KUALA LUMPUR: A childcare centre for children with special needs in Cheras is pleading to the public and corporate sector to help raise funds to build a one-stop centre here.
The Hulu Langat Care Centre for Children with Special Needs (PKKI) is aiming to build a one-stop centre, costing around RM2.5 million, on a plot of land in Bandar Mahkota, Cheras.
“Our facility in Taman Cuepacs is small and congested. It is crammed and can be frustrating for both children and teachers,” said the home's president Shirley Tham yesterday.
The centre, which has been in operation for the past 16 years, handles around 90 children with disabilities, including cerebral palsy, autism, and blindness.
It charges a minimal monthly fee, operates as a non-profit organisation and relies solely on public donations to stay in operation.
“If we have a one-stop centre at a more spacious venue, we can use our current centres to convert them into homes so the children can be housed there full time.”
At the moment, Tham said the centre operates like a school, from Monday to Friday at selected hours.
Tham was thankful for the new Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) donated by Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) yesterday.
The RM138,000 vehicle, she said, would replace the centre's old van.
“We shortlisted the centre after going through a list of centres in critical aid in Klang Valley,” said YSD's governing council member Datin Paduka Zaitoon Datuk Othman.
Challenge caring for children with special needs
DERRICK ASHVIN was born perfectly normal seven years ago. It was only after a freak accident in the kitchen when he was barely 11 months old, that his parents' worst suspicions were confirmed.
Derrick was diagnosed with a condition known as celebral palsy (CP).
Derrick is one of 90 children suffering from the disorder and receiving therapy at the Hulu Langat Centre for Children with Special Needs (PKKI) in Cheras here.
His mother, Helen Joseph, said her son was in better health now.
“He can move, talk a little and walk a little,” the 46-year-old housewife told The Malay Mail.
As CP affects the brain, a child might not be able to walk, talk, eat, or play the way most children do. In loose terms it means “brain paralysis” and is caused by abnormal development or damage in one or more parts of the brain that controls muscle tone and motor activity or movement.
Derrick visits the centre twice a week, and goes through physiotherapy sessions, where he is taught some form of basic motor skills such as standing up and sitting down. Though he can stand, Helen said he still has problems moving around.
“I do not expect much from him. All I want is for him to manage himself well. To be able to go to a grocery shop and buy things by himself when he is older,” she said.
She said Derrick was able to walk but many others at the centre were still wheelchair bound.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old physiotherapist Kashminder Singh said working with these children day in and day out was a challenge.
“But it is worthwhile when they come to you after the sessions and kiss you on the cheek,” he said.
Kashminder said with proper therapy many of these children could still lead normal lives, even though they would never be able to live independently.
“The best we can do is to retain their basic motor skills.”
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