Criteria for Selection
Individuals with very low intelligence or multiple handicaps (physical, visual, auditory, epilepsy, etc) but :
- Who can still respond to skills training using upper limb and lower limb;
- Who can benefit from systematic habit training;
- Who can learn simple communications and manual skills, basic health and safety habits;
- Who are not able to receive care and training from other organizations for the handicapped in Malaysia due to their severe disabilities.
The Children And Training
Training for the children starts at 8am and ends at 1 pm on weekdays. Some children who are more advanced have additional training sessions from 2-4pm. On Saturdays, group training is from 8am to 12 noon.
The following activities are covered:
Self-help Skills
Daily Living Activity (Toileting, Eating, Dressing).
Physical Exersices
Walking, Balancing, Patterning, Stretching & Strengthening Exercises, Sensory Integration Exercises.
Group Activities
Musical Instruments, Ball Play, Massage, Therapy Equipment, Music/Singing.
Cognitive Skills
Listening Skills, Sorting Shapes & Colours, Communication. Teachers are equipped with individual tablet computers as part of their teaching kits.
Sensory Therapy Room
This is a room to relax the body, mind and soul. The Sensory Therapy Room is equipped with an ambiance and accessories that have been specially designed to stimulate all the five primary basic senses of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. A session in this specialized room prepares the child for and makes him more receptive to other ensuing training activities.
Every child has an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) depending on the severity of his or her disabilities, and on their learning potential. The program is drawn based on the types of skills required by the child covering the above activities and reviewed every three to six months. There is also a Saturday training program called the Living Skills Group (LSG) that caters to teens and young adults. There are currently 10 students who come to SSMH 3 Saturdays a month for exercise, social interaction and learning basic living skills. Their mothers who come with the students use this opportunity to share experiences with each other.
Enable the Disabled; Translate Disability into Ability.
- Dr. Veena Kumari.
Individual Education Program (IEP)
The disabled child attending the Day Care and Training Centre receives an individualized education program based on his/her learning abilities. This program is drawn based on the type of skills the child requires in 5 basic areas.
Motor Skills
- Teaching the child to balance, crawl, creep and walk without support, to climb steps etc.
Cognitive Skills
- Includes eye contact, learning to sort shapes of different sizes and colours.
Self Help Skills
- Toilet training, feeding, dressing and drinking without assistance.
Language and communication skills
- We have a Speech Therapist who works with the teachers twice a week to help develop the skills needed to prepare the child to feed him/herself and eventually to vocalise.
Social Skills
- Learning communication skills, social interaction through games, group exercises and other similar therapies. Each child has an individualized program that ranges from basic motor/movement skills, responding to languages/instructions to more advanced skills such as reading, and sorting shapes and colours. We concentrate on teaching a few skills at a time, building until we achieve 80-90% automatic response before going on to a new skill.
- The Individual Education Program (IEP) is kept at a low teacher/therapist : student ratio, i.e 1 to every 3 children. The child therefore receives a more intensive and individual attention from the teacher or therapist. This is vital in ensuring the effectiveness of the IEP. The children's progress is reviewed every six months by the teachers and therapists. Parents are appraised of the progress of their child twice a year.
Living Skills Group (LSG)
The Living Skills Group focuses on teaching teens and young adults the basic self-help skills needed for daily living such as household cleaning, gardening, social interaction and exercises. It aims to develop a degree of independence in the students. This is basically a social group where the disabled are given the opportunity to interact with each other and to practise the skills learned.