Outstanding SPED Teacher awardee Ms Lee Hsueh Chi, Cecilia, teaches at Towner Gardens School, a school for children with moderate to severe intellectual disability. When working with these students, she chooses the strategy of engagement, and she greets her class with a big smile when she first sees them at the assembly area.

“I believe in keeping the students well-informed of any daily happenings or special events. When I teach them, I make it a point to tell them why the lesson or skill is important,” she explains. “I involve them in deciding what group name they want, the class rules and other matters.”

Sometimes Ms Cecilia Lee’s students get one-on-one attention in class.

In a school where the spectrum of behaviour is as varied as the number of students, additional support is a great help - and Ms Lee does not hesitate to learn from the experts. “The psychologist will observe the behaviour of the child,” she says, “and as a team, we will come up with methods to overcome the (undesirable) behaviour.” Take the case of “Henry”, who developed the habit of striking himself in the neck. To prevent the injury from getting worse, “I got him to hold soft, felt balls in his hands. By occupying both his hands, we managed to modify his behaviour,” says Ms Lee.

Another student, “James”, had difficulty concentrating in a group setting. “He is inattentive and engages in inappropriate behaviour. We know he likes to read and look at pictures, so we gave him a book that is related to the topic during lesson time,” says Ms Lee. “In this way, he’s still learning, and it stops him from engaging in inappropriate behaviour. I’ll work with him one-on-one for five minutes before he goes back to his book in the group setting.”

Where her students are concerned, the relationship does not stop when they leave school at the end of the day. Parents have commended Ms Lee on her warmth and commitment, and often approach her for advice on issues ranging from financial matters, to the child’s health and behavioural problems at home.

“I enjoy teaching and I enjoy working with children. It gives me great joy to see children with special education learn new skills, skills that non-disabled people take for granted, but are painstakingly achieved by people with disability, such as buttoning and unbuttoning. It really warms my heart when they succeed,” Ms Lee says.

Pathlight School teacher Victor Ong teaches design studio skills to better engage some of his students.

Better Learning through Design

For Innovative SPED Teacher awardee Victor Ong Tai Leng, it’s off to design school for creative students. Specifically, it’s off to Pathlight Design Studio, which was started the year he joined the school as a full-time teacher in 2005. Today, Mr Ong is Head of IT and Design in Pathlight School, the only special education school that teaches the mainstream curriculum to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

From its role in supporting the then newly-formed school in its collateral and communication needs, the studio’s role has rapidly expanded over the last two years. Now it is where “talented students learn commercially viable skills that might allow them a chance to work in the creative industry,” elaborates Mr Ong. “In 2007, we started a formal training plan called Pre-vocation, for learners with higher levels of autism.” The school currently conducts daily training curriculum periods called Design Worksite, Cafe Worksite and Office Worksite.

Design Worksite commenced with two students in January 2007, who made “remarkable progress that surprised even me,” says Mr Ong. “By mid-2007, we had six students. In 2008, we expect to have a total of nine design trainees.” Typically, the students “learn the tools for designing, for example, Flash Animation, Print layouts and handwork skills needed in an actual design studio for an advertising agency,” he explains. As a former art director of a local advertising agency, he is able to spot latent talent among his students, and customises his teaching style to maximise their creative potential.

At the Pathlight Design Studio, teacher Victor Ong looks out for budding talent among students.

Skills learning aside, being engaged in what they are good at has helped modify the students’ behaviour. Zina Chia is an ASD student with high self-agenda and a tendency to throw tantrums when her demands are not met. Her strength in comic drawing and IT work, and interest in Japanese anime and 3D modelling make her a good candidate to train as a designer, and sustain her motivation for learning. She now “produces impressive Flash Work”, points out Mr Ong.

Not only that, “she now comes to school with a clearer sense of purpose because along with her design skills, she acquired a higher self-esteem. She is more compliant and sees more purpose in communicating and listening. When she experiences success in learning design, she is more inclined to try to succeed in improving her behaviour in other subjects and classes too,” reflects Mr Ong.

Another success story is Tong Qin Yuan, who is learning to use print design software like Adobe InDesign. A highly anxious student, he is very dependent on step-by-step instruction. “The marked change is his ability to work independently with visual and written instructions,” says Mr Ong. “His work stamina has increased greatly too. He is a success story of how enjoying one’s learning produces excellent work.”