This study aims to investigate the viability and effectiveness of the Hanen More Than Words (HMTW) programme amongst parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This quassi-experimental study involved 31 children (27 boys, 4 girls; M = 34.58 months, SD = 3.67) who met criteria for ASD and their parents. The measurement was conducted in three phases; Time 1 (prior to intervention), Time 2 and Time 3 (at three and five months after the intervention begins). The outcome measures were assessed based on: (1) changes in parental facilitative strategies; (2) the children’s growth in vocabulary and (3) the progress of communication and social skills. The paired t-test were used to analyze the pre and post findings within the intervention and control group with p-value <.01. Results showed that there was an increase in using the facilitative communication strategies by parents in the HMTW group during parent-child interaction. The children showed an increased in vocabulary, communication and social skills. The parents agreed that their mastery of facilitative communication strategies increased and they provided positive feedback about the HMTW approach. The results suggested that the HMTW program could be implemented well by Malaysian parents. The training was supported by Malaysian parents and had measurable effect on both parents and children.

This study was designed to obtain and compare the nasalance scores produced by normal Malay children and those with repaired palatal cleft. Data from 103 noncleft children and 27 children with repaired clefts were included. All children were of Malay origin with the Malay language (Kelantan dialect) as their first language. Two short and simple test stimuli were constructed in the Malay language; one resembled the Nasal Sentences and the other resembled the Zoo Passage (oral passage) used in nasometer testing. Nasalance scores were obtained with the Nasometer II model 6400 by Kay Elemetrics. Calibration of the nasometer and collection of data followed the recommended protocol outlined in the manual. Nasalance scores for the Oral Passage was significantly higher (p < 0.001) for the children with repaired palatal clefts when compared to scores for children without clefts. However, no differences in nasalance scores were detected between both groups for the Nasal Passage. The normative nasalance scores for Malay children with Kelantan dialect was established, which can be used as an objective reference in the management of Malay patients with resonance disorders.

The scales of children development from the West are usually used as a main guide for parents and professionals in monitoring the development of children due to the limited resources being reported and the assumption that children development in Malaysia and Western countries are similar. Based on previous studies, many have questioned the suitability of these scales to assess the communicative development of Malaysian children. Therefore, this preliminary study was conducted to develop a set of data that could be use as a guide to monitor the communicative development of Malaysian toddlers. In this study, translation and adaptation was done on The Integrated Scales of Development for toddlers aged between 16 to 30 months which was further divided to three subscales according to age ie. 16 to 18 months, 19 to 24 months and 25 to 30 months. Validity and reliability measurements were conducted on the adapted scales. Based on the validity assessment, two items were omitted from the subscale 16-18 months and eight items were omitted from each subscale 19-24 months and subscale 25-30 months. The value of Cronbach alpha showed high reliability on the subscale 16-18 months (α = 0.872). However, the value of Cronbach alpha in subscale 19-24 months (α = 0.626) and in subscale 25-30 months (α = 0.628) demonstrated low reliability. As a conclusion, the adapted scale is suitable to be used as a guide to monitor children communicative development but not as a major tool of assessment.