1. No category

UniversitiMalaysia Sabah students visit SMARTER
$ruNFI
T'f1Es
Tan
Michelle
7.4 .. a (I
Eý A1 -2-
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
SMARTER(Society for the Management of Autism Related Issues in
Training, Education and Resources) yesterday received guests
from Universiti Malaysia Sabah
(UMS) Kota Kinabalu.
The 23-member delegation from
UMScomprised undergraduates of
Children and Family Psychology,
led by UMS lecturer Aminuddin
Ibrahim Lastar.
The fun-filled educational visit
was aimed at lending a real-life experience to the undergraduate students as well as engage SMARTER
students in fun-filled activities.
"We want the students to experience hands on real- life situations
and not just lectures in a
classroom, " said Aminuddin.
He added that he wanted to ensure his students are "involved
with real people in their everyday
life and environment", as he believes this will benefit them.
Smarter President Hj Abdullah
Malai Hj Othman guided and
briefed the delegates on the background of the centres as well as
about the special community in
Brunei.
"What you see (and experience)
here (Brunei Autism Centre for
Adults) is what you can't find in
any textbooks," said Malai, who
ve, Cgatcz ron universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) with therapists and special needs children at the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Centre in Sengkurong. Picture: BT/MichelleTon
was speaking on the techniques
and great attitude the therapists
have towards the special needs
children and adults.
The UMS delegates first went to
the Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD) in Sengkurong in the
morning where they engaged in
the activities that the children
were tasked to do such as making
pizza bread, early intervention
activities like colouring and story-
telling.
Later in the afternoon, the delegates went on to visit the Brunei
Autism Centre for Adults (BACA) in
Kg Jangsak where they continued
to interact with the students there
bondsbetween
and
establish
themselves and the youths and
adults from the centre.
The eyes of the UMS sstudents
were open to the capabilities and
potential of the special needs
people as they see for themselves
how therapists from BACA would
train them to perform well in
crafts, office work and so on.
"I have learned a lot from this
trip in terms of information for the
course I am in and the direct experience with the special needs
community has been fantastic, "
said Razshahfiq Ili Nadiy Roslan, a
third year student from UMS.
SMARTERhas been a leading organisation in the special needs
community for more than ten
years but as stated by the director
of the non-profit organisation,
they will need a cash transfusion
to continue serving the community.
If you would like to contribute
funds to help sustain and support
the great work that SMARTERhas
been doing, you can do so by contacting the SMARTERhotline at
7172991.
The Brunei Times