Lions REACh

What is REACh?

The Association of Resource and Education for Autistic Children (REACh) is a Lions community service project, and the result of the efforts of a few dedicated and committed volunteers together with support from the public and the Lions family throughout Malaysia. The centre was set up in 1987 in Penang and provides FREE services to autistic children and their families. From a small group of four children, our Centre is now offering free services to 55 children, ranging from 3 years old to 26 years old. We started another Centre in Butterworth in 1998 to meet the increasing needs of the northern region in Malaysia.

We are pleased to note that the benefits of our holistic training have successfully contributed to the enrichment and the transformation of the lives of our autistic children over the past 25 years. It is the REACh Way that has earned recognition as a reliable and credible source of support. This has enabled us to help our children to achieve their developmental milestones.

Our individual one-to-one teaching programmes include one-to-one learning, computer class (learning box), sensory integration and neuro-feedback sessions. We also conduct group programmes such as music and movement, play group therapy, Lions OptiMusic, snoezelen, pre-vocational training, story-telling, occupational therapy, traverse wall, pottery class, art and creativity stimulation and family group sessions. All these strongly reinforce the learning process of our children and enable them to recognise, differentiate, value and appreciate people, things, objects and situations in a natural and orderly manner.

These REACh programmes focus on the overall development of the child in terms of mental, motor, language, speech and communication, social and self-help. Most parents tend to believe that only the mental and speech defects of the child need to be corrected and once these are adjusted, the child should be able to make progress in the other areas. This is unfortunately not true. All five areas must be addressed simultaneously in order for them to be included into normal schools and be integrated into the society.

Behind a beautiful angelic may lie a child born autistic for causes unknown. Autism is a profound life-long mental disability in which children are so withdrawn that they have difficulty in developing normal social and emotional relationships with people around them and in understanding the world in which they live.

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Message from the Chairman,

Lim Eng Chye

As humans, we cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by thousands of invisible threads. We are but only a fragile thread. But when we are skilfully woven, we make a beautiful tapestry. There is this one thing that has been the secret key, the needle that has stitched our lives together with wonderful moments of joy and laughter. It has woven a grand design that has taught us about autism, about our children and above all, about ourselves.

This secret key, this special needle is “happiness”. If you want happiness for an hour, I will recommend that you take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, then you go fishing. But if you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

It has been a long journey for the Centre since 1987. We started out without having much knowledge on autism. Through the years, we explore and acquire more and more information about autism and skills to teach these special children.

We currently have 55 children. A few pioneer students are still with us today and we are very proud of their achievements. They had been able to complete mainstream education and hold jobs in the community. The Centre hopes that these achievements can motivate and remind all parents that there is always hope for these children. We started with one programme and now under the guidance of Prof. Dato’ Dr. See, we have in total 16 programmes and nine services provided for the children and their families. In the near future, we hope to be able to provide appropriate programmes for teenagers and young adults with autism to learn living skills and hopefully, to blend in with the community.

Through these years, REACh has given me an extended family that I adore. It has enriched my life with purpose. It has filled my life with much love. It has brought me great happiness. All these have been made possible by the simple gesture of reaching out to help somebody.

Message from the Volunteer Principal,

Prof. Dato’ Dr. See Ching Mey

When Lion Lim Eng Chye, better known to us as Uncle Lim, began this journey to help children with autism 25 years ago, our intention was merely to create awareness and share knowledge on how to help these children. As we travelled the way, expectations from the parents rose. They wanted more help for their children. We began to provide guidance and training, and in these efforts we were strongly supported by the Main Committee and the parents themselves. As our programmes grew in numbers, we were joined by many volunteers and teachers. It soon emerged that it all boils down to COMMITMENT from everyone – the parents, the volunteers and the teachers.

There is hope for children with autism if we are able to diagnose them early, provide effective early intervention and diverse training to help them. The Centre is committed to work with the family in helping their children with autism, and family members must join the Centre in this commitment to participate in the training of their children and those from other families. We have only the goal of normalizing these children so that they can be included into mainstream schools for an education, join the work force to be productive, capable of looking after themselves, and being a part of the community.

Lions REACh is a vivid example of the process of community engagement wherein the family, the community, government, universities, colleges, schools, NGOs, and industries work together and collaborate to challenge the conventional wisdom that children with autism are disabled and will always be dependent and unproductive members of the society. This partnership and commitment has led to the successful achievement of our goal. Many of our children are complimented for behaving so well and many have been included into mainstream schools, found work and participated in the community. Parents, teachers, and friends in turn have learnt lessons on the true meaning of caring and sharing without expecting reward or recognition. We understood that we have been extending our help and care to a child who may not be able to reciprocate or appreciate what we have done for them.

As we journey along with these children with autism, whom I call my children, they teach us many priceless lessons about life. They teach us patience for our success with them is marked by tiny steps forward. They teach us humility and how to give of our time and effort for no returns. This leads us on to help anyone and everyone that needs a helping hand.

A young child who has been with us from the beginning would be now an adult. A few years ago we saw the first college graduate from among our children. We have seen them in full employment and recently we have seen another, a first, begin a foundation programme at a local university. Thus along this long journey, Lions REACh too has been growing our resources and commitment in the training of the adolescents and young adults for inclusion into the workplace and community so that they have the opportunity to become self-reliant and good citizens of the country. These successes bring new hope to and encouragement for parents at our Centre still on their journey and for new parents joining Lions REACh. They also bring great satisfaction to the many individuals, volunteers, teachers and friends of the Centre