The Hong Kong government introduced a scheme to include students with disabilities into mainstream schools in 1997. This can be seen as the beginning of the "inclusion movement". The main problems of inclusion are its "one size fits all" philosophy and the belief that "the least restrictive environment" is exclusively the regular classroom. There are four major obstacles to implementing full inclusion in Hong Kong. (1) The existing teacher to student ratio is already unacceptably high. Putting disabled students into regular classrooms without decreasing the class size will burn-out teachers, without any obvious benefit to the disabled students. (2) Most teachers do not have any training to deal with disabled students. Without a qualified teacher, disabled students are unlikely to be receiving high-quality educational services. (3) Disabled students are put into classes with lower academic performance, a practice which presently compromises the learning potential of all students involved. (4) Hong Kong teachers in general education have inadequate experience in collaborating with other professionals so that providing teacher assistants to deal with special needs students may not be as helpful as it appears. In summary, full inclusion may not be the only answer. It should be recognised that disabled students have their own special needs which the regular classrooms may not be able to meet.
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The purpose of the present study was to explore, from an insider perspective, the work experience of local special school personnel. A qualitative methodological approach was taken and a semi-structured interviewing technique was adopted. An opportunity sample of five Principals, six teachers and three school social workers from six local special schools for students with mild mental handicap participated in this study. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method and content analysis. The findings seem to suggest that the special school teachers in this study faced the dilemma of having competing roles within the school and that they could function as either caregiver or an educator. The two most pronounced themes that emerged from the data are that the local special school personnel in this study appeared to be isolated in terms of feedback and support and the five Principals were regarded as the only leaders to provide directions for the development of their schools. The results therefore demonstrate the need to develop intra- and inter-school support networks for local special school personnel to become more responsive to the needs of the classroom community. A number of recommendations for improvement in teacher education and in-service training are also discussed.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

This study examined the treatment efficacy of PEERS®; (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) among Chinese adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Hong Kong. The original PEERS®; manual was translated into Chinese, and cultural adjustments were made according to a survey among 209 local adolescents in the general population. 72 high-functioning adolescents with ASD were randomly assigned to a treatment or waitlist control group. The 14-week parent-assisted training significantly improved social skills knowledge and social functioning, and also reduced autistic mannerisms. Treatment outcomes were maintained for 3 months after training and replicated in the control group after delayed treatment. The present study represents one of the few randomized controlled trials on PEERS® conducted outside North America.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3728-1]

This study aims to deliver a school‐based mode of training for in‐service teachers of students with ASD in Hong Kong. The training is delivered following the phases of implementation science, namely, exploration, installation, and implementation. The project team used the theory of mind approach, which enables teachers to engage with students with ASD and to focus on recognizing and reacting to emotions. Participants in this study included four educators from a teacher education institution, three expert teachers, and 19 in‐service teacher trainees. The most salient responses came from trainees who were provided with the opportunity to apply learned skills in their own classrooms immediately and to share the knowledge and skills in dealing with students with ASD in the post‐conference meetings.
[Copyright of Support for Learning is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12199]

A SCERTS model-based intervention with different durations (5-month vs. 10-month) was provided to 122 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (age = 53.43 ± 9.05 months) in Hong Kong. Before and after the intervention, the children were assessed with the Chinese Psychoeducational Profile-Third Edition (CPEP-3) and the Developmental Assessment Chart (DAC). Educators and parents expressed their views toward the intervention in focus groups. Results showed that participating children improved significantly in their social communication and emotional behavior after the intervention, as measured by DAC and CPEP-3. Likewise, educators and parents had positive views toward the intervention and noted the children’s improvement. The results suggest that a SCERTS model-based intervention can improve social communication, emotional regulation, and other skills in children with ASD.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3649-z]

This paper aims at identifying the use, benefits and challenges of integrating Minecraft in teaching students with autism. Classroom observations, students-created manifests and interviews were conducted in two Chinese-speaking special schools in Hong Kong. It is concluded that Minecraft does have positive impact on how children with ASD learn. Students were more engaged in class, showed improved collaboration and communications skills, developed deeper relationship with their classmates and the teachers, and were more motivated to learn. Some potential challenges and concerns are discussed. Copyright © 2018 The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI) is a 36-item scale developed by Beavers, Hampson, and Hulgus (1990) to assess competent and dysfunctional family functioning. While the SFI is widely tested in the areas of counselling psychology and clinical psychology, considerably less effort has been allocated to examine its psychometrics in educational settings. By using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) based on previous research, this study aimed to validate the Chinese version of SFI (C-SFI, Shek, 1998) with a sample of Hong Kong secondary students with special educational needs (SEN). The key purpose was to provide a useful tool to assess family functioning of this vulnerable population of students to inform practice improvement to cater for their needs. Consistent with Shek’s studies in typically developed students, the results of EFA showed a two-factor pattern. CFA results provided further evidence showing the best model fit indices were for the two-factor solution (i.e., family health and family pathology) compared with other competing models. This study also developed a short form (8 items instead of 36) of the C-SFI, which would be regarded as a parsimonious screening tool for researchers and practitioners to test family functioning of SEN students.家庭自我報告量表 (SFI) 是由 Beavers, Hamson, 及 Hulgus 在 1990 年編製的評估家庭功能狀況的量表。雖然該量表被廣泛應用於輔導心理學和臨床心理學，然而在教育領域的應用卻鮮有報導。本研究在已有研究的基礎上，通過探索性因素分析和驗證性因素分析評估中文版 SFI (C-SFI, Shek, 1998) 在香港有特殊學習需要中學生群體中的信度和效度。研究的主要目的是為有特殊教育需要學生這一弱勢群體提供一個有用的家庭功能評估工具。並在了解他們家庭功能的基礎上，為改進幫扶這一特殊需要群體的實踐提供指導作用。探索性因素分析結果生成兩個因素，這與已有的在香港普通學生中的研究結果一致。驗證性因素分析進一步提供了兩因素模型相關的擬合指數。本研究在原中文問卷的基礎上(36 條題項)，發展了一個簡化版 SF-C-SFI(8 條題項)。簡化版的兩因素與原版對應的兩因素之間的相關係數較高，達到 r=.92 以及 r=.94。 本研究初步為研究者和實踐者提供一個簡化版的篩查工具，用以評估殘疾學生的家庭功能。 Copyright © 2017 The Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.

香港教育大學中國語言學系提供的「照顧小學生中文的學習差異專業進修證書」課程，通過理論介紹與行動研究，幫助在職老師進一步了解、掌握、推動小學中文課室內融合教育，改善教學方法，提升教學質量，照顧學生不同需求，讓不同層次的學生在學習上都能有所提升，從而更好地在學校推行融合教育。此課程是一個雙向的課程，學員們不但能從課程中學到最新的理論，也可以從各自的學校的實戰當中相互分享先進實用的經驗。本文將列舉本課程中和學員一道進行的一部分行動研究，並闡述一些學校在融合教育當中對於協助具有特殊教育需要的同學在小學中國語文方面的中國語文校本課程計劃、照顧個別差異的課程評估，以及提升學生在閱讀教學中的興趣和投入感等方面的實戰經驗，使學界能對香港小學課室內中文科目融合教育有進一步的了解。The Department of Chinese Language Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong offers a “Certificate in Professional Development Programme on Catering for Student Diversity in Learning Chinese in Primary Schools” course. Through theoretical introduction and action research, the in-service teachers can better understand, master and promote their classroom integration in primary school Chinese classes and improve their teaching methods. The quality of teaching takes care of students' different needs and enables students of different levels to improve their learning so as to better integrate education in schools. This course is a two-way course, not only the in-service teachers can learn the latest theory from the course, but also share their advanced and practical experiences. This article will describe some of the action studies conducted in conjunction with the students in this course, and explain some of the schools' Chinese language school-based curriculum plans for assisting students with Special Educational Needs in elementary school Chinese language in integrated education. The practical experience of taking care of individual differences in curriculum assessments and enhancing students' interest in and interest in reading has enabled the academic community to have a better understanding of the integration of Chinese subjects in Hong Kong’s primary school classrooms. Copyright © 2017 特殊教育學會有限公司.

Studies on parental views and experiences of the integrated programme implemented in mainstream early childhood settings for children with disabilities are dominated by the perspectives of mothers and teaching personnel. Additionally, most of these studies are largely from Western countries. This hermeneutic phenomenological study attempts to document the personal views and experiences of Hong Kong Chinese fathers who are raising children with disabilities. A total of 24 fathers of children with disabilities currently studying in 12 mainstream child care centres (CCCs) with an integrated programme were interviewed twice. Results indicate that the fathers appreciated the rationales of the integrated education of their children's integrated CCCs, which is the ideal programme for allowing the involvement of their children in the real world. Nevertheless, the fathers also experienced difficulties, frustrations and dissatisfaction after their children were admitted into the integrated CCCs. Policy and practice implications are also discussed. Copyright © 2018 Educational Review.