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Vital to provide autistic children with skills training

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KUCHING: Has anyone ever think about what’s next for an autistic child after primary and secondary education?

Sure all the limelight has been on autism in young children but at a forum, Kuching Autism Association deputy secretary Duane Tersan voiced out his concern on the lack of support for autistic teenagers to continue their education further.

“Many parents have children with autism, including myself.
At the moment, the big
question is, what happens after school?

“There’s a need for them to further their studies, aside from pre-school as well as primary and secondary school.

“It is important to provide them with skills training to ensure that they can, at least, function for themselves for better living,” he said at the forum held in Petra Jaya here recently.

Duane, who is also a special education teacher, further mentioned that “there are many autistic teenagers and adults who had missed the golden time in learning social skills.”

He also called on the Education Ministry to look at ways to set
up more centres such as the National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN) in Sarawak and expand quotas for autistic youth training courses.

“Everyone deserves the opportunity for education. We should not deny their right.

“Once IKBN opens its doors here in Sarawak, those autistic youths aged between 25 and 40 can develop themselves with skills in their respective vocations,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by another speaker, Prof Dr Razitasham Safli, a lecturer from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Medical and Health Science Faculty.

She described the national education system as torturing for children.

“Our education is so torturing. Too much emphasising
on academic while disregarding
other important aspects.”

In pointing out the role of information technology (IT),
she stressed that learning
sex education is imperative for autistic teenagers so that they would be able to understand
sexual behaviours and
consequences.

She advised parents and
teachers to always be aware and monitor autistic teenagers’ activities when engaging with digital media.

“For example, the case of an autistic man who was accused of molest.

“This reveals that it is important for teachers and parents to help an autistic child learn sex education,” she explained, adding that more should be done to educate society to accept autism.

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