Geelong Gent

Any one with experience of children in schools with mild autism?

Kooky.

GG I have some info I sourced about schools a while back for a potential expat - I can PM it to you if you nag me til I do it.

I also know of a group of "Special Needs" parents (their term) that meets for coffee on a regular basis - I can put you in touch with those if you'd like. I guess they're mainly Mums as the meet during the day.

Kooky.

You have PM.

Geelong Gent

Thanks for the PM Bev, I will pass the info on to my wife as this is the only reason stopping us from returning to the east/asia.

Autism is not openly discussed in our asian network

Kooky.

Yes, I can believe that. Feeling of failure, I guess.

Geelong Gent

Yes, which is a failure in itself as failure is the not getting up and resolving issues - hard too resolve an issue/problem if one does not accept it in the first place.

Englishmum

Sorry - late to this thread but I understand that Dover Court school on Dover Road accepts pupils with mild autism/Asperger's Syndrome and has a British-based curriculum:

http://www.dovercourt.edu.sg/

There is a list here with many links regarding Special needs education in Singapore (scroll down the page to the "Special Needs Education" heading):


http://www.entersingapore.info/sginfo/education.php


Hope this helps.

Kooky.

Yep, you're right. With hindsight there's nothing in the info I sent GG that I can't post here, and there's a small chance it might help somebody else so here it is.

Special Needs Education in Singapore

I have spoken with a friend who used to assist a little boy with Autism in a mainstream school. [Oooh actually she's a member of BE!] She says that, if possible, put your child in mainstream education this way. You will have to fight to get him a place!

Dover Court has reputedly the best (only?) Special Needs Unit.

I have also searched the archives of ExpatSingapore.com and found recommendations for these schools as mainstream education for children with special needs:

Singapore American School (SAS)

Tanglin Trust School

Australian International School


Autism Support Groups:

shoulders-sg AT yahoogroups DOT COM
iaps_singapore AT hotmail DOT COM

There is a group that meets for coffee; they arrange it on www.expatsingapore.com under the heading "Special Needs Coffee".

Englishmum

TBH my son attended Tanglin Trust from Years 1 to 6 and they really don't offer much in the way of assistance for special needs; yes they do help with dyslexia by pulling kids out of the class for extra help, and one boy in my son's class was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome (but this was relieved by medication). The school does (or did when we were there) employ an educational psychologist and it might be worthwhile trying to have a word before considering applying for a place there (as application fees can be expensive).

However, I've seen on the Expatsingapore boards that it may be a little easier to get in at Tanglin as the recession develops; the school has always had long wait-lists but as expats are apparently leaving Singapore in higher numbers, it seems that more spaces are coming up (although some pupils may be pulled out of other international schools in Singapore and put in their parent's first preference schools (such as SAS, UWC and Tanglin) where they couldn't originally get into due to the large wait-list).

Geelong Gent

Think this might be the main problem - we currently are in a class of 14 with a teacher and teachers aide. Our speech pathologist works one week in class with the teacher and each alternate week with us (parents) in her office (ie 2 hours per week).