started off by making name tags for ourselves. We had to write our names, age and draw how we think we look like. The children immediately got busy making their name tags. Then we each had to introduce ourselves and make a silly action while saying our name. The children got really creative and it was very impressive. We thought we would make it more interesting by having a “snowball fight”. The children were divided into groups and were given recycled paper “snowballs” to throw to the other team. The team with the least amount of snowballs on their side would be the winner. This definitely broke the ice among the children.

After playing some active games we did a little bit of discussion and peer support. We talked about how we are all different, have different experiences , look different, like and dislike different things, and many more. The children were also able to talk about their siblings with special need and how they handle the differences. This was really an eye opener as I observed the other children getting some ideas on how to handle their siblings too. We also played some games in between and the sound of laughter from the children was priceless. I missed being a kid at that point.

Then we adjourned to the kitchen to make our lunch. We made individual pizzas for lunch. The children got really creative with their pizzas. While waiting for the pizza to cook the children were talking about movies they have watched recently, their school and life in general. When the pizza was cooked everyone ate very quietly. This was the only time I realized the group was quiet.

We then took some silly pictures and said goodbye. The children wanted to come next week again to hang out – which meant they had lots of fun. Pictures should be up on our Facebook soon! 

We will be having another Sibling Day coming up this year so just watch out for our advertisement somewhere in August 2012.

Written by

Jessica Ganesha

Consultant, EAP Malaysia

Therapist Training in Manila!

Last Friday I boarded the plane to Manila for the very first time in my life. I had always wanted to see Manila but I did not know that my first visit would be to present EAP’s Therapist Training to eighty ABA therapists. The workshop started around 8:30am in the morning with a short prayer followed by a gracious introduction of myself from Ginie, one of the Directors from TeamWorks. The workshop covered these areas: therapist responsibilities, socialization and play skills, reinforcement, discrete trials, prompting, data collection, behavioural support, generalization and preparing for a session.

I have conducted various workshops throughout my career in EAP Malaysia. There was something about this one that stood out from the rest. I was awed by the enthusiasm and the positive energy of the therapists in the room. Most of all, I was inspired by their eagerness to learn.

I would like to say a big thank you to Rodrigo, also one of the Directors from TeamWorks, and his team for making ABA therapy available and affordable to families in the Philippines. I admire Rod’s tenacity and his tireless effort in improving services for children with special needs. There is so much that we can learn from each other!

Everyone!

All good things must come to an end. During the closing of the workshop, one of the therapists asked me if I had any final advise for them. I thought to myself, “What can I tell this enthusiastic bunch of therapists?”  I told them to keep learning and continue to be open to new ideas and possibilities.  As I bid goodbyes to all the participants who came up to me and thanked me personally, I wonder if they know how much they have inspired me in this short seven hours.

p/s: Thank you to Bryan Barroma who took great care of my accommodation, drove me around, introduced me to Philippine’s food and made a special stop so that I could try the famous Cupcakes!

Written by 

Huey Sien 

Senior Consultant

EAP Malaysia

All the way from Wisconsin!

From the 27th of February to the 8th of March 2012, Dr. Joseph Perron visited EAP Malaysia to conduct Progress Reviews with 24 of our children. 

This time around, some key highlights of Dr. Perron's recommendations were:

1. That we continue to programme appropriately based on a child's ability & progress. 
2. Continue to look & assess motivation. 
3. Reduce time a child is participating in self-stimulatory behaviours as it is not good for our children. 
4. To reduce opportunities a child has to stim by structuring up their free time. 
5. Gross motor & fine motor development has a correlation with cognitive development. 
6. Treatment for children with autism is a process and takes time.

 

Dr. Perron experiences Malaysia's treasure troves: a tropical rainforest, delicious local food, and true Malaysian hospitality by all of us here at EAP Malaysia!

Towards Better Understanding

It can be said that therapists at EAP Malaysia make excellent teachers because they are constantly faced with new experiences when working with autistic children on a daily basis. The nature of working with children who display an array of behavioral differences, require therapists to have an in-depth understanding of the children’s’ varied behavior and to constantly improve on their interpersonal skills when working with these children.

As such, the workshop on Understanding Behaviour & Skill Building for Students with Asperger's & High-Functioning Autism, which was held on the 3rd of March, was timely and beneficial to many of our therapists and parents alike. Our speakers for the day were Dr. Joseph Perron, a clinical psychologist at the Wisconsin Early Autism Project, and our very own consultant, Ms. Gan Huey Sien. 

Through this workshop, our 46 participants were reminded that every behavior exhibited by a child has a function, and that there are sometimes multiple functions to a particular behavior. In order for parents and therapists to provide the appropriate strategies in therapy, they needed to understand these multiple functions of behavior. 

Various concepts in therapy were discussed during the workshop such as the use of Task Analysis to teach the Feeling Thermometer, the Mind The Gap strategy by Catherine Faherty that is used to teach children to become aware of their internal state, and Michelle Garcia's Social Thinking with Superflex & the Unthinkables that is used to promote flexible thinking in children. Other concepts that were discussed among participants were A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control by Buron & Kari Buron, and The Problem Solving Template by Jill D. Kuzma.

For anyone who has not yet been to one of these workshops, it can certainly appear overwhelming at a glance. But for those who attended, it was definitely an eye-opening session.