Component

• Direct Training through school-based coaching programme for 50% of students with ASD attending mainstream public sector schools in Hong Kong and their parents; and capacity building of more than 300 mainstream public sector primary and secondary schools in catering students with ASD over three school years;
• Staged training programmes including training courses, seminars, sharing seminars and workshops, for all teachers and other school personnel in Hong Kong;
• NGO-based professional support teams and seminars for capacity building of participating NGOs;
• Evaluation study on the needs of students with ASD as well as the effectiveness and impact of the programme; and
• Resource package on education of children with ASD with service models and guidelines, 24 resource books, assessment and evaluation tools.

Objectives

• Provide supplemental training to a critical mass of students with ASD so that a significant number of schools will experience its benefits.
• Enhance related expertise among different levels of professionals involved in such training, including NGO-based professionals and school personnel.
• Benchmark good practices and provide related guidelines and resources for schools.
• Promote sharing of good practices among professionals and schools.

Features

1. The student programmes consist of small-group spiral training over 3 years, providing explicit instruction that addresses skill deficits associated with ASD. There will be at least 18 hours of training per year.
2. Needs assessment and training goals are highly individualized. Each training programme is tailor-made for the four to six participating students.
3. Training strategies used are evidence-based.
4. Systematic monitoring of student progress is conducted to continuously inform about programme effectiveness and need for improvement.There is strong teacher participation in the training process, together with additional teacher consultation/training sessions to facilitate the generalization of training effects to other layers of support within the 3-tier model of support for students with ASD.
5. Associated parent consultation/training activities are conducted to strengthen home-school collaboration in supporting student development.
6. Activities to promote peer relationships of students with ASD are conducted.

This model of support emphasizes addressing individual needs, the enhancement of critical skills using evidence-based methods, and the enhancement of whole-school support as well as home-school collaboration.

For detailed information of support services for students with ASD in public sector schools, please contact Education Bureau at 2437 7271.