Boon Eu : Secretary

Boon Eu CHEAH is a medical doctor who sees children, youth and adults with various disabilities (including rare disorders) in her daily career. Her interest pours out to those with autism, specific learning difficulties, ADHD and Irlen Syndrome as she shares similar struggles and was only given the late diagnoses in adulthood. As a neurodivergent and an avid advocate about being inclusive, understanding and accepting of each other, she believes she can ensure early intervention and opportunity for the individuals to assimilate into the community.

Katarzyna (Kate) Czapor : School and Community Networker

Kate is dedicated to promoting inclusion as the Inclusion Lead for a group of schools in Malaysia. As a SEN mother herself, she’s passionate about supporting teachers, raising awareness among parents, and supporting positive change for students with special educational needs. Her focus is on ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed in an inclusive environment.

Jacqueline Vincent: Written Content Creator

Jacqueline is the Principal of HEI Schools Cyberjaya, Malaysia, where learning through play is at the heart of the Finnish-inspired preschool experience. As a passionate advocate for inclusive education, she’s on a mission to make classrooms more welcoming, reflecting both Finland’s playful approach and SENIA’s mission. With a big heart for children and their right to equal learning opportunities, Jacqueline brings fun and fairness to education in Malaysia!

Adam Azlan: Treasurer 

Adam is a Treasury Analyst at Maybank, and is currently the Chairperson of Amnesty International Malaysia. As a mental health advocate and a volunteer tutor-mentor for several non-governmental organizations, he seeks to learn more and become a better advocate for inclusivity in and through education. His interest and long term goal lies in ensuring Human Rights and Education is accessible to all in Malaysia!

 

Emy Hieber: Chairperson

Emy is the Learning Support Coordinator at Dalat International School in Penang. She has been working there for the last 9 years, and connected to SENIA in various capacities since 2018. She and her husband have a cat, many fish, and hundreds of books to keep them company. Emy is passionate about neurodiversity and empowering learners to advocate for their needs and embrace their own way of being in the world.


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Contact the board at malaysiachapter@seniainternational.org.

Top Row (From Left): Denu, Lin, Chris
Middle: (From Left): Emy, Jac
Bottom: (From Left) Peggy, Soo Leng, Dr. Choy

We are excited to welcome our newest members to the board!
Chris Wright: Chair Person
Chris returns to the SENIA Malaysia board after a year’s absence. With a focus on mindfulness and being aware of present experiences, she advocates for the value and dignity of all people. Chris believes in always presuming competence first. She is passionate about children believing in themselves and become their own problem solvers.

Jacqueline Vincent: Membership Coordinator
Jacqueline leads the Inclusion Department in an international school based in Malaysia empowering teachers through collaboration to teach in diverse classrooms while ensuring students are well assimilated both academically and socially.

Emy Hieber: Penang Representative
For the last 6 years, I have lived and worked in Penang with Dalat International School. I am the coordinator for Learning Support. My husband and I have two cats,  many fish, and dozens of plants to keep us company. I’m passionate about neurodiversity and empowering learners to advocate for their needs and embrace their own way of being in the world.

Denu Sankey: Local Network Coordinator (Community Outreach)
Denu is the Head of Inclusion & SENCo at Epsom College in Malaysia. She is also the proud mother of a 13 year old with additional learning needs.

Soo Leng: Social Media Coordinator
Beh Soo Leng is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and holds a Master of
Science in Applied Behavior Analysis. She has been working with individuals with autism
since 2011. Currently, she is a program supervisor at SEED Autism Services. She plans
and manages Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs), behavior support plans and
provide training to therapists, parents and other members of the community.

Returning Members:
Peggy Lam: Corporate Secretary
Peggy is currently the Lead Coach and a Special Education Consultant at Bridging Hope Transition Learning Centre. She now focuses her work on teenagers, adolescents and adults with learning differences. Her biggest desire is to help them live independently and dreams of starting an independent living community in Malaysia to cater to them. She aims to help them understand how unique they are despite their challenges and make a difference in their lives. She enjoys exploring alternative strategies to work with individuals and believes in creating awareness and advocate for the welfare of individuals.

Lin Khuan: Treasurer
Lin has been in the educational line for about 35 years spanning her experience from teaching toddlers all the way to elementary. She is a passionate educator who strives for quality education that is beyond academic excellence, that every child should be given an opportunity to learn and that the child is the most important person in the school.  She believes that every child will succeed when careful observation is done followed strongly by teacher –parent-led approach.

Fortunately for us, two of our founders of the board,  Kate Balsamo and Dr. Choy, and last year’s chair Lizzie Hudson will remain on as advisors to SENIA Malaysia this year!

 

Peggy Lam

xM.Ed. in Special Education, 

B.S. in Business Administration, 

Dip. in Learning Management and Child Psychology

 

Peggy is a Special Education Consultant. Her biggest desire is to help and work with individuals with learning disabilities to live independently. She aims to help them understand how unique each of them is despite their challenges and to make a difference in their lives. She enjoys exploring alternative strategies to work with individuals and believes in creating awareness and advocate for the welfare of individuals. 

Her first degree is from Iowa State University, the USA in Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. It is from her travel in the United Kingdom and around Europe that prompted her to work with individuals with learning disabilities. She earned a Diploma in Learning Management and Child Psychology from the College of Allied Educators in 2010. In 2016, she graduated with a Master in Education with a major in Special Education from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. 

Besides her teaching qualifications, she is trained to administer the Therapeutic Listening with the Whole Body and Job Coaching. She also uses various skills in her teaching related to Behaviour Management, Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), Executive Functioning, Mindfulness, Social Thinking, and Lego Therapy. 

Peggy’s other interests and experience include her volunteering with the special children at church. In 2014, together with four other individuals, they started the Special Education Network in Asia’s (SENIA) chapter in Malaysia. Their mission is to develop a network that promotes awareness and advocacy for individuals with special education needs https://www.seniachapters.org/malaysia/. Currently, she serves as one of the Executive Board members as the Board Secretary. In December 2017, she also volunteered with Autism Initiatives Malaysia (AIM). AIM is a network of individuals working together to develop both private and public sector support to improve the lives of those affected by autism spectrum condition. She served as the Finance and Secretariat to the Organising Committee of the 1st AIM Symposium on July 2018.

 

Lizzie Hudson

M.Ed Inclusive and Special Education

BA Hons Linguistic and Language Pathology

 

Lizzie has worked in schools supporting students for over 15 years. Her focus is always on ensuring that every child is included, both academically and socially. Every teacher is responsible for the inclusion of every student. 

Lizzie earned her undergrad degree at The University of Reading, England while her Masters was undertaken at The University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong. She is currently working on a Certificate of Inclusive Leadership through Lead Inclusion. 

Lizzie has lived and worked in the US, Mexico, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia. She joined the SENIA Malaysia board in 2017.

Other than teaching, Lizzie enjoys trail running, cooking, gardening and reading. She also enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, exploring Malaysia and staying active. 

 

Di McLean

Bachelor of Arts in Education – Special Education

Bachelor of Education – Deaf Education

Working towards Master of Science – Speech Pathology

Di is a Learning Enrichment teacher at the Australian International School Malaysia. Her passions are early intervention and inclusive education and she is also a strong advocate for newborn hearing screening programs and early detection of hearing impairment and auditory habilitation.

Di’s experience includes over 27 years of teaching in both public and private schools in Australia and Malaysia and also working in early intervention programs as part of a multidisciplinary team. She has worked in therapy settings providing Auditory Verbal Therapy and also at schools supporting students in inclusive education.

Di has a decade of experience presenting teacher workshops and professional development in Western Australia on early intervention and language development including providing strategies to support students with language delays or disorders. 

Whilst in Malaysia, Di has helped set up networks amongst SENCO teachers across KL and serves as the Community Outreach board member for SENIA Malaysia. Her goal is to help set up more networks across other areas of Malaysia and to continue to advocate for high quality Inclusive Education. 

Chris Wright

Masters in Teaching and Curriculum

Masters in International Counseling

Chris is an Elementary counsellor at the International School of Kuala Lumpur working with students aged, 3 to 8 years old. With a focus on mindfulness and being aware of present experiences, she advocates for children to learn and be curious about their own emotional intelligence, including teaching children to understand how their brain works.

Chris experience includes over 23 years in education both in public schools in California and international schools in Asia since 1999. Born in Canada, Chris has lived in USA, Cambodia, Japan, Philippines and Malaysia. She joined the SENIA Malaysia board in 2015.

Chris’s outside passions include, dogs, scuba diving, underwater photography, running and being active. She is also fortunate enough to work alongside her husband and they have a love for traveling to new countries and underwater photography.

 

Loh Lin Khuan

Bachelor in Early Childhood Education

Diploma in Montessori – Elementary

Diploma in Montessori – Preschool

Lin has been in the educational line for about 35 years spanning her experience from teaching toddlers all the way to elementary. She is a passionate educator who strives for quality education that is beyond academic excellence, that every child should be given an opportunity to learn and that the child is the most important person in the school.  She believes that every child will succeed when careful observation is done followed strongly by teacher –parent-led approach.

She holds true to the belief that education is for life and that together with character building, relationship, and independent learning the child will succeed in realizing his/her fullest potential and skillsets to be a productive member of society. She is an advocate for inclusive education for many years and holds fast to the value that all should work together and supports that no child should be left behind.

Her goal at this stage is to ensure that those whom she trains will also commit to always putting the children first and create a learning environment that promotes a holistic educational experience for all learners in a fun way.

Lin believes in continuous education and always looks forward to learning from others as well as to share what she has learned. Lin conducts regular Montessori training programs and workshops for professional staff development and parents’ workshop. She is presently the senior principal at Tree Top House, a founding member of SENIA Malaysia, treasurer for Toy Library Malaysia and SENIA Malaysia.

Lin is married with 2 children aged 25 and 24years.

In her spare time, Lin loves to sing and is an avid traveller, reader and enjoys travelling with her colleagues to learn about different cultures, Montessori education, freedom within limits and inclusive education

 

 

 

 

TOPIC:

Circle of Friendship as a tool for Sexual and Safety Education by Peggy Lam

 

Thank you, Penang, for your hospitality and enthusiasm about learning! At the SENIA Malaysia Conference held on 16-17 November 2019, I share on the above topic on both days. I had been using this series to work with my students with low to moderate abilities to understand the concepts of sexual and safety education. 

The participants are a mixture of parents, educators, and professionals. At the sessions, we discussed the importance of using the right words, age and level of understanding and how to use the Circle of Friendship as a tool.

The participants are then divided into groups according to the age group that they work with. They have the opportunity to learn how to use the Circle of Friendship series and modified the materials for application for different ages.

IGBIS also participated in Inclusive Schools week. We considered how to raise awareness, increase knowledge and change the system to reduce inequality.

We were finally able to put together a Parent Volunteer Organisation Committee for Inclusion, and parents carefully planned the lead up to the Week and the Week itself. Posters about inclusion and the “colouring” of the Phoenix, our school mascot, with colours representing diversity kept the community actively thinking about inclusion in preparation for it. Throughout the week, lunchtime storytelling sessions in the library were held, and each day of the week showcased a new learning opportunity for the several school constituents – Monday involved a presentation for Elementary students during their weekly assembly; Tuesday saw a whole school “dare to be different” themed dress up day; Wednesday was targeted to parents and students, with a workshop and movie shorts showing all day; Thursday was Random Acts of Kindness Day, with pay-it-forward kindness-related messages for all and a photobooth, with people standing in as the “i” in “kind”; and finally Friday wrapped the week up with an evening family movie screening and cooperative game night.

Written by: Lizzie Hudson, IGBIS

This year’s SENIA Malaysia conference in Penang was amazing this year. With informative and inspiring keynotes from  Dato Dr Amar Singh and Dr. Toh Teck Hock participants came away with a desire, ability and drive to further our mission of inclusion. Dr. Amar reminded us that inclusion is a grass roots movement that needs our continued passion. We need to make sure that we empower families and continue to push for greater systemic change. His ideas are already being put in place by Mr Alvin Teoh who brought along a group of parents and is continuing to build parent advocacy to push for education policies implementation and enforcement. 

Dr. Toh ensured that we all understood the power of early intervention and that getting and accepting support early is crucial. 

The choices of workshops were great with lots of people talking excitedly about things they learned, tips they picked up and new ideas they are pondering. 

With a supportive team, good food and lots of great local vendors to peruse, the weekend was well spent and I certainly came away feeling energised and inspired to take greater action towards inclusion.

This year we are pleased to welcome a new board member to SENIA Malaysia! Welcome to Di McLean! Di joins existing board members Lizzie Hudson, Peggy Lam, Lin Khuan Loh and Chris Wright.