3 July 2013 by Adeline Lum CM-
On 29th of June, Subang Jaya Assembly of God (SJAG) launched its first monthly social club (LifePoint Social Club), specifically for special needs teenagers and young adults. This is the second social club for this special age group in Klang Valley, after FGA KL.
While many non-profit organizations have focused on special needs children, these children have now grown up to become obscure teenagers and adults, hidden from the spotlight for social services.
“We have been holding talks and training sessions to support parents with special needs children for the past three years.”
“But Malaysian CARE brought to our attention that a social platform for special needs teenagers and adults to interact is severely lacking,” said Rev Wong Yin Ming, Senior Pastor of SJAG.
For this social club, Pauline Wong, Head Division for the People with Special Needs (PSN) in Malaysian CARE, and also a team of volunteers will be coming for the next four months to assist and train the volunteers of SJAG to run this club.
“Although they (special needs teenagers and adults) do not verbalize their desire to socialize, they actually have the desire to interact…but they don’t know how,” said Pauline Wong.
For example, they would display their social interest by drawing close to a person, tapping the person, or pinching the person. While these behaviors may not be the social norm, they lack knowledge and also confidence in interacting with strangers.
Hence, the social club held in SJAG provides them the platform to develop social skills and also fulfill their social needs by interacting with their peers. They also experience and learn new things from playing games!
The first game they played in the launch was stepping on plates before playing quoits, a game of throwing rings over spikes. Next, they played a game of hearing the bell while being blindfolded.
After that, they rested through a story-telling session of how Jesus lost a sheep and went searching for it. The story concluded that they are the ‘lost sheep’ that Jesus was searching for. To instill the gospel message, they also did a handcraft activity of sticking cotton balls on sheets printed with a sheep.
The social club then ended with a fun worship session of three songs, accompanied with hand signs. Hence the social club in the future would be filled with many activities as well such as playing games, story-telling and singing songs.
Do you see these special needs teenagers or young adults with eyes of love or eyes of pity and scorn? Would you interact with them if you see them in public or prefer to keep your distance?
The folks of SJAG, Malaysian CARE and FGA KL looked at them with eyes of the Father who loves them and says, “These are my children whom I love. I call them my Beloved…”
“Do you love them too?”
Come join the LifePoint Social Club held every month if you have a teenage or young adult child with special needs or to volunteer!
Venue : LifePoint, 14, Jalan SS 13/3A, 47500 Subang Jaya
Date : 4th Saturday every month
Time : 2-4 pm
Preferred Age Group for Teenagers or Young Adults with Special Needs: 16 to 30 years old
For further enquiry, please contact Mrs.Teoh after 2 pm at 016-263-3258.
If you’re interested, please email sjpsg09@gmail.com or fax to 03-5637-9519 withyour registration information below:
- Name
- Gender
- Date of Birth
- Address
- Contact telephone number
- Email address
- Parent’s name
- Disability type
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