Professional Support
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To cater for the unique needs of students in language development, learning abilities and behavioural characteristics, extra special counselling and support services are provided.
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To provide students with different types of counselling services and to design appropriate learning objectives according to the students' abilities and needs. As such, they will be able to acquire suitable communication strategies and to improve their learning effectiveness, as well as their social or self-care skills.
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To provide training to facilitate students in adapting the learning styles and keeping-up with the learning pace in the classrooms, to help them meet their daily needs, and to develop their learning potentials to their fullest.
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To identify students’ strengths and to provide appropriate counselling and training services to assist them in integrating into mainstream schools to receive education in the future.
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To strengthen home-school cooperation by gaining mutual consensus and trust, as well as adopting consistent training and rewarding methods.
Resource Teaching Team
Introduction
The school's Resource Teaching Team (RT Team) provides trainings for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the school. RT teachers provide students with personalised training programmes based on their learning abilities and needs so as to strengthen their adaption skills for routine training, daily life situations, communication skills and social skills. The RT Team also designs curriculum and diversified activities to cater for the abilities and needs of students with ASD.
Objectives
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To design a structured learning environment (with reference to the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-handicapped Children, TEACCH) for ASD students according to their behaviours and characteristics in order to reduce undesirable behaviours.
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To teach ASD students communication skills that suit their individual characteristics so that they can express themselves and communicate with others.
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To help students develop and master appropriate social skills so that they can integrate into the society.
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To train students to have a good working attitude and habit in order to prepare them for their future.
Training & Support
Individual training sessions are arranged for ASD students with characteristics of hyperactivity or emotional and behavioural challenges. Through intensive individual training sessions, we hope to enhance students’ learning motivation and cultivate good learning habits so that they can adapt to their school life and the learning environment easily.
Students are arranged to work in pairs and trained by an RT teacher. TEACCH mode is adopted in the training sessions. While one student is engaged in his/her individual training task, the other student will be assigned a learning activity to practise his/her independent work skills. The purpose is to cultivate the habit of independent learning and work. Teachers also set the learning goals according to the students' abilities and needs, which include communication skills, social skills, perceptu
In order to enable students to better integrate into classroom learning, students are arranged into small groups according to their cognitive abilities and learning needs. These groups include TOM (Theory of Mind) learning groups, music groups, lunch groups, etc. Each group consists of three to six students, led by one to two teachers. Through different learning activities, students can learn social skills, work skills and different art skills through games and activities.
RT teachers engage in collaborative teaching with subject teachers in the classroom to help the students adapt to classroom learning. It is hoped that students are encouraged to integrate into classroom activities and to study with the whole class, while RT teachers can provide guidance or make adjustments to learning activities on spot.
It is mainly designed for high-ability students. Students are gradually fading out from individual or group training sessions in order to have more opportunities to learn with their peers at this stage. At the same time, their RT teachers will keep close contact with their class teachers in order to pay close attention to the students' learning progress and arrange follow-up counselling sessions or trainings, such as training for discussion skills, presentation skills, vocational skills, etc. If
Speech Therapy Team
Objectives
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To enhance students’ verbal expressions and comprehension skill, and to improve their articulations.
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To improve students’ social skills and communication skills in daily life.
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To design and prepare suitable communication tools for non-verbal students.
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To strengthen students’ oral motor coordination.
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To help teachers and parents understand the students’ verbal abilities and learning progress, and provide suggestions on how to collaborate with the Speech Therapy (ST) team so that students can have more opportunities for verbal ability trainings.
Services
At the beginning of each academic year, the speech therapists conduct assessments and observations for the students to understand their verbal and communication abilities. They also collect information about the students’ background and needs from their parents, class teachers and social workers in order to set the individualised speech training goals and treatment plans.
Training & Support
Students will receive one-on-one speech therapy training weekly or bi-weekly. The speech therapists will report the session contents and the students’ performances through the “Speech Therapy Homework Booklet”. Parents are also encouraged to conduct home training activities for their children at home by following the suggestions given in the booklet.
Students will receive speech therapy training in groups of two to four students, weekly or bi-weekly. Parents are also encouraged to conduct home training activities for their children at home by following the suggestions given in the “Speech Therapy Homework Booklet”.
Speech therapists will cooperate with Chinese teachers in lesson planning and co-teach with them in speaking and communication lessons. They will design suitable contexts which include elements of communication skills training according to the curriculum and the unit topics, and co-teach with Chinese teachers to help students acquire the communication skills involved in these contexts.
We encourage parents to pay attention to their children’s communication performance in daily lives, and exchange ideas and discuss with our speech therapists. We encourage parents to refer to the “Speech Therapy Homework Booklet” and the suggestions from the speech therapists, and conduct home training activities for their children at home. We encourage parents to actively participate in lesson observations of the speech therapy sessions and other related activities, such as parent workshops.
Occupational Therapy Team
Objectives
The aims for occupational therapy (OT) are to enhance students’ development in learning, social interaction, activities of daily living (ADL), etc., through different kinds of activities, and to help them integrate the skills into their daily lives. Occupational therapists provide services to students of different ages by means of various types of activities. Individual or group trainings are provided to help students minimise or overcome obstacles in their daily lives, such as ADL, learning and leisure activities. It is hoped that students can be empowered with maximum independence in their daily lives.
Developmental Disorders
Such as Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), Down's syndrome, developmental delay, dyslexia, etc.
Behavioral Challenges
Such as Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD), conduct disorder, etc
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Emotional Problems
Such as phobias, for example, fear for specific sounds(phonophobia), e.g. drills.
Training & Support
Social Worker Team
Objectives
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To promote the development of students’ potentials so as to achieve their goals of self-care, self-reliance, happy learning and integration into the society according to the school’s education and developmental directions.
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To help students handle and deal with their personal problems, such as behavioural problems, emotional problems, interpersonal issues and difficulties in adapting to the society.
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To organise different types of activities for parents so as to help them build up necessary skills for parenting, and to promote mutual support among parents to relieve their pressure.
Services and Support
The social workers provide individual counselling on students’ social, psychological, behavioral and learning problems, helping them to tackle their difficulties. Through case conferences, treatments or training programmes are discussed to help the involving students to learn and grow healthily and happily.
Student Groups: Group interventions are delivered to students with developmental needs or challenges. Students have the opportunity to interact, share and experience with their peers in the group, which allows them to understand more about themselves, so that they can develop positive attitudes and values.
The social workers actively engage in various school functions in order to build the rapport with students and work more closely with other professional teams for the betterment of student service.
The social workers provide individual counselling on students’ social, psychological, behavioral and learning problems, helping them to tackle their difficulties. Through case conferences, treatments or training programmes are discussed to help the involving students to learn and grow healthily and happily.
Educational Psychologist Service
Introduction
Our educational psychologist (EP) works st school once a week. She conducts assessments and provides referrals for the students in need. Our EP also provides individual or group counselling for students with emotional or behavioral issues, and assists the teachers and parents in handling students’ behavioral problems by offering professional opinions and discussing with the teachers about the curriculum design and pedagogy.
Services and Support
A. Direct Services
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The EP provides psychological and learning assessments for students so that teachers, parents and respective professionals can have a thorough understanding of the students’ intellectual development as well psychological and learning needs.
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After assessments, the EP offers suggestions on the appropriate arrangements for students, such as offering individual or group counselling and advising on career pathways upon their graduation, etc.
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The EP counsels students with emotional and behavioral problems, and designs suitable improvement plans for them.
B. Consultation and Support
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The EP provides consultation services to teachers, parents and respective professionals in case conferences to help them deal with students’ serious behavioural and emotional problems. The EP also gives suggestions to teachers in teaching, such as classroom management strategies, creative teaching, strategies on motivating students’ learning, etc., so that students can receive the most appropriate assistance in class.
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The EP provides counselling services to parents on behaviour management and promoting parent-child relationship, etc. The EP also organises workshops or seminars according to the needs of parents.
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The EP assists in the professional development of our staff members through organising activities, including team-building, training on counselling skills and stress management techniques.
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The EP gives suggestions on the school-based curriculum, such as pedagogy for autistic students, curriculum integration, syllabus of life skills subjects and sex education, etc.
Nursing Team
Introduction
School nurses offer medical care and first aid services to students. They also distribute medication, take care of students in need, coordinate student health programmes, prevent and control infectious diseases on campus, and advocate health education in school.
Objectives
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To keep students physically and mentally healthy.
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To provide instant medical care to students who feel unwell.
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To maintain a clean and healthy learning environment.
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To work with parents to keep students physically and mentally healthy.
Services and Support
1. Coordination of Student Health Programmes
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The nurses are responsible for coordinating student health programmes, such as Student Health Service, School Dental Care Service, Childhood Immunisation Programmes, etc.
2. Medical Care and First Aid
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The nurses provide instant medical care to students who feel unwell, such as fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, etc. They also provide first aid service and medical care to students in incidents such as seizures, nose-bleeding, etc. In case of emergency, students will be sent to the hospital accompanied by our school nurses.
3. Distribution of Medications
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The nurses help distribute medication prescribed by registered practitioners and assist with the administration of the medication to the students.
4. Monitoring Food Nutrition, Quality and Hygiene of Lunchboxes
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The nurses keep close contact with the lunchbox providers to ensure a balanced diet for our students.
5. Education on Personal Hygiene and First Aid
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In order to enrich students’ knowledge of personal hygiene and basic skills of first aid, the nurses co-teach with teachers in General Studies and Life Skills lessons, and organise group activities, such as sex education activities. In addition, seminars on healthcare will also be organised and conducted for parents.
6. Fitness Classes
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The nurses organise fitness classes for students who are overweight, obese or underweight so that they can develop a habit of doing exercises and keeping fit.
Remedial Teaching Team
Introduction
The Remedial Teaching Team was set up in 1992, aiming to assist newly admitted students, new-arrivals and lower-achieving students to adapt to school life, and to help students with a higher ability to explore their potentials. Remedial lessons are conducted for these students according to the characteristics and needs in their learning abilities and behaviours.
Aims
Through remedial teaching, we hope to:
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help newly admitted students and new-arrivals adapt to school life as soon as possible.
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enhance the learning abilities of both the higher-and lower- achievers.
Teaching Mode
Teachers from the team will arrange individual or group sessions with the students according to their individual learning needs.