By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Feb 25: One-Stop Early Intervention Centre (OSEIC) guarantees a 100 per cent success rate to prepare special needs children for formal education, whether in mainstream or integrated special courses, upon reaching the age of seven.
Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said early intervention and rehabilitation is crucial in helping children with Autism, Down Syndrome and special needs get ready for schools.
Such programmes and therapies, she said, are available in OSEIC Sarawak where parents pay only a token monthly sum of RM50 for a once-a-week session or RM100 for a twice-a-week session.
Fatimah also noted the pressing need for public awareness on autism so that children can get diagnosed earlier and receive the necessary help in the early stages of their lives.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the incidence of autism is 1 in 68 in America.
“By analysing the national gross birth rate in Malaysia, it means approximately 9,000 Malaysian children are born with autism every year.
“So, the earlier the children are diagnosed and given appropriate therapies, the chances for them to improve are better,” she said during OSEIC Sarawak Graduation Day 2022 at a local hotel here today.
A total of 25 special needs children, comprising 18 six-year-olds and 7 seven-year-olds successfully graduated from OSEIC Sarawak today.
OSEIC is an early intervention centre set up on Oct 30, 2020 to work on the developmental, health, and support needs of babies and young children diagnosed with Autism, Down Syndrome or learning disability.
Managed by the Society for Parents of Children with Special Needs (Pibakat) and monitored by an OSEIC advisory committee led by the Ministry of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development, this centre in Kuching is the first of its kind in Sarawak.
The centre was jointly developed by the Sarawak government and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) under its corporate social responsbility (CSR) program.
Petronas allocated RM4 million for renovation, rental, purchase of equipment and furniture, training and staff development, module development and management of cost for OSEIC’s first year of operation in 2020.
Additionally, the Sarawak government also approved an allocation of RM11.1 million to operate the centre for five years.
Back when it was first established, there were 41 children with 11 staff, but as of Jan 31, 2022, the number of registered children has increased up to 227 with 21 employed staff.
Graced by Toh Puan Ragad Kurdi Taib, the graduation ceremony was also attended by Deputy Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Datuk Rosey Yunus, Sarawak Social Welfare Department (JKMS) director Noriah Ahmad, and OSEIC management committee president Zaidi Ahmad. — DayakDaily
