L
ee is a bright child who is
enthusiastic, compassionate
and quickly able to grasp
ideas. Yet, he is struggling
and miserable at school. Even worse,
the school he attends, a wonderful
institution renowned for its excellent
staff and superb examination results,
has exhausted the resources it has at
hand to help him. His parents are in
limbo, tasked with solving the puzzle of
their smart and capable son, adrift in
the Hong Kong education system.
Few schools have their own
educational psychologists or therapists
onsite. For those that do, waiting lists to
access such help might be months long
and, regardless of these facts, it can be
unclear to both teachers and parents
what exactly is the necessary intervention
for children such as Lee. In championing
the needs of their children in this context,
parents have a daunting task.
Unfortunately these predicaments
are all too familiar. Working for over 17
years as a special needs teacher in
international schools throughout Hong
Kong, and now heading up Acorn Care
to advocate, assess, and intervene
in supporting students such as Lee, I
would like to share some of my insights
about these dynamics. Even the best
teachers who are familiar with special
needs are pressed for time and are
typically focussed on delivering the core
curriculum. Working with children of all
ages with a wide range of educational
needs, learning and physical disabilities,
means special needs teachers forge
important relationships with parents
seeking to both understand and access
the support their children need. I have
identified five issues that are crucial
for parents to consider as they pursue
whatever educational challenges their
child and family are facing.
Firstly, school systems can vary
widely. In Hong Kong we have local,
international, and private schools.
Within these separate systems we
find that there are vast differences in
educational pedagogy, curriculum and
programmes on offer, student-teacher
features
ratios, learning environments, volume of
homework … the list can be endless.
With such a range of services, we
often find that schools and students
aren’t ideally matched. Children may
spend years being moved between
schools, and each new turn triggers
a disrupting transition as their needs
are identified and support systems
operationalised. Parents such as Lee’s
may choose to transition their child to
a new environment that seems more
suitable for their academic needs,
perhaps relating to language acquisition,
social environment, or curriculum. This is
both understandable and justified.
That leads to the second point,
navigating admissions. Whether you are
sending your child to their first school,
or moving him or her between their
third or fourth school, the admissions
team are the first school staff you will
encounter and the first people tasked
with the placement of your child. Their
duty is to ensure that not only are they
able to meet the individual needs of any
given student, but also that the success
of all current students in the class is
not affected. An inclusive environment
is fundamental to academic success,
and various studies identify inclusion
as broadly beneficial to and throughout
school systems. Nevertheless, the
admission team will be focussed
on making sure their provisions to
support learners match the needs of
their current students. This can be a
fragile balance and one that requires a
keen eye throughout the school year.
Thus, the admissions process can be
a time where schools seek additional
information about and support for
potential students.
My third point relates to the range of
support that both schools and parents
might seek. Hong Kong is known for its
tiger mums, helicopter parenting and
schools that have the highest standards
for academic success. Only a few of
these schools are designed to support
a personalised curriculum, or to house
additional professionals that cater for
the well-being and individual needs of
May 2018
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