The opening ceremony for the Event Series of Youth Growth 2021 Wynn Care Children Development Awareness Day was held yesterday at the Macau Special Olympics (MSO) office in Areia Preta.
The event was hosted by MSO, sponsored by Wynn Care and Vang Kei Hong Trading Co. and co-organised by various entities, aiming to identify health issues of children aged six and below to enable appropriate treatments to improve children’s physical and mental development, according to an MSO statement.
The statement noted that development delay, social communication disorder (SCD), hearing loss, attention deficit (AD), dyspraxia and hyperactivity disorder (HD) can affect young children’s physical ability, stages of development, performance in learning, adaptability, and social life. The statement added that the event hopes to bring awareness to the public and the parents of young children aged between two and six by competency testing, consultation, and advocating for children with support and special educational needs.
The statement underlined that the yesterday’s event had therapists on site who held seminars about home training to further enhance parents’ understanding about their children’s development and enable parents to learn different skills for training their children.
The statement pointed out that the event consisted of home training, observation sessions such as language ability and muscle ability, group performances, game booths, and students’ art exhibition.
The statement said that more than 300 people called to enquire about the event’s competency test, and more than 180 children took the test.
Concerns over adequacy of services to support caregivers
Speaking to reporters after the event, Macau Special Olympics (MSO) Executive Director Hetzer Siu Yu Hong was asked about the Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng’s 2022 Policy Address mentioning the establishment of a support centre for caregivers. In his reply Siu expressed concern about whether the service centre would be able to provide all the services required to support caregivers.
Siu also said that he was concerned about the fact that there is only one centre covering the number of disabled people in the local community and considering how broad the range of disabilities is and how each disability may require specific services and care, one centre may not be able to provide all of them. Siu suggested the government set up more support services to achieve the ideal effect.
When reporters asked about Siu’s opinion on the government’s target groups for its Pilot Subsidy Scheme for Caregivers, Siu said that he viewed the matter positively, adding that as the government continues to gradually develop the scheme, more people who require the services can be assisted by it.
Siu also mentioned the timeframe given for the scheme, saying his organisation believed that it was acceptable as there are difficulties in identifying the target groups which should benefit from the scheme’s assistance and services, adding that given the government’s hope to accurately identify these groups, it was normal for its implementation to require more time. Siu also cited the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the scheme’s ability to run smoothly.
However, Siu said that civil organisations like MSO would like to know how the government would like to work on the scheme, what the precise result should be and what expectations the government has. Siu said he hoped to receive more information about the scheme’s future implementation.
Macau Special Olympics (MSO) Executive Director Hetzer Siu Yu Hong speaks with reporters after the “Event Series of Youth Growth 2021 Wynn Care Children Development Awareness Day”, held yesterday afternoon at the MSO office in Areia Preta. Photo: Rui Pastorin
