In this chapter, the journey of a school administrator in initiating a curriculum reform to cater to the diverse special learning needs of students in a working class school in Hong Kong is presented. Poon, a senior teacher for 9 years before being appointed the administrator in charge of academic changes in 2006, provides an insider’s account. Lin, a university professor and Poon’s mentor, provides additional theoretical analyses to conceptualize the importance of the school changes presented for other contexts. Before 2006, HKRSS was a traditional secondary school in Hong Kong where teachers taught a standardized curriculum in isolation from each other, with little understanding of students’ individual learning needs. Today, teachers engage in a process of collaboration and a collective discovery of the importance of differentiated instruction and assessment for all students. Constant sharing and collaboration among teachers regarding curriculum adaptations, pedagogical innovations as well as task and assessment differentiation have formed the new school culture. This new philosophy is the result of a comprehensive restructuring of curriculum, learning materials, instructional practices and assessment methods. This chapter provides an account of this difficult journey, the ups and downs experienced, and the lessons learned in the process.

融合是世界特殊教育的共同發展方向。為確保內地融合小學視障學生接受有質量的教學，本研究以分析美國和中國香港、澳門、臺灣地區融合教育政策及課程經驗為基礎，研製問卷，調查瞭解當前內地融合小學視障學生融合課程發展存在的問題，參考美國視障學生擴展核心課程和內地盲校特殊課程內容，提出內地融合小學視障學生融合課程發展建議，包括課程的針對性、 8 大領域的課程基本內容、課程實施方式以及課程政策建議。All rights reserved.

The availability of educational data in novel ways and formats brings new opportunities to students with special education needs (SEN), whose behaviour and learning are highly sensitive to their body conditions and surrounding environments. Multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) captures learner and learning environment data in various modalities and analyses them to explain the underlying educational insights. In this work, we applied MMLA to predict SEN students’ behaviour change upon their participation in applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapies, where ABA therapy is an intervention in special education that aims at treating behavioural problems and fostering positive behaviour changes. Here we show that by inputting multimodal educational data, our machine learning models and deep neural network can predict SEN students’ behaviour change with optimum performance of 98% accuracy and 97% precision. We also demonstrate how environmental, psychological, and motion sensor data can significantly improve the statistical performance of predictive models with only traditional educational data. Our work has been applied to the Integrated Intelligent Intervention Learning (3I Learning) System, enhancing intensive ABA therapies for over 500 SEN students in Hong Kong and Singapore since 2020. Copyright © 2023 IEEE.

This chapter discusses a service learning course using combined board game activities and direct social skill teaching to enhance social and communicative skills of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Ten students with ASD/social and emotional problems (aged 6–8) were invited to participate in an 8-week after-school training programme in a Hong Kong ordinary school. Each session was divided into two parts with 30 min of direct social skills instruction conducted by a teacher, followed by 60 min of board games facilitated by undergraduate students who were attending a social service learning course in a university. Most students with ASD engaged in playing board games and could apply the social and communicative skills that they learned in the training programmes. Facilitators also reported an increase in comprehension skills of students with ASD. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

While extensive quantitative research has shed light on the cognitive mechanisms of dyslexia, few mixed-methods studies have been conducted to examine the perceptions of and attitudes towards learning in children with dyslexia, especially in Hong Kong, a bilingual context. In addition, the validity of the metaphor elicitation technique, which was adopted in previous interview studies, has not yet been examined in children. Therefore, 30 children with dyslexia (age range: 8–13; 10 females) in Hong Kong were interviewed for metaphors regarding six domains: Chinese reading, Chinese writing, having Chinese lessons, English reading, solving maths problems, and dyslexia. Word reading fluency and parent-rated learning interest and confidence were measured to validate the use of the metaphor elicitation method in assessing children’s reading attitudes in both Chinese and English using correlation analyses. Perceptions were examined by way of qualitative analyses based on the metaphor entailments. Results showed that children who expressed more positive attitudes towards English reading performed better in English reading. Moreover, the attitudes also positively correlated with the corresponding parents’ ratings. These findings suggested that the metaphor elicitation technique is a valid method for assessing attitudes towards English reading in children with dyslexia. Furthermore, their perceptions of dyslexia and learning generally corresponded to those from previous interview studies despite differences in languages and contexts. Importantly, descriptions related to multiple themes, including metalinguistic awareness, cognitive skills, coping strategies, and dyslexia, were well-aligned with scientific findings, demonstrating that children already have a good understanding of dyslexia and various learning domains. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Background: Students with special educational needs (SEN) often face dehumanization, which negatively impacts their mental health, daily functioning, and educational outcomes. This study seeks to address the research gap in dehumanization literature by examining the prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of self-dehumanization and other-dehumanization among SEN students. Moreover, by utilizing psychological experiments, the study aims to identify potential intervention strategies and make recommendations to minimize the negative psychological consequences derived from the dual model of dehumanization. Methods: This two-phase, mixed-methods study incorporates cross-sectional surveys and quasi-experimental designs. Phase 1 investigates the self-dehumanization of SEN students and other-dehumanization from non-SEN peers, teachers, parents, and the public. Phase 2 involves four experimental studies to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions emphasizing human nature and uniqueness in reducing self-dehumanization and other-dehumanization of SEN students, as well as their associated negative consequences. Discussion: The study fills a research gap by examining dehumanization in SEN students, applying dyadic modeling, and identifying potential solutions to ameliorate dehumanization and its negative consequences. The findings will contribute to the advancement of the dual model of dehumanization, increase public awareness and support for SEN students in inclusive education, and promote changes in school practice and family support. The 24-month study in Hong Kong schools is expected to provide significant insights into inclusive education in school and community settings. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

This chapter discusses the effectiveness of current professional development programmes for teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Hong Kong. The article first introduces the available services for students with ASD. The Resource Teaching Programme has been the major service provided by special schools since 1984. The principle of teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) in the least restrictive settings has rendered a rapid growth of the population of students with ASD in ordinary schools in the last decade, causing concern among the teachers. Different tiers of professional development programmes have been developed to equip teachers in ordinary schools with the knowledge and skills needed in dealing with students with SEN. However, these programmes are mainly short term and transmitted directly from the top down. The lack of opportunity to practise newly acquired knowledge and skills in real environments cannot provide sufficient confidence for teachers to handle students with ASD independently. The final part of this chapter provides a recommendation for a collaborative mode of professional development that can assist teachers in gaining practical experiences in a field-based training programme. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Students with special education needs (SEN) face challenges in developing career adaptability and self-efficacy. Using a sample of 355 students with SEN in Hong Kong, this study evaluated effects of social connectedness and meaning in life on career adaptability and career self-efficacy. Data were collected twice, participants completing self-report measures at baseline and 18 months later. Analysis found that meaning in life significantly and positively predicted both variables. At follow-up, social connectedness directly predicted presence of meaning, while indirectly predicting career adaptability and self-efficacy. Interventions for SEN students should seek to strengthen their social connectedness and meaning in life. Copyright © 2022 Springer.