PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will set up its first National Centre of Excellence for Autism by May next year.
The project, to be named Permata Kurnia, will be the first Government-funded project for children with disabilities.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the centre would meet the early intervention and childhood education for 300 children with autism aged from two to six.
"It will also be the first-ever project where a multi-disciplinary team consisting of early educators, speech therapists and occupational therapists work together to provide a holistic service to children with autism.
"This project will serve as a benchmark in implementing autism service-provision best practices which we hope will be a model for future centres," Najib said in his speech at the International Seminar on Autism Malaysia 2014.
Present were his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who is patron of the seminar and the Permata programe, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and wife Puan Sri Noorainee Abdul Rahman.