Who are we?

We are undergraduates of Bachelor Science (Dietetics) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Currently, we are doing a research study that is related to nutritional status among children with autism.

What are we doing?

Our mission is to find out the factors associated with body weight status and health-related quality of life among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Based on our early findings, the research study specifically on the nutritional status among children with ASD is very limited. The limitation will hinder further interventions to be made for the autism community. On the other hand, the awareness about autism community is getting bigger recently with many initiatives have been done from various parties. For example, Sunway Putra Mall has initiated the first autism-friendly mall in Malaysia. Therefore, we need more attention from the community to raise more awareness about children with ASD.

Why are we doing this?

This project is part of our graduation requirement, with the success of this research study. It will not just assist us for graduation, but also, to create bigger ripple effect of awareness about autism among community. Eventually, the special children will have a better and brighter future in our country. 

How are we doing this?

From our side, we will do surveys related to the body weight status, lifestyle factors, gastrointestinal symptoms and health related quality of life among children with ASD. During the first visit to the NGO, we will introduce our project to the person in charge. Then, we will distribute the parents-proxy questionnaire for the parents to fill in within 1-2 weeks. During the third visit, we will measure the body weight and height of the children.

How does this project benefits you?

From this platform, it will not only benefit to the researcher which us. At the same time, the outcome of the project will give benefit to the community (you) to spread more awareness regarding children with autism. Community have to know and acknowledge that autistic people are also part of the community.

Project budget

Our target population is circulated around central region. As we are still in the university, the project is self-funded. Hence, we need more fundings to do the research that will is ongoing since September 2018. Below is the percentage for the expenses:

The locations of autism rehabilitation centres are scattered around the central region of Malaysia. The average number of children with autism in each centre is 10. To obtain sufficient data for our research, a minimum of 130 respondents are needed. Therefore, we will be travelling around the central region to engage at least 13 centres.

The obstacles that we are facing right now are mainly related to financial issue and the response rate from the parents who are interested to participate in the study. Our research study is going for 5 months only, besides the packed academic timeline. Hence, crowdfunding is the fastest platform that we hope can help us to sustain financially.