by Kenneth Lyen
Special Education
Upon returning to Singapore from his post-graduate studies in Philadelphia (1983), Dr Kenneth Lyen joined the Department of Paediatrics at the National University of Singapore. He was soon asked by Professor Freda Paul who was about to retire, to take over her Clinic for the Mentally Disabled, a clinic that took care of over 1,000 intellectually and physically challenged patients. When he took charge of this clinic he quickly realised that there was a gap in the services in Singapore. There were no educational or rehabilitation therapies for children under the age of 7 years which amounted to over a couple of hundred of his patients. “We better do something for them!” he told his colleagues.
A proposal was made in 1985 to Dr Ee Peng Liang, then President of the Singapore Council of Social Service and Community Chest, to start a special school for children under the age of 7 years, who were intellectually and physically challenged. Soon, a vacant school site at Margaret Drive was allocated by the Dr Tay Eng Soon, the Minister of State for Education, to establish special education at the Margaret Drive Special School (now known as Rainbow Centre Margaret Drive School). In 1987, the school was officially opened, launching the Programme for Children with Multiple Handicaps and the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Young Children (EIPIC) which was started at the Singapore Association of Retarded Children (now renamed Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS).
The First Programme for Children with Autism in Singapore
Over time, Dr Lyen noticed through his clinician practice that there was a special group of children who had socializing difficulties, speech problems and repetitive behaviours, all pointing toward Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He consulted a psychiatrist who, to his surprise, remarked that there were no children with ASD in Singapore. “That can’t be so,”
He soon realized that the definition of autism used by some Singapore psychiatrist and paediatricians was based on Leo Kanner 1943 definition that required autistic children to have zero speech, no socializing abilities, and extremely obsessional repetitive behaviours. When Dr Lyen reviewed the children attending my Developmental Clinic, he noted that his patients had a milder form of autism, with some speech, some social impairments, and repetitive behaviours, more like the behavioural spectrum described in 1944 by Hans Asperger.
He was able to convince both the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Community Development that to start a new special programme devoted to helping children on the autistic spectrum. This was approved in 1987, and once again Dr Lyen approached Dr Ee Peng Liang of the Community Chest to provide funding, which he gave unreservedly.
Structured Teaching for Exceptional Pupils and the TEACCH Programme
In a stroke of perfect timing, renowned clinical psychologist Dr Vera Bernard, who had a special interest in ASD visited Singapore. She approached Dr Lyen in 1988, wondering if she could help in any way. He accepted, and this eventually led to the launch of Rainbow Centre’s Structured Teaching for Exceptional Pupils (STEP) for children with autism ages 2 to 12, a first among Singapore special schools. This was officially started in 1989.
Dr Bernard was invited to the Margaret Drive Special School, and she explained that she would use behaviour modification as the mainstay of the program. She had worked under Professor Bernard Rimland at the University of California San Diego. The STEP program that Dr Bernard was introducing to Singapore was largely based on the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH). This was developed at the University of North Carolina, originating in a child research project begun in 1964 by Eric Schopler and Robert Reichler.
The highlight of this program was that therapy was individualized, a philosophy which the Rainbow Centre had embraced when it started the Early Intervention Program. Another aspect of the TEACCH program is that it has a structured format developing the child’s individual potential skills, including visual, auditory, physical, and other abilities. It also recruited parents or other caregivers to learn and become involved in the training using positive behavioural reinforcements, and not aversives.
Over time, the students that attended TEACCH learnt to speak, socialize better, and their obsessional behaviors diminished, compared to those children on the waiting list.
Executive Director
An executive director was recruited to manage the school as well as the new STEP program. June Tham was head-hunted and invited to join the Margaret Drive Special School. Initially she did not want to leave her position in another special school, but in 1989 she agreed to become the executive director of the school.
The Rainbow Cenrtre
The STEP was started with 12 students. Since then the numbers has progressively increased to the current number of over 700. The Margaret Drive School was soon unable to cope with the increasing number of students, and a second school was started in 1992 which is now located at Yishun Park. Both schools took in younger children under the age of 12 years on the autism spectrum. To manage two schools, an umbrella body, the Rainbow Centre was officially established in 1992. In 2018, another school, the Woodlands Campus was started, making it the third school under the Rainbow Centre.
In 2004, some members of the Rainbow Centre were approached by the Ministry of Education to help start a school for autism spectrum children above the age of 7 years. Several Rainbow Centre board members volunteered to help start the Pathlight School, which was led by Denise Phua. This school served students who were capable of pursuing the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) and the General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams. An additional education track was started for those suitable for vocational skill certifications. Pathlight School launched the Satellite School Model in 2005 in which its secondary schools students were physically located with their teachers in several partner mainstream secondary schools such as Chong Boon Secondary School and Bishan Park Secondary School; for fuller social and academic integration.
Other Schools
There are now many more schools in Singapore handling children with autism spectrum disorders, including Grace Orchard, Eden School, St Andrew’s Autism Centre, and the older schools of MINDS and Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) also take in autistic students. There is now an autism resource centre, as well as several centres that organize co-curricular activities. As for the older persons with autism spectrum, there are now job-training programs, helping them find employment in the food and beverage industry, gardening, working in an office, and computing.
Mainstream Support
Singapore has recognized that there are children within main stream school settings whose special needs require additional support beyond what is usually available in schools. Services supporting such students, particularly those with mild dis abilities, have been steadily developing. However, the 21st century has seen great leaps in services for children with special needs, in line with the government’s focus on making Singapore a more inclusive society.
In the sections that follow, we will describe two developments in mainstream schools since the 1970s, as well as other organisations supporting special needs students who are attending them.
Mainstream Schools
In 1970, the Ministry of Education established the Schools Social Work and School
Psychological Services, and this was later renamed as the Psychological Services Branch. Staffed by educational and associate psychologists, the aim was to provide support to students with special needs in mainstream primary schools. This branch also provides support to the Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioral Support) (AED [LBS]).
Another initiative to provide early intervention to students who required support in their acquisition of literacy skills was started under The Learning Support Programme (LSP) was introduced in 1992. This was subsequently expanded in 1999 to provide the same screening and support for students who are weak in mathematics.
Currently all trainee teachers must receive a 12 to 36-hour introductory course on special education to help accommodate and support students with learning difficulties.In addition, 10% of primary and 20% of secondary school teachers receive over 100 hours of training to further assist students with special needs in mainstream settings.
Fundraising
As the school population grew, the existing facilities were unable to support the students’ needs. When the time came for a new purpose-built building, the team embarked on fundraising initiatives. As a member of the Rotary Club of Singapore North, Dr Lyen took up the mantle for fundraising. Support was also given by other charity bodies like the Lions Club, The Lee Foundation, the Tsao Foundation, and many other bodies.
Future Challenges
The hopes for the future:
The first is to adopt a lifespan philosophy that looks at the entire life of a person on the autism spectrum This requires more training, more jobs, more support. The next problem is to find ways of looking after those on the more severe end of the spectrum, especially when their parents and loved ones pass on. Who will look after them?
The second challenge is raised by the higher functioning autistic individuals. They do wished to be labelled “disabled”, but to be regarded as “differently abled”. In other words they do not want autism to be regarded as an abnormality or a pathological disease. They want to be seen as merely different. One repercussion of this is that mainstream schools need to be able to become inclusive and allow everyone of different abilities, to study together, to play together, and to be considered as part of humanity’s one big family. This is already taking place in nursery and kindergartens. Many of them are accommodating children on the autism spectrum. Hopefully this will extend to older agegroups.
Inclusive education: Different, not disabled. I do not believe in segregating children with differences into separate schools or institutions. Children have different abilities and interests, but we should not partition them into isolated schools. They can still join in other activities such as sports, art, music, dance, etc. We need to develop a mindset that we are all part of a family
Prevention is better than cure. If we can discover the causes of childhood developmental conditions, we may be able to prevent more of these states. Already the incidence of Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy has fallen. I hope that autism will follow suit.
New technologies. Creating new technologies to help the disabled should be given more funding. Enhancing communication, facilitating the integration of special children into society, allowing them to travel, shop, etc with ease can be developed further.
These are our hopes for the future.
Acknowledgment
The section on Mainstream Schools was written by Kenneth Poon
References
June Tham (ed) Rainbow Dreams
https://www.amazon.sg/Rainbow-Dreams-Kenneth-Pathnapuram-Tham-Toh/dp/9814413631
Ken's Reflections 
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