Shades of the Same Spectrum
How a Singaporean mother built a school in Malaysia to champion greater inclusivity for individuals living with autism.
“Look at my face. Can you tell me what I’m feeling?”
Muhammad Musyrif Mahadi, more commonly called Nick, stares at two flash cards on the desk, his expression tense. He’s breathing heavily, a sign he’s overwhelmed.
Seeing his struggle, the teacher says gently, “Take your time, Nick.”
Nick grunts and rubs his stomach with his hands in distress. It takes a few minutes before he is composed again.
The teacher repeats her instruction, this time widening her smile. “See teacher’s face. What is this emotion, Nick?”
He picks the card with the word “Angry.”
“Are you sure Nick? Try again.”
He studies the flash cards again.
After a few moments, he chooses the one that says “Happy”.
“Correct! Awesome, Nick!”
A warm smile begins to spread across his face.
Making her way from across the room to join them, Nick’s mother, Rohani Abdul Raof, smiles as well.
Seeing her son who lives with autism, learn to express himself better, is a heartwarming moment.
This is a win for Faraliza Zainal too.
As the founder of the school Nick is in, and as a mother herself to a son with autism, moments like these are what brought this Singaporean to Malaysia to help make a difference by supporting youths living with autism and their parents.
MIJ International Hub, in Kota Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is a school for young adults living with autism.
It is estimated that 1 in 68 newborns
in Malaysia have autism.
For people who have needs like Nick's, acquiring essential life skills like understanding social cues and everyday household duties can be extremely challenging.
Without early intervention and sufficient support, they may struggle to live independently as adults. This places significant physical, financial and psychological stress on their families and caregivers.
ASD, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder, is characterised by challenges in communication and motor skills, repetitive behaviours, and intense interests. The diverse range of symptoms and their varying severity has led to its classification as a "spectrum."
Symptoms of autism generally appear in the first two years of life.
“I began noticing something different about him when he was about 20 months,” recalls Rohani.
“At that age, a toddler will get excited when their parents get home from work. But Nick didn’t. If I gave him toys, he struggled to figure out how to play with the toy, unlike other kids. He seemed to be expressing discomfort but as he was unable to communicate verbally, we couldn’t understand what was bothering him.”
Nick was eventually diagnosed with autism when he was two years old.
“Like any mother, I did everything I could to give Nick the best quality of life.”
“I enrolled him in the best schools, joined multiple support groups, went for all kinds of courses on autism. I even considered quitting my job to care for him, but my husband advised against it. He pointed out that this was not something that would go away in one or two years, but a lifelong commitment.”
This daunting path of challenges and burnout is one that Faraliza has walked down as well.
“When I first heard that my son was special, it was difficult for me to accept. I had to work and travel, and my husband also had to work. It was really a struggle.”
Ashraf, her son, also had a rare disease called Tuberous Sclerosis, which gave him epileptic fits every night. The balancing act between parental responsibilities and professional obligations became an overwhelming struggle for Faraliza and her husband.
Faced with these challenges, Faraliza decided to quit her job and focus on taking care of Ashraf.
That pivotal moment led to the inception of My Inspiring Journey Hub (MIJ Hub) in 2011 in Singapore. A holistic school for children and young adults living with autism. A place to not just educate them, but to empower them with confidence, life skills, employment training, and to nurture them to find their place in society.
Having run a successful initiative in Singapore, news of Faraliza’s impact crossed the border to Malaysia.
Soon, Malaysian parents were reaching out to Faraliza to help them and their children as well.
“I kept getting the request, ‘Are you going to open in Malaysia?’ When I asked them why, they said, while there are public schools for special needs children in Malaysia, there was a lack of local options to support life after 18 for someone living with autism.”
Being a mother to a son with autism and running a school in Singapore was already incredibly challenging. Setting up another school in Malaysia would require immense effort and resources.
But for Faraliza helping out Singapore’s neighbour was an obvious decision.
“It’s not about being neighbours or not neighbours. It’s more about helping people because I’ve been in their shoes.”
And so in 2022, she set up the Malaysian branch, called MIJ International Hub.
A place Rohani turned to for help.
“When I saw that MIJ had programmes to teach the child independent living skills such as how to make beds and clean up the apartment, I was immediately attracted.”
In April 2022, Rohani enrolled Nick in MIJ International Hub, which welcomes students of all ethnicities and religions.
Nick’s early days were a challenging time. The support and nurturing spirit of MIJ International Hub’s teachers like Syafiqah Rosli were crucial in not just making Nick comfortable but helping him thrive.
28-year-old Syafiqah, who has been with MIJ since November 2020, started as a teacher in MIJ Singapore before being promoted to MIJ International Hub’s centre supervisor.
“For individuals like Nick who are non-verbal, we use visual prompts to guide him through tasks," Syafiqah explains. "For example, when entering the classroom, we instruct him to switch on the lights, turn on the air conditioning, put his bag down.”
From designing individualised teaching materials and visual aids to managing meltdowns in class, the work of an MIJ teacher requires them to be able to think out of the box and to pivot creatively all the time.
One session even involves teacher and student doing the hokey pokey dance to improve limb coordination.
According to Faraliza, individuals with autism often have rich inner lives but frequently experience sensory overload, especially in stimulating or unfamiliar environments, and experience meltdowns if they are unable to cope.
“Before one can even think of academic learning, an autistic individual needs to be emotionally regulated or they cannot learn anything,” she asserts.
At MIJ, empathy isn't just a word—it's a guiding principle.
The level of detail woven into every aspect of the school demonstrates a profound understanding of what students with autism truly need to thrive.
Within the welcoming walls of MIJ International Hub, "calming corners," meticulously planned activity schedules and reminder walls serve as tools for emotional regulation.
Frosted glass walls minimise sound and distraction.
“Social stories” (anecdotes to encourage/discourage certain behaviour), movement therapy, prayer practice for Muslim students and aromatherapy are used to help students cope when overwhelmed.
One of the biggest goals of MIJ International Hub is to train their students with skills that will help them gain employment in the future.
At the school, a catering cafe opened by Mohd Adli Yahya, the father of an autistic child, operates seasonally to provide MIJ students the opportunity to develop work-ready skills in a live kitchen.
Syafiqah shares, “When we had Nick for the first time in the kitchen, he was quite overwhelmed, because of the sounds from the chiller and the stove. It took quite a while for him to adjust. So we let him do the packing, where there are not many machines around.”
“Now he enjoys being there with other people around. He likes it so much that when I gave him visual cues to go to class, he continues standing there, looking at people, smiling.”
“That was the first time I saw Nick being so different from when we first introduced him to the task.”
Since Nick joined MIJ International Hub a year ago, it has been a time of learning, growth and discovery for the 24-year-old.
Rohani shares with pride, “Nick is now more independent. All this while, he has been dependent on our prompts to do things. But now, when the time comes for him to go to bed, he will go independently after brushing his teeth.”
The past 12 months have also given Rohani time to look after her own physical and mental health.
“We still have people who come to the house and say things like, ‘Nick still cannot talk, ah?’”
“Although there are ups and downs, Nick is a blessing. The time spent with Nick releases us from worldly stresses because the way he looks at life is very simple and basic. He won’t get out of the car when we go to a mall. But when we go to a park or forest or river, he immediately wants to go down.”
“In his own way, Nick reminds us of what’s important.”
She hopes her shared experiences will help other parents in the same boat. “If I had one piece of advice for parents of children with special needs, it’s this: don’t look at other people’s success stories. It will kill you.”
“Never compare your child’s progress to other people because each individual is different. It’s your own journey that matters.”
Though Nick and Rohani still face a long and challenging road ahead, witnessing their love and growth serves as a poignant reminder to Faraliza of the purpose driving her - caring for her own son, others like him, and supporting parents on a similar journey.
“As a mother, you naturally envision your son succeeding, attending university, securing a white-collar job, but I've had to adjust my expectations. The fact that he has developed well, is physically able, can work, and can express himself, brings me immense gratitude.”
There are now even more requests coming for Faraliza to open up an MIJ centre in other parts of Asia as well to help other young people living with autism and their parents.
As this Singaporean mother continues to help parents provide the best quality of life for their children, she is determined to find more impactful ways of raising awareness to foster a society that’s more empathetic toward individuals with special needs.
She points out that, like every human being, individuals with special needs possess unique talents and share a common desire for recognition, validation, and emotional well-being.
“If we were to be truly inclusive, we have a responsibility to understand the world from the lens of these special individuals while they do their best to integrate into our society.”
Credits
Writer / Alexandra Wong
Producer & Content Design / Anmol Vaswani
Photography & Video / Charlene Winfred
Additional Photos / MIJ International Hub
Executive Producer / Victor Tang
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