PART 2 REPORT ON THE COMMISSION’S FORUM ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR CWLD 19. He highlighted that the amendment to Education (Special Education) Regulations 1997 is proposed to address many lacuna and gaps in the laws as well as the policies. It is an on-going and the draft amendment was being reviewed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers. 20. Regarding the education module for special education, he stressed that all new modules would be implemented for a year, after which they would be reviewed for improvement. Panel 6: Screening & Diagnosing Learning Disabilities: Early Intervention Draws Positive Impacts by Dato’ Dr. Amar Singh, Chief Paediatrician of Ipoh General Hospital 21. Dr. Amar stressed that based on his experience, “labelling of children” based on the definition of learning disabilities can sometimes be detrimental. What is important in his view is to identify the abilities of those children and maximize them. He also stressed that he had observed instances where parents and teachers place high level of expectation on children with learning disabilities which do not help the children. 22. He shared information on a programme known as ‘Child Health Surveillance’ being carried out in other jurisdiction involving routine checks and surveillance of a child’s progress by general practitioners (GP). Through this routine surveillance, the GPs are able to identify and diagnose a child’s problems. The parents would also have the opportunity to share any concern they had regarding their child’s development. 23. He flagged that Malaysia is beginning to imitate this programme and highlighted that a child’s record book has incorporated all the milestones that should be achieved based on the age of the child. However, the surveillance programme would only be effective if parents adhere by the visit schedule to clinics or hospitals. 24. Touching on screening test, he flagged that screening test does not result in a diagnosis but rather identifies a child who has development problem compared with his/her peers. However, there are some barriers and problems with regard to screening test, namely: • Paediatricians/medical officer are unable to perform such test due to time constraint because of the length of the test. • Unfamiliarity with the tests. • Difficulties in obtaining cooperation of a child in a short time. • High cost of purchasing some tests. 25. He further emphasized on the importance of Early Intervention Programme (EIP) for children with learning disabilities as these programmes have been found to be effective in supporting a child’s learning process in preparing them for school. He further flagged that at present, most EIP services are 57