Speeches
Speech by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, Guest of Honour at the 1st Dyslexia Conference on Dyslexia and Specific Learning Differences on Saturday, 21 November 2009 at 9.20am, at Spring Singapore Auditorium
Dr Jimmy Daruwalla, President, Dyslexia Association of Singapore
Mr K Kesavapany, Chairman of the Conference Organising Committee
Distinguished guests and participants
Good morning.
Introduction
I am pleased to be here at the inaugural Dyslexia Conference, organised by the Dyslexia Association of Singapore. Over 400 professionals, teachers, and parents from Singapore and the Asia Pacific have converged to share their experiences, promote understanding and discuss important issues to help individuals with dyslexia.
Let me also bid a warm welcome to our distinguished overseas conference speakers to Singapore. I am sure that participants will benefit from their vast experience in this field.
The DAS has for many years partnered the Ministry of Education in supporting children with dyslexia in mainstream schools. DAS is the leading Voluntary Welfare Organisation in this area and currently has eight learning centres located across Singapore providing intervention services to over 1,300 children with dyslexia. Professional staff within DAS provide services to help identify and support children with dyslexia, not just in Singapore but internationally. DAS has accomplished much in their endeavours. Since 2003, DAS has trained more than 3,000 parents, teachers and educational professionals in various Certificate and Diploma courses and workshops. DAS has also responded to the professional needs of like-minded organisations in the region and conducted training in Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Dubai.
Facilitating Access to Specialised Remediation
Within Singapore, many pupils diagnosed with dyslexia studying in mainstream schools are referred to DAS for specialised assistance. The Ministry of Education however noted that in 2008, only 60 percent of the dyslexic pupils referred to DAS subsequently enrolled into specialised programmes.
To better understand the situation, the Ministry of Education carried out a study to find ways to improve the take-up rates. Various obstacles were identified. Cost was an issue for some parents. To assist, MOE enhanced the Financial Assistance Scheme for pupils attending DAS classes. These revisions, which took effect in July this year, will help alleviate this problem. Some parents found travelling to the DAS learning centres difficult, especially with their lower primary children.
Pilot School-Based Remediation Centres
To bring services closer to pupils, MOE and DAS will therefore pilot new school-based centres next year. DAS has kindly agreed for its teachers to conduct specialised remediation within these centres. These school-based centres will serve a larger community drawn from other nearby feeder primary schools.
As a start, three new school-based centres will be set up to help pupils with dyslexia acquire functional literacy skills. Trained DAS teachers will teach the pupils reading and spelling skills through an intensive and systematic approach.
Through these centres, MOE teachers and DAS will also work together to help parents better understand their children’s needs and what the specialised intervention programmes by DAS hope to achieve. This will forge closer links between schools and DAS in engaging parental support and monitoring the progress of the pupils.
MOE welcomes this closer collaboration with DAS. If the pilot proves successful, we can explore ways to expand the provision of facilities and services to develop specific schools with concentrated and advanced capabilities in helping children with dyslexia.
These initiatives complement other existing efforts to help pupils with dyslexia and other learning disabilities who can benefit from being educated in our mainstream schools. Recently MOE announced an increase in provision of teachers trained in special needs and Allied Educators for learning and behavioural support. Such teachers are classroom teachers who have attended certificate-level training in special needs and are equipped with skills to support such pupils in mainstream schools. Allied Educators for learning and behavioural support will greatly assist and complement these classroom teachers. By the middle of next year, eight percent of all mainstream teachers would have undergone the certificate-level training in special needs, and all primary schools would be staffed with at least one trained Allied Educator for learning and behavioural support.
With this multi-pronged, many-hands approach, where MOE works with different stakeholders and VWOs to support pupils with dyslexia and other specific learning needs in mainstream schools, I believe we are closer to helping as many dyslexic pupils as possible overcome their literacy difficulties and maximise their potential.
Success Stories
These collaborative efforts have borne fruit. One example is Xavier Yap, a Primary Three pupil from Stamford Primary School. Xavier comes from a Mandarin-speaking background. He was in the Learning Support Programme in Primary One and diagnosed with dyslexia in Primary Two. He started attending DAS remediation classes at the Jurong Learning Centre in April this year. Reading used to be laborious for Xavier, but now, he will borrow books to read and often shares the stories he has read with his classmates. Xavier’s DAS teacher shared that he is always eager to learn and has since made great improvements in his reading and spelling. Xavier’s mother notices him using the strategies he has learnt in DAS at home, for example, when he blends sounds in words to read. Xavier’s mother meets up with the DAS and school teachers to find out how he is progressing and learns strategies from them to help him at home. This joint support from Xavier’s DAS and school teachers and his mother has helped him cope with his schoolwork.
The story of Hannah Faruk is also very heartening. Today, Hannah is a confident 11-year-old who serves as Class Monitor in Queenstown Primary School, but for her first two years in primary school, she struggled with reading and spelling. She then enrolled in DAS and learnt to spell by listening to the sounds in words and read by breaking words into syllables. She also started to develop an interest in reading and realised how much knowledge she could gain from books. Hannah is grateful to her Principal and teachers at Queenstown Primary School, as well as her teachers in DAS, for their strong support and belief in her. Hannah’s parents have also played a critical role by helping her with her schoolwork and encouraging her when she felt like giving up. Today, Hannah participates actively in class and is making good academic progress. She knows that she can perform just as well as others with appropriate help from her parents and teachers.
Conclusion
These positive examples should spur us on to greater efforts to help children with dyslexia overcome their difficulties and achieve their full potential. I wish you all a fruitful conference to this end.
Thank you.