Provide early intervention for all children with special needs

Recently, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and National University Hospital revealed that there has been an overwhelming increase in children with developmental needs (“More pre-schoolers diagnosed with developmental issues”, Feb 15).

We are living in a time when the student population is increasingly diverse, with more children with special needs in mainstream classrooms.

In 2012, Singapore signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The agreement highlighted that all children with special needs ought to receive early intervention services — services that involve therapy and educational support services to provide for a child’s special needs during the early childhood years, giving them a head start in their development.

It has been four years since, and improvements in the early childhood education scene have been marginal, especially in mainstream classroom settings. Practitioners are challenged in meeting these children’s special needs, as the children do not receive adequate early intervention.

One early childhood educator from a local mainstream preschool shared with us that she teaches a class of 26 Kindergarten 2 children, who are aged six. Out of the 26, ten have varying special needs.

Due to the lack of early intervention provided, she struggles to support these children’s learning, while simultaneously meeting the needs of the other children in her class. This has had an adverse effect on the children with special needs.

With early intervention, a child will receive therapy and educational support services that are catered to his or her special needs. This has invaluable benefits for the child as well as the teacher and the rest of the children in a mainstream classroom.

Through early intervention programmes, one can hopefully provide therapy for the disabilities and improve developmental outcomes, and the child has a better chance of entering mainstream schools in the formal education system.

Early intervention programmes should be provided for all children with special needs, regardless of whether the child is in a special education school or a mainstream preschool. These programmes can change a child’s development trajectory and heighten the child’s future success in academic performance, development of essential life skills, behaviour, and in leading an independent, productive life.