Students of the International Medical University (IMU) Biomedical Science programme along with other students from the University’s health sciences programmes conducted a visit to a National Autism Society Of Malaysia (NASOM) School in Taman Yarl, Bukit Jalil. This activity was sponsored by IMU Cares and was carried out three different times of which two visits were in March and the last visit took place on 17 April 2015. Project leader, Theeban Thirugnanam briefed all volunteers on the day’s activity. The students organised sessions for the autistic kids such as games session and nursery rhymes session. Dental lecturers educated the kids on teeth hygiene. Both lecturers and students connected with the kids very well.
“Even though getting the autistic kids to focus was quite a task, the time spent with them was worthwhile. The kids were happy with the activities and that made us all happy as well because it has, in one way or another, enabled us to experience in care giving, an integral part of everyday life especially as health professionals”, said Theeban.
“From this visit we realised that even though these autistic kids suffer an impaired ability to communicate and interact, with a lot of love and care towards them, they would just be like every other human.” Overall, the three visits to the NASOM School were a success and it has also given the students insight to care giving, event/activity planning, creativity and most of all how to handle people with autism. This article is written by the Secretary of the NASOM Project, Zainab Olamiji Edu. The project was organised by second year biomedical science students, led by Theeban Thirugnanam, under the supervision of their lecturer, Anil Philip Kunnath.
