Specialised help

Sprout in Motion is a specialist centre for child and adolescent clinical psychology. Working with those with suspected ADHD, dyslexia, ASD and other developmental disabilities, it offers services in English, Cantonese and Mandarin and has centres in Central and Wong Chuk Hang.

Educational programmes at Child Development Centre are based on the UK’s Early Years Foundation Stage, backed up by various learning tools, methodologies, assessments and therapies to develop each child’s maximum potential. It provides support to children with a wide spectrum of individual abilities and needs.

Using the renowned Applied Behaviour Analysis approach to encourage the potential of children with autism to bloom, it runs the Aoi Pui private primary school. This is the only school in Hong Kong to cater specifically for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). apf.org.hk

SPOT has both individual and group classes available to provide advice on all areas of a child’s development. Offering a variety of services and facilities, from sensory-motor therapy gyms and speech therapy sessions to dyslexia assistance and in-school support. SPOT has three centres around Hong Kong.

The ESF Jockey Club Sarah Roe School is a throughschool for children aged five to 19 with special needs including Down Syndrome and ASD. As well as literacy and numeracy programmes, there is an emphasis on teaching independence and vocational training. jcsrs.edu.hk

Established 18 years ago The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong is one of Hong Kong’s most significant Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) related charities, offering students with ASD the best possible evidence based educational outcomes. “When we started in 2003 there were just a few students, but we always had a clear goal to include students into mainstream classrooms,” says Dr. Jeremy H. Greenberg, director of The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong.

Applied behaviour analysis (ABA) is one of the techniques The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong uses to help utilise the behavioural principles and shape students behaviours in an organised manner. “Some of our students come in for specialised instruction, while others, particularly those that have been with the programme longer, are integrated either partially or fully in classrooms at international schools,” says Dr. Greenberg. “Students integrated into classrooms will typically have a one to one ABA Teacher with them to assist the child in accessing the general education curriculum.”

The goal for most students at The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong is to teach them to a point where support can be faded out and they can partake in mainstream classrooms without any support. “We fade out around one to two students (5 percent) each year,” says Dr. Greenberg, “this may not sound like a huge number, but given the population we work with and effort it takes to get them truly integrated in mainstream classrooms without support, that is something well worth celebrating.”

The Children’s Institute of Hong Kong is currently reviewing admission applications for its various classrooms and programmes for summer and upcoming school year.