Talk on Autism

All smiles after the talk

In conjunction with the 11th annual World Autism Awareness Day, the Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS) organised a talk titled “Our Journey through Autism & Asperger” on 6 April 2018, at the Kampar Campus.

Present at the talk were FAS Dean Dr Alia Azalea, Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) Guidance and Counselling Programme Head Pheh Kai Shuen, staff, students and the star of the talk, Delwin Cheah Wien Loong, accompanied by his father Lawrence Cheah Guan Keong, mother Erina Law Mei Sun and sister Delwina Cheah.

The aim of the talk was to enable participants to catch a glimpse into the life of a young savant artist, Cheah Wien Loong. He was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (also known as Asperger Syndrome) at the age of five. Simultaneously, the talk also aimed to provide Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) Psychology students with a better understanding of autism and Asperger from the parents’ experiences.

Dr Alia, in her opening remarks, said, “Today is a chance to celebrate the creative and diversified minds of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and to reaffirm our promise to help them realise their great potential. Autism is a perfect example of neurodiversity, differently wired brains which lead to different profiles of strengths and challenges and should not be judged as better or worse. However, they still combat discrimination and exclusion in schools, workplace as well as basic healthcare services. To measure the success of our societies, we should examine how well those with different abilities, including people with autism, are integrated and included as full and valued members.”

She continued, “People with autism deserve all possible opportunities for education, employment and integration in the society. In UTAR, FAS is committed to continuously empower people with autism and their family members by providing affordable psychoeducational assessment, diagnosis and behavioural intervention services through the UTAR Community Counselling Centre.”

Before ending her speech, she reminded participants that the World Autism Awareness Day is more than just creating awareness and promoting understanding; rather it is an annual event that strongly advocates for effective action to be taken on acknowledging autism and Asperger disorders. She also encouraged all participants to join efforts in achieving the shared vision of Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

Meanwhile, Pheh gave the definition, symptoms and characteristics of autism. He explained, “The characteristics of an individual with this disorder are lack of eye contact, inability to relate to other children or adults, have poor communication skills, oversensitive or under sensitive to noise and touch, inappropriately toy play, facing difficulty dealing with changes in routine, inappropriate laugh and cry, lack of awareness of dangers, and hyperactive or passiveness.”

Pheh also added that the talk was a good platform that highlighted autism spectrum disorder from the parents’ perspectives. He also hoped that these will be an eye-opener for the students to be exposed to the real-life inspirational stories instead of learning about it from textbook and lectures.

Autism and Asperger are known to be disorders, however, participants also understood that these disorders are not limitations to the individual’s abilities, but rather reveals their other brighter aspects. For instance, in the case of Cheah Wien Loong, his parents shared that despite his condition, the disorder did not stop him from pursuing his life ambitions.

Cheah Wien Loong holds numerous records for his contribution to his community and nation, and has a score of 114, in non-verbal IQ test, which is higher than the average score. At the age of eight, his talent in art caught the attention of Dr Rosa C. Martinez, the President and Founder of the Stroke of Genius Inc., New York.

His parents also shared their journey raising Cheah Wien Loong, the challenges they faced, and their advice on how to raise Cheah Wien Loong. They said, “Wien Loong is particularly sensitive to sirens from ambulances, firefighter trucks and sound of the vacuum. In order to help him cope with his fear, we brought him to the hospital or fire station every day to help him get used to the sirens and to encourage him to face his fears. We also seek therapist, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist and medical experts to understand better about his disorder, but as parents, we cannot solely rely on these experts, as they can only provide guidance.”

They added, “As parents, we are to do our own research as well and learn how to take care of him at home. We should treat them normally and break away from the stereotypes. We also searched for other role models with autism spectrum disorder as inspiration for us. At the age of seven, we sent Cheah Wien Loong to a speech therapist for almost six months, but the outcome was dissatisfying. Now, Cheah Wien Loong reads to his mother every day for 30 minutes; reading 5 sentences from one book each day. We change the storybook daily and we carry out this reading routine even when we have outings.”

They also advised sending the child with autistic symptoms to a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist as early as possible because delaying their treatment will make it hard to train them as they grow older. “We trained him since young on reading, doing mathematics exercises and drawing. It’s easier to train him at a younger age. Try to reduce the child from throwing tantrums as much as possible and do not blame everything on the psychiatrist. We learnt that it is important to have discipline, perseverance, good teamwork, patience, creativity, staying positive, and to keep on trying when raising Cheah Wien Loong. We hope that Cheah Wien Loong can be a good role model and an inspiration to others with the similar disorder, and that he may motivate them.”

At the talk, Cheah Wien Loong demonstrated his drawing skills. He drew a herd of horses and presented his drawing to UTAR. The talk then ended with an interactive Q&A session, and saw Dr Alia presenting a token of appreciation to Cheah Wien Loong.

Cheah Wien Loong showing off his drawing skills

Dr Alia giving her opening remarks

Pheh highlighting the characteristics of autism

Cheah (left) and Law sharing their experiences

The Cheah family (left) presenting Wien Loong’s drawing, while Dr Alia looks on

Wien Loong (left) posing with the token of appreciation presented by Dr Alia 

For more information about Wien Loong, click the links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelwinCheah/ 
Website: http://delwincheah.com/