Hong Kong parents’ soaring demand for learning disability tests
Experts point to the ‘unrealistic expectations’ of tiger parents, saying there’s no evidence of a rise in number of children with developmental issues
Hong Kong’s tiger parents have been warned against having unrealistic expectations amid an alarming rise in the number of children being tested for learning disabilities.
Government and private agencies say the number of children taking developmental assessment tests has risen nearly 20 per cent in the past five years.
While the government is building more test centres to cope with the burgeoning demand, experienced paediatricians attributed the growth largely to the misplaced anxieties of parents, saying there was no evidence suggesting local children were having more developmental problems.
“Some kids studying in elite schools might just be underperforming in studies and were found to be normal after tests ... but parents still asked for medication,” Dr Fanny Lam Wai-fan, a developmental-behavioural paediatrician, said. Lam cautioned parents against having “unreasonable expectations”.
Medication is available for symptoms of attention deficit disorder, for example, but only when the child has been diagnosed by doctors.
Chinese University paediatrics professor Dr Ellis Hon Kam-lun also cited cases of parents making their children sit tests after they seemed tongue-tied or failed to pronounce a word properly.