Places for Autistic Students in Special Schools

16 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) whether there are sufficient places for autistic students awaiting entry into special needs institutions; (b) what is the current average waiting time; and (c) what are the plans to make available more educational opportunities and support for students with autism.

The Minister of State for Education (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Minister for Education (Schools)): Mdm Speaker, in recent years, we are seeing an increase in the number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), resulting in an increase in demand for Special Education (SPED) school places for these children. Many of these children with ASD attend different SPED schools, including those that serve students with other disabilities.

Overall, there are sufficient places in our SPED schools. But some parents have a preference to place their child with ASD into a SPED school of their choice and, in particular, an ASD-specific school. The waiting time for admission into these schools can range from three months to more than a year, depending on the school's capacity and the relative demand, as well as student factors, such as the complexity of the particular child's needs and the availability of the right mix of staff to support his or her needs. Where there is a waitlist, MOE has, upon request, facilitated placement into an alternative SPED school which is appropriate for the child's specific disability profile.

Children diagnosed with ASD have diverse needs and may require more specialised and intensive intervention to support their learning. To cater to these needs, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is working with various volunteer welfare organisations (VWOs) to expand the overall capacity of the ASD-specific schools. We are also working closely with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) and SPED schools to recruit more teachers and allied professionals. MOE, together with NCSS, will continue to closely monitor SPED school places, infrastructure, quality, as well as staffing levels to ensure the timely placement of students with moderate to severe ASD needs.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Mdm Speaker, two points for clarification. First, I would like to ask the Minister of State if there is a specific planning ratio of students with ASD to the number of places in the schools. Second, how are the manpower planning programmes put in place, because we do understand that it is difficult to recruit, train and hire the correct and qualified people to staff these places?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for his questions. With respect to both issues, the needs of the children are very diverse and the label "ASD" is insufficient to adequately describe the complexity of the needs these children may have, from the mild to the moderate to the severe, as well as the co-existence of other challenges, other diseases and other disabilities that the child may have at the same time.

So, there is no fixed planning ratio that you can apply across the whole spectrum of diseases, needs, children and disability profile. The different schools have developed different expertise in particular needs, particular profiles, particular disabilities and particular diseases. They have their own norms to cater to the functional outcomes of executing their curricular plans and serving the needs of their children. This also applies to the manpower planning issue. As we can imagine, the two are very closely related.

There is a difficulty in hiring and identifying staff that have the appropriate aptitude and skills, as well as the enthusiasm for this type of work. But we are confident that we will be able to do so, going into the future.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Just a quick question for the Minister of State. Earlier, in his initial reply, he mentioned that the Ministry has seen an increase in the number of students across the autism spectrum. Does the Minister of State have a sense of those numbers? What are the numbers currently?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I do not have the exact numbers in front of me. If the Member would like to file a question for that, I would certainly have them ready for him. The increase in ASD is a phenomenon that is being noticed around the world in all types of communities. We are no different.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Patrick Tay.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): Mdm Speaker, I wish to make a suggestion to the Minister of State. Quite a number of residents that I meet during our house visits do feedback that there is a shortage of such places, particularly in the western part of Singapore. I urge the Minister of State that in coming up with new centres, to consider building them in the west.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for the feedback and I appreciate the difficulty that some parents may have, especially if they have to travel a significant distance. The issue for the SPED schools and the children that they serve is that the expertise is quite profile-specific. For some of the children with certain types of profiles of disease and disability, their numbers are not large and so, the centres which have the expertise are effectively serving the entire nation. Going forward, in planning, we will look at the skills-mix as well as the staffing mix of all the SPED schools to see what we can do to optimise the delivery of these services for these children.

Mdm Speaker: Dr Intan Mokhtar.

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): I would like to ask the Minister of State this: if we look at Pathlight School, for example, they have a very successful model of helping children with autism and other specific special needs. Would the Ministry consider working closely with Pathlight School to set up more schools, where the Ministry would put in a lot more support in terms of funding and manpower resource?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, indeed, we do work closely with Pathlight and all the SPED schools to learn the best practices from their approach, to customising curriculum to providing specific intervention and support for the children. Certainly, while the total capacity within the SPED schools is more than sufficient to cater to the children, we do have to pay some attention to the skills and facilities to ensure that each child will have a place appropriate to their profile of needs and challenges. That is part of the panel that is looking at the implementation of compulsory education for special needs children, going forward.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Zaqy Mohamad.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang): The Minister of State mentioned about the increased capacity in due course. Does the Minister of State have a timeline and what sort of waiting time could parents expect? Also, does the Ministry have a sense of how many are on the waitlist and who do not have a place in school? I know some on the waitlist actually have places somewhere else. There are also those on the waitlist who are not in school. Do we have a sense of that?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: I do not have the exact numbers for the Member's last part of the question, Mdm Speaker. I would reassure him on the point he made that there is a place available within the SPED space. A large part of the issue for the waiting lists currently is the choice the parents have and assert, with respect to which of the SPED schools they would like to place their children in.

In terms of total capacity, the spaces are there, the facilities are there. But it is really looking forward towards the timeline of the implementation of compulsory education for special needs children and ensuring that we have the skill ability and the manpower ability across the various schools to make sure that each child has an appropriate place and, hopefully, to reduce the anxiety that some parents may have about finding a particular place in a particular school, when there are several schools that can manage that child's needs.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Leon Perera.

Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): Just one question. In relation to the skills shortages that we have discussed, is the Government looking into the possibility of establishing in Singapore a basic degree course in special needs education? Based on my understanding, there is a Master's degree course and an Advanced Degree course, but not a basic degree course in special needs education.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mdm Speaker, the National Institute of Education (NIE) does conduct a basic diploma in special education, and then, going on to a Master's as well. We do have some ability to do some training here in Singapore, but we also do tap on the skills and training available overseas or returning Singaporeans for people who want to come and work in special education. So, there is a good mix of backgrounds and skills within the educators and professionals that serve in the special education space.