Where to turn next
Facebook
Join these groups on Facebook for a
welcome into the SEN community in
Hong Kong, for advice, knowledge
and support.
• Special Needs Network Hong Kong
(SNNHK) – This is a closed group.
Those wishing to join can contact:
• MumsTogetherHK – a ‘secret’
group on Facebook run by clinical
therapist Virginia Spielmann. Go
towww.facebook.com/groups/
MumsTogetherHK, or contact Virginia
on Facebook and ask to join.
• Home with my special child
• Friends of Special Education Needs
Children Hong Kong
Special needs organisations
A comprehensive list of what’s offered
in Hong Kong for many types of special
needs, created by the University of
Hong Kong, is available here.
All together now
A strong support network has meant
everything for Mo Lie, since she
moved to Hong Kong from Holland
with her son, Lance, now eight. He
was diagnosed as a toddler with global
development delay, and exhibits severe
ADHD symptoms and sensory issues.
Moving to Hong Kong was a tough
decision, Mo says, and due to the high
cost of schooling and lack of available
treatments and facilities, living here
remains a struggle. What she found
easier to access were parents of special
needs children, who threw their arms
open. “It’s a small city and the SEN
community here is even smaller, so it’s
almost like everyone knows everyone,”
she says.
Mo says the support she finds
through groups, like the Special
Needs Network and Parenting
Together, keeps her sane, and able to
deal with the additional challenges of
raising a child with special needs in
the city. The feeling between parents
is really quite unique. “We really do
share a special bond, people with
typical children will most likely never
understand.”
April 2015
59
