CV

Associate Professor Dr. Alvin Ng Lai Oon obtained his Bachelor of Arts from University of Western Australia, Bachelor of Psychology and Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) from Murdoch University. Dr. Ng also trained as a clinical psychologist specialising in behaviour modification, autism management, and behaviour fluency with interest in depression and anxiety disorders. Before joining Sunway University, he was previously an associate professor and Head of the Health Psychology Program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia where he served for 11 years since 2002. At UKM, he also practised as a clinical psychologist the Health Psychology Clinic seeing adult as well as children clients. Dr. Ng was also the Director of Shine Guidance Centre in 2012, where he oversaw centre operations and was a clinical consultant for families living with special needs.
His research interests include mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, cross-cultural factors in psychotherapy, psychometric measurements of mental illness in Malaysia, and behavioral fluency training in basic academic skills. He has published in journals, magazines and presented in numerous conferences, seminars, trainings and public talks. Dr. Ng has also published a book called “Teaching Children Handling Study Stress” (TC Publishing, 2004). Besides academia and clinical practice, Dr. Ng is instrumental in advancing the field of clinical psychology in Malaysia, and was the Founding President of the Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology that he helped establish in 2010.

CONFERENCE ABSTRACT

Teaching Children Handling Study Stress: A Behaviour Fluency Approach
Advancement in technology and globalisation, has made education more competitive than it ever was before, making study stress among children is an increasingly pertinent topic with regards to child and adolescent well-being. In this day and age where performance is measured not just by accuracy but its combination with speed, the behaviour fluency approach to education can help to improve study efficacy and thus reduce unnecessary stress that is counterproductive. This paper aims to introduce a relatively new behavioural approach to education that increases the likelihood of skill mastery within the academic setting while reducing stress in children and adolescents while reducing stress by way of empowerment, confidence-building and self-efficacy. Behaviour fluency-building approach targets repetitively drilling basic component skills of a complex behaviour to increase mastery. Benefits of this method go beyond skill mastery but also emotional well-being, improved self-esteem and quicker learning abilities for more complex concepts and tasks.