Miles Autism Academy, Petaling Jaya

Children with autism, like all children, need to learn and develop skills to reach their full potential and lead fulfilling lives. Simple skills that come naturally to most children can be challenging and frustrating for children with special needs. Miles Autism Academy believes that every child they care for has the capacity to learn and grow with the right support and intervention.

It all started in 2022, as passionate clinical practitioners Low Ree Ta, Mable Lai (a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, BCBA), and Irene Wong brought their years of experiences together to form this multidisciplinary learning center. It is located in Damansara Jaya, conveniently just right next to Atria Shopping Mall.

Having worked separately in the special education industry for more than a decade, they noticed a gap in the community that current service trends did not fulfill at the time. Working parents with autistic and special needs children are struggling to manage their time juggling to send their child to different places for different therapies, daycare centres, hobby classes and etc.; and in many cases, the required therapies for the child had to be compromised due to these difficult logistics planning, especially for working parents and hence, it impacts on the child's progress to reach their fullest potential. At the end of the day, all parents want is just to have a place of convenience with a variety of services conducted by highly skilled clinical practitioners. In Miles Autism Academy, their experienced team offers plenty of flexible services to cater to different learners and parents needs.

More interestingly, most special needs learning centers mainly welcome toddlers or young children. What makes Miles Autism Academy different is that they welcome learners with Autism, ADHD, GDD, speech delay and other learning conditions, from as young as 18 months old to 20 years old. Miles Autism Academy is always open to go the extra mile to help families plan interventions for learners of different ages, be it preparing for school readiness, independent living or developing appropriate social communication skills and etc.

ABA Therapy: World-recognised gold standard for autism

Miles Autism Academy's Early Intervention Programs (EIP) include application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy, an effective evidence-based treatment for autism and other developmental disorders backed by the largest body of research across the world.

How this is applied here in Miles Autism Academy, is the programs at Miles Autism Academy focus on regulating disruptive behaviors, developing language and communication skills, social skills, effective fundamental-learning skills, appropriate play skills, advance cognitive thinking, fine/gross motor skills, independent living skills, preparing school-readiness behaviors & academic skills for learners of school going age, teaching practical community skills and towards vocational skills training for teenagers and young adults.

Some example programs taught in Miles Academy are such as working on incompliance, rigidities, short attention span, food tolerance, self-monitoring own behaviors; developing spontaneous speech, effective choice making, increasing social interest and developing appropriate conversation skills; teaching functional schooling behaviors and skills such as the ability to learning in group, reading, writing, basic number skills, comprehension skills; toilet training; expanding leisure skills so the learner can occupy their time meaningfully and appropriately; even teaching danger awareness, self-protection, social boundaries and many more programs.

The effectiveness of ABA Therapy approaches resulted from the individualized analysis and systematic breakdown in teaching the learners, the use of positive rewards to increase learner's learning motivation, the intensive trials but yet fun and practical natural learning environment that help the learner generalize to daily living effectively, and the last but not least, each small progress is precisely recorded with data and often reviewed on videos with parents too.

In Miles Autism Academy, the team works with parents very closely via daily progress updates online/via WhatsApp, monthly parent meetings with videos presentations, and complimentary parent trainings are provided for their clients as well. The Miles team always see themselves as a "bridge" between the learner and the family, school and society. And at the end of the day, the goal is for these individuals to maintain the learnt skills and behaviors with the family and be part of the community navigating the world with confidence.

In-house Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) & Official Diagnosis Service

If ABA is the gold standard for autism treatment, BCBA is the rare diamond for special needs practitioners here in Malaysia. Luckily for these learners, Miles Autism Academy has an in-house BCBA, co-founder Mabel Lai who’s been working on learning difficulties since 2009.

In fact, she is 1 of only 29 BCBAs here in Malaysia.

Kiddy123 spoke to fellow co-founder Low Ree Ta, who strongly emphasises the importance of early intervention. As soon as parents notice a delay in development, professional consultation and assessment must be done as it could change their child’s life. "Our learners are chasing time to close the delayed gaps from the other same age peers, therefore, there's never 'too young' to start intervention; but any one day delayed for intervention, one day is wasted for a learner's progress in closing the gap."

Starting intervention ASAP is also vital to prevent undesired behaviours or prolonged delays from developing further. This will cause further challenges for the learner to catch up in progress when the history of undesired behaviors and low learning motivation gets longer.

Miles Autism Academy provides FREE Consultation to parents who wish to plan for their children, while parents who noticed any concerning traits and are looking for official diagnosis and assessment, it can be done by the Clinical Psychologist, Ms Evon Kuah at Miles Autism Academy as well. Miles Autism Academy provides diagnosis services for a variety of learning conditions which includes but limited to Autism, ADHD, Global Developmental Delay (GDD), Dyslexia, IQ tests, and more.

Core team with 50+ total years of experience

Behind every successful learning story, is a team of dedicated, experienced teachers. This proves true in Miles Autism Academy. While it’s relatively new in town, the core team has collectively decades of experience working with children with autism and other special needs.

As learning programmes are personalised to individual learning needs, in each session a child is attended to by a fixed team of 2-3 therapists, a Program Supervisor together with a Consultant.

Parents can opt for sessions to be conducted in English, Chinese, or Bahasa Malaysia depending on family environment needs or near future school plans. The Miles team even have some learners starting to acquire bilingual skills once they’re comfortable with one language.

Having observed the academy on a regular day, it’s obvious that the learners are comfortable in this warm, cheerful atmosphere. The experienced team keeps things in control and orderly in a playful, encouraging manner – with a touch of gentle firmness.

It’s impressive that Ree Ta knows every learner by name and their developmental history. They respond to her so warmly, with a young girl coming in to hug her in the middle of this interview.

Flexible service combo plans with a personalised approach

Just like every learning goal is tailored to a child’s needs, Miles Autism Academy offers flexible combo plans for different family needs. Choose from half-day or full-day early intervention therapy sessions, or mix and match with special needs daycare services or hobby classes if required according to parents pick-up/drop-off schedule.

The Special Needs Daycare Division in Miles Autism Academy was introduced for the peace of mind of busy working parents, with a small teacher-student ratio of 1:2. All daycare teachers are clinically trained in the aspects of behavior management and running communication procedures, they plan variety of daily activities according to themes and the children's capabilities aiming to occupy the children meaningful before / after intervention sessions while waiting for parents.

They also welcome students attending half day school who needs homework support in their daycare division as well.

Balanced lunch subscription plans are also available according to individual dietary restrictions.

The Miles Team is also working with different hobby classes' instructors with experience working with children with special needs to conduct hobby classes in Miles Autism Academy centre, hence less travelling for parents as well.

School Readiness Programs are also available, provided in individualised sessions focusing on academic subjects like math, classroom behaviours, social skills, and communications skills. These are applied in simulated school settings at Miles Autism Academy, to ease their transition into mainstream schools.

There is so much happening under one roof at a single time, which showcases Miles Autism Academy’s commitment to the various aspects of children's functional development, alongside supporting parents or caregivers in the best way possible.

The proven progress of special needs individuals speaks volumes about the success of ABA Therapy practiced by the warm, compassionate, and dedicated team of Miles Autism Academy.