Classes for autistic children at Agape Centre to resume on Aug 2
SIBU: Sibu Autistic Association (SAA) will resume its classes for children with autism at Agape Centre on Aug 2.
President David Ngu said that all parents had been notified of the class resumption, however the parents will have the final say in sending the children back to class.
“We have entered the Phase two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and we are actually allowed to open now.
“However, we want to focus on completing the vaccination programme at Agape Centre first after which we will disinfect the class rooms before restarting the class,” he said.
He added that SAA would make some modification on its programme to add teaching the children to learn the SOP such as washing their hands properly and wearing their masks.
“These children cannot stand wearing mask, but we already asked the parents to train their kids at home to wear mask,” he said.
The parents have to declare their health when sending their children to Agape Centre.
According to him, the last time the class opened was before Hari Raya and the lessions were disrupted by the closure of the class.
Ngu said autistic children must have training every day and once they missed out, they had to start over.
“The teachers also gave some training to parents to train their children at home but I understand, sometimes, learning at home is quite difficult,” he said.
He also said that they would resume their physical therapy session gradually and some modification would be done to ensure that SOPs can be adhered.
“For example, we cannot have two kids come together for physical therapy although the best thing is to have two kids together, because they learn faster that way,” he said.
Meanwhile the fund raising for SAA new building is ongoing and Ngu appealed for donation from the public to support the project.
He said the three-storey new building could accommodate about 200 children once completed.
“The idea of starting this project began about two years ago due to increasing number of autistic children. For example, last year alone, there were 100 new diagnoses for autistic children.
“So, let’s say this year, I have 60 children under our care, next year, there would be more, but we cannot accept them anymore,” he said.