4 & 5 December 2021

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE via

Special Education: Moving Beyond Boundaries (SEMB) 2021

The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS), Quest International University (QIU)  is delighted to host the “Special Education: Moving Beyond Boundaries” (SEMB 2021) virtual conference, from December 4-5, 2021. The theme for this event is “Embracing Uniqueness, Empowering Lives.” The aim of this event is to help parents, community specialists and educators be more proficient in supporting students with special needs through school and into adulthood, including involvement in the community. This conference will provide parents, specialists and educators with awareness, best teaching practices, skills to identify and assess individuals with special needs, and knowledge on opportunities for supporting those with disabilities beyond the classroom. There will also be various strands of workshops and oral paper presentations that are targeted towards specific target audiences.

QIU prioritizes the safety of all individuals, especially since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, while still focusing on the delivery of quality educational material through workshops, lectures, poster/research presentations, and exhibitions. As such, the SEMB 2021 is designed to be accessible throughout Malaysia as well as internationally, with participation targeted from participants from all around the world.

SEMB 2021 aims

  • To enable educators, community specialists, students and parents to gain the latest knowledge, skills and awareness of special needs and special education;
  • To develop the community’s awareness and empower parents, caregivers, and other educational leaders to have the skills necessary to support their children and students with special needs;
  • To promote inclusive education throughout school systems in Malaysia and other countries globally.

The conference is open to everyone, especially

  • Special needs education principals, administrators and teachers;
  • Early childhood education teachers and administrators;
  • Ministry of Education officials;
  • Teachers from all educational environments (including inclusive education);
  • Staff of Non-governmental organisations;
  • Parents;
  • Members of the public interested in this area.

Guest of Honour

Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran

Chairperson of RYTHM Foundation. Founder of Taarana, a Special Needs Education School

Keynote Speakers

Professor David Evans

Professor of Special and Inclusive Education
( The University of Sydney) FASS Disability Liaison Officer.

Mr. Richard Rieser

CEO, World of Inclusion (UK). Consultant, Inclusive Education and Disability Equality

Dr. Toh Teck Hock

Paediatrician & Head of Clinical Research Centre (Sibu Hospital), Vice President of National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC)

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Vaughn Lauer

IEP Specialist/Advocate and Assessment Specialist. Former District Director of Student Services & State Supervisor of Special Education.

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS

Consultant Paediatrician, Advisor, National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC)
Advisor, National Family Support Group for Children & People with Special Needs

Join us online for SEMB 2021!

December 4-5, 2021 | Held online from Ipoh, Malaysia

Recognising the increasing needs surrounding students with special needs, the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS), Quest International University (QIU) is hosting the “Special Education: Moving Beyond Boundaries” (SEMB 2021) virtual conference.

Our tagline for the SEMB21 Conference — “Embracing Uniqueness: Empowering Lives,” raises awareness and acceptance towards special needs and inclusive education. Attending SEMB 2021 will equip parents, educators and community members with the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to provide a brighter future for their children and students respectively. There will also be various strands of workshops and oral presentations that are designed for specific target audiences throughout our two-day conference. However, you may choose whichever workshops you think will benefit your needs.

Despite the pandemic, QIU maintains its emphasis on the delivery of quality educational material through workshops, lectures, poster/research presentations, and exhibitions. As such, the SEMB 20212 will be fully conducted online using the Whova Application.. This opens the intellectual borders between the Malaysian and the international experts, from all around the globe.

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Themes and Sub-themes

Theme 1: Educating the Unique

Target audience: Teachers

  • Special Educator in the Inclusive Classroom
  • Changes, Challenges and Choices: Creating a Curriculum for All
  • Effective Technology in the Classroom
  • New Pedagogical Paradigms
  • Identifying Children with Special Needs

Theme 2: Embracing Uniqueness

Target audience: Parents

  • Home-based Learning
  • Teacher-Parent Contact during the Pandemic
  • Inclusion – A Policy in Practice
  • Laws and Legislation for Special Needs
  • Early Intervention

Theme 3: Empowering Communities

Target audience: NGOs

  • Community-Based Rehabilitation
  • Vocational Education and Training
  • Trends and Issues in Special Education
  • Education, Sustainability and Society
  • Live Independently

Theme 4: Breaking Boundaries

Target audience: Specialists

  • Multidisciplinary Approaches
  • Developmental Disabilities and Delays
  • Research in the Classroom
  • Counselling, Guidance and Adjustment in Education
  • Therapies in Special Education

Furthermore, a percentage of the proceeds from the conference will be contributed to our conference partner, PAFID (Perak Association For Intellectually Disabled).

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Promotional Video:

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Organised by:

Supporting Organisations

Perak Association for Intellectually Disabled (PAFID)

The National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM)

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About SEMB 2021

This conference is supported by PAFID and NASOM. We encourage experts, parents, educators and community members to join and share your experiences and knowledge through an enlightening and collaborative dialogue.

About QIU

When Quest International University (QIU) was launched in 2011, we aspired to be more than just another degree mill. We are here to produce graduates who change the game. Innovators who leave a legacy in their creations. Leaders who push for positive change. And above all, we aim to produce good people—caring, responsible, respectable individuals who care for their fellow man and the world around them.

Contact Us

Email: movingbeyondboundaries@qiu.edu.my

Phone No.: +605-249 0500 ext. 1140 (Ms. Norhasimah)

Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran

Chairperson of RYTHM Foundation. Founder of Taarana, a Special Needs Education School

Biography

Datin Sri Umayal Eswaran spearheads the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts of the QI Group through its corporate foundation, RYTHM Foundation (RF), which is the global social impact arm of the QI Group. Under the aegis of the Foundation, Datin Sri Umayal has realised her dream to help children with special needs through the establishment of Taarana, a school for children facing challenges with delayed development in academic, social and adaptive skills. Taarana is the first of its kind in Malaysia and Datin Sri Umayal is a prominent advocate of driving awareness for the cause through workshops and fundraisers. Taarana is described as Datin Sri Umayal’s ‘Labour of Love.’.

Professor David Evans

Professor of Special and Inclusive Education ( The University of Sydney) FASS Disability Liaison Officer

Biography

Dr David Evans is a professor of Special and Inclusive Education in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. He is actively engaged with teaching at the pre-service and postgraduate level, supporting teachers to build their professional knowledge and skills in designing and implementing educational programs that are inclusive of learners from a full range of backgrounds. His research examines teacher attitudes and self-efficacy towards educating students with disabilities in the neighbourhood classroom (e.g., attitudes towards the principles of universal design for learning, self-efficacy in the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices in the regular classroom). He has supervised more than 60 research students to completion across a range of topics and cultural contexts (e.g., Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka).

Mr. Richard Rieser

CEO, World of Inclusion (UK). Consultant, Inclusive Education and Disability Equality

Biography

Mr. Rieser is currently serving as a consultant on Inclusive Education and Disability Equality and is the CEO of World of Inclusion in the United Kingdom. He has advised on and led the development of strategies and good practices for implementing inclusive education in London, across the United Kingdom and around the world. He has worked with the Anti Bullying Alliance (2014-2015) to produce resources for teachers and schools to challenge disabilist language and name calling, produced several educational and training videos for schools and teachers globally, and has co-authored ‘Disability Equality in the Classroom: A Human Rights Issue’, the first handbook in education written from a social model perspective.

Dr. Toh Teck Hock

Paediatrician & Head of Clinical Research Centre (Sibu Hospital), Vice President of National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC)

Biography

Dr. Toh Teck Hock is a Paediatrician and the Head of Clinical Research Centre in Sibu Hospital. He has worked in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia before returning in 2004 to work in Malaysia. Besides general paediatrics, he also works in the areas of developmental behavioural paediatrics and community child health. He is an Adjunct Professor for SEGi University and Sunway University, as well as the Special Olympics Asia Pacific Regional Clinical Advisor in Health Promotion®, Vice President for the National Early Childhood Intervention Council, Council Member for Sarawak State Council for Early Childhood Education and Development, National Assessor for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative and Secretary of the Association for Children with Special Needs Sibu. He has spoken at conferences around the world and has also published parent-teacher handbooks on ADHD, language development and breastfeeding, as well as children reading/colouring books, and books on Chinese literary prose and short stories. He received The Outstanding Young Malaysian Award in 2010, Special Education Network in Asia Advocacy Award in 2018, and other awards/prizes for academic/work achievement over the years.

Dr. Vaughn Lauer

IEP Specialist/Advocate and Assessment Specialist. Former District Director of Student Services & State Supervisor of Special Education.

Biography

With over thirty years of experience (pre-K through university) in the field of special education including teaching of students with disabilities and graduate students, Dr. Lauer has served in administration as an Assistant Principal, District Director of Student Services and as a State Supervisor of Special Education of Special Education. Some of his responsibilities include a major focus on the interpretation and implementation of federal regulations (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB)) at the state and local levels. He also assisted in the development of state and local special education regulations and policies, creation and provision of professional development and research related to special education and the development of the California Alternate Performance Assessment State assessment for students with the most severe cognitive disabilities. Dr. Lauer has authored books and articles, presented at state, national and international conferences, and has developed an online program to graph school evaluation test scores across the bell curve to clarify meaning of tests and subtests.

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS

Consultant Paediatrician
Advisor, National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC)
Advisor, National Family Support Group for Children & People with Special Needs

Biography

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS, Cert Theology (Aust, Hons), MBBS (Mal), MRCP (UK), FRCP (Glasg), MSc Community Paediatrics (Ldn, distinction), is a Consultant Paediatrician who served the Malaysian health service for 35yrs. He headed regional Paediatric and Research Departments. His interests include disadvantaged & marginalised children, indigenous, disability, family self-help groups. He helped revise child health services and introduce national programmes for children. An active child advocate and recipient of Outstanding Asian Paediatrician Award 2012 and SENIA Advocacy Award 2016. He has established NGOs and family support groups. An honorary Senior Fellow at Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy.

Special Education: Moving Beyond Boundaries

SEMB 2021

Biography