Helping Children with Special Needs Learn and Live to the Fullest

May 24, 2010

The barriers between mainstream pupils and children with special needs are being broken thanks to early intervention, better training for teachers and facilitated integration programmes. Many of these initiatives hail from research and proposals developed by the Psychological Services Branch of MOE's Education Programmes Division, where Dr Sharifah Mariam Aljunied works to find ways of helping more special needs pupils fit in better and learn alongside their mainstream peers.

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Integrating Students with Hearing Impairment into Mainstream Schools

April 8, 2010

Special Education pupils such as Nurul Arina bte Abdullah sit in class alongside their normal peers, thanks to early diagnosis of their impairment and appropriate intervention strategies. Through satellite partnerships between Special Education schools and their mainstream counterparts, hearing impaired pupils get a shot at independent learning and a chance to lead a normal life and realise their academic potential.

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Preparing Youths with Special Needs for the Working World

March 11, 2010

At Metta School, students undergoing special needs education can enrol in a two-year structured programme that offers nationally recognised vocational certification, under the Institute of Technical Education in the fields of baking, food preparation and housekeeping. Steven Jackson and Azrin Bin Kamsani are two of Metta's outstanding students from the program's pioneer batch.

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Children's Day is Twice the Fun at Fernvale

December 8, 2009

The fun was doubled this Children's Day as pupils under the Fernvale banner got to celebrate the occasion twice - first at Fernvale Gardens School (Minds), and again at Fernvale Primary School a day later.

Such joint festivities are not new as the two schools have been collaborating with each other since 2007, gathering their respective pupils together to mark events such as Children's Day and Racial Harmony Day. But it doesn't stop at special occasions; pupils from Fernvale Gardens School have sat for art classes at Fernvale Primary School and even borrowed their neighbour's canteen for integrated lessons in Math and life skills.

"The joint activities are part of our school's service learning programme," explains Mrs Serene Chia, Civics and Moral Education (CME) Coordinator of Fernvale Primary School. Working closely with the Vice-principal of Fernvale Gardens School, the two teachers plan regular activities suitable for participants from both schools. "Such interaction provides valuable lessons about empathy, and gives our pupils the opportunity to serve from the heart."

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Learning to Live in a Silent World

November 20, 2009

She turns the formless unknown into perfectly shaped clay sculptures. He transforms silent landscapes and people into vivid pictures captured through the lens of his camera.

Isabel Lim and William Tay both live in a world of silence. But this has in no way held them back from pursuing their interests.

At Balestier Hill Secondary School, a small but significant percentage of students are hearing impaired. The school has formed a Hearing Impaired (HI) Club to cater to their needs, but that hasn't stopped the HI students from going all out to enjoy whatever the rest of their peers are doing.

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Helping Special Students Integrate Better into Society

February 20, 2009

When Ms Wong Geok Choo started teaching students with special needs, she came from a different background than most special education (SPED) teachers: she had been teaching Physics at a junior college for six years before she joined Pathlight School in 2005.

"Before joining the teaching profession, I was already interested in SPED," she explains. "But I wasn't sure if I would be able to cope as a teacher, let alone as a SPED teacher," which she felt would be even more challenging than teaching in a mainstream school. "I decided to try mainstream teaching first and see how I liked the job of a teacher and if I could cope."

As it turns out, she did more than "cope" - Ms Wong not only enjoyed teaching in a mainstream school and took the plunge into the SPED field, in 2008 she also received the MOE-NCSS Special Education (SPED) Award, which recognised teachers for their outstanding contribution in the field.

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A New Love for Teaching through Special Education

February 17, 2009

When Ms Chui Kit May migrated to Singapore from Hong Kong 15 years ago, it not only marked a change in geographical location but also a change in her teaching trajectory. And what a fortuitous change it was.

"Joining the special education field has rekindled my love for teaching," avows Ms Chui, now a teacher at Chaoyang School and recipient of the MOE-NCSS Special Education (SPED) Award in 2008. "It gave me a sense of fulfilment I did not experience when I was teaching in the mainstream in Hong Kong."

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A Special Passion for Special Pupils

January 30, 2009

"I just wanted to teach children, it didn't matter where, as long as I was able to work with children," explains Mdm Siti Anita Binte Rahmat. Twenty years later, this stalwart teacher at Chaoyang School has built a rich and meaningful career in teaching and nurturing students with special needs.

In 2008 she was one of three recipients of the MOE-NCSS Special Education (SPED) Awards, which recognises SPED teachers who have shown particular passion and commitment to providing an all-rounded education.

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From Thoughts to Talk: Helping an Autistic Pupil to Communicate

December 26, 2008

Why would you feel a burst of pride to see a student talk to his classmates about the latest storybook adventures of a talking mouse while the teacher is away? What Lurk En did may seem typical for an enthusiastic pupil. However, it was in fact the result of unwavering efforts by Mr Ahmad Najib Muslim, Lurk En's Special Needs Officer, his form teacher Ms Quek Wei Ting and his parents. Together, they have helped Lurk En manage the challenges of his autism and learn how to communicate better with his schoolmates. Therefore, while it was not the right time to be talking in class, Mr Ahmad is more than glad to see Lurk En making an effort to come out of his shell.

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A Helping Hand for a Child with ADHD

April 2, 2008

My journey with a child with ADHD has taught me valuable lessons. His parents, teachers and I walked through helplessness at first. The child’s impulsivity, manifested in behaviour that exhibited a lack of self-control, had escalated in intensity and frequency during the first month in school. He was getting hurt, his peers were getting hurt, and he was losing friendships quickly. He damaged his classmates’ property and took things that did not belong to him. No one wanted to be his friend. As he was attracted to gadgets, he was caught switching on the computers in several classrooms in the mornings. Once, he even cut an internet cable in the classroom because “the computer was not working”. His teachers were challenged. His parents were challenged. As his counsellor, I was challenged.

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Special Techniques for Special Kids

February 25, 2008

Did you know that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have such short attention spans, that all the important information in a lesson must be taught within the first five to ten minutes? Specialist knowledge like this is what helps Mrs Tracy Lee, a teacher trained in special needs at Seng Kang Primary School, to help students with special needs in her mainstream classes.

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A Day in the Life of a Special Education Teacher

January 21, 2008

An eye-catching and boldly-coloured volume thermometer poster proclaiming “Loudest = Shouting” through “Softest = Whispering”. A chart that indicates different parts of the lesson in specific clarity: “1 - Go through the textbook. 2 - Go to the garden to look at plants. 3 - Get into groups for independent work. 4 - Pack up, and get ready for recess.” While these details may appear excessive in an upper primary school classroom, they are must-have items in Pathlight School, the only special education (SPED) school in Singapore that teaches the mainstream curriculum to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

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SPED Teachers Share Strategies

December 28, 2007

Dedication, providing customised solutions, ensuring measurable outcomes, and training competencies for employment - these are some of the factors that distinguished two recipients of the inaugural Outstanding Special Education (SPED) Teacher Awards 2007. Presented by MOE and National Council of Social Services in November 2007, the awards recognise the contributions of and important role played by SPED teachers in the education of students with special needs.

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Gizmos, Gadgets & the Good Old Human Touch (Part 2)

September 3, 2007

MOE ExCEL Fest 2007 was also a field day for educators, who had the opportunity to not only browse the exhibits of innovation projects, but also attend workshops, seminars and other festival activities designed to spark new approaches to education.

“There are so many fresh ideas,” said Mr Noor Isham Sanip, Vice-Principal, Princess Elizabeth Primary School. “I’m impressed by the new approaches to classroom learning, and the opportunity for us to learn from each other. It’s quite clear that everyone is caught up in this spirit of sharing of ideas.”

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Empowering Students the Robotics Way

July 20, 2007

While the National Junior Robotics Competition (NJRC) has been around since 1999, it was only in September 2006 that a team of students from Canossian School, a special education school for hearing-impaired children, took part for the first time. Working under the mentorship of two teachers, these students from the school’s Robotics Club put in months of hard work prior to the competition - and emerged with not one but two awards, for Best Newcomer and Best Marketing Gimmick. Not a bad showing for a club that was started only four months before the competition.

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Inventive Ways to Help Pupils with Special Needs

July 11, 2007

A Special Needs Officer at Gan Eng Seng Primary School, Mrs Fawzi alias Rahmah Mohd Ali gives us a glimpse of how the school has implemented various strategies and programmes to help pupils with special needs.

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Getting a Headstart on Education and Career Planning

July 4, 2007

Career planning may not often be timetabled into a student’s school day, but it goes hand-in-hand with the formal syllabus to prepare students for the game of life. It is thus beneficial to get ‘An Early Start to Career Planning’ - which was the focus of the education segment of CAREER 2007. Held at Suntec Singapore from 1 to 4 March, the exhibition, which was supported by MOE, attracted a record number of visitors, of which 46% were youth aged 19 years and below.

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