Direct Investigationon Assessment of Children with Specific Learning DifficultiesBackground.docx

1、Direct Investigationon Assessment of Children with Specific Learning DifficultiesBackground12_EXECUTIVE SUMMARYDirect Investigation on Assessment of Children with Specific Learning DifficultiesBackground Specific learning difficulties (“SpLD”) are a class of condition, occurring in a child of averag

2、e or above average intelligence and characterized by a significant delay in one or more areas of learning. Over the years, we have received a number of complaints about the assessment of children with SpLD and the lack of support services for them. Many parents are ignorant about what services are a

3、vailable for such children, who provide them or how and how far they are delivered.2. Concerned whether Government has systems and procedures in place to ensure timely identification of these children and adequate assistance for them, The Ombudsman declared this direct investigation under section7(1

4、)(a)(ii) of The Ombudsman Ordinance, Cap. 397 on 1 September 2005, to examine:(a) assessment services by Education and Manpower Bureau (“EMB”) and Department of Health (“DH”) for identifying children with SpLD from kindergarten to primary six;(b) the respective roles of EMB and DH in such services;(

5、c) co-ordination of assessment services (i) within Government; and(ii) between Government and non-government organizations (“NGOs”);(d) efficiency and effectiveness of the current mechanism; and(e) action by Government to enhance public awareness of SpLD, particularly among parents and teachers.3. I

6、n addition to studying documents provided by EMB and DH, we also interviewed parents and personnel of primary schools and NGOs.What is SpLD?4. EMB and DH define SpLD similarly. Characteristically, despite normal intelligence and education opportunities, children with SpLD have problems with one or m

7、ore of the basic processes used in understanding or using spoken or written language, such as: Listening Speaking Reading Writing Reasoning Mathematical calculations5. Some different types of SpLD are listed in the Annex A1, with a few real life examples from our case studies.Assessment Services: fr

8、om Birth to Primary SchoolDepartment of Health6. Family Health Service conducts routine interviews for all children from birth to the age of five. Any child suspected of having developmental or learning problems is referred to the Child Assessment Service (“CAS”) for further evaluation. 7. Child Ass

9、essment Service provides multidisciplinary services for assessing children up to age 12 with developmental problems. Upon referral from registered doctors or psychologists, a nurse will conduct a preliminary interview. A team conference then decides on the kind of assessment to be given. CAS gives p

10、arents, at the first appointment, a pamphlet “Rainbow Book” to explain the general assessment process; and on completion of assessment, a summary assessment report.8. Student Health Service provides free annual health assessment in Student Health Service Centres for all primary and secondary school

11、students joining the Service. For suspected cases of SpLD, further psychosocial health and psychological assessments are conducted in Special Assessment Centres. Education and Manpower Bureau9. Schools and teachers have an important role in identifying students with SpLD. EMB has developed an Observ

12、ation Checklists for Teachers (“OCT”). This has been in use since September 2004 for primary one students. Identification and intervention are conducted by a process of “Assessment through Teaching” in seven stages, some with designated time frames as outlined in paragraphs 10-11. 10. Every year, in

13、 September, teachers observe students performance. Between December and January, teachers complete the OCT. After mid-January, a special team in the school analyses result of the OCT and identifies students with learning difficulties:(a) For those assessed to have mild learning difficulties, the sch

14、ool will provide support, including adaptation of teaching strategies and curriculum. Students who continue to show severe learning difficulties, despite intervention for one term, will be referred to educational psychologists for assessment.(b) Those assessed to have marked learning difficulties ar

15、e referred to educational psychologists for further assessment.(c) Those assessed to have SpLD will receive additional funding and professional support for their special needs and have their responses reviewed regularly.11. Teachers also assess other students who have not been covered by the OCT exe

16、rcise but suspected to have SpLD. Our Observations and Opinions Statistics of SpLD12. Statistics from both EMB and DH show a rising trend of cases for children assessed to have SpLD: EMB statistics on primary one students of mainstream public sector schools identified with learning difficulties in t

17、he OCT exercises conducted in school years 2004/05 and 2005/06: Total covered byOCT exerciseNumber subjectto completion ofOCT(A)(B)(C)SpLD among thosewithmarked learning difficultiesNumber withnolearningdifficultiesNumber withmildlearningdifficultiesNumber withmarkedlearningdifficulties2004/0554,123

18、11,5517,6722,0681,8112972005/0650,36211,0816,2772,4932,311497Number of students in all mainstream public sector schools newly assessed to have SpLD from 2002/03 to 2005/06 (with breakdown for primary one):2002/032003/042004/052005/06All Primary Levels(a)Student population436,023423,235402,652381,428

19、(b)Number of students newly assessed to have SpLD 9809221,0651,658(c)(b) (a) 100%0.22%0.22%0.26%0.43%Only Primary One(d)Student population63,77460,49754,12350,362(e)Number of students newly assessed to have SpLD149215297497(f)(e) (d) 100%0.23%0.36%0.55%0.99%DH statistics on number of cases for child

20、ren assessed to have SpLD from 2003 to 2006: YearChildrenassessed to have SpLDTotalStudent Health ServiceCAS2003106602708200498616714200510673083620061529761,128Total4622,9243,38613. According to some research, the percentage of school population with dyslexia (which accounts for over 80% of SpLD ca

21、ses) in some countries, are as follows: Italy1.3 to 5%Singapore3.3%Japan6%UK6%USA8.5%The available figures may not represent the real prevalence rate of SpLD in Hong Kong. There are studies on SpLD in Hong Kong, with some work on prevalence rate. We consider that EMB should, in consultation with DH,

22、 liaise with experts and stakeholders in this field to come to more realistic and accurate data for overall planning and provision of assessment and support services for children with SpLD, their parents and schools.Parental Awareness14. It is most important that parents are aware and have some unde

23、rstanding of SpLD, especially when it is a latent disorder and complicated by other disabilities. Parental awareness will facilitate early detection of SpLD. This is particularly important for preschool children and those who somehow “slip through” the OCT exercise (e.g. if they join the Hong Kong s

24、chool system after primary one). Parents can be alerted to help their children instead of criticising (and worse, punishing) them for “misbehaviour”. The longer the delay in identification, the more serious will be the childrens learning difficulty. Correspondingly they may need more time for, and d

25、ifferent types of, remedial services.15. Parents need to know where to seek help. As SpLD may vary in seriousness and co-exist with other disabilities, assessment may have to be by different specialists and remedy with different services. 16. From our case studies, submissions from the public and ou

26、r interview with a service institute, we find that parents in general lack awareness of SpLD and knowledge about the assessment services available.EMB Assessment ServiceEducational Psychology Service17. EMB provides its Educational Psychology Service (“EPS”) either through its own staff or since 200

27、2/03 by outsourced members. In the school year 2005/06, one educational psychologist on average served 30 schools and had a caseload of 218 cases. Meanwhile, the average outsourced educational psychologist to school ratio is one in six with an average of 106 cases each. EMB monitors the performance

28、of outsourced EPS through periodic progress reports and statistics on their services rendered to schools and students. EMB also conducts regular co-ordination meetings with outsourced educational psychologists and random inspections of schools served by them to ensure consistency in professional pra

29、ctice. 18. The number of educational psychologists in EPS has decreased: School yearNumber2003/04302004/05272005/06282006/0727There is an imbalance of workload in terms of number of schools and the average caseload they carry when compared with an outsourced educational psychologist.Performance Pled

30、ge19. EMB explains that “Assessment through Teaching” is a continuous process. It is, therefore, difficult to determine a time frame for the whole process. However, as there are already specific time frames in some stages (para. 10), we see no reason for not setting target time frames for the remain

31、ing stages. 20. For specialist assessment, there is no pledge for commencement and completion of the assessment by the educational psychologist after referral by a school. We also see no reason for not setting the pledge. Assessment Reports21. EMB provides parents with either an assessment report or a summary on request, at a fee for photocopying as the report is meant to facilitate communication between the educational psychologist and the school providing appropriate educational support to students with SpLD. Parents un