2 heads are better than 1-Part II

The Brunei Times ran an article on the Society again today, entitled "New Society Offers More Choices"briefly describing the main differences between Learning Ladders and the pioneer autism NGO in Brunei, SMARTER. I am personally not surprised that such an article was published shortly after our official launching because admittedly, this must be a query that goes through a lot of people's curious minds, especially since SMARTER has made such a large contribution to the cause in the Bruneian Community to this date through their countless fundraising activities and awareness campaigns (hence why does Brunei need another society to deal with autism?).

As explained by the article, the main difference between the two organisations is the type of therapy available for the children. Learning Ladders use ABA and SMARTER (quoting the President) use Independent Living Skills. First tip to parents: Google the 2 types of therapy and study what each type is all about.

For those who are not really in the know about autism spectrum disorder, there are many, many types of intervention strategies avaialable and specific to autism. To name a few, there are Applied Behavioural Analysis, Applied Verbal Behaviour, Eclectic Teaching Methods, TEACHH, Floortime, Speech Therapy, Music Therapy, Art Therapy, Sensory Integration Therapy, Occupational Therapy, PECS, Biomedical Intervention and many others. As you can see, parents are faced with many different options to choose from in finding what's the best method for their child. REMEMBER, autism is a spectrum so no one autistic child is similar from another so one can benefit from one type of therapy and another can benefit from another type.

I sincerely do not want to enter into a debate over this matter but simply to say that in our circumstances and in the circumstances of the other families of Learning Ladders, we have tried some other kinds of intervention but after not seeing any progress with the children, decide to seek something else. And Alhamdulillah, fortunately for us, we discovered ABA worked wonders for our children. [At the same time, we completely acknowledge the fact that it may also not work for other children].

Seeing the success with our own children, it is thus natural for us to want to share this discovery and let other parents in with the opportunity to try it if they are still seeking ways to improve their child.

Please, I appeal to all the curious minds out there, just try to understand the rationale behind the society to be JUST that. This is about the children. About providing the best chances for these children to flourish and live a fulfilling life. Let's leave all the politics to Clinton and Obama for now okay?;-)