Featured Interview - Dr. Fei

 

We are honoured to have Dr. Fei with us for a featured interview in our first newsletter. Dr. Fei is a research scientist in NIE, Centre for Research in Child Development (CRCD). He is also our co-principal investigator (co-PI) for Tran-SEN study. Dr. Fei has more than 15 years of working experience as a psychologist and has worked with more than 1000 individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ranging from 10 months to 60 years old. His personal interests include reading and watching dramas from Korea and the United States.

In this interview, Dr. Fei will share with us how he embarks on his journey in the field of special needs and also about our study, how can it benefit parents and caregivers like yourself.

So let's read on to find out!

Why research in special educational needs?

I first started working with young children with ASD when I was an undergraduate in NUS and I found it to be a fulfilling experience. For my personal reason, working with individuals with special needs (and their caregivers) also help me to understand my own quirks and respect the rich diversity of behaviours in each of us.

What other projects are you involved in related to children with special needs?
One of my current projects is to develop a tool to examine how typical developing youths understand social situations which in turn may help us to understand how youths with ASD may perform. I have also just completed two projects: 1) looking at how video feedback can be used to help students with ASD and 2) whether mainstream primary school teachers’ perceptions of challenging behaviours in students with ASD is affected by awareness of diagnostic label.

How can Tran-SEN be beneficial?
This study is vital as most research studies usually focus on one-time point while here we are tracking their development over time which in turn will help us to understand what sort of challenges these children with SEN face and how best to support them. We need to remember that these children will continue to grow up and their needs will also evolve with time.

What are the 3 important things that parents can do at home to help their child?

1. Teach and prepare their child for independent life skills such as feeding and toileting
2. Teach their child to communicate not only using verbal means but also (more importantly) the use of nonverbal communication cues such as gestures
3. Make sure all parties at home are consistent in how to manage their child’s ‘misbehaviours’

What can parents do to take care of themselves?

1. Seek a support group
2. Remember to allocate some ‘me time’ to yourself
3. Celebrate every small or big success in your child’s development

Lastly, do you have any messages for parents and caregivers? Any words of encouragement?
Remember you are your child’s superhero and no one will do a better job than you do when it comes to taking care and loving your child. So remain strong and persevere in the face of difficulties and adversities because that’s what superheroes do.

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A big thank you to Dr. Fei for spending his time with us for this interview. We hope that parents and caregivers can have a little more understanding of our study and benefit from this interview.

Stay tuned at our website as we bring you more exciting activities that you can engage your child with and updates from our study!

If you are looking to join our study or have any enquiries, please contact us at tran-sen@nie.edu.sg. 

Happy holidays folks!