EARLY INTERVENTION AND EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

1. EARLY INTERVENTION AND EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Done By: Irene Stacy Ivy Sarita Christine Yan Pheng

2. VISION Children with special needs shall receive: - A quality education - A quality early intervention and education programme Enable them to: Live independently Become gainfully employed Engage in lifelong learning Possess a quality of life in all areas (this includes quality of care for those with high support needs) Contribute to others at home and in the community

3. INTRODUCTION Early identification and intervention service have benefits for the child, society and economy. • Helps to develop the child’s maximum potential • Reduce later education costs to society • The child gains economic and living independence

4. Factors affecting the achieving excellence in the early intervention and education of children with special needs are: • Timely and appropriate placement • A quality curriculum and pedagogy. • Professionals who are systematically trained and coached • Active family caregiver involvement in schools and at home. • Planned integration must start early. • from one school year to another • one setting to another and • from school to employment • Strong strategic and accountable leadership at all levels.

5. EFFORTS AND ISSUES IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS • Education - Passing of Compulsory Education Act in 2003 All children born after 1 Jan 1996 must attend a national primary school, however, the Act has excluded some groups of children including children with special needs CURRENT SITUATION: ACROSS ALL AGE GROUPS

6. Current Governance System of Early Intervention and Special Schools Early Intervention and Special Education Child in Singapore Fund Provider: MCYS MOE NCSS Donors Service Operators: VWOs Management of VWOs in Fund Allocation & Service Development: NCSS

7. Most key initiatives include :-- previously DIRC - Disability Information and Referral Centre, now known as CEL - Centre for Enabled Living - EIPICs - Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children- Therapy hubs- All special schools VWOs management committees running EIPICs and VWOs-appointed school boards have full authority to make all decisions. Note: - impact on quality of special needs education served is unclear

8. CURRENT SITUATION: BIRTH TO SIX YEARS

9. CURRENT SITUATION: SIX YEARS AND OLDER IN MAINSTREAM SETTINGS The parents of children with special needs need to select between mainstream and special settings. Disability friendly schools accept students without any formal assessment before entry.

10. CURRENT SITUATION: SIX YEARS AND OLDER IN SPECIAL SCHOOL SETTINGS NCSS Role - development of special school’s Programme Evaluation System and conduct on-site assessments. MOE Role - support in organizing principal and teacher training programmes. There are 21 special schools catering to a wide range of disabilities. Of these 4 offer mainstream academic subjects.

11. Prime Minister’s call for a more inclusive Singapore Result in increased funding: up to 4 times of funding per primary student Increase in support of development of special school buildings. Government recurrent expenditures on SPED close to $54 milllion in FY 2005/06. Before integration models of Canossian Eduplex and Pathlight, integration of special students are piecemeal and based on the CIP initiatives of mainstream schools.