Partial and Full Sponsorship to Attend ASD-Related Workshops/Talks

ANDI Initiative is offering the following 'boost' to parents of children with autism, who would not be attending these events otherwise:

• 50% sponsorship for one seat for a 12-hour behaviour management workshop (13 and 21 March 2010)
• 100% sponsorship for one seat for a talk on biomedical intervention (9 February 2010).

Contact 016 913 6134 or ANDI.Initiative@gmail.com for further info. Confidentiality will be maintained.

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New Year Additions to the Lending Book Library

As always the case in the past 4 years, borrowing is FREE. A small fully-refundable deposit is required for some of the books. This service is for parents of children with special needs.

Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism. By Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy, foreword by Tony Attwood.

Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism. By Temple Grandin and Sean Barron.

The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book: Practical Answers to the Top 250 Questions Parents Ask. By Tara Delaney, MS, OTR/L.

BehaviorAsk: Straight Answers to your ABA Programming Questions. By Bobby Newman, Dana Reinecke and Tammy Hammond.

The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children with Autism and Related Disorders. Mary Lynch Barbera.

Video Modelling and Behaviour Analysis. By Christos Nikopoulos and Mickey Keenan.

Enzymes for Autism and other Neurological Conditions: The Practical Guide to Digestive Enzymes and Better Behavior. By Karen DeFelice.

Autism Beyond the Basics. William Shaw.

More to come...

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What Can a Child Learn at Home and in the Community?

Inspired by, and dedicated to, the parents who, at some point or another, have struggled to find appropriate school placement for their differently-abled child.

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or click here for the video.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Hotel Soap Project

Do you have a drawer full of hotel soaps brought home from holidays or business trips? Would you like to give them away to a good cause? Free up some drawer space?

If so, contact us at intanmiranti@yahoo.com.sg to arrange to drop off your items here in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. We have passed these items on to orphanages, children's homes and centres for children with special needs. We will continue to give away the donated soaps to any establishments that want them.

Here are some guidelines:

- Only bars of soap are accepted (no liquid soaps or shampoos). We will also accept toothbrushes and disposable razors.

- each item MUST be unopened (completely sealed in its original packaging).

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Helping Children Learn Better by Managing their Stress: Talk by Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon, Clinical Psychologist

"Why is my child stressed out?" "I need to help him de-stress" "Should I work on her thoughts or her behaviours?" "I need practical strategies, NOW!"

"Helping Children Learn Better
by Managing their Stress"

by
Dr Alvin Ng Lai Oon
Clinical Psychologist
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Description of Talk:

Stress is known to be able to significantly affect children's learning performance. This talk addresses stress in children and how it can work for and against children's learning with regards to academic, dalily living and emotional management. Participants will also learn techniques to manage children's behaviour and methods of managing stress in children so as to maximise their learning at home, at school and within the community.

Date:

Saturday, 5 December, 2009
9:00am until 1:00pm
Morning tea will be provided

Venue:

Shine Child Guidance Centre
Jaya One, J-29-2, Block J,
No 72A, Jalan Universiti,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

About the speaker:

Dr Alvin Ng is a a senior lecturer in clinical psychology at the Health Psychology Unit, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He obtained a Doctor of Psychology degree from Murdoch University, Western Australia in 2002. He currently teaches in the Master of Clinical Psychology, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Psychology Programmes. He is also a practising clinical psychologist at the Health Psychology Clinic, where he sees predominantly children with learning disabilities and pervasive developmental disorders such as autism. Dr Ng specialises in behaviour management and fluency-building. He is the author of the book, Teaching Children: Handling Study Stress (TC Publishing, 2004). Other than lecturing and clinical practice, Dr Ng has given numerous talks and seminars to various organisations and the public.


Organised by ANDI Initiative

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When Autism Co-Exists with Other Conditions in our Children

Do you ever get the feeling: “It’s more than autism with this child” ? Or “This new behaviour just doesn’t quite fit the autism criteria” Or “I wish I could talk to a developmental paediatrician"?

“Autism & its Co-morbidities”

by Dr Rajini Sarvananthan

Description:

Autism is often defined by its triad of deficits - impairments in social interaction, communication and stereotyped, repetitive behaviours. In addition, children with an autism spectrum disorder may have other difficulties such as sensory disintegration, motor coordination problems, specific behaviour problems, seizures and more. Some of these “other” problems – called co-morbidities – are often just as disabling and worrying as autism, and may even prevent a child from making progress in therapy if not addressed. The speaker, a well-regarded developmental paediatrician in the community, will discuss some of these co-morbidities. Parents and professionals attending this talk can expect to start learning how to identify some of these co-occurring conditions, and what suitable interventions are available.

Date:

Saturday, 21 November, 2009
9:30am until 1:00pm
Morning tea will be served

Venue:

SWAN Convention Centre, 4th Floor Multi Storey Car Park,
Sunway Medical Centre, 5 Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway,
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

About the Speaker:

Dr Rajini Sarvananthan is currently a Consultant Developmental and General Paediatrician at Sunway Medical Centre, Baby & Beyond Child Specialist Clinic, Sau Seng Lum Stroke & Rehab Centre, and Tropicana Medical Centre.

She entered Paediatrics in 1994 after graduating from Medical School in the UK. She started training in the field of Developmental Paediatrics in 1999 and returned to Malaysia in 2003. She joined UKM Medical Centre (formerly HUKM) and was involved in setting up the first Child Developmental Centre in Malaysia, working closely with other health professionals. In early 2009, she left to join Sunway Medical Centre and its dedicated team of therapists and health professionals, and also practices at the clinics and hospitals mentioned above.

She has a very supportive husband and three beautiful daughters.

Organised by ANDI Initiative

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Question-and-Answer Session with an Occupational Therapist, 6th June

"I really wish I could talk to an OT about my child"
"I want to show an OT my child's exercise book"
"I think my child's writing is alright but he grips his pencil in a strange way. Should it be corrected?"

Many parents would like to sit down with an occupational therapist and get advice about their children's handwriting difficulties. This is your chance!

Q and A Session with an OT
Organised by ANDI Initiative

Date: Saturday, 6 June, 2009
Time: 2:00 until 4:00pm
Venue: ANDI Initiative Training Facility, Section 17, Petaling Jaya (registrants will be sent the address and map)
Registration Fee: RM30
Maximum: 20 parents

This is a two-hour, small-group consult session with Ms Teo Lee Fun, OT, for parents of children with handwriting difficulties. The question-and-answer format will allow for a great degree of individualisation, and the small group format will allow Ms Teo enough time to address each parent's concerns.

Parents are encouraged to bring the following to show Ms Teo for feedback:

- Examples of their child's handwriting
- Their child's pencils
- Photos or short video clips for feedback about pencil grip or posture.

About the consultant:

Ms Teo Lee Fun is an occupational therapist trained in New Zealand and has been working many years in this field. She is SIPT (sensory integragion praxis test) certified with the University of Southern California (USC/WPS). She has also attended professional training in areas such as sensory integration, NDT, MORE approach, Samonas and Therapeutic Listening. Ms Teo has a special interest working with children with learning difficulties and sensory integration dysfunction. She has given seminars, lectures and has conducted numerous workshops for parents, teachers and others involved with children with special needs.

To register, please contact ANDI Initiative at 016 913 6134 or intanmiranti@yahoo.com.sg

This event is for ADULTS only.

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