The 2025 Budget, announced late last year, marks a key step in Malaysia’s commitment to inclusivity and support for families affected by autism. While there is still progress to be made in raising awareness and providing adequate support, it’s promising to see increased funding and the establishment of special centres, including a first-of-its-kind school in Johor dedicated to autistic students. Despite growing awareness, much work remains to educate the public on autism and the importance of early intervention.
We must remember that autism is a spectrum and each child’s learning rate is different but all of them have the potential to progress and lead meaningful lives.
This World Autism Month and Autism Acceptance Month 2025, makchic reached out to Jochebed Isaacs, who has worked with hundreds of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Malaysia and trained parents, therapists, and professionals on autism. She talks to us on how to spot the signs, the importance of early intervention, and how parents can cope when your child is first diagnosed.
The Importance of Early Intervention
Signs and Early Intervention
- What is autism and how does it affect children differently?
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder, which means it affects the development of the brain and a child’s ability to communicate, socially interact and learn like a typical child. Autism is also a spectrum disorder and this means that some individuals are affected by autism on a mild level, some on a moderate level and some on a severe level.
Each child demonstrates different symptoms based on where they are on the spectrum.
Signs to look out for:
| Lack of nonverbal communication (such as eye contact and no pointing). | Speech delay (eg: no single words by 18 months) |
| Repetitive behaviors such as hand flapping, jumping up and down, tiptoeing, or playing with toys in a repeated way, such as lining up. | Inappropriate levels of tantrum or meltdown if there is a change, or if they do not get their own way. |
2. How early can a child be diagnosed?
Autism can be diagnosed as early as 18 months. We recommend all parents to:
| 1) Start tracking your child’s developmental milestones which can be done through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Milestone Tracker App, for example. | 2) The app will be able to alert parents to seek further consultation, should there be any red flags for early identification of autism. |
There is an option to do a parent self-assessment via the M-Chat and then seek professional evaluation, should there be sufficient concerns as young as 18 months.
The Importance of Early Intervention
3. How important is early intervention in helping children with autism thrive?
Parents and families are the first point of contact with the child with autism, and being aware of any red flags or delays is key to early identification and intervention.
Early intervention is key in helping children with autism as it gives them the best chance to progress to their full potential. This is because a young child’s brain is much more malleable, their developmental gap is much smaller and their challenging behaviours are not that established yet. Importantly, however, there needs to be the right type of early intervention.
4. What are some success stories of children who received early intervention and what impact did it have?
Parents have shared that they are now able to enjoy family holidays, or simply have a meal together without challenging behaviours, which has improved the quality of life not only for the child, but also the entire family.
Therapies and Programmes
5. What kind of therapies or programmes are typically recommended for early intervention?
Finding the right treatment that is effective is crucial for a child with autism.
While there are many types of therapies out there, from our experience, Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) therapy has been the most effective, resulting in almost 50% of children being able to catch up to their developmental age. This means that they close that developmental gap, are able to speak fluently and also transition to mainstream schools.
6. What is ABA?
ABA is conducted in a 1:1 setting and gives each child the attention they need. We love this approach as:
It allows for positive reinforcement to increase positive behaviours and social interaction.
Complex skills are broken down to smaller components to make learning easier.
It provides sufficient practice to establish emerging skills in the child.
Clearing Up Myths
7. Will my child with autism be able to talk?
The fact is that although some children with autism may have delayed speech or may not use words to communicate, many have very well-developed speech and the use of AACs (Alternative & Augmentative Communication) provides a means for individuals with autism to communicate.
8. Do some children with autism have genius skills in specific areas like music or mathematics?
A common misconception is that every individual with autism has a special talent or a “savant” skill, but the fact is that actually only 10% of the autism population have “savant” skills. Others, despite not having a “special skill”, have the ability to learn and progress at their own pace.
What Can Parents Do
9. How can parents cope and what action plan should they have?
We once had a meeting with an extended family of 16 people to know how to best support their child with autism.
Having a child with additional needs tends to put a lot of pressure on the parents, in terms of grief, stress, financial constraints due to the cost of therapy and support, and can put a strain on their marriage, as well as their relationships with the child’s other siblings too.
We would encourage parents to:
| Go through the grief and acceptance process. | Take care of your mental and emotional health, as well that of your marriage. |
| To get as equipped and empowered with the tools to be able to teach their own children. | Get everyone involved, including helpers and grandparents. |
| Work around the child’s strengths and model that which we all (parents included) have areas to improve on. | Try to normalise the need for therapy – like how a student needs a tuition teacher. |
| Get professional counselling if you need to – there is absolutely no shame in that. | Spend lots of time as a family. |
[* The contents of this interview have been edited for brevity and clarity.]
Jochebed Isaacs is the lead instructor of Autism at Home and also serves as Director at Early Autism Project Malaysia (EAP) which is an autism centre and the pioneer of the Applied Behavioural Approach (ABA) treatment in Malaysia. She is also a Clinical Psychologist.
