Nasom needs more teachers, volunteers

Malay Mail: THE National Autism Society of Malaysia (Nasom) is currently looking for more teachers and volunteers who are committed to helping children with autism.
Its executive director, Teoh Ah Nya Liew, said that Nasom’s primary aim is to provide education, vocational training and support services for people with autism.
Currently, Nasom has 14 schools in Peninsular Malaysia, handling some 350 children. The Society was established in 1986 to provide services to children with autism.
Its other top priorities at the moment include setting up a toy library to increase roleplay and pretend play amongst the children with autism.
“Some of our children are growing up, and we also need a group home for activities to help these children who have various degrees of autism,” said Teoh.
“We are also looking for sponsorship of a bakery section as well as a printing and publishing section for the children to learn marketable vocational skills which will better the opportunities of job placements in future.”
Every effort is being made to ensure that the children grow up eventually with skills that will land them jobs, rather than remaining dependent on charity.
This is therefore an opportunity for caring corporate citizens to plan to include in their budget next year to train people with autism to be potential employees who will work for them in the future.
Every month, Nasom’s expenditure can go up to as high as RM180,000, where the money is used to cover Intensive Early Intervention Programme (one-to-one teacher-pupil ratio teaching for children from ages two to five), Early Intervention Programme (1:3 teacher-pupil ratio teaching for children aged five and above), Elementary class (ages seven to 12) and Vocational training for young adults aged 14 and above.
“The expenditure also includes salaries for a total of 101 teachers in all 14 schools, rental of the schools, overhead costs, upgrading of facilities, administrative costs and training of new teachers,” Teoh added. “We need help.”
For more information, call Teoh or Mariyam Mohd Yasin (executive secretary) of Nasom at No. 4, Jalan Chan Chin Mooi, off Jalan Pahang, 53200 Kuala Lumpur.
The telephone number is (03) 4022-3744/4023-6698, and the e-mail is nasom@streamyx.com