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325802
Tue, 04/22/2014 - 14:28
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PM Najib Unveils Two Key Initiatives On Autism

PUTRAJAYA, April 22 (Bernama) -- Najib Razak has unveiled two key autism-related initiatives for Malaysia - the setting up of the National Centre for Autism and turning the Permata Kurnia project into a national centre of excellence for autism. The prime minister said the National Centre for Autism was initiated with the aim of producing a comprehensive early intervention system, supporting and empowering families, and ensuring sufficient supply of professionals in addressing autism. The National Centre for Autism will be in operation by May next year, he said when opening the International Seminar on Autism 2014 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here Tuesday. "In light of the phenomenal rise of autism globally, countries are reacting to it proactively with prescriptive national action plans on how to set up a comprehensive early intervention system, supporting and empowering families and ensuring sufficient supply for effective professionals in this field," he said. The two-day seminar is attended by over 1,000 local and foreign participants. The prime minister's wife, Rosmah Mansor is patron of the seminar. Present were Deputy Prime Minister Muhhyiddin Yassin and wife, Norainee Abdul Rahman. Najib said the Permata Kurnia centre would provide early intervention and early childhood special education to 300 children with autism aged between two and six years. Declaring the centre as a national centre of excellence for autism, he said being the first ever project for children with disabilities to be fully funded by the government, it would gather expertise for early intervention and collaboration with other centres around the world. "It will also be the first ever project where a multidisciplinary team, consisting of early educators, speech therapists and occupational therapists, working together to provide a holistic service to children with autism. "This project will serve as a benchmark in implementing autism service-provision best practices which we hope will be a model for future centres around the world," he said. Najib expressed his confidence that Permata Kurnia would change the landscape of special education in Malaysia. Children with autism, just like any other children, are a blessing and gifts from the almighty God and it was utmost responsibility to nurture their potentials, he added. Asserting Malaysia's aim to become a developed country by 2020, he said one of the indicators was to ensure inclusive education whereby children with disabilities should receive education in the same manner as their typically developing peers. "Malaysia truly believed that everybody has the right to education, to be successful and in return able to contribute back to the country. "In the case of children with learning disabilities, we should not look at it as a tragedy. Instead, tragedy occurs when we continue to ignore the rights and needs of children with learning disabilities," he said. He said with proper infrastructure and curriculum, children with autism along with their typically developing peers would be an asset to the nation in the future. In order to tackle the issue from the perspective of the education system, the Malaysian government has developed the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025, which include emphasis in providing equal access to quality education. "Let us commit ourselves to the children with autism and other learning disabilities," said the prime minister. He hoped the international seminar on autism would achieve the objective of raising the society awareness on autism and assist the participants in forming collaborative networks for the betterment of services to children with autism and their families. "Raising awareness alone is not enough. We would like to see professionals, policy makers, teachers and parents to walk away from this seminar with increased knowledge, skills and able to make a difference in the life of each child with autism that they come across," he said. -- BERNAMA

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