Donated $95 to Association for Persons with Special Needs
http://www.apsn.org.sg
Association for Persons with Special Needs
Developing individuals with special needs to their fullest potential so that they can lead dignified, fulfilling and independent lives as integral members of the society
Dedicated and specialized educational pathways for young children aged 7 years and above, all the way to adulthood
Every child can learn, achieve and contribute, given proper guidance and nurturing. As teachers, we take everything to heart and are ready to give. We ensure that every lesson is a gift to our students in equipping them with the skills they need for adulthood and employment eventually.
Mission
To equip persons with special needs, through best practices in education, training and support services, for open employment and life-long learning, in partnership with our stakeholders and the community.
Vision
To be a premier organization that develops individuals with special needs to their fullest potential so that they can lead dignified, fulfilling and independent lives as integral members of society.
Objectives
Services
Psychologists
Our Psychologists, through a range of techniques, put together a picture of our clients’ strengths and weaknesses, so as to identify the important factors affecting their learning and behavior. This is done through discussion with parents, teachers and the client themselves. Working closely with the teachers and/or parents/caregivers, they provide sound advice and training in the management of our clients’ learning, emotional and behavioral issues. Our psychologists also provide the necessary evaluation to determine current level of functioning and needs during the pre enrollment screening to ensure that the needs of the individuals are catered for in the learning environment in APSN.
Social Workers
Our Social Workers work towards a favorable environment at home, school and in the community, to enhance the child’s growth, development, emotional well-being and education. They provide counselling to clients and their families, casework (linking clients with relevant agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs), family life education and training.
Speech & Language Therapists
Our Speech & Language Therapists provide assessment and intervention to persons with various speech intelligibility and communication difficulties. At APSN, the Speech & Language Therapists plan and implement intervention strategies in collaboration with caregivers, and assess the feasibility of using alternative/augmentative forms of communication for the students/clients.
Occupational Therapists
Our Occupational Therapists help the clients to develop and maintain skills necessary for play, work, self and home care. At APSN, the Occupational Therapists provide individual & group programs, home management and training for the parents and caregivers. This guides our client’s development in the areas of writing skills, fine motor skills, coordination, organization and planning skills, cognitive perceptual skills, motor planning & social skills, pre-vocational and vocational skills.
Art Therapist
Our Art Therapist uses art work as a medium to facilitate the working through of thoughts and emotions of students/clients who otherwise may have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally. At APSN, the Art Therapist works with various needs of the students/clients in both individual and group sessions and provides consultation to the caregivers. The Art Therapist aims to effect positive changes and personal growth.
Job Placement Officers
APSN job placement service is available at Delta Senior School and Center for Adults. The job placement officers (JPO’S) source for suitable work placement opportunities for the students. Through the process, JPO’s will consistently engage with the students, monitor their performance and ensure fair and equitable treatment of students by employers. As the main liaison person between parents, students and employers, JPO’S constantly review and ensure that the needs of all 3 parties are taken into consideration. JPO’s also create job attachment opportunities for students at Tanglin School. Such attachments give our students the opportunities to acquire job skills in preparation for open employment.
Logo
The logo consists of four squares to represent blocks. Within each square or “building block” is an alphabet A, P, S and N, thus forming the abbreviation, APSN.
The logo is made up of “building blocks”, a metaphor to denote that the APSN’s role is to provide its “Special” constituents with the right “building blocks” to maximize their own potential and to lead full and independent lives.
“Building blocks” are also used as they are readily associated with learning and education. They also suggest group learning and play, important ingredients in the learning process.
Building blocks are known to be brightly coloured. The colours are chosen to express the confidence and optimism of the Association, the children/adults and their parents. The colours also reflect the artistic talents of the Association’s students as manifested in their colourful works of art and crafts.
History - We Were Children Once
The Seeds of Potential: 1970–1975
“Our children were too smart,” recalls Dr Dixie Tan, a former MP and the first president of what is now the APSN. The seeds of the APSN started in 1970 when a small group of parents realised that their children with IQs 50–70 needed a more challenging curriculum that was better suited to higher-functioning children with intellectual disabilities.
These children were under the care of the Singapore Association for Retarded Children (SARC). At the time, this organisation’s expertise and resources were more geared towards children with serious intellectual disabilities.
“Our kids are not so docile that they would stay home and watch TV. These kids of ours are in-between normal and lower IQ; they have enough brains to get into enormous amounts of mischief,” observes Dr Tan.
To address the situation, seven parents with higher-functioning children met to address the situation, forming the Educationally Subnormal Children Subcommittee, chaired by Mrs Aileen Tan. Three months later, 20 children were placed in two classes and began studying a curriculum that was as close to that of mainstream schools as possible.
As SARC psychologist Dr M.K. Wong continued to diagnose more and more children in the mildly intellectually disabled category, these children’s needs became even more urgent. By 1972, the number of pupils had doubled and the subcommittee was depending on the Church of St Peter to house them in its halls. What funds the subcommittee received came from fees paid by parents of the students. And while the need for teachers increased, lack of sufficient funds meant that the subcommittee could not always afford trained teachers.
“I can remember the chaos,” recalls Ms Salamah Salleh, a teacher who interviewed for the job in 1970 and has stayed with the APSN for 30 years. Intellectually disabled children had a low profile back then. “I was surprised to find that there were such students. They were very hyperactive. Some hid under the tables, others climbing up chairs. You find the teacher struggling with them. In one corner, a child would be struggling while the teacher is trying to attend to a second child as well as to teach the entire class.”
Becoming Independent: 1976–1980
By 1976, the subcommittee became an association in its own right, the Association for Educationally Subnormal Children (AESN). Dr Dixie Tan became the Association’s first president. This new arrangement allowed the school to raise its own funds and to cater to an ever-increasing number of students. By 1977, the AESN was operating schools at three locations: St Michael’s Church, Church of St Peter and Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, with a total of 90 students.
Becoming independent was a financial necessity.
“We were always desperate for funds, and when we grew too big, the SARC said ‘Why don’t you form your own group?’ We had to do this so that we could have our own funds. We couldn’t survive from just collecting fees from parents,” recalls Dr Tan. “A situation would arise where, because parents cannot pay, you reject the child. Moreover, with little money, you cannot improve your standards for teachers. But more importantly, the growth that was needed was in people’s hearts.”
To raise funds that following year, in 1977, the Association also organised its first flag day, which reaped nearly $11,000. In those days, this would have been enough to pay the salary of two teachers, untrained in special education, for a year.
History - Our Schools
For the Association’s committee members, principals and teachers, their belief in the pupils have driven their desire to educate and prepare the children for their future. And it is this determination that fuels the growth of the schools, such that the APSN has grown to include five schools: Chao Yang School, Jervois School, Katong School, Tanglin School and Delta Senior School.
In 2006, the APSN will have a larger and more accessible school when Chao Yang and Jervois Schools merge and move to Ang Mo Kio. 2005 also closed on a celebratory note when Katong School received news of a relocation to Tanah Merah.
Our Own Building at Last!
Getting its first school building in 1978 was cause for huge celebration and a landmark for the then AESN. Although the churches had generously allowed the AESN to use their premises, the Association was rapidly outgrowing these facilities.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) went a long way to help in this area. Although it could not provide direct funding to the AESN, it assisted by giving the Association disused schools.
The first disused school the AESN received was certainly a break with tradition for the MOE and all other special schools in Singapore. It was the first time the Land Office had allocated a building for a special school that was outside the MOE’s jurisdiction. Since it would not come under the Ministry’s direct funding and had to raise its own funds, the school was gazetted as a private school.
It was common practice before this for special schools to request land from government and then spend a few years raising funds to have the school built. But the AESN felt that if this were to happen, the children’s growth and learning would be greatly compromised. Several years would have passed before the new building would be ready, and that would have translated to years of lost education for the students. So the Association went to the MOE and instead requested for a disused school. The Ministry’s consent was a landmark in the history of special education.
A School of Our Own: Katong Special School
All the APSN schools began with one that holds fond memories for the Association’s founding members: Katong Special School at Arthur Road.
This first school was received in 1978. Previously called Tanjong Katong Malay School, this was a Malay (girls) primary school. The pre-war school was situated at Arthur Road in Tanjong Katong. It had a termite-ridden wooden building and a concrete block that was built after the war. There was much that required renovation, but it was still quicker and more cost-effective than building a new school.
In 1979, the school happily opened its doors to 110 pupils. And in 1980, the then Minister of State for Education, Mr Chai Chong Yi, officiated Katong Special School’s opening. Recalled Dr Francis C. Chen, organizing Chairman; “This was a historic occasion. This first school would be part of the APSN’s group of schools for many years to come.”
By the following year, some of the APSN’s charges, at age 16, were old enough to receive vocational training. To improve employability, the Association opened pre-employment vocational training classes.
The school at Arthur Road was to play a central part in many mildly intellectually disabled children’s lives for over a decade before it moved to larger premises at La Salle Street in December 1991.
After a decade, the wear and tear was beginning to show. “This school was built in the 1950s and the students needed a more conducive environment for learning,” explains Mr Lee Keng Min, principal of Katong School. Scarcity of space was also an issue since the school commenced programmes for senior school-age pupils in 2003. During President Nathan’s visit to the school in October 2005, the students displayed their wish lists for the president. Some of the pupils’ wishes include better learning facilities and to contribute to nation building.
Come 2007, Katong School will move into its newest, largest and most accessible home: the former Bedok View Primary School, on Upper Changi Road just across from the Tanah Merah MRT station.
Our Second School: Chao Yang Special School
The AESN was ready for its second school in the early 1980s. By 1980, Katong Special School had a long wait list for admissions. In 1982, a clan association, Teo Yeonh Huai Kuan came to the rescue by allowing the AESN use of its former clan school on Clemenceau Avenue. This new location in the city offered many learning opportunities. With shopping centres, wet markets, museums, banks, post offices and police posts all a stone’s throw away, it was a wonderful place for students to learn social and life skills.
In 1986, Chao Yang Special School moved to the former Anthony Road Girls’ School near Newton Circus. It opened its doors to students from Clementi Special School (opened in 1985) when both schools merged in 1986. The green field at the Anthony Road school gave students more room for outdoor games, and the additional classrooms provided for more lessons and vocational training. With its majestic tree-lined surroundings, Chao Yang School has been a quiet focal point in the Newton area for the past twenty years.
As of 2006, the school will reopen at the new, expanded premises in Ang Mo Kio, opposite the Yio Chu Kang MRT station. The new Chao Yang School will have more rooms dedicated to services such as occupational therapy and psychological services. Jervois School will also be merged with Chao Yang School. The new name of this combined school will be Chaoyang School.
A Brief Stay in the West: Clementi Special School
Clementi Special School, like the other schools, grew out of lengthy wait lists. In 1985, it opened its doors at Sunset Grove and provided academic learning as well as technical classes for students who found the academic curriculum too challenging. However, the lack of public transportation and the small enrolment made it unfeasible; it merged with Chao Yang Special School in 1986.
Our Third School: Jervois Special School
In 1990, Jervois Special School, located at 71 Jervois Road, opened its doors. Headed by Mr Yong Soo Cheng, it initially ran single-session classes for a mere 55 students. To relieve an ever-growing wait list, classes were held on the ground floor the moment the classrooms were ready, amidst the renovation of the other storeys. Ground-floor classrooms were even partitioned into two. “I had to share classrooms with a divider. It was a little strange at first because you could hear what was going on on the other side. But we worked with what we had,” remembers Mrs Anna Solomon, a teacher who gave up her previous job as a journalist with the Tamil Press to join Jervois Special School.
Mr Yong Soo Cheng, who recently left the APSN in 2005, strongly encouraged students to excel in their academic pursuits through literacy programmes such as BEST. “And they did,” Mrs Anna Solomon remarks.
But there was one thing the principal could not control — the weather. “It is so funny, the ground floor of the school would flood whenever there was heavy rain. And because the principal’s office was located on the ground floor, his files would get soaked and the classrooms too,” recalls Mrs Anna Solomon.
By 1991, with renovations completed, the school was fully operational with 170 students in morning and afternoon sessions. In 2002, the school moved to larger premises in Delta Avenue.
As of 2005, Jervois Special School had a capacity of 250, but an enrolment of only 194. It moved out at the end of the year to merge with Chao Yang Special School at its new premises in Ang Mo Kio. It opens its doors to the new school year there in 2006.
Our Fourth School: Delta Senior School
With the move of Katong Special School to La Salle Street in 1996, the Arthur Road premises was now available to serve the needs of older students. The Arthur Road Training Centre that was already housed on the premises was converted to a senior school, catering to 16 to 18 year-olds.
Before this, the Centre was funded by the Ministry of Community Development and geared more towards teaching vocational skills. In 1995, when Dr Francis Chen took over the presidency of the Association, he revamped the curriculum to include classroom-based academic subjects that were taught alongside vocational skills. A group of vocal parents had also been lobbying extensively for changes in the education of older pupils in the 16–18 age group, even making representations to the Minister of State for Education, Dr Aline Wong. They had the perception that if these pupils were funded directly under the MOE and its Special Education Unit, greater changes and improvements in teaching and resources for this group of pupils would occur.
With Dr Wong’s encouragement, Arthur Road Training Centre registered under the MOE, leading to the formation of Delta Senior School at 20 Delta Avenue in 1998.
Our Fifth School: Tanglin Special School
The APSN began the new millennium with the opening of its fifth school, Tanglin School, a secondary school. The APSN had decided to restructure three schools: Chao Yang, Katong and Jervois into primary schools. Tanglin would then serve the 13 to 15 year-old group of pupils that came from the three junior schools.
AESN to APSN: What’s in Our Name?
AESN became the Association for Persons with Special Needs in the year 2000. The old name, the Association for Educationally Subnormal Children, while clinically apt, held unpleasant connotations.
“For many years, there was a lone parent who would always attend annual general meetings and question the existing name of ‘subnormal’ children and would always request a name change. Finally he got what he wanted!” reminisces Dr Francis Chen.
In keeping with trends in the West, the term “special needs” became the more politically correct and acceptable replacement. And in 2004, the word “special” was dropped from the names of all APSN schools. “These kids don’t want to be different. Physically, between someone with mild intellectual disability and someone with no intellectual disability, it would be hard to tell the difference,” explains Dr Hoili Lim, an APSN psychologist. Students had often become discomfited by how they would be perceived coming from a “special school”. Dropping the word “special” was done to increase students’ esteem and to better support their integration into society.
History - Thirty Years On
Our Achievements So Far
In the last three decades, the impact of the APSN on its students and society has been noticeable. Through consistent efforts at public education, at both government and societal levels, the students’ education is now better funded by the government. Greater awareness of its work also means that mainstream schools now refer children to the APSN. Children who need a slower pace of learning, and would otherwise have been left behind in the mainstream education system, can now have their needs met.
Because of the Association’s advocacy, its students are also more active in the employment scene.
Cultivating Support and Acceptance
Changing public mindset takes years, and the APSN’s public education and advocacy work with the general public, the government and potential employers allow its pupils to find a place in society where there was none before.
“Years ago you would not see our special children in public. These days, I am very happy to see that the public is accepting our children. They seldom receive glares from the public. The parents too have helped by taking them out instead of hiding them at home,” says Mr M.K. Wong, psychologist and a founder of the APSN.
The Association also made a crucial point with the MOE and the general public in 1978, in the naming of its schools. It was given a name with which students could view themselves with greater pride, even when they had intellectual disabilities. At that time, all the special schools were called “so-and-so school for retarded children”, “school for the deaf”, “school for the blind”, etc. The Association instead suggested Katong Special School. It explained that because it wanted students to go out and work, the chances of employment would surely be lower if potential employers saw that the applicant came from a school for ‘retarded children’.
Official Recognition and Funding
The government has become much more supportive towards the APSN’s pupils, mainly due to the Association’s success in educating students and the committee members’ steadfast advocacy. Now more than ever, the APSN is seen as a credible organisation in the area of special needs education.
While the APSN schools are still considered private schools and not directly under the charge of the MOE, it is now perceived a necessary and important part of Singapore education.
“Because we have grown, the MOE, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and the National Council of Social Services (NCSS) have come to work more closely with us,” observes Mr Tan Ju Seng. “The MOE and its mainstream schools are the frontline and can refer special needs cases that otherwise would have gone without help.” Government agencies have helped to publicise the work of the APSN and raise its profile among schools and social agencies so that cases can be referred.
Funding from the NCSS since 1984 was also an important milestone, an official recognition of the APSN’s work. “Fundraising at one time was a major activity, taking away time and resources for what our real work was about — educating the students,” says Mr Tan.
Funding from NCSS freed the APSN to concentrate its energies on providing improved education to its students and paying teachers fairer salaries. It also meant that the APSN could offer a wider range of services to students, including occupational therapy, music therapy and job placement services.
This was a far cry from its early years in the 1970s, when funds came from fees paid by parents, projects of companies’ service clubs or fundraising dinners. Salaries for teachers were meagre then.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the general impression was that the Association’s work yields little returns. The funding received from the NCSS showed a more enlightened stance towards special needs children that the Association was advocating.
The Association was able to show that funding education in special schools is cost-effective. Even if the students not earn a lot of money, they are self-sufficient and do not drain the family’s income and the country’s welfare resources.
Another issue that the APSN addressed was that the MOE had no formula for calculating the costs of educating special needs children. The APSN had to provide a scheme that accurately reflected these costs. With this, the MOE could then allocate funds to the APSN through the NCSS. And by the 1980s, the MOE was also providing the Association with some trained teachers.
Today, 71.5% of the APSN’s schools recurrent expenses are generously provided by the MOE.
Teacher’s Training
Visit any APSN classroom today and you will find that chaos no longer reigns. The teachers are more confident and have better skills at their disposal to manage and teach special needs children.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Association and its benefactors did what they could to prepare teachers for the more demanding work in special education. A few teachers were sent to Australia or New Zealand on attachment to enhance their expertise. The APSN also took every opportunity to organise and engage in talks with visiting special educationists.
Mrs Liza Ow, a principal with Tanglin School remembers starting out as a teacher in 1990 by understudying more experienced teachers for the first 3 months before embarking on a part-time teachers’ training programme at NIE in special education. There was a great sense of camaraderie among staff: sharing teaching materials, teaching techniques and strategies with one another in a small multipurpose room, the only place for teachers to fellowship.
Through its direct efforts, the Association persuaded the National Institute of Education (NIE) to run a diploma programme for special education teachers, with its first class of teachers graduating from the three-year programme in 1987.
Dr Dixie Tan explained, “We were growing all the time, but we didn’t have enough trained teachers from the MOE; we were employing our own who had no training whatsoever. So we went and begged the Institute of Education at the time. The director Dr Sim kept saying he didn’t have extra resources to start a new course. We gave him no peace, asking to see him endlessly, and finally he was kind enough to mobilise his existing resources.” Dr Sim managed to start a course, the Diploma in Special Education, which is still being given out today.”
Today, trainee teachers spend half a day receiving training at NIE and the other half of the day gaining practical teaching experience at the school.
Curriculum
Children with learning difficulties follow similar developmental stages as ordinary children, albeit with some delays and lower levels of achievement. Teachers and psychologists often need to find learning situations and activities that both challenge and support the children emotionally and academically.
With improvements in teaching standards and a deeper understanding of what it means to provide functional education and life skills, the curriculum at the APSN has also made dramatic and beneficial shifts. As the children grew, the curriculum grew with them.
Since 1981, the school began to provide vocational training, where pupils are individually assessed and matched to jobs that are suited to their abilities. They are then trained for those specific skills, including social and behavioural skills needed for them to integrate into the workplace. More recently, pupils have been trained for jobs in hairdressing salons, food and beverage outlets, hotels, gardening, air- conditioning unit maintenance and professional cleaning.
And as of 1982, child-centred learning came into force at the AESN schools. This approach is particularly suited to special needs children, with their differing learning abilities. The curriculum would be developed based on the realistic needs of the child rather than trying to impose an existing curriculum on the child. In this approach, children could learn by discovery and bring his or her experiences into the learning.
Five years later, in 1987, learning by discovery would be reinforced through the introduction of thematic learning. This enabled teaching and learning to be more coherent, by connecting lessons much more closely with student’s life experiences. For instance, when students work on the theme of clothes, Mathematics and English lessons will be geared towards that topic. And this can also help open discussions with students, such as what it means to be modestly dressed, so that learning in all areas reinforce one another.
In recent years, staff from the different APSN schools has been actively involved in the process of setting clear strategic directions to better equip pour students to lead independent and meaningful lives.
Delta Senior School has been leading the way by taking the process of learning beyond the classroom. Rather than complain about space constraints within the school, classes were conducted outside. Students took their learning into the community or created simulated environments within the school, so that English, Mathematics and life skills are used in true-to-life situations. Senior students who have been trained in home care skills learn to engage with society at large through community service. They visit the homes of the elderly nearby to clean their flats and also to socialise with them.
Delta Senior School has also become more involved with employers, by making arrangements for would-be employers to host students on-site while they learn hairdressing or other skills. In other instances, students who learnt to service air-conditioning units put their skills to the test in the homes of the Association’s staff, at the same time to raise funds for charity.
Priorities too have changed about what is important for children to learn in terms of literacy. For example, learning the alphabet was once considered crucial. “But how is reading A to Z going to help a child at the MRT station?” reasons Mrs Ow. “If the child can read the letters but not the signs, that defeats the purpose of leading an independent life. So instead, they can learn the shape of the word. If they are going to Newton, at least they can recognise the shape of the word ‘Newton’”.
To practice the English and Mathematics learnt at school, students also visit the supermarket to buy ingredients that they have budgeted and calculated for and return to kitchens in the school to learn how to measure and weigh ingredients and prepare meals.
Higher-functioning students are encouraged to continue with national certification programmes such as BEST. Those that perform well academically have opportunities to take ‘N’ level examinations.
Greater Employment Opportunities
Improved funding and public perception has meant that students have found greater acceptance among employers. “We have created every opportunity to interact with employers,” declares Mr Tan Ju Seng. Currently, the APSN has employment officers to liaise between employers and students, so that employers’ expectations are met and students have a smoother transition between school and work life.
More than ten years ago, when the Association first started courting employers, teachers also acted as liaison between the companies and the students. However, as of 2004, Delta has two full-time employer liaison officers who fulfill that role.
“Employers thought that they were doing charity work when they employed our students. But they later realised that they were getting value for money. They were employing our students for what they could do rather than for what they were. This was a gradual process,” observes Mr Tan Ju Seng. “We pushed very hard for employers to give our students opportunities. That meant doing everything to court them. It meant trying to get them to see our programmes, showcasing our students and trying to overcome their mindsets about the abilities. We got placement officers to work hand in hand with employers. We invested time and resources to give employers confidence in our pupils,” he adds.
Sports-Abled!
One important area where special children have stretched themselves and enjoyed public support has been sports.
Sports is another area for the children to develop themselves, enhancing their motor and social skills and improving their health. It first began as a recreational and social event for the children.
The Special Olympics Singapore was also formed by the APSN and Movement for the Intellectually Disabled, who are the charter members. The year 1989 marked the first Singapore Special Olympics, with a torch run from Chao Yang Special School, through Scotts Road, Whitley Road, Bukit Timah that ended at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Funds to send participants to the world games once every four years are raised through flag days.
Membership with the Singapore Disability Sport Council also allows students to be talent spotted for other competitions, such as the Paralympics. APSN teachers are often involved with identifying students with sporting abilities that can be nurtured.
The APSN and its pupils have come a long way. They now enjoy more services, public acceptance, employer support and funding than ever before. Every hard-won victory is precious because of the impact on the Association’s students on society. This is the foundation of our dreams for our children’s futures.
Schools
Chaoyang School: For students between 7 - 12 years old
Katong School: For students between 7- 16 years old
Tanglin School: For students between 13 - 16 years old
Delta Senior School: For students between 16 - 21 years old
Centre For Adults: For individuals 16 years old and above
APSN Headquarters
Address:
900 New Upper Changi Road
Singapore 467354
Tel: 6479 6252
Fax: 6479 6272
Working Hours
Monday – Thursday: 8.00am – 5:30pm
Friday: 8.00am – 5.00pm
http://www.apsn.org.sg
Association for Persons with Special Needs
Developing individuals with special needs to their fullest potential so that they can lead dignified, fulfilling and independent lives as integral members of the society
Dedicated and specialized educational pathways for young children aged 7 years and above, all the way to adulthood
Every child can learn, achieve and contribute, given proper guidance and nurturing. As teachers, we take everything to heart and are ready to give. We ensure that every lesson is a gift to our students in equipping them with the skills they need for adulthood and employment eventually.
Mission
To equip persons with special needs, through best practices in education, training and support services, for open employment and life-long learning, in partnership with our stakeholders and the community.
Vision
To be a premier organization that develops individuals with special needs to their fullest potential so that they can lead dignified, fulfilling and independent lives as integral members of society.
Objectives
- To cater for the needs of the mild intellectual disability
- To initiate, promote and stimulate research into their problems and conditions
- To stimulate and develop public awareness of the needs of these people
- To assist parents on problems relating to their education and development
- To encourage parents of such people to form groups and associations for mutual assistance and co-operation
- To raise funds, to purchase and own properties and to sell or alter or convert such properties for the purpose aforesaid
Services
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Speech & Language Therapists
- Occupational Therapists
- Art Therapist
- Job Placement Officers
Psychologists
Our Psychologists, through a range of techniques, put together a picture of our clients’ strengths and weaknesses, so as to identify the important factors affecting their learning and behavior. This is done through discussion with parents, teachers and the client themselves. Working closely with the teachers and/or parents/caregivers, they provide sound advice and training in the management of our clients’ learning, emotional and behavioral issues. Our psychologists also provide the necessary evaluation to determine current level of functioning and needs during the pre enrollment screening to ensure that the needs of the individuals are catered for in the learning environment in APSN.
Social Workers
Our Social Workers work towards a favorable environment at home, school and in the community, to enhance the child’s growth, development, emotional well-being and education. They provide counselling to clients and their families, casework (linking clients with relevant agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs), family life education and training.
Speech & Language Therapists
Our Speech & Language Therapists provide assessment and intervention to persons with various speech intelligibility and communication difficulties. At APSN, the Speech & Language Therapists plan and implement intervention strategies in collaboration with caregivers, and assess the feasibility of using alternative/augmentative forms of communication for the students/clients.
Occupational Therapists
Our Occupational Therapists help the clients to develop and maintain skills necessary for play, work, self and home care. At APSN, the Occupational Therapists provide individual & group programs, home management and training for the parents and caregivers. This guides our client’s development in the areas of writing skills, fine motor skills, coordination, organization and planning skills, cognitive perceptual skills, motor planning & social skills, pre-vocational and vocational skills.
Art Therapist
Our Art Therapist uses art work as a medium to facilitate the working through of thoughts and emotions of students/clients who otherwise may have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally. At APSN, the Art Therapist works with various needs of the students/clients in both individual and group sessions and provides consultation to the caregivers. The Art Therapist aims to effect positive changes and personal growth.
Job Placement Officers
APSN job placement service is available at Delta Senior School and Center for Adults. The job placement officers (JPO’S) source for suitable work placement opportunities for the students. Through the process, JPO’s will consistently engage with the students, monitor their performance and ensure fair and equitable treatment of students by employers. As the main liaison person between parents, students and employers, JPO’S constantly review and ensure that the needs of all 3 parties are taken into consideration. JPO’s also create job attachment opportunities for students at Tanglin School. Such attachments give our students the opportunities to acquire job skills in preparation for open employment.
Logo
The logo consists of four squares to represent blocks. Within each square or “building block” is an alphabet A, P, S and N, thus forming the abbreviation, APSN.
The logo is made up of “building blocks”, a metaphor to denote that the APSN’s role is to provide its “Special” constituents with the right “building blocks” to maximize their own potential and to lead full and independent lives.
“Building blocks” are also used as they are readily associated with learning and education. They also suggest group learning and play, important ingredients in the learning process.
Building blocks are known to be brightly coloured. The colours are chosen to express the confidence and optimism of the Association, the children/adults and their parents. The colours also reflect the artistic talents of the Association’s students as manifested in their colourful works of art and crafts.
History - We Were Children Once
The Seeds of Potential: 1970–1975
“Our children were too smart,” recalls Dr Dixie Tan, a former MP and the first president of what is now the APSN. The seeds of the APSN started in 1970 when a small group of parents realised that their children with IQs 50–70 needed a more challenging curriculum that was better suited to higher-functioning children with intellectual disabilities.
These children were under the care of the Singapore Association for Retarded Children (SARC). At the time, this organisation’s expertise and resources were more geared towards children with serious intellectual disabilities.
“Our kids are not so docile that they would stay home and watch TV. These kids of ours are in-between normal and lower IQ; they have enough brains to get into enormous amounts of mischief,” observes Dr Tan.
To address the situation, seven parents with higher-functioning children met to address the situation, forming the Educationally Subnormal Children Subcommittee, chaired by Mrs Aileen Tan. Three months later, 20 children were placed in two classes and began studying a curriculum that was as close to that of mainstream schools as possible.
As SARC psychologist Dr M.K. Wong continued to diagnose more and more children in the mildly intellectually disabled category, these children’s needs became even more urgent. By 1972, the number of pupils had doubled and the subcommittee was depending on the Church of St Peter to house them in its halls. What funds the subcommittee received came from fees paid by parents of the students. And while the need for teachers increased, lack of sufficient funds meant that the subcommittee could not always afford trained teachers.
“I can remember the chaos,” recalls Ms Salamah Salleh, a teacher who interviewed for the job in 1970 and has stayed with the APSN for 30 years. Intellectually disabled children had a low profile back then. “I was surprised to find that there were such students. They were very hyperactive. Some hid under the tables, others climbing up chairs. You find the teacher struggling with them. In one corner, a child would be struggling while the teacher is trying to attend to a second child as well as to teach the entire class.”
Becoming Independent: 1976–1980
By 1976, the subcommittee became an association in its own right, the Association for Educationally Subnormal Children (AESN). Dr Dixie Tan became the Association’s first president. This new arrangement allowed the school to raise its own funds and to cater to an ever-increasing number of students. By 1977, the AESN was operating schools at three locations: St Michael’s Church, Church of St Peter and Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace, with a total of 90 students.
Becoming independent was a financial necessity.
“We were always desperate for funds, and when we grew too big, the SARC said ‘Why don’t you form your own group?’ We had to do this so that we could have our own funds. We couldn’t survive from just collecting fees from parents,” recalls Dr Tan. “A situation would arise where, because parents cannot pay, you reject the child. Moreover, with little money, you cannot improve your standards for teachers. But more importantly, the growth that was needed was in people’s hearts.”
To raise funds that following year, in 1977, the Association also organised its first flag day, which reaped nearly $11,000. In those days, this would have been enough to pay the salary of two teachers, untrained in special education, for a year.
History - Our Schools
For the Association’s committee members, principals and teachers, their belief in the pupils have driven their desire to educate and prepare the children for their future. And it is this determination that fuels the growth of the schools, such that the APSN has grown to include five schools: Chao Yang School, Jervois School, Katong School, Tanglin School and Delta Senior School.
In 2006, the APSN will have a larger and more accessible school when Chao Yang and Jervois Schools merge and move to Ang Mo Kio. 2005 also closed on a celebratory note when Katong School received news of a relocation to Tanah Merah.
Our Own Building at Last!
Getting its first school building in 1978 was cause for huge celebration and a landmark for the then AESN. Although the churches had generously allowed the AESN to use their premises, the Association was rapidly outgrowing these facilities.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) went a long way to help in this area. Although it could not provide direct funding to the AESN, it assisted by giving the Association disused schools.
The first disused school the AESN received was certainly a break with tradition for the MOE and all other special schools in Singapore. It was the first time the Land Office had allocated a building for a special school that was outside the MOE’s jurisdiction. Since it would not come under the Ministry’s direct funding and had to raise its own funds, the school was gazetted as a private school.
It was common practice before this for special schools to request land from government and then spend a few years raising funds to have the school built. But the AESN felt that if this were to happen, the children’s growth and learning would be greatly compromised. Several years would have passed before the new building would be ready, and that would have translated to years of lost education for the students. So the Association went to the MOE and instead requested for a disused school. The Ministry’s consent was a landmark in the history of special education.
A School of Our Own: Katong Special School
All the APSN schools began with one that holds fond memories for the Association’s founding members: Katong Special School at Arthur Road.
This first school was received in 1978. Previously called Tanjong Katong Malay School, this was a Malay (girls) primary school. The pre-war school was situated at Arthur Road in Tanjong Katong. It had a termite-ridden wooden building and a concrete block that was built after the war. There was much that required renovation, but it was still quicker and more cost-effective than building a new school.
In 1979, the school happily opened its doors to 110 pupils. And in 1980, the then Minister of State for Education, Mr Chai Chong Yi, officiated Katong Special School’s opening. Recalled Dr Francis C. Chen, organizing Chairman; “This was a historic occasion. This first school would be part of the APSN’s group of schools for many years to come.”
By the following year, some of the APSN’s charges, at age 16, were old enough to receive vocational training. To improve employability, the Association opened pre-employment vocational training classes.
The school at Arthur Road was to play a central part in many mildly intellectually disabled children’s lives for over a decade before it moved to larger premises at La Salle Street in December 1991.
After a decade, the wear and tear was beginning to show. “This school was built in the 1950s and the students needed a more conducive environment for learning,” explains Mr Lee Keng Min, principal of Katong School. Scarcity of space was also an issue since the school commenced programmes for senior school-age pupils in 2003. During President Nathan’s visit to the school in October 2005, the students displayed their wish lists for the president. Some of the pupils’ wishes include better learning facilities and to contribute to nation building.
Come 2007, Katong School will move into its newest, largest and most accessible home: the former Bedok View Primary School, on Upper Changi Road just across from the Tanah Merah MRT station.
Our Second School: Chao Yang Special School
The AESN was ready for its second school in the early 1980s. By 1980, Katong Special School had a long wait list for admissions. In 1982, a clan association, Teo Yeonh Huai Kuan came to the rescue by allowing the AESN use of its former clan school on Clemenceau Avenue. This new location in the city offered many learning opportunities. With shopping centres, wet markets, museums, banks, post offices and police posts all a stone’s throw away, it was a wonderful place for students to learn social and life skills.
In 1986, Chao Yang Special School moved to the former Anthony Road Girls’ School near Newton Circus. It opened its doors to students from Clementi Special School (opened in 1985) when both schools merged in 1986. The green field at the Anthony Road school gave students more room for outdoor games, and the additional classrooms provided for more lessons and vocational training. With its majestic tree-lined surroundings, Chao Yang School has been a quiet focal point in the Newton area for the past twenty years.
As of 2006, the school will reopen at the new, expanded premises in Ang Mo Kio, opposite the Yio Chu Kang MRT station. The new Chao Yang School will have more rooms dedicated to services such as occupational therapy and psychological services. Jervois School will also be merged with Chao Yang School. The new name of this combined school will be Chaoyang School.
A Brief Stay in the West: Clementi Special School
Clementi Special School, like the other schools, grew out of lengthy wait lists. In 1985, it opened its doors at Sunset Grove and provided academic learning as well as technical classes for students who found the academic curriculum too challenging. However, the lack of public transportation and the small enrolment made it unfeasible; it merged with Chao Yang Special School in 1986.
Our Third School: Jervois Special School
In 1990, Jervois Special School, located at 71 Jervois Road, opened its doors. Headed by Mr Yong Soo Cheng, it initially ran single-session classes for a mere 55 students. To relieve an ever-growing wait list, classes were held on the ground floor the moment the classrooms were ready, amidst the renovation of the other storeys. Ground-floor classrooms were even partitioned into two. “I had to share classrooms with a divider. It was a little strange at first because you could hear what was going on on the other side. But we worked with what we had,” remembers Mrs Anna Solomon, a teacher who gave up her previous job as a journalist with the Tamil Press to join Jervois Special School.
Mr Yong Soo Cheng, who recently left the APSN in 2005, strongly encouraged students to excel in their academic pursuits through literacy programmes such as BEST. “And they did,” Mrs Anna Solomon remarks.
But there was one thing the principal could not control — the weather. “It is so funny, the ground floor of the school would flood whenever there was heavy rain. And because the principal’s office was located on the ground floor, his files would get soaked and the classrooms too,” recalls Mrs Anna Solomon.
By 1991, with renovations completed, the school was fully operational with 170 students in morning and afternoon sessions. In 2002, the school moved to larger premises in Delta Avenue.
As of 2005, Jervois Special School had a capacity of 250, but an enrolment of only 194. It moved out at the end of the year to merge with Chao Yang Special School at its new premises in Ang Mo Kio. It opens its doors to the new school year there in 2006.
Our Fourth School: Delta Senior School
With the move of Katong Special School to La Salle Street in 1996, the Arthur Road premises was now available to serve the needs of older students. The Arthur Road Training Centre that was already housed on the premises was converted to a senior school, catering to 16 to 18 year-olds.
Before this, the Centre was funded by the Ministry of Community Development and geared more towards teaching vocational skills. In 1995, when Dr Francis Chen took over the presidency of the Association, he revamped the curriculum to include classroom-based academic subjects that were taught alongside vocational skills. A group of vocal parents had also been lobbying extensively for changes in the education of older pupils in the 16–18 age group, even making representations to the Minister of State for Education, Dr Aline Wong. They had the perception that if these pupils were funded directly under the MOE and its Special Education Unit, greater changes and improvements in teaching and resources for this group of pupils would occur.
With Dr Wong’s encouragement, Arthur Road Training Centre registered under the MOE, leading to the formation of Delta Senior School at 20 Delta Avenue in 1998.
Our Fifth School: Tanglin Special School
The APSN began the new millennium with the opening of its fifth school, Tanglin School, a secondary school. The APSN had decided to restructure three schools: Chao Yang, Katong and Jervois into primary schools. Tanglin would then serve the 13 to 15 year-old group of pupils that came from the three junior schools.
AESN to APSN: What’s in Our Name?
AESN became the Association for Persons with Special Needs in the year 2000. The old name, the Association for Educationally Subnormal Children, while clinically apt, held unpleasant connotations.
“For many years, there was a lone parent who would always attend annual general meetings and question the existing name of ‘subnormal’ children and would always request a name change. Finally he got what he wanted!” reminisces Dr Francis Chen.
In keeping with trends in the West, the term “special needs” became the more politically correct and acceptable replacement. And in 2004, the word “special” was dropped from the names of all APSN schools. “These kids don’t want to be different. Physically, between someone with mild intellectual disability and someone with no intellectual disability, it would be hard to tell the difference,” explains Dr Hoili Lim, an APSN psychologist. Students had often become discomfited by how they would be perceived coming from a “special school”. Dropping the word “special” was done to increase students’ esteem and to better support their integration into society.
History - Thirty Years On
Our Achievements So Far
In the last three decades, the impact of the APSN on its students and society has been noticeable. Through consistent efforts at public education, at both government and societal levels, the students’ education is now better funded by the government. Greater awareness of its work also means that mainstream schools now refer children to the APSN. Children who need a slower pace of learning, and would otherwise have been left behind in the mainstream education system, can now have their needs met.
Because of the Association’s advocacy, its students are also more active in the employment scene.
Cultivating Support and Acceptance
Changing public mindset takes years, and the APSN’s public education and advocacy work with the general public, the government and potential employers allow its pupils to find a place in society where there was none before.
“Years ago you would not see our special children in public. These days, I am very happy to see that the public is accepting our children. They seldom receive glares from the public. The parents too have helped by taking them out instead of hiding them at home,” says Mr M.K. Wong, psychologist and a founder of the APSN.
The Association also made a crucial point with the MOE and the general public in 1978, in the naming of its schools. It was given a name with which students could view themselves with greater pride, even when they had intellectual disabilities. At that time, all the special schools were called “so-and-so school for retarded children”, “school for the deaf”, “school for the blind”, etc. The Association instead suggested Katong Special School. It explained that because it wanted students to go out and work, the chances of employment would surely be lower if potential employers saw that the applicant came from a school for ‘retarded children’.
Official Recognition and Funding
The government has become much more supportive towards the APSN’s pupils, mainly due to the Association’s success in educating students and the committee members’ steadfast advocacy. Now more than ever, the APSN is seen as a credible organisation in the area of special needs education.
While the APSN schools are still considered private schools and not directly under the charge of the MOE, it is now perceived a necessary and important part of Singapore education.
“Because we have grown, the MOE, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and the National Council of Social Services (NCSS) have come to work more closely with us,” observes Mr Tan Ju Seng. “The MOE and its mainstream schools are the frontline and can refer special needs cases that otherwise would have gone without help.” Government agencies have helped to publicise the work of the APSN and raise its profile among schools and social agencies so that cases can be referred.
Funding from the NCSS since 1984 was also an important milestone, an official recognition of the APSN’s work. “Fundraising at one time was a major activity, taking away time and resources for what our real work was about — educating the students,” says Mr Tan.
Funding from NCSS freed the APSN to concentrate its energies on providing improved education to its students and paying teachers fairer salaries. It also meant that the APSN could offer a wider range of services to students, including occupational therapy, music therapy and job placement services.
This was a far cry from its early years in the 1970s, when funds came from fees paid by parents, projects of companies’ service clubs or fundraising dinners. Salaries for teachers were meagre then.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the general impression was that the Association’s work yields little returns. The funding received from the NCSS showed a more enlightened stance towards special needs children that the Association was advocating.
The Association was able to show that funding education in special schools is cost-effective. Even if the students not earn a lot of money, they are self-sufficient and do not drain the family’s income and the country’s welfare resources.
Another issue that the APSN addressed was that the MOE had no formula for calculating the costs of educating special needs children. The APSN had to provide a scheme that accurately reflected these costs. With this, the MOE could then allocate funds to the APSN through the NCSS. And by the 1980s, the MOE was also providing the Association with some trained teachers.
Today, 71.5% of the APSN’s schools recurrent expenses are generously provided by the MOE.
Teacher’s Training
Visit any APSN classroom today and you will find that chaos no longer reigns. The teachers are more confident and have better skills at their disposal to manage and teach special needs children.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Association and its benefactors did what they could to prepare teachers for the more demanding work in special education. A few teachers were sent to Australia or New Zealand on attachment to enhance their expertise. The APSN also took every opportunity to organise and engage in talks with visiting special educationists.
Mrs Liza Ow, a principal with Tanglin School remembers starting out as a teacher in 1990 by understudying more experienced teachers for the first 3 months before embarking on a part-time teachers’ training programme at NIE in special education. There was a great sense of camaraderie among staff: sharing teaching materials, teaching techniques and strategies with one another in a small multipurpose room, the only place for teachers to fellowship.
Through its direct efforts, the Association persuaded the National Institute of Education (NIE) to run a diploma programme for special education teachers, with its first class of teachers graduating from the three-year programme in 1987.
Dr Dixie Tan explained, “We were growing all the time, but we didn’t have enough trained teachers from the MOE; we were employing our own who had no training whatsoever. So we went and begged the Institute of Education at the time. The director Dr Sim kept saying he didn’t have extra resources to start a new course. We gave him no peace, asking to see him endlessly, and finally he was kind enough to mobilise his existing resources.” Dr Sim managed to start a course, the Diploma in Special Education, which is still being given out today.”
Today, trainee teachers spend half a day receiving training at NIE and the other half of the day gaining practical teaching experience at the school.
Curriculum
Children with learning difficulties follow similar developmental stages as ordinary children, albeit with some delays and lower levels of achievement. Teachers and psychologists often need to find learning situations and activities that both challenge and support the children emotionally and academically.
With improvements in teaching standards and a deeper understanding of what it means to provide functional education and life skills, the curriculum at the APSN has also made dramatic and beneficial shifts. As the children grew, the curriculum grew with them.
Since 1981, the school began to provide vocational training, where pupils are individually assessed and matched to jobs that are suited to their abilities. They are then trained for those specific skills, including social and behavioural skills needed for them to integrate into the workplace. More recently, pupils have been trained for jobs in hairdressing salons, food and beverage outlets, hotels, gardening, air- conditioning unit maintenance and professional cleaning.
And as of 1982, child-centred learning came into force at the AESN schools. This approach is particularly suited to special needs children, with their differing learning abilities. The curriculum would be developed based on the realistic needs of the child rather than trying to impose an existing curriculum on the child. In this approach, children could learn by discovery and bring his or her experiences into the learning.
Five years later, in 1987, learning by discovery would be reinforced through the introduction of thematic learning. This enabled teaching and learning to be more coherent, by connecting lessons much more closely with student’s life experiences. For instance, when students work on the theme of clothes, Mathematics and English lessons will be geared towards that topic. And this can also help open discussions with students, such as what it means to be modestly dressed, so that learning in all areas reinforce one another.
In recent years, staff from the different APSN schools has been actively involved in the process of setting clear strategic directions to better equip pour students to lead independent and meaningful lives.
Delta Senior School has been leading the way by taking the process of learning beyond the classroom. Rather than complain about space constraints within the school, classes were conducted outside. Students took their learning into the community or created simulated environments within the school, so that English, Mathematics and life skills are used in true-to-life situations. Senior students who have been trained in home care skills learn to engage with society at large through community service. They visit the homes of the elderly nearby to clean their flats and also to socialise with them.
Delta Senior School has also become more involved with employers, by making arrangements for would-be employers to host students on-site while they learn hairdressing or other skills. In other instances, students who learnt to service air-conditioning units put their skills to the test in the homes of the Association’s staff, at the same time to raise funds for charity.
Priorities too have changed about what is important for children to learn in terms of literacy. For example, learning the alphabet was once considered crucial. “But how is reading A to Z going to help a child at the MRT station?” reasons Mrs Ow. “If the child can read the letters but not the signs, that defeats the purpose of leading an independent life. So instead, they can learn the shape of the word. If they are going to Newton, at least they can recognise the shape of the word ‘Newton’”.
To practice the English and Mathematics learnt at school, students also visit the supermarket to buy ingredients that they have budgeted and calculated for and return to kitchens in the school to learn how to measure and weigh ingredients and prepare meals.
Higher-functioning students are encouraged to continue with national certification programmes such as BEST. Those that perform well academically have opportunities to take ‘N’ level examinations.
Greater Employment Opportunities
Improved funding and public perception has meant that students have found greater acceptance among employers. “We have created every opportunity to interact with employers,” declares Mr Tan Ju Seng. Currently, the APSN has employment officers to liaise between employers and students, so that employers’ expectations are met and students have a smoother transition between school and work life.
More than ten years ago, when the Association first started courting employers, teachers also acted as liaison between the companies and the students. However, as of 2004, Delta has two full-time employer liaison officers who fulfill that role.
“Employers thought that they were doing charity work when they employed our students. But they later realised that they were getting value for money. They were employing our students for what they could do rather than for what they were. This was a gradual process,” observes Mr Tan Ju Seng. “We pushed very hard for employers to give our students opportunities. That meant doing everything to court them. It meant trying to get them to see our programmes, showcasing our students and trying to overcome their mindsets about the abilities. We got placement officers to work hand in hand with employers. We invested time and resources to give employers confidence in our pupils,” he adds.
Sports-Abled!
One important area where special children have stretched themselves and enjoyed public support has been sports.
Sports is another area for the children to develop themselves, enhancing their motor and social skills and improving their health. It first began as a recreational and social event for the children.
The Special Olympics Singapore was also formed by the APSN and Movement for the Intellectually Disabled, who are the charter members. The year 1989 marked the first Singapore Special Olympics, with a torch run from Chao Yang Special School, through Scotts Road, Whitley Road, Bukit Timah that ended at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Funds to send participants to the world games once every four years are raised through flag days.
Membership with the Singapore Disability Sport Council also allows students to be talent spotted for other competitions, such as the Paralympics. APSN teachers are often involved with identifying students with sporting abilities that can be nurtured.
The APSN and its pupils have come a long way. They now enjoy more services, public acceptance, employer support and funding than ever before. Every hard-won victory is precious because of the impact on the Association’s students on society. This is the foundation of our dreams for our children’s futures.
Schools
Chaoyang School: For students between 7 - 12 years old
Katong School: For students between 7- 16 years old
Tanglin School: For students between 13 - 16 years old
Delta Senior School: For students between 16 - 21 years old
Centre For Adults: For individuals 16 years old and above
APSN Headquarters
Address:
900 New Upper Changi Road
Singapore 467354
Tel: 6479 6252
Fax: 6479 6272
Working Hours
Monday – Thursday: 8.00am – 5:30pm
Friday: 8.00am – 5.00pm
No comments:
Post a Comment