THE SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN

upon graduation, we need to learn on how to give oral hygiene education to several groups of people. my group were scheduled to give talks to the children with special needs in Klinik Kesihatn Bunohan, Tumpat; a 45-minutes drive from USM. in the clinic there is a special center where children with disability around Tumpat area gather everyday. they were taught to read, write and how to take care of themselves. it's a learning center for them.

when we arrived there, we were not quite prepared cause we are the first group who went there. so we didn't really know what to bring and what to do. our mistake was we didn't bring any LCD or laptop cause we assumed that they will prepare it for us. our mistake for expecting things so high. Tumpat is a village area, we should be prepare instead of assuming things. so we learned something there. as a solution, we opt for a traditional way.

and that is by showing pictures manually and divided each of them into groups so that we can teach them personally on how to take care of their teeth. i was in charge with a group with learning difficulties. i didn't know their actual disease, but i'm assuming some of them had autism or attention deficit or ADHD. cause they looks very normal. but had difficulty to speak and understand. other groups included children with cerebral palsy (CP) and down syndrome's children. i didn't about my friends but i found that it is very hard for me to teach children with learning disability. they didn't look at u or gave u any attention. all they were interested in were the "big teeth" model that i brought.

most of the children there never have a visit to a dentist. so u can guess how they teeth looks like. crooked anterior teeth and so.with the little knowledge that i had, i try my best to teach them. especially to this lady,who had a 2 years old son. she never cleaned his teeth. so i'm trying my best to teach her cause her son is still young, do we can still take care of the teeth.

the children brushing their teeth.

he had a very dedicated father. this child is had CP and grind his teeth a lot. so he got lotsa teeth with attrition.

some of them came from a poor family, so they came to the center with a van. the van's owner only charge them half price. a kind man i believe, it's very hard to find a person who did things for free nowadays.

they look normal ain't they?! some of them aged more than 20

i had a lots of fun with them. looking forward for more activities like this in the future....