MIRI: Women, Childhood and Community Well-being Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said early intervention is crucial to support the development of children with disabilities.
Speaking at the launching of the eighth National Early Childhood Intervention Conference here on Saturday she said it is important to empower families with skills and strategies to support their children at home and their local community.
“Early childhood intervention professionals and educators must be equipped not only with skills and knowledge to support the development of children with disabilities, but importantly how to support families and caregivers to become more empowered as equal partners in supporting their children’s growth,” she explained.
“To advance and improve early childhood intervention services so that it is more sustainable than now, we must collectively, as a community, expand our perspective regarding how we support children with disabilities and their families,” she said.
Fatimah said while the Covid-19 pandemic had made the provision of services to children with disabilities challenging, it has taught professionals how to adapt to support children with disabilities and their families more effectively.
Also present were the National Early Childhood Intervention conference organising chairlady Liza Chai and National Early Childhood Intervention Council president Wong Hui Min.
