In each year, there is one target classroom – a mainstream classroom that caters to three or four students with special needs who, with the support of a special needs teacher or assistant, learn side by side with typically developing peers. At appropriate opportunities, the children are discreetly taught social communication skills, and are visited by a speech therapist and occupational therapist twice a week outside of the mainstream classroom. The school fees for all students, irrespective of their needs, are the same.

Belinda McLaughlin, head of special educational needs, says: “Inclusion benefts everybody. We have children with autism who are now thriving in specialist areas. This gives them the chance to shine amongst their peers. Our students learn compassion, tolerance and respect for each other on a daily basis, and our mainstream teachers constantly learn through the variety of children and specialist teachers.”

Sophia is pleased with Yannis’s progress at Beacon Hill School. “Yannis describes school as a ‘big, happy family’,” she says. “The teachers are all very warm and considerate. They devise appropriate, personalised strategies to help children with autism and communicate them to parents to ensure that we are implementing the same strategies at home. Yannis is more confdent now and has made big improvements in overcoming his diffculties, thanks to this wonderful school.”

Small World Christian Kindergarten

Dean, aged four, joined Small World (www.swck.edu. hk) in the Mid-Levels last year. According to his mother Charm, the school’s loving and caring environment has

enabled Dean to interact well with typically developing children and follow a mainstream classroom routine. The school caters to children aged two years and ten months to six years. Each mainstream classroom of 23 students includes one child with special needs who is supported by a learning support assistant.

One mainstream classroom, however, also of fers LEAP (Learning Experiences: an Alternative Program for pre-schoolers and parents) – a best practice inclusive model that focuses on enhancing the skills of children with autism through interaction and play with typically developing peers. The class, which is taught by two teachers, is capped at 14 students and includes three children with exceptionally high-functioning autism. Guidance is provided by Dr Caleb Knight (www. childandfamilycentre.net), an educational psychologist who has provided services for hundreds of children on the autism spectrum.

Once a week, Dr Knight provides social skills training to all of the LEAP class students, which benefts children with autism and typically developing peers, too. The students with autism also spend two hours a week with a speech therapist. The fees for all of Small World’s students are the same.

Principal Tess Baguio believes that teachers are instrumental in the success of an inclusive programme. “Our teachers are very loving and accepting. Through their positive attitude, children learn to appreciate each other’s dif ferences, which will beneft them when they go out into the wider world.” Expressing concerns about Hong Kong’s focus on high achievers and top grades, she adds: “These children are going to be citizens of the

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