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Liz Gooch

Government approval pending for organisation aiming to shorten waiting lists in overloaded specialist education sector

Hong Kong's first private bilingual primary school designed for autistic children is set to open next month, pending government approval.

Autism Partnership International School in North Point, with capacity for 64 children, is hoping to receive approval from the Education and Manpower Bureau soon  and wants to start classes in English and Chinese next month.

Education providers welcomed the plan for classes for English-speaking autistic children, many of whom have been or are still on waiting lists for supported places at mainstream schools, although an academic said a segregated school was not ideal.

AP associate director Toby Mountjoy said the school would provide classes  from Primary One to Primary Six. A few classrooms would be started immediately after receiving EMB approval.

A spokesman said the EMB was processing an application. He would not give any indication when the school would be approved but said: 'As long as the school management can comply with the requirements of the existing legislation, I think it should be fine.'

Mr Mountjoy said the school would have up to eight classrooms plus play areas and a teacher to student ratio of one to two.

With fees of HK$17,500 a month, the school would follow a similar curriculum to mainstream schools, covering subjects such as English, maths, physical education and art.

'Our overall aims for our students would be that they can get a job, that they can live as independently as possible and that they have relationships and friends,' Mr Mountjoy said.

Based on an American model, the school's philosophy  follows applied behaviour analysis, an approach Mr Mountjoy said was scientifically proven to be effective.

But Vivian Heung Woon-king, head of the Hong Kong Institute of Education's Centre for Special Needs and Studies in Inclusive Education, said children attending a specialist school  would miss out on vital learning opportunities.

'I think if you have a school purely for children with autism we will deprive them of the opportunity to relate with others, especially the chance of observing ordinary children, how they relate to each other, how they play, how they interact. All these are what children with autism need,' she said.

Dr Heung said there had been a shortage of supported places for autistic children  and more were needed  within mainstream schools.

While there is worldwide debate about how autistic children should be educated, Mr Mountjoy said families should have a wide range of options that included both special schools and supported places in mainstream ones. 'I think what we have in Hong Kong is really a dearth of all those things,' he said.

Convenor of the Parents' Alliance on Special Education System, Pansy Leung Kong Wai-Ying, supported the concept of creating a school for autistic children but questioned whether many families would be able to afford such high fees.

'If every month the school fee is HK$17,500, I think it's really difficult for low-income families,' she said.

The Children's Institute, which provides primary school education for seven English-speaking autistic students and early intervention services for seven younger children, charges HK$23,000 a month. It has a waiting list for its programme, which offers children one-on-one tuition.

The English Schools Foundation, which has more than 100 children on a waiting list for its special needs school, the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School and its supported learning classes at mainstream schools, welcomed the proposal.

'There's certainly huge demand for these services, particularly for non-Cantonese speakers. Opening a new facility has got to help deal with the backlog that we've got at the moment in terms of providing for these kids,' said special needs adviser John Barker.

Tad Pu, director of the Rainbow Project, which has 27 autistic children on waiting lists for the two classrooms it operates within international schools, also welcomed the project.

'This is great news for families. At least the students can have a place to go to,' Mr Pu said.

May Chow Ying, project director of Springboard, a special needs programme that teaches 16 children in two classrooms at the Korean International School, said more places for autistic children were desperately needed.

'I would welcome any schools because there are so many kids out there that need placement,' she said.

However, Ms Chow said not all families could afford the fees charged at private special schools and called on the government to open special schools for English-speaking children.

AP has 60 families attending its existing intensive behavioural programme and Mr Mountjoy expected some of these children would transfer to the school.



Pioneer autism school to be bilingual