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Where can I go to learn more about special education in Malaysia?

I want to pursue further studies in special education, where should I go?

What should I major in?

These are some frequently asked questions that I’ve received from my readers.

Since I’ve been away from Malaysia for around 6 years now, I am afraid I have somewhat lost touch with higher education opportunities in special education back home. From what I know and with some web surfing, I have found that these public universities (links included) do offer programs in special education.

Universiti Malaya:

M.Ed. in special education

Universiti Sains Malaysia:

Bachelor of Education (Special Education) with Honors

Ed.D., Ph.D., M.A. (Ed) in special education

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia:

Bachelor of Education with Honors (Special Education)

M.Ed. (Special Education)

Ph.D. (Special Education)

Universiti Perguruan Sultan Indris:

Bachelor of Education with Honors, M.Ed., Ph.D. (Special Education)

For many of the bachelor degrees in special education, you’ll have to apply through the centralized Unit Pusat Universiti (UPU). Those spots are usually offered to students who have just completed STPM or Matriculation programs. I’m sure many of you, just like me, did not decide that you want a career in special education right out of secondary school, so these options may not be available to you. But the Masters programs may be different. When I applied for my M.Ed. at Universiti Malaya, I did not have a bachelor degree or a diploma in education (which was a requirement), instead I had a B.S. in Biomedical Science.  However, I was already working as a teacher at a private school for children with special needs for about 5 months before I applied for admission. So, UM probably admitted me because of my teaching experience.

Apart from the public universities, some non-profit organizations or parent groups do occassionally offer workshops or seminars in special education-related topics.

I attended a seminar offered by Parent Resource for Autism (PR4A) back in 2002. This resourceful parent group brought in an applied behavior analysis (ABA) specialist from Australia for the day long seminar. They also referred me to the Annual Autism Best Practices Conference in Singapore, which I attended in 2002. Plus, they have also compiled a comprehensive list of special education and other related services centers in both Malaysia and Singapore.

Here are some other helpful websites:

Kiwanis disability information and support center (KDISC)

Malaysian Care

Asia Community Service

If you know of any training opportunities in special education or good websites with information specific to Malaysia, let me know and I’ll include them here.

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It’s been too quiet here for too long. In my absence from this blog,
1) I’ve completed my dissertation proposal,
2) Proposed my research to my dissertation committee, received their approval with some changes required,
3) Made all the required changes,
4) Applied for and accepted into doctoral candidacy (in other words, I’m now a doctoral candidate, before this I’m just a doctoral student),
5) Went back to Malaysia for a 3-week holiday,
6) Applied for and received a new student visa,
7) Applied for and finally received the university’s institutional review board (IRB) approval to conduct my research with human subjects. This was a particular stressful process that took over 2 months of waiting and 2 weeks of providing additional answers to IRB committee’s questions. All the while trying to convince them that the benefits outweigh the risks and that my participants (with developmental disabilities) are capable of giving informed consent.

Now that I’ve received IRB’s approval I can officially start work on my research.

My research purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific type of video-based intervention to teach job skills to adults with developmental disabilities in employment settings. My main interest is the video-based intervention. My sample, adults with developmental disabilities in employment settings, is sort of a sample of convenience.

Sample of convenience? That means it is more convenient to do my research with this particular sample. My university has a program that provides supported employment services to adults with developmental disabilities, so it makes it much easier to find participants and there’s also a pool of support staff that could help me in data collection.

I decided not to do my research with children in schools because it can get very complicated. It’s not easy to get permission to do research in schools, and sometimes teachers do not want the extra work and burden of having graduate students come in and out. It’s also hard to schedule time for research work in a busy classroom schedule.

Even so, right now I am facing another hurdle: I need to get approval from the management of the two stores (a thrift store and a retail store) to conduct my research there. While it may be slightly easier to conduct my research with adult participants in employment settings, it’s still not easy. Actually, nothing is easy.

I’m interested to see if my intervention works. My biggest hope is for my intervention to be very effective very quickly. I mean very very quickly! But once again, nothing is easy…

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When I read the news regarding the proposal to build a welfare village in Miri, Sarawak, I was disturbed by the concept of a “welfare village”. I realized that, as a society, Malaysia is still rather ignorant about the concept of equity and inclusion when it comes to individuals with disabilities.

The idea of a “welfare village” may have been conceptualized out of good intentions, but a welfare village is an obstacle to Malaysia’s vision of a caring society. Instead of a caring society in which all Malaysians are included in all aspects of society, a centralized welfare village would only serve to further isolate residents of current welfare homes to the outer fringes of society.

The community where the welfare homes should be a part of is not among a larger community of “welfare” residents, but among the general population. Instead of just interacting with each other, residents of welfare homes should be interacting with the rest of society.

The help and support that the residents need should be provided within the community and by the community. The residents of welfare homes do not need new, isolated and separated facilities. They should be sharing necessary facilities with the public, and not among themselves.

Rather than spending money building new facilities in a welfare village, the Sarawak state government should consider upgrading current public facilities to allow easy access by all individuals with disabilities. In addition, the staff of these facilities should be trained to provide necessary supports to enable the residents of welfare homes to fully benefit from these services.

The aged, the single mothers, the orphans, the individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities, and other “needy” groups are part of what makes the Malaysian society whole. The Malaysian government should work towards an inclusive caring society where neighbors care for each other, and the weak among us are not shipped off to a distant location where they become “out of sight, out of mind” and most of all, out of our hearts.

Friday April 18, 2008
Sarawak plans to have ‘welfare village’
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: A pioneer plan has been mooted in Sarawak to construct a “welfare village” – where all welfare organisations and charitable homes would be housed in one big centralised location – so that inmates would be able to live as one society instead of being isolated as is the case now.

Miri City, the oil capital of Sarawak, has been earmarked to be the first urban centre to have such a welfare village.

A plan is now being drawn up by the Miri Resident’s Office on the structure and layout for this welfare village.

Miri Resident Ose Murang said the plan would be submitted to the State Cabinet for consideration and approval.

“At present, these welfare homes are scattered all over the place, with inmates living isolated from the community and the rest of society.

“We want to construct a centralised village where all these welfare homes can be located in one common welfare village (different buildings but in same zone).

“This welfare village would have the necessary facilities for sports, skills training and physical rehabilitation that the inmates from all the various different homes could share.

“This concept would enable the inmates from the different welfare homes to live as one big community, interact with each other and help each other as support groups.

“This centralised welfare village would also enable more efficient administration and management of the homes, enable family members of the inmates to visit regularly and enable the authorities to manage and monitor the progress of these homes in a coodinated manner,” he said on Friday.

Murang on Friday discussed the proposed plan with Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam and sought his advice and opinions.

If the welfare village is approved, it would be the first of its kind in state and country.

At present, welfare homes that cater to the blind, the handicapped, the old folks, orphans, accident victims, psychiatric patients, single mothers, abused women and other needy groups are located all over the cities and towns in Sarawak.

Each of them operate independently, and many of them do not have adequate facilities to train inmates in skills-acquisition or physical rehabilitation.

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The United Nations has designated April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day, and today is the first World Autism Awareness Day.

Since I’m in the field of special education and autism was the disorder that sort of changed my career path and led me to where I am today…which is sitting in my room in a foreign land with the gianomous task of getting a dissertation done, plus all the stress, pressure, and guilt (when I’m doing something else other than the tasks that will get me to the finish line) thrown in, I thought I’ll post something about autism today.

This semester, I’m sitting-in in a semester-long doctoral seminar on Autism Spectrum Disorder. I’m not actually taking the class, but I thought I’ll just sit-in during the class and catch up on the latest research in the area of autism. The great thing about sitting-in is that it costs me nothing and I don’t have to work on any assignment, I just needed the professor’s ok for me to unofficially join the class. The bad thing about sitting-in is that because I don’t have to do anything, I really don’t do anything and sometimes I don’t even concentrate during the class, my mind just wanders off to the list of things I need to get done later. Anyway, here’s something I got from the class:

Six Myths of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)(Sicile-Kira, 2004):

1. Everyone with an ASD has a special, extraordinary talent (the Rain Man Myth).

I’ve taught a number of students with autism and I’ve only met one boy who was talented in architectural line drawings. He could reproduce detailed line drawings by following a photograph of the building. Other than him, I don’t remember any other exceptional talents.

2. Everyone who has an ASD is a genius.
3. Everyone who has an ASD has mental retardation.

All the students with autism that I know of are on a continuum of “smartness”. Some can read, write, do math; some can’t recognize ABC or 123; and the rest are in the middle. I have not met an exceptional academic talent, but I’ve read books about (and by) individuals with autism who are professors and professionals in different fields.

4. Everyone who has a symptom of an ASD has an ASD.

Just because a person hates situations where s/he has to engage in small talk or s/he finds social interactions difficult, that does not make the person autistic.

5. Symptoms of ASD cannot improve.

If that is true, I’m doomed. Thankfully, that’s not true and lots of research have shown that individuals with autism can learn the skills they need to function in this world. And if you start intensive intervention early enough, the outcome will be much better.

I’ve also read books on dietary interventions (e.g. gluten-free and casein-free) that documented mind-blowing results. However, empirical research do not support those findings and dietary interventions has been relegated as “Interventions That are not Recommended” (Umbarger, 2007).

Honestly, I wish it was as simple as just removing all wheat and milk products from a child’s diet, and that child with autism will immediately show improvements. In addition, dietary interventions are not easy to implement, it’s a total upheaval to the family’s routine. If a family comes to me and tells me that they want to implement a dietary intervention, I would be supportive but I’ll warned them that it’s not yet evidence-based and that they will have to be prepared to make the drastic changes and stick to the new diet for at least one year before deciding to stay on or stop the diet. No half-hearted effort allowed here.

6. People with ASDs have no emotions and do not get attached to others.

I remember a student with autism who did not show much emotions and she sort of looked as if she’s not aware of what’s happening around her but she loved it when I put my arm around her shoulder. I remember another student with autism who looked very aware of what’s happening around her and she totally hates it when I just sit close to her. And she’ll let me know her displeasure by giving my arm a tight slap.

I’ve read a book where the guy with autism, Joe, was suspicious that his lover is seeing someone else. Joe would noticed everything: if his lover, who worked at home, said that he (yes, it’s a he) went out for jog in the afternoon and that’s the reason he didn’t answer Joe’s call, Joe would know immediately whether it’s the truth or not because he remembers the exact placement of his partner’s running shoes in the morning before he went to work. And when Joe related his suspicions to another friend, Joe broke down and cried. I think that’s so normal.

So, they do form attachments to other people and have a wide range of emotions but they may not show those emotions in the same way that non-autistic people do.

Lastly, CNN reports that there are 35 million people with ASD in the world today. That’s more than the population of Malaysia!

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I have completed my comprehensive exam and I am in the midst of getting my dissertation proposal ready.

My dissertation will be on the use of a video-based intervention to teach job skills to adults/youths with developmental disabilities working in community settings. I am rather psyched with this topic. I like it because the video part of the intervention allows me some room for creativity. The rest of the dissertation research, however, is one tightly controlled scientific process, which can be very dry and unexciting.

I am also writing up my qualifying project (QP) for publication. Even though I’ve passed the qualifying project many semesters ago, it never seems to get done.  I’ve written two versions of the Introduction: one when I initially proposed the QP, another when I defended the QP. Now I have to write a third version for publication. I’ve also analyzed and reanalyzed the data multiple times. And depending of the final data analysis, I would have to rewrite the Methods section again.

I am sick of still working on the QP, but I have to persevere on. It’s important to be a first author of a journal article: good for the CV. But still, I’m so sick of it.

With all these urgent and important documents to write and rewrite, I’ve somewhat lost my motivation to update this blog consistently. But I’ll try my best.

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I wrote this statement of purpose in 2002. In some ways, this could be seen as part of my ticket of admission to a doctoral program with full funding.

My first memorable experience as a special education teacher, involved me having to chase after an eight-year-old boy with autism at the bowling alley. Besides having no experience working with exceptional children, this was my first day at the HOUSE (a center for children with special needs). When I saw the boy running off from the group and the other three teachers had their hands full with the other children, I had to go after him on my own. I was unsure of myself: not knowing whether to walk slowly or to run full speed, and wondering whether to call out his name or to keep silent. Hoping not to further excite him, I ran quietly after the boy, as he sped across the bowling alley and then into the lanes. I stopped at the lanes and watched helplessly as he got closer to the bowling pins. Then, to my utter relief, he decided to turn around and walked back towards me. I quickly grabbed his hand and proceeded to lecture him while walking back to the group. All the while I kept my eyes on him, mainly to avoid the stares of the other patrons. This experience would be the first of many unforgettable moments that I would have while teaching exceptional children.

I had just completed my degree in biomedical science at Universiti Putra Malaysia, and was taking a break, when the principal of the HOUSE approached me to help out at the center for a few months. Although I did well in biomedical science, I wanted to interact with people rather than work in a medical laboratory. Thus, I was looking forward to this new and different experience. I entered the HOUSE with little understanding of education of children with disabilities. Among the many challenges of being a teacher to children with special needs, my main struggle was trying to teach the children with autism. They did not seem interested and looked like they would rather be left alone. The principal and the other teachers were just as perplexed by these children. All the while when I was teaching, I kept wondering if I was doing it the right way. Then I came across the manual, Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism: A Manual for Parents and Professionals, which helped me realized two things: (1) there is hope for children with autism and (2) the intervention will be very intensive.

Now that I knew that there were effective interventions for persons with autism, I was no longer satisfied with just teaching the children, I wanted to teach effectively. I wanted to be sure of my teaching methods, so I decided to apply for a teaching position at a school for autism ran by a national non-profit organization (SOCIETY). The SOCIETY did not turn out as I had expected. Although the SOCIETY had considerable more resources than HOUSE, the outcome of the students was not much different. As a developing country, Malaysia is still under-developed in the field of special education. Schools for children with disabilities, either public or private, lack properly trained teachers, funds, and expertise to provide best practices. It was my desire to have a deeper understanding of autism that led me to pursue graduate studies in special education at University of Malaya (UM).

Pursuing my master degree at UM, afforded me the opportunity to learn more about autism. The lecturers were not specialized in autism, so I had to find information regarding autism on my own. This included ordering books and journal articles from abroad, searching for information on the Internet, and attending a conference on autism in a neighboring country. As research increases in all areas of autism, including neurobiology of autism, my background in biomedical science is an advantage for me. While I may be able to compensate my lack of head knowledge to some extent, I acknowledge that I am lacking in the area of practical training in best practices.

While studying at UM, I took up a teaching position at the CENTER (a tuition center for children with Down syndrome). Even though my interest had always been autism, I took up this position because I would be working there under the guidance of my advisor in UM. He is an experienced and prominent special educator in Malaysia. To my surprise, even in the midst of the students with Down syndrome, I had a student with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism. As the head teacher, I was responsible for all aspects of teaching and evaluation of the students.

The complexity of autism makes understanding and overcoming it, a challenge for me. I want to work towards, as a book title says, Unraveling the Mystery of Autism. That is why I would like to pursue doctoral study in special education. As there are many aspects to interventions for autism, I hope to specialize in behavioral intervention, in areas such as positive behavior support, functional behavioral assessment, and applied behavior analysis. I see a need for better teacher preparation program to train special education teachers in my country. It is time to develop curricula that are effective in the local special education environment.

In Malaysia, there is still a lack of governmental support for persons with disabilities. The burden of caring for exceptional persons falls mainly on the parents. I want to work effectively with families of exceptional children, in areas such as parent education programs and developing effective support structures.

Most importantly, there is a need for greater involvement of the government with regards to individuals with disabilities. I realized that it is impossible for individuals with autism and their families to achieve quality of life without the support of the government and community. The advocacy for equal rights and opportunities for individuals with autism would perhaps be my greatest challenge.

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The Center was located in an affluent commercial area with numerous offices and businesses. It was located on the second floor, so we did not get visitors who would walk in out of nowhere. But there was this old man who occasionally walked up the flights of stairs to the Center with his two assistants. During Chinese New Year, he handed out angpows. Sometimes, he gave out cheap toys to the kids. And every time, he drilled me as to why a university graduate would want to spend her time teaching children with disabilities. A harmless and curious visitor who wanted to do good deeds, I thought.

Then one day, this old man came on his own to the Center. This time, his assistants did not come with him. He was standing between the door and the table where I was having one-on-one with my student. As usual, he started questioning me about my reasons for pursuing this line of work. I was slightly annoyed that he kept wanting to talk about that issue. All I wanted was for him to leave the room so that I could start my session with my student. The conversation went something like this:

Old Man (OM): But you are a university graduate, I’m sure there are better jobs out there.

Me: This is what I want to do. Besides I’m also pursuing further study in special education.

OM: But they (the kids) are “cacat” (handicapped). What’s the point of spending your time here with them? Go find something better to do.

Me: But they can still learn. And I want to do this.

OM: They are useless to society. They have no value.

Me: That’s not true! They are valuable. Their parents love them. God loves them.

OM: Better send them to hell!

Me: You have to leave now. I have to teach my students (Closed the door on the old man).

Few days later, my boss, the director of the Center who was also a parent of one of my students, came to talk to me. The old man told her that I “slammed” the door on him. He explained to her that he was questioning me about my single status and I got upset by that so I threw him out of the room. My boss thought that that behavior was totally out of character for me. I told her what the old man said, and her eyes popped open with disbelief. Anyway, she said she would talk to the old man.

I was really upset that day but as I thought over the situation, I realized he was not just an ignorant old man. This old man took his time and energy to slowly walk up those many steps to come into the Center to curse my students. I’m glad I slammed the door him. Ever since that time, the old man never came visiting.

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I remember the days I was back in Malaysia and I would read about special education in the United States. I looked through the very thick Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) documents. I read numerous books about the intensive Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) programs for children with autism. I read about the extensive funding and services individuals with disabilities receive. It almost seemed like the United States is a nirwana for individuals with disabilities.

But now that I’m in the United States and I’ve observed in special education classrooms, both at the elementary and high school levels, and I’ve seen programs for adults with disabilities, I realized the grass is not always greener. While there exist strong special education and disabilities laws that require certain things to be done, there also exist a higher moral law where accountability is a big issue.

I’ve seen children with emotional behavioral disorders in a room filled with adult helpers and yet not much teaching and learning takes place. I’ve seen high school special education classrooms where the students listened to their iPods while the teacher was leading a discussion on “current events”. And a current event could be last night’s wrestling match on TV.

Maybe I’m only seeing some of the worst case scenarios. But it does make me reflect on some of my former students in Malaysia, I wonder if they would do any better if they were in the same classrooms that I’ve observed here. Although back home, teachers without the special ed degrees struggled to teach the special kids, at least they were trying. When I see a special ed classroom that’s not functioning well here, it is very disturbing to me.

I wonder if the effects of
Law – Human Element = Human Element – Law?

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It was once my dream to pursue further studies in the area of special education in the United States. As a special education teacher in Malaysia, with limited knowledge (even though I did receive a M.Ed in Special Education from Universiti Malaya) and limited experience, I wanted to be good at what I do. I was frustrated when I encounter behaviors that I couldn’t control. Many a times, I did not know what is the next thing I should teach or how to teach it. There was a lot of trial and error learning. I got better at some things and remain clueless in others. Most importantly I got to know and love the students. And I learned to read them pretty well and this helped prevent some challenging behaviors from escalating. But I failed to teach the kids many functional skills that they would need in life.

I am now beginning my fourth year in the Ph.D. program in Special Education in the states. I have taken 60 credit hours in special education and related courses and am working under the tutelage of good professors in this field. Many a times, I sat in lectures, and as I learned new things, I reflected on my special education practices with my students and realized that I should have done things differently. Other times, I realized that I did do what is considered best practices, maybe in a rather primitive form, but nevertheless it was assuring that I did not do everything wrong.

Documenting some of my struggles, reflecting on them and hypothesizing possible strategies that I could have used, I hope will help me be a better practioner of special education.

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