APAC Insider- South East Asia Business Awards 2025 | 17 May25196 Autism Behavioral Center (ABC) Malaysia specialises in delivering one-to-one applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapy to children, setting the gold standard for navigating autism in the region as it goes. From strategic locations in Bangsar, Subang Jaya, and Ampang, the company is well positioned to serve the individual needs of children throughout Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding regions. To find out more about this, we spoke with Dr Charlene Samuel, the company’s hands-on director. For many years, the practice of ABA therapy has been unfairly scrutinised for a perceived lack of humanity. Adding to this is the fact that the field in general, especially in Asia, suffers from a lack of regulation concerning the therapy, stemming from a lack of qualified professionals and a poor understanding of autism more generally. ABC lives to challenge this stereotype, delivering respectful and compassionate services tailored not only to the individual learning needs of the children in question, but also to their families. Boasting the largest ABA centre in Malaysia at its Bangsar headquarters, ABC operates 45 individual therapy rooms from this location (as well as a further 24 in Subang Jaya and 30 in Ampang) where children as young as 15 months can be enrolled into its early-years intervention. The importance of this support in a child’s formative years cannot be stressed enough, and the team of qualified therapists at these locations – all of whom have been personally trained by Charlene – offer support through distraction-free learning. Outside of its signature ABA therapy, the company also delivers evidence-based intervention for children with speech delays and behavioural or social challenges, with its most recent offerings comprising occupational therapy, speech therapy consultations, music therapy, and diagnostic evaluations. Combined, these services are helping ABC to achieve its ultimate goal: providing access to care to all children and families in need of this support. Thus, across its services, ABC works with local families and expats alike – anyone who values intensive, individualised, and high-quality services for their child. Underpinning the quality of these services is the fact that the company is supervised directly by a Board-Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA), ensuring that its therapies are held to international standards of excellence. All of these interventions are also carried out exclusively in English, removing language barriers and guaranteeing service consistency across the board. With more than a decade of experience under its belt working with thousands of children with special needs, ABC has come to perfect the systems it uses in teaching and supporting the staff who are at the heart of its operation. The best example of this is that ABC is the only centre of its kind in Malaysia to implement PaTTAN (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network) technology, developed by experts to provide optimal outcomes. As for what this means for the children and the families it serves, Charlene explained: “Clients who enrol with ABC are not part of a trial-and-error experiment. Due to our vast expertise working with the wider autism spectrum and years of experience, we know exactly what to do, how to break skills down, and achieve the outcomes families look for.” This can be seen further through the company’s intensive ABA programmes including active parent and family trainings, boosting a child’s chances of attending mainstream school. All of this is helping to position ABC as a one-stop centre for families – meaning they no longer have to travel to multiple locations to access high-calibre care. Charlene told us: “This was a huge factor in ABC pivoting to provide multidisciplinary care under one roof”, seen through its introduction of services such as speech delay therapy and occupational therapy mentioned above. To this end, ABC is also supporting those families who cannot afford full-time therapy by offering reduced hours, suiting needs without sacrificing results. “We have also observed a significant increase in enrolment of ‘COVID babies’ – not necessarily autistic but presenting with clear speech delays and/or other developmental challenges. ABC’s services are not limited to autism specifically; hence we are increasingly supporting children with speech delays and other challenges.” In a world where these services are becoming more sought out than ever, Autism Behavioral Center Malaysia is concentrating on renewing its intention and further improving its training procedures for new staff over the coming years, all whilst maximising opportunities for building the skills of both its own teams and the children it serves. Hopefully, in the longer term, this will result in the expansion of the brand – across Malaysia and beyond. Contact: Dr Charlene Samuel Company: Autism Behavioral Center Web Address: https://abcautism.com.my/ Best Early Intervention Center 2025 – Asia
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