by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong
There are some 13,000 school-going children with special needs. The larger portion or 7,600 are in mainstream schools. Therefore, we must pay attention to this group.
MOE has made efforts since 2005. There is room to do more. Although there is now at least one Learning and Behavioural Support Allied Educator or AED in each primary school, AEDs handle many cases and may not give good attention to each case. Some secondary schools have yet to get AEDs.
Before we can train and hire more AEDs, schools can leverage on the parents of students with special needs. Some are stay-at-home mothers or fathers. By being the primary caregivers, they have learnt how to handle their own children. Some have attended courses on how to deal with challenging behaviours. Schools can allow these parents, especially during transition into primary one, to manage their children in class. I noted that some schools do allow, while others do not. I read an email from a parent shadowing her primary 1 child, “I’m having a good time shadowing Joshua. We still have challenges to overcome, but the school, principal, teachers and children, they are the best! Because of that, Joshua is having a very good schooling experience. It helps him a lot!”
Schools can even consider hiring these parents part-time to assist other special needs students. Some have left their jobs. This can be a win-win arrangement.
My next suggestion is to encourage schools to generate innovative ideas of helping special needs students. I know of an aided-school that will partner an external service provider with autism expertises to provide intervention services to special needs students. Such initiatives are now left to schools, and they find their own source of funds. We can establish a Special Needs Innovation Fund which schools can apply to if they have good programmes.
To build an inclusive society, we need promote greater understanding of disability for all students. Schools can strengthen the social emotional learning of every student so that they can accept, learn and work with their special peers. This will help build a generation with a heart for the disabled. The Special Needs Innovation Fund can also be used to fund interaction activities of mainstream students with the Special Needs community.