Support Malaysian kids with learning disabilities

To: GlobalGiving Program From: Wings Melaka Date: 18/05/2023 Attached here with our 1st Quarter 2023 report for your attention & perusal (private and confidential) Thank you and Regards Wings Melaka. We began the year 2023 with the lofty goal of reaching out to help more autistic children and their caring families and we see an increased demand in our Melaka community. However, our community lack suitable resources for these subject group in our said Community. Since last year, all the activities at Wings Melaka Centre have remained sustainable and every of our programs had been carried out smoothly. Last year we had recruited 4 new EIP (Early Intervention Program) students and 3 existing EIP students who were given the opportunities to pursue academic learning & other daily skills sets and currently some of the EIP students have improved and moved up to SAP (School Aged Program). Currently the demand for registering of new EIP students in Wings Melaka are encouraging and we have a waiting list of students in our record. As of the current reporting period, we had 28 EIP, 13 SAP and 4 YAP (Young Adult Program) Students and supported by 9 staff (breakdown 8 teachers & 2 Management staff). Based on our current staffing, our Wings Melaka are still facing human resource issue and it is our challenge to get more manpower into our Centre. As for this year, we plan to recruit additional teachers and we really hope we can find suitable teachers who want to work in our Centre. Our last quarter of year 2023, Wings Melaka managed to achieve the following: - 1. We had recently split some of the EIP students who are facing difficulties in their learning into classroom modules that is introduction of studying in a stimulated rooms for those students with sensory impairments. And so far, those students had responded to our said program; 2. As for SAP students, we decided to modify our SAP classrooms into two (2) modules that is Study Area and the other Activity Area. And we noticed the students had improved on their confidence, comprehension, social, emotional and also prevent their frustration & anxiety when they sat in their said classrooms; 3. In respect of our Young Adult Program (YAP) students, we got them to learn their newly acquired skills that is Baking of Cakes, cup-cakes and cookies. And the recent Chinese New Year the teachers & students did baking of cookies, bottled the said cookies and sold them. We also got the students to help us with the teachers when they go out to shop for groceries at a local supermarket which were to be used for cooking lunch in the Centre. Going forward, Wings Melaka hope to be able to recruit suitable teachers so that we can accept additional new autistic students and also share the work load of the existing teachers. In addition, the new teachers will be in our succession planning

• Wings Melaka Report and Photos (PDF)
  

A challenging yet fruitful and fulfilling year 2023. Children's improvement in their learning, smiles on the faces of parents and the dedicated comitment of the team, unceasing financial support of the good samarithans, these are all the motivational factors that pull us through a stormy year post covid season.

With the long waiting list of students, we managed  to secure some part-time teachers to cater for as many students possible. We closed the year of 2023 with 32 EIP, 15 SAP & 4 YAP students vs less then 8 teachers. Our greatest challenge is still manpower issue. We are indeed glad with the increases of total students of 35 from Jan 2022..

Special event took place during the closing include:

1. Christmas party for the children and families.

2. Parent support group conducted by Jacquelyn Ang & staff training

3. CSR run by the Youth Outreach from Singapore.include spring cleaning, Staff training,& mural painting.

Photos are attached below.

The students and teachers participated in a variety of activities throughout the past 2 months including:

Dentist visit to the centre 

A team comprising of 2 dentists and 3 nurses from Klinik Pergigian Klebang came to our centre to conduct their annual dental checkup for our students on 11th and 12th August. They also gave a detailed talk on how to care for our teeth and the students got an opportunity to learn hands-on on the right way to brush their teeth. 

Parents Support Group (PSG)

We are very priviledged to have Mdm Teo Lee Fun from Teo Therapeutic Centre to give a talk about 'Sensory Triggers at Home' where she shared with parents on how to identify possible triggers within the home environment, ways to modify it as well as the importance of why they should address their child's sensory needs, if any. The session was conducted on 13th August.

8th National Early Childhood Intervention Conference (NECIC) 2022

Our executive director, Ms Chan Saw Si together with 3 of our staff, Ms Emily Choon, Ms Sharon Low and Ms Malar hopped onto a flight to Miri, Sarawak for the NECIC that was held from 3rd to 5th September. They found it interesting as it was an eye-opener where they could experience a wide range of topics anchored by professional practitioners and parents from all around Malaysia and other countries too. The topics covered include types of strategies used in behaviour management/ learning through play or music, addressing social and mental health issues and giving parental or caregivers support. 

Annual fire drill exercise

We had our annual fire drill on 28th September and it was conducted by Jabatan Bomba Jalan Kubu, Melaka. They gave a fire stimulation exercise and a demonstration on how to use a fire extinguisher to put out a fire ie PASS strategy: Pull the pin, Aim low, Squeeze the lever and Sweep the nozzle side-to-side. The students from SAP and YAP participated in the event and had a great time exploring the fire truck after that.

3Rs fashion show

The students from our SAP did a 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) fashion show on 29th & 30th September. They made clothes out of recyclable items, decorated them and posed for the runway. They enjoyed trying on each others' costumes too. 

As we move towards year-end, we hope to plan and conduct more meaningful activities for the students to learn and enjoy. We look forward to wrap up the year with joyful fun!

All activities in the Centre remained vibrant and hectic since the last quarter. We have recruited about 15 new EIP students within the 2nd quarter and yet there are still about 15 children lining up in the waiting list. Students newly recruited are mostly 4-5 years old as a result of the 2 years lockdown period due to Covid 19 which causing the delayed for early intervention.

We have 24 EIP, 14 SAP & 5 YAP students altogther vs 10 staff  (3 management + 7 teachers/trainers) as of reporting period. A handful of the teachers are as new as 1 month to less then 2 years teaching experience. Meanwhile, 2 of the key leaders are also working on a partime basis at present due to family and other personal commitment. As such, Human capital remains the greatest challenge for our works, more so, being a Christian NGO. 

We had also tried to outsource an Occupational Therapy (OT) for the benefits of our children in May 2022. However, the project was unable to proceed on for a longer term collaboration due to the mismatched of our needs vs the commitment level of the OT. Nevertheless, we will continue to look out, to recruit and train up more teachers or even an in-house OT if we could find the suitable candidates.

Based on our record, there are some EIP students who are not able to pursue academic learning and we are hopeful to introduce and incorporate more functional and living skill into our School Aged Program or to segregate the SAP students into 2 different groups to meet the needs of the students. This will make their learning more meaningful.

As for our Young Adults Program(YAP), besides house-keeping, cooking, we are trying to revive the baking project to vocational or even baking for sale. Besides, we had reposition one of our male trainer to train the  boys on new skills include simple carpentry work and agri-planting. These are all new planning in the pipeline for YAP.

All our 3 programs resumed physical lessons starting November 2021 and it brought much excitement to our students who had been lockdown for almost the whole year through 2021.  Despite unforeseen staff turnaround and leakage of students during MCO, our students vs teachers ratio was still within a manageable level. Nevertheless, the waiting list of EIP students remained incomprehensible for the current year.

We entered the year 2022 with much hope and expectation to reach out to more children and families in view of the increasing demand vs the lack of relevant services for the subject group within our vicinity. 

We welcome our Ex-Head Teacher Ms Loreen Lim who was once a committed & faithful teacher with us for more than 8 years from 2012 -2020 to resume one of the key leadership roles as the Head of Programs starting Jan 2022.  Besides, we are also hopeful to recruit at least 3 more teachers this year of which 2 suitable candidates have been identified and started volunteering and doing internships at present and the employment offer had been extended pending acceptance. 

As a result of the Covid Pandemic and great uncertainties ahead, we may need to develop a Hybrid Program in the pipeline for children and families as an alternative to meet some urgency or contingency cases.

The finance of the organization being an NGO remains challenging, however, we could partly self-support based on the nominal students' contribution and donation by many including GlobalGiving and its networks.

We captured and shared some sweet moments from our daily activities to draw your attention and continuous support and is our pleasure to be part of you.

Let's continue to pursue our vision and mission in the life of the special needs people with the right mind, right heart, and the right attitude, and all will be well.