Children with special needs in this context are children who have learning disabilities and/or difficulties. They may have conditions such as autism, dyslexia, down syndrome, slow learner etc. They find difficulties in studies, understanding and relating to other people. Taking part in everyday family and social life may be harder for them.

However, with early intervention therapy they can be like any normal children. This had already been proven in other countries such as, Singapore, Australia, US, UK and even in smaller area Malaysia.

Children with learning disabilities need creative ways of learning so that they can achieve as well as other children. However, the irony is, our mainstream education system is not structured to support their learning needs. Study shows, that students who had undergone the necessay intervention program had done well in the exams.

Being a Club which had involved in the children with special needs projects for the last ten years, our board felt that it's about time to set-up a resource centre to cater to a larger population in a more focussed manner.

The resource centre is currently located in Melawati Square, Taman Melawati. It is a 'one-stop' centre for children and parents/caregivers. It has a classroom that can cater to 15 children for intervention program. There is a computer room, a book library with internet access for research purposes and a room for counseling parents and children.

Monthly we run a program called "Share With Us". This program is basically a platform for parents and caregivers to share and exchange knowledge on managing children with special needs. There will be a facilitator who is experience in this field to facilitate the session. To make the program beneficial, in each session the number of participants is restricted to 10.

Regularly, there are seminars and workshops held to upgrade the parents and caregivers on the knowledge of managing these children.

To run a resource centre with such facilities has some operating cost. We regularly run projects to raise funds and also appeal for generous contribution in cash or kind from people like you, corporate bodies, government, NGOs etc. No matter how small the contribution is, it can go a long way to assist us in giving hope to these children.

Meanwhile, we like to take this opportunity to thank our main contributors, CIMB Bank, Narayani Foundation and PDG Datuk Jimmy Lim for covering the start-up expenses.

Our long-term plan is to work in collaboration with other Rotary Clubs to open more centres so that we can reach out to more children in this country.

For contribution or more information on the resource centre, please contact:

Rotarian Wasudeven,

Chairman, Resource Centre

(for Children With Special Needs)

H/P: 016-3116003

email: jasonwasu@yahoo.com

Address:

311-A, Lorong Kedah, Melawati Square

Pusat Bandar Melawati

53100 Kuala Lumpur