Supporting People
Introduction
In 2004, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced the following initiatives to support children with mild special educational needs in mainstream schools:
- Deployment of Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural Support) [AEDs (LBS)], previously known as Special Needs Officers, to support children with mild special educational needs in mainstream schools.
- Additional funding for resourced mainstream schools.
- Training in special needs for a proportion of teachers in mainstream schools. These teachers take on the role as Teachers Trained in Special Needs (TSNs) in schools
Special Needs Officers in mainstream schools help students with mild to
moderate developmental disabilities like dyslexia and autism. They
provide structured and systematic support to these students to enable
them to cope with the academic, social, physical and emotional demands
of school life.
The responsibilities of SNO include:
- Provision of withdrawal support, specialized remediation, and implementation of Individual Education Plan (IEP)
- Provision of in class support for special needs students
- helping the students to understand lesson content using various means (e.g. Visual & Audio Aides, mind mapping skills Q&A Sessions)
- helping to communicate the student's needs to the teachers
- Consultation to teachers and parents to facilitate better understanding of the student's needs and how to support them
- Set up and maintenance of special needs-friendly classrooms/ learning labs
- Preparation of teaching and learning resources for use with students (e.g. differentiated worksheets for students with dyslexia)
- Provision of skills training (e.g. anger management, improving communication & organizational skills)
- Provision of feedback to teachers and parents on the needs and progress of the special needs student
- Collaboration of external professional/agencies supporting the students with special needs
- Co-ordination and contributions to case conferences in schools
- Set up and maintenance of records on students with special needs
Roles of a Teachers Trained in Special Needs (TSN)
Other than the dedicated support from AEDs (LBS), pupils/students with special educational needs can also be supported by TSNs, teachers who are trained at a certificate level in the area of special educational needs in each school.
- provide individual or small group support to the pupils/students with special needs in their class;
- share strategies and resources with other teachers and parents;
- assist with transition of pupils/students with special needs from one grade level to the next; and
- assist with monitoring of the progress of students with special needs.
Source: MOE website
SEN JPS@ copyright2009
