Sexuality education is Crucial in Helping Children with Autism Cope

Article by : S.Indramalar
Reviewed by : Farrah Wahida binti Zulkifli
In the article above, the writer describes the challenges that individual with autism are facing
due to society’s lack of understanding.Recently, a case regarding the detainment of a 22-year-
old autistic man overnight for allegedly molesting a woman has caught the attention of the
public.It was stated that, Ahmad Ziqri Morshidi’s mother Datin Hasnah Abdul Rahman has
made a plea for leniency after the incident.She expressed her concern that her autistic son had
the mental capacity of a child and was not aware of the consequences of his actions.Therefore,
this case has brought forward the need to amend the existing protocols to adhere to the needs
of people with disabilities.Police said that they will take this matter in consideration and revised
the procedures.

The unfortunate event that happened to Hasnah’s family has bring an impact to other families
with special needs children.It is a reminder for them to be proactive in managing their
children’s behavioural issues.Dealing with persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is
challenging due to their lack of ability to understand what is socially appropriate behaviour.

The writer quoted Jacqueline Lingham’s opinion on this issue.She is the founder of
Persatuan C.H.I.L.D. (Caring and Helping Individuals Learn and Develop) Sabah.She said that
people with ASD have difficulties in approaching real life situations.It is challenging for them
to practise social communication and social interaction as they need to be taught to adapt to
social rules compared to typically developing children who is able to grasp it effortlessly.

Moreover, Dr. Aminah Bee, Ministry of Health’s principal assistant director and public
health physician stressed that sexuality education is crucial for children with special needs to
keep them safe and help them develop into adulthood and adolescence.Besides, sexuality
education plays a pivotal role in guiding the children with special needs about personal
boundaries to facilitate their awareness regarding social cues and expectations.She emphasized
that sexuality education covers other important aspects aside from sex only.

In addition, the writer cited Dr Renuka Saseedharan believes that education is the key
in thriving to deal with special children with different levels of severity and expressive
language and mental capacity.She is a mother of an adult autistic son and an occupational health
physician who conducts training for parents with special children.
 In order to aid the shortcomings of the children with special needs to take up new lesson
verbally, Dr Renuka Saseedharan insists that parents should actively display appropriate
behaviour to them.Despite their level of comprehension, it is important to remind the children
that touching anyone other than family members is not acceptable and parents should focus
more on sctivity of their children with special needs in public places.The writer added an
important remark from Jacqueline Lingham that parents should address the problems and
discuss about it with their children with special needs rather than disregarding it.There is no
easy solution in facing this problem as different needs require different approaches.

The writer once more quoted the opinion of Dr Aminah Bee, who highlighted that
parents must recognise that sexual development is inevitable for all children, even those with
special needs.Although it is quite hard for children with special needs to grasp sexuality
education, she reiterated that they are able to learn and understand with constant supervision
and reminding.

Dr.Aminah Bee who has a 29 year old daughter with special needs , developed a
training module on reproductive health for children and adolescence with disabilities called
“Live Life,Stay Safe” in 2009 to support parents who are facing the same challenges in raising
children with special needs.The module that covers both life skills and personal safety and
attached with suggested tools and methods of teaching serves as a guide for parents,teachers
and caregivers of children with special needs.Basically, the syllabus for sexuality and
reproductive health is the same for every child, the only difference is the ways of delivering
the lessons to fulfill the requirements of children with special needs.Although the tools is an
effective aid,Dr Aminah Bee highlighted the importance of repetition and parents must practice
what they preach to their children by being a good role model.

Furthermore, she stated that sexuality education is crucial for abuse prevention to
nurture understanding of sexuality in children in order to reduce possibility of being abused
and make them alert about abusive situations.In addition, Jacqueline Lingham said that public
awareness is significant to educate society about people with disabilities.We must promote a
more inclusive society to avoid incident that has afflicted Ahmad Ziqri from occurring in the
future.

The writer includes a link for readers to access a training module online and resource
material to gain more knowledge.
 Generally, I think the writer has succeed in putting forth the importance of sexuality
education in helping children with autism cope.This article serves as a good medium that
collects the thoughts of prominent people in this field.Clearly they have good knowledge
regarding sexuality education and each of them has come up with interesting ideas to support
sexuality education among children with special needs.Furthermore, this article has shed some
light about the impact of autism on its family members and the people who interact with them
daily,and the difficulties faced by them.Indirectly, the writer encourages the readers to render
love and care to children with special needs as they are vulnerable person who deserve the best
from their society and environment.It is a thoughtful act by the writer to promote a sense of
responsibility in caring for children with special needs as she provided links for readers to attain
extra knowledge regarding sexuality education.

My personal perspective regarding the case that happened to Ahmad Ziqri is that the
authority must design an effective mechanism in handling cases that involves children or
individual with special needs.Person with special needs require specific approach.Hence, the
authority should prepare a guide for police officer to deal with people who is on the autism
spectrum.They should also be prepared to recognise and approach autistic victims,suspects or
witnesses.In addition,the authority should educate police officers on safe ways to handle
autistic person who are being arrested or held in custody to ensure that they are being treated
in an environment that is calming and safe to hinder them from feeling anxious and stressful.As
a result, the police may improve the quality of evidence if they know how to manage people
with special needs.This article has open my eyes about the reality faced by children with autism
and it motivates me to be aware of their needs and gain a deeper understanding about their
actions which educate me to not simply jump into judgment towards these little angels.