Education Provision for Children with Special Needs
There are a number of schools and specialists centres for children across a range of disabilities. However, waiting lists can be very long, so the sooner you sign up, the better. Below is a list of centres that work with English speaking children with physical and learning disabilities.
Places are also available on a self-funded basis (private), and a limited number of centres offer subsidised programmes via a central application process which can be carried out with the support and advice of a medical social worker. The appointed social worker will advise you which centres to apply to and will assist with the application process. You will be entitled to apply to three centres, but you must accept the first place that is made available, regardless of preference. To see the full list of facilities available for children with special needs, visit the Social Welfare Department website which has a comprehensive list.
The Child Development Centre works with young children with special needs including autism, developmental delay, cerebral palsy and learning difficulties. Based in Wan Chai, it is an excellent, non-profit school offering education to children as well as support for their families. For more information, see their website *Some subsided places available via the central application process.
Watchdog Early Learning and Development Centre provides a pre-school program for children with cerebral palsy, ADHD, Down’s syndrome and learning difficulties. They prepare children for entry into mainstream education and also offer advice and support to parents. More information is available here *Some subsided places available via the central application process.
The Springboard Project operates from the Korean International School (KIS) and is a self contained class for children with additional needs. The aim is to integrate the children into mainstream school as and where possible. For more information see here.
Autism Partnership operates the Aoi Pui School, in Hung Hom for children on the Autism Spectrum. Their staff use Contemporary Behavioural Therapy to work to maximise each child’s learning potential in an environment with a high student to staff ratio. For more information see here.
The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong shares space with the Harbour School, and provides one-on-one applied behavioural analysis for children with autism, who also access some of appropriate mainstream activities at The Harbour School. Further information here.
Bridge Academy offers a range of programmes for children with special needs. These include an integration programme for children who find it difficult to acquire the skills required for mainstream pre-school curriculum as well as group and one on one programmes. It caters for children from 3-11 and also supports parents with training and seminars. More details here.
Mainstream Schools with Special Needs Provision
Hong Kong Academy has provision for children with a range of learning difficulties and has a Learner Support team of 25 therapists, teachers and co-teachers who support students from PK1 (3 years old) through to G12. At any one time, the school has between 15-25% children accessing additional support both in and out of the classroom. This support can range from weekly therapy sessions to a full-time 1:1 teacher for an individual student. HKA accepts students with any level of needs, as long as they can be successful in mainstream school setting with the support structures provided. It should be noted that the Learner Support programme is very thorough but is 80% user-pay so is rather expensive. HKA suggest that parents email the school directly before paying the admissions fee, so that they can ensure that the school can support the child’s needs. More information here.
The Harbour School works with children as individuals and tailors learning to their specific needs. It is not a special needs school but they have children who are considered advanced, in addition to children needing extra support in certain areas. The school keeps class sizes small and uses the latest technology to assist in learning. For more information go to their website
The International Christian Academy offers Individualised Education Plans (IEP’s) for students with moderate to severe learning difficulties at its campus in Shek Mun. The children spend their time between mainstream and learning support classes and receive one-to-one and small group tuition.ESF – A number of ESF schools offer Learning Support for children with additional needs. These schools include: Bradbury Primary School, Quarry Bay School, Glenealy School, Clearwater Bay Primary School, West Island School, The Peak School. In addition, the Sarah Roe School offers education for children aged 5 to 19 who have complex and severe physical and learning disabilities.
If you have any questions or comments on the above article, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at contact@thehkhub.com
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