special Needs- to declare or not declare?

[Audvis]

Hi mum02

Thanks for yr reply. Are u speaking from the perspective of a teacher, or perhaps a parent with ASD child? If the latter, did u declare? How different it has been for yr kid as compared to if u did not declare?
I agree with u it boils down to how obvious are his symptoms. His 2 current school teachers did not know he was asd until I told them. So I guess it is not very obvious.

[mum02]

My kid is mildly ADHD i think.

I told the teachers of my suspicion so that they know how to handle him.
But I did not get it checked.
All the symptoms are pointing towards ADHD.

[verykiasu2010]

you should declare so that special consideration and / or could be applied and due consideration given by school. no stigma to worry about


and in the event of medical emergencies, you won’t be "blamed" for non-declaration

in case of doubt, declare

[MandyMummy]

Hi, Audvis, you should declare your ds condition to the school like what vk2010 has said. The pros outweigh the cons.

If your ds has problems taking exams within the stipulated time due to his condition, the school may allow extra time. Also, if he needs to be seated separately or isolated, this can also be done.
You need to produce valid medical records to support your application for special consideration in PSLE, so pls keep his medical history for this purpose.

[Audvis]

Would like to point out that requesting extra time during PSLE exam will cause the child’s certificate to be annotated. I have confirmed this with MOE. Thus, I do not intend to ask for extra time unless absolutely necessary.

I guess why we are more inclined to not declare is because not declaring is reversible decision, but declaring is not. We will most probably let him try out without declaring first; only if he can’t cope and needs support, then we will declare.

[phtthp]

My friend’s son is autistic, in a prominent all boys school.


in school he was bullied, sometimes being ridiculed by classmates - because his classmates (mostly coming from rich background) dun understand his medical condition, dun understand why he is behaving like that.

during PSLE exams - he was given extended hours to finish his papers, as he can’t sit still. Today, he is in Express stream.

[MandyMummy]

Yes, the certificate will be annotated when a candidate takes the exams under special condition/ arrangement in PSLE ( or other national exams) but the T-score will not be affected.

Admission to secondary schools is based on T-score assuming no DSA (for DSA, only a minimum T-score is required.

[Audvis]

I think the certificate will not be annonated as long as the special arrangement is quite minor, ie not asking for extra time. Eg MOE told me no annotation for asking for bigger font in exam paper, for those with visual impairments.


It is very sad right, those boys in that prominent boys school who are future leaders of the country, bullying the disadvantaged segments of the population. I think MOE’s push to focus on values and character is a step in the right direction.

[phtthp]

It’s a Christian mission school, and they do emphasize on character building as well. Just that it is sad that not all classmates can accept him, although there’re some boys who did. Sad but unfortunately, this is the harsh reality of life. For his case, his behavior is obvious to everybody. So whether declare or don’t declare not important, because his behavior in class says it all. Time will tell.


i) understand from a teacher’s view point …
in a real classroom teaching situation - during lessons, if he wants to go toilet and pee, the subject teacher had to stop & pause where she is teaching at the moment, get another boy classmate to accompany and follow him go toilet. Because teacher scared that after going toilet, he may run off somewhere else to play when he got mood swings refuse to return back to the classroom to continue study. The teacher came up with a duty roster to rotate. Different day of the week, different classmate(s) accompany him go toilet. If the boy goes missing in school, the teacher will get into serious trouble as she is held accountable, because the boys’ parents will come after her and question her, "My son was in your class but he’d gone missing. So, Where is he now ? What happen ? ". Thus, teacher had to wait for both he and his classmate to return classroom safely, before proceed to teach and carry on from where she had paused and left off. The teacher just cannot continue to teach while the 2 boys go to toilet, because it is not fair to the other boy who accompany him on goodwill go toilet, and missed out listening to the teacher’s explaination. Hence, all lessons had to pause and stop until they both come back safely.

ii) from school’s view point
at P1, he failed all language subjects (English, Chinese), and passed only Maths one subject. The school doesn’t practise retention at P1 to repeat P1, so school automatically push him up to P2. Same thing happened in P2 - also push up.

[MandyMummy]

I understand your concern. I guess for PSLE, you will have a tough decision to make. Annotation on certificate VS compromising the T-score (assuming if that's the case).

Anyway you have about 6 years to decide if you want to apply for special consideration. Maybe his condition will improve by then.