Autism Association of WA 2020 Annual Report

International Collaboration The Autism Association has well established links As part of our Sister State commitment to support children with Autism across the region, we continue our strong relationship with East Java. This year marks the seventh anniversary of our work with the East Java Government to establish services for children with Autism across East Java. During this time, we have trained multidisciplinary teams including teachers, psychologists, and nurses from the 5 regencies of Sidoarjo, Surabaya, Malang, Gresik and Blitar.

This year we received a request by the Ministry of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, and Childhood Development, Malaysia to visit the Association. They identified the Association as a priority visit on their educational visit to Western Australia. We hosted 20 senior officials led by the Hon Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women and Childhood Development. The Ministry is “aware of the tremendous work the Association is doing and…some of the outstanding initiatives that have been launched and implemented”. Staff were scheduled to provide workshops and a Keynote Address at a National Early Childhood Conference in Malaysia this year but, again, due to COVID-19, this had to be cancelled. Likewise, the Asia Pacific Autism Conference was scheduled to return to Perth in 2021, however, it has also been postponed until a more settled time.

both nationally and internationally. We host internships and training programs, and regularly present at Autism conferences

The team from the University of Airlangga in Surabaya, with our support, successfully received funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs to develop a communication App called MIKA for teachers and families which was launched this year. We were due to return to East Java this year to commence 2 new initiatives. This included the development of early intervention services for children with Autism in Malang, as well as an invitation from the Mayor of Batu to undertake training with schools and the community on inclusion. Due to the pandemic, however, this in-person work has been deferred for the foreseeable future and in its place, we are providing webinars to the existing groups and alumni in East Java.

nationally and internationally.

Autism Association of Western Australia - Annual Report 2020

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