Direct Investigationon Assessment of Children with Specific Learning DifficultiesBackground.docx

Direct Investigationon Assessment of Children with Specific Learning DifficultiesBackground.docx

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DirectInvestigationonAssessmentofChildrenwithSpecificLearningDifficultiesBackground

12_

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

DirectInvestigation

onAssessmentofChildrenwithSpecificLearningDifficulties

Background

Specificlearningdifficulties（“SpLD”）areaclassofcondition,occurringinachildofaverageoraboveaverageintelligenceandcharacterizedbyasignificantdelayinoneormoreareasoflearning.Overtheyears,wehavereceivedanumberofcomplaintsabouttheassessmentofchildrenwithSpLDandthelackofsupportservicesforthem.Manyparentsareignorantaboutwhatservicesareavailableforsuchchildren,whoprovidethemorhowandhowfartheyaredelivered.

2.ConcernedwhetherGovernmenthassystemsandproceduresinplacetoensuretimelyidentificationofthesechildrenandadequateassistanceforthem,TheOmbudsmandeclaredthisdirectinvestigationundersection 7

（1）（a）（ii）ofTheOmbudsmanOrdinance,Cap.397on1September2005,toexamine:

（a）assessmentservicesbyEducationandManpowerBureau（“EMB”）andDepartmentofHealth（“DH”）foridentifyingchildrenwithSpLDfromkindergartentoprimarysix;

（b）therespectiverolesofEMBandDHinsuchservices;

（c）co-ordinationofassessmentservices–

（i）withinGovernment;and

（ii）betweenGovernmentandnon-governmentorganizations（“NGOs”）;

（d）efficiencyandeffectivenessofthecurrentmechanism;and

（e）actionbyGovernmenttoenhancepublicawarenessofSpLD,particularlyamongparentsandteachers.

3.InadditiontostudyingdocumentsprovidedbyEMBandDH,wealsointerviewedparentsandpersonnelofprimaryschoolsandNGOs.

WhatisSpLD?

4.EMBandDHdefineSpLDsimilarly.Characteristically,despitenormalintelligenceandeducationopportunities,childrenwithSpLDhaveproblemswithoneormoreofthebasicprocessesusedinunderstandingorusingspokenorwrittenlanguage,suchas:

●

Listening

●

Speaking

●

Reading

●

Writing

●

Reasoning

●

Mathematicalcalculations

5.SomedifferenttypesofSpLDarelistedintheAnnexA1,withafewreallifeexamplesfromourcasestudies.

AssessmentServices:

fromBirthtoPrimarySchool

DepartmentofHealth

6.FamilyHealthServiceconductsroutineinterviewsforallchildrenfrombirthtotheageoffive.AnychildsuspectedofhavingdevelopmentalorlearningproblemsisreferredtotheChildAssessmentService（“CAS”）forfurtherevaluation.

7.ChildAssessmentServiceprovidesmultidisciplinaryservicesforassessingchildrenuptoage12withdevelopmentalproblems.Uponreferralfromregistereddoctorsorpsychologists,anursewillconductapreliminaryinterview.Ateamconferencethendecidesonthekindofassessmenttobegiven.CASgivesparents,atthefirstappointment,apamphlet“RainbowBook”toexplainthegeneralassessmentprocess;andoncompletionofassessment,asummaryassessmentreport.

8.StudentHealthServiceprovidesfreeannualhealthassessmentinStudentHealthServiceCentresforallprimaryandsecondaryschoolstudentsjoiningtheService.ForsuspectedcasesofSpLD,furtherpsychosocialhealthandpsychologicalassessmentsareconductedinSpecialAssessmentCentres.

EducationandManpowerBureau

9.SchoolsandteachershaveanimportantroleinidentifyingstudentswithSpLD.EMBhasdevelopedanObservationChecklistsforTeachers（“OCT”）.ThishasbeeninusesinceSeptember2004forprimaryonestudents.Identificationandinterventionareconductedbyaprocessof“AssessmentthroughTeaching”insevenstages,somewithdesignatedtimeframesasoutlinedinparagraphs10-11.

10.Everyyear,inSeptember,teachersobservestudents’performance.BetweenDecemberandJanuary,teacherscompletetheOCT.Aftermid-January,aspecialteamintheschoolanalysesresultoftheOCTandidentifiesstudentswithlearningdifficulties:

（a）Forthoseassessedtohavemildlearningdifficulties,theschoolwillprovidesupport,includingadaptationofteachingstrategiesandcurriculum.Studentswhocontinuetoshowseverelearningdifficulties,despiteinterventionforoneterm,willbereferredtoeducationalpsychologistsforassessment.

（b）Thoseassessedtohavemarkedlearningdifficultiesarereferredtoeducationalpsychologistsforfurtherassessment.

（c）ThoseassessedtohaveSpLDwillreceiveadditionalfundingandprofessionalsupportfortheirspecialneedsandhavetheirresponsesreviewedregularly.

11.TeachersalsoassessotherstudentswhohavenotbeencoveredbytheOCTexercisebutsuspectedtohaveSpLD.

OurObservationsandOpinions

StatisticsofSpLD

12.StatisticsfrombothEMBandDHshowarisingtrendofcasesforchildrenassessedtohaveSpLD:

EMBstatisticsonprimaryonestudentsofmainstreampublicsectorschoolsidentifiedwithlearningdifficultiesintheOCTexercisesconductedinschoolyears2004/05and2005/06:

Totalcoveredby

OCTexercise

Numbersubject

to

completion

of

OCT

（A）

（B）

（C）

SpLDamongthose

with

markedlearningdifficulties

Numberwith

no

learning

difficulties

Numberwith

mild

learning

difficulties

Numberwith

marked

learning

difficulties

2004/05

54,123

11,551

7,672

2,068

1,811

297

2005/06

50,362

11,081

6,277

2,493

2,311

497

NumberofstudentsinallmainstreampublicsectorschoolsnewlyassessedtohaveSpLDfrom2002/03to2005/06（withbreakdownforprimaryone）:

2002/03

2003/04

2004/05

2005/06

AllPrimaryLevels

（a）

Studentpopulation

436,023

423,235

402,652

381,428

（b）

NumberofstudentsnewlyassessedtohaveSpLD

980

922

1,065

1,658

（c）

（b）÷（a）×100%

0.22%

0.22%

0.26%

0.43%

OnlyPrimaryOne

（d）

Studentpopulation

63,774

60,497

54,123

50,362

（e）

NumberofstudentsnewlyassessedtohaveSpLD

149

215

297

497

（f）

（e）÷（d）×100%

0.23%

0.36%

0.55%

0.99%

DHstatisticsonnumberofcasesforchildrenassessedtohaveSpLDfrom2003to2006:

Year

Children

assessedtohaveSpLD

Total

StudentHealthService

CAS

2003

106

602

708

2004

98

616

714

2005

106

730

836

2006

152

976

1,128

Total

462

2,924

3,386

13.Accordingtosomeresearch,thepercentageofschoolpopulationwithdyslexia（whichaccountsforover80%ofSpLDcases）insomecountries,areasfollows:

Italy

1.3to5%

Singapore

3.3%

Japan

6%

UK

6%

USA

8.5%

TheavailablefiguresmaynotrepresenttherealprevalencerateofSpLDinHongKong.TherearestudiesonSpLDinHongKong,withsomeworkonprevalencerate.WeconsiderthatEMBshould,inconsultationwithDH,liaisewithexpertsandstakeholdersinthisfieldtocometomorerealisticandaccuratedataforoverallplanningandprovisionofassessmentandsupportservicesforchildrenwithSpLD,theirparentsandschools.

ParentalAwareness

14.ItismostimportantthatparentsareawareandhavesomeunderstandingofSpLD,especiallywhenitisalatentdisorderandcomplicatedbyotherdisabilities.ParentalawarenesswillfacilitateearlydetectionofSpLD.Thisisparticularlyimportantforpreschoolchildrenandthosewhosomehow“slipthrough”theOCTexercise（e.g.iftheyjointheHongKongschoolsystemafterprimaryone）.Parentscanbealertedtohelptheirchildreninsteadofcriticising（andworse,punishing）themfor“misbehaviour”.Thelongerthedelayinidentification,themoreseriouswillbethechildren’slearningdifficulty.Correspondinglytheymayneedmoretimefor,anddifferenttypesof,remedialservices.

15.Parentsneedtoknowwheretoseekhelp.AsSpLDmayvaryinseriousnessandco-existwithotherdisabilities,assessmentmayhavetobebydifferentspecialistsandremedywithdifferentservices.

16.Fromourcasestudies,submissionsfromthepublicandourinterviewwithaserviceinstitute,wefindthatparentsingenerallackawarenessofSpLDandknowledgeabouttheassessmentservicesavailable.

EMBAssessmentService

EducationalPsychologyService

17.EMBprovidesitsEducationalPsychologyService（“EPS”）eitherthroughitsownstafforsince2002/03byoutsourcedmembers.Intheschoolyear2005/06,oneeducationalpsychologistonaverageserved30schoolsandhadacaseloadof218cases.Meanwhile,theaverageoutsourcededucationalpsychologisttoschoolratioisoneinsixwithanaverageof106caseseach.EMBmonitorstheperformanceofoutsourcedEPSthroughperiodicprogressreportsandstatisticsontheirservicesrenderedtoschoolsandstudents.EMBalsoconductsregularco-ordinationmeetingswithoutsourcededucationalpsychologistsandrandominspectionsofschoolsservedbythemtoensureconsistencyinprofessionalpractice.

18.ThenumberofeducationalpsychologistsinEPShasdecreased:

Schoolyear

Number

2003/04

30

2004/05

27

2005/06

28

2006/07

27

Thereisanimbalanceofworkloadintermsofnumberofschoolsandtheaveragecaseloadtheycarrywhencomparedwithanoutsourcededucationalpsychologist.

PerformancePledge

19.EMBexplainsthat“AssessmentthroughTeaching”isacontinuousprocess.Itis,therefore,difficulttodetermineatimeframeforthewholeprocess.However,astherearealreadyspecifictimeframesinsomestages（para.10）,weseenoreasonfornotsettingtargettimeframesfortheremainingstages.

20.Forspecialistassessment,thereisnopledgeforcommencementandcompletionoftheassessmentbytheeducationalpsychologistafterreferralbyaschool.Wealsoseenoreasonfornotsettingthepledge.

AssessmentReports

21.EMBprovidesparentswitheitheranassessmentreportorasummaryonrequest,atafeeforphotocopyingasthereportismeanttofacilitatecommunicationbetweentheeducationalpsychologistandtheschoolprovidingappropriateeducationalsupporttostudentswithSpLD.Parents’un