In Culture, Humans of KL, Lifestyle, Mental Health
“Everyone can claim to provide evidence-based treatments, but it’s difficult to know if they are actually carrying it out the right way. A parent’s involvement and acceptance of their special needs child should be present before we even talk about public acceptance.”
Back in 2006, I was sent to an autistic centre for a 6-month internship. This was part of my course back then. And I realised that there was a need there. Kids were left by themselves. Staff were complaining about being underpaid, which probably contributed to why they didn’t really care. Parents would send their child despite not seeing any progress, thinking that they at least fulfilled their duty to send their child somewhere. Some children were able to communicate with me so well, yet they were not treated well or given proper education.
From there I was interested, and ended up being trained in Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) which I saw as something that is able to improve the condition of the child. Of course you’ll come across some difficult clients and parents, it’s always been an up and down journey.
I founded Little Triangle Services in 2013. We are called “Little Triangle” because the child, parents, and learning institutes need to work together. At the time, there was very little, almost no Malaysians knew that they could send their special needs kids to mainstream schools. They would always look out for special needs schools or keep them at home. I thought it would be a good thing if they understand what shadowing is first. I loved the open concept: not so strictly Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA), but also social thinking, different methods to help the child to get into a mainstream school. ABA is an evidence-based principle I follow, in terms of the method of teaching. From there, I started training Shadows aids. Shadow aids and we as supervisors or consultants have a strategy to follow and guide the child. There is something called a personal learning support plan, Individualised Education Plans (IEP), where you set a goal and show how you are going to achieve it by following strategies.
Little Triangles functions more like a secondary school. We also provide job training inclusion. We also advocate in schools. We strive to have IEP’s to be in place, for the special needs child to be given extra minutes to sit for exams, push for different ways for the child to be educated. How we can accommodate the child to better adapt to the classroom, coaching teachers on behaviour management. We need to work together, otherwise it will be very difficult.
I have witnessed a child’s tremendous personal progression. I recently met up with him in London after 10 years. I started working with this child when he was 5. He had hypotonia, is autistic, and was easily distracted by sounds. We did school shadowing and home-based therapy when I was working with him. His mother was also very involved during this whole process. I think parents play a very important role in a child’s progression, and they need to learn up on strategies that works with their child. After they went to the US, they continued with therapy. Now they’re in Romania, and he’s doing really well. He even went for a camp in a different country all by himself. He’s very independent now. I don’t see him as a different child anymore. In school, it used to be obvious that he was autistic as he also had severe fidgeting issues. Now, no one would realise it.
The common misconception many people have about special needs children are these children possessing a special ability or skill. This is not proven. I think every child, just like any other child, has their own strength. If you allow a child to focus all of their time in one skill, obviously they will become very successful at it over time. A lot of parents think we don’t need to send the child to school, but it would be wrong to not give the child the opportunity to learn. Many people would say to forget about academics, that a special needs child is unable to learn and they’re better off investing in a life skill. I think that’s wrong. Every child needs to be educated. It is a common belief that most of them are rigid. But this rigidity can be broken. Most of them are rigid because they only know that things can be done a certain way. If you show them other ways, they too can adapt.
A common frustration a lot of parents have is when they try to seek for a fast solution for their child. You can’t just say “I’ll give you this number of months, make this work.” Each child’s pace is different. It depends on the child’s capability. It might be surface level improvement if progress is not worked on continuously. When you don’t do it continuously, it will deteriorate again. Continuous and appropriate intervention is needed, taking into account what the child needs as well as life events. When we do an intervention, we include programmes to increase a specific component. For example, someone wants to be better in their functioning skills. We monitor what works for them and what doesn’t, how fast the child is able to learn.
As the public, we can learn to be more understanding. But parents too have to play their role and be aware of their child’s capabilities. Parents of a special needs child, though it is difficult, need to step out of their denial. Acceptance by the parents is comes first before public acceptance. Parents can be the biggest advocate for their child if they take the time to understand them.
Part 1/2
Photostory and edited by Win Li
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Sitra Panirsheeluam is the Director/Case Manager of Little Triangles.
Email address: info@littletriangleservices.com
Telephone number: +6012-9169672
– Humans of Kuala Lumpur
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