KUCHING: The Kuching Autistic Association (KAA) plans to raise funds to build a new three-storey hostel for its learning and day centre.
KAA president Datuk Dr Yao Sik Chi said there are currently 121 autistic students registered with the centre while 13 others were still on the waiting list.
He said the hostel, to be built next to the training centre, would house children from 13 years old and above. The cost of the building is estimated to be RM3.5 million.
Of the 121 students registered with KAA, the youngest is three years old while the eldest is 37 years old.
“They only come for two to three hours’ sessions a day. Therefore, there are four groups of students each day,” he told reporters after the “Love-In-A-Box” programme at KAA here yesterday.
The four programmes start from 8 am until 10 am, 10 am to 12 pm, 1pm to 3pm and lastly, 3pm to 5pm.
Some students come every day and some come on alternative days.
Dr Yao also added that there were currently 27 teachers serving at the centre. They teach four types of programmes — primary intervention for children aged three years old to 12 years old, secondary intervention for children aged 13 years old to 17 years old, vocational programme for those aged 18 and above, and adult day care programme for those aged 18 years and above but can’t do vocational work.
“Once the children are seven years old, we recommend that their parents register them at a special learning school,” said Dr Yao.
He said the operating cost of the KAA learning centre was high because of the need for one-to-one training with the students.
“The current cost of training for a child is RM200 to RM400 per month. But the actual operating cost is RM850 per month for a child.
“In 2018, the total annual operating cost was RM932,000. However, the estimated deficit for this year is about RM600,000,” he said.
Dr Yao said KAA could not raise the learning fees out of consideration for the parents of the students.
“Although the state Welfare Department gives us RM10,000 to RM15,000 a year for the training of our teachers and parents, it cannot cover the costs,” he added.
Dr Yao explained that the high cost of the training programme was due to the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) training method that KAA used on its students in order to calm them down and teach them.
The association has two annual fund-raising programmes, namely the Autism Run and charity food sale.
“For this year’s Autism Run, we managed to collect over RM300,000. We hope that for next year’s run, we will be able to collect more than that.
“The slogan for the run is ‘See the Ability of Autism’ as we want to create awareness on autism as well as raise funds for the training centre,” said Dr Yao.
The Autism Run will be held next year at the Open Amphitheatre on March 22. Registration is now open and the public can register online as well.
