ALL students, irrespective of their learning abilities and medical disabilities, should have access to the principles and practices of mainstream education. This is the guiding principle of equal opportunity in education that has been successfully promoted by the concept of inclusion. This paper identifies a diversity-based approach that requires special schools to look at their provision through the pedagogical, curriculum management and assessment procedures that apply to students of all levels of attainment. It provides a mainstream education perspective and not a special school education perspective. In 2006 a team of teachers from nine special schools in Hong Kong with the full range of classified learning difficulties joined a curriculum development Project called SAME and initiated the writing of one new common curriculum based on mainstream education. (The SAME Curriculum Project, 2008). Then in 2009 they wrote a form of continuous ipsative assessment to cover their common curriculum. The assessment tool called SCALE has been used for the past three years in the nine project schools to collect criteria (CASE, 2009). The results of this cross-school and within-school comparison of student attainment data provide for the first time, insight for schools to review their pattern of curriculum orientation and compare this with other schools with students of similar ability levels. Such information is crucial to inform school in curriculum management planning that will raise the level of student attainment. This paper explains how SCALE was written and explores the emerging data across schools to support yearly school review and planning; it explores the emerging data within school for classes; and it explores the emerging data to support teacher's practices with individual students. 平等教育機會及融合教育的主導原則是所有學生，不管他的學習能力及殘疾為何，應有機會透過主流教育的原則及方法進行學習。本文介紹一種以學習差異為本的教學方法，要求特殊學校透過一種適合所有能力水平學生的課程管理，評估程序及教學方式去檢視學校的教與學，同時以主流教育的視野作為設計的基礎。2006年一群來自九間特殊學校的老師，當中包括不同弱能類別及不用程度學習困難的學生，參加了一個名為融通計劃

The high incidence rate of learning disabilities has drawn inevitable attention from governments around the world. The Hong Kong government has also developed support services in the last few decades. Such effort has become more prominent following the implementation of integrated education in 1997 when students are now given accommodation measures in public examinations upon the completion of their secondary education. This article, however, stresses the need for post-secondary support services, whether for further studies, employment, and adult life. Considering the lack of literature to inform the professionals of the field of learning disabilities and the government of Hong Kong of the issues related to and needs of adults with learning disabilities, this article highlighted the author's insight from experiences as a spouse of a person with learning disabilities in three major aspects to pinpoint pertinent issues in post-secondary education, employment, and family/social life confronting adults with learning disabilities and discuss the way forward in the context of Hong Kong. The article proposed three major aspects to develop the adult support framework in Hong Kong: (a) establishing policies and practices for transition programs and adult services, (b) aggressive publicity and public education, and (c) developing a culture of social advocacy. 日益增加有學習障礙的個案已令舉世政府義無反顧地提出照顧方案，香港政府在過去數十年間亦發展了不同的支援服務。自一九九七年香港正式確立推行融合教育以來，政府已訂下為有學習障礙的同學在中學會考應試時應得到適切的安排。本文特別強調中學畢業後成人支援服務的需要。由於現時甚少文獻或資料提及對有學習障礙成人在持續進修、就業及成人生活方面的支援，可供業界仝工參考，本文作者會以學習障礙成人配偶的經驗，分享個人的心得，特別會強調以下三方面的重要性︰(一) 轉銜到成人服務的政策及實務；(二) 進取的宣傳及公眾教育推廣﹔及 ( 三) 倡議及發展接受學習障礙的社會文化。
[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:
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In Hong Kong, as in all other countries around the world, children with autism remain perhaps the most challenging individuals to teach and manage in schools and at home. The search continues for effective methods to use when teaching these children and when seeking to improve their communication, self-management and social skills. This paper provides a brief overview of autism spectrum disorders and the difficulties encountered by children with such disorders. The writers review some the approaches available for use with autistic children and report views from a sample of local special education teachers (n=54) concerning the extent to which some of these approaches are used in the special schools of Hong Kong. The teachers' views on positive and negative features of each approach were also investigated.
[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:
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The purpose of this paper is to find out the underlying difficulties of students with learning difficulties in Hong Kong. Based on the dual-route model of reading, words may be read by either a lexical (words are recognized as wholes) or a sub-lexical (words are recognized through grapheme-phoneme correspondence) procedure to read. Castles & Coltheart (1993) and Jimenez (2000) provided evidence for the existence of these two mechanisms in English reading and Spanish reading respectively. They suggested that deficits in one and/or the other mechanism would lead to different patterns of reading disability. Surface dyslexia results from impairment of the lexical procedure with an intact phonologyical route to reading. Phonological dyslexia results from a highly selective deficit in the grapheme-phoneme transformation mechanism. It was found that surface and phonological dyslexic reading patterns were also found in the Chinese children with learning difficulties. 本文主要目的是找出存在於有學習困難的學生的一些閱讀困難的模式。本於雙軌閱讀模式理論，讀者可依循義的途徑或聲的途徑來認字。Castles & Coltheart (1993) 及 Jimenez (2000) 的研究中，分別顯示英語及西班牙語系中，有部份讀者在運用義的途徑時會有障礙，而聲的途徑則沒有問題，部份讀者的情況則剛好相反。前者稱之為有表層閱讀障礙，後者為有聲層閱讀障礙。本文研究結果亦證明表層及聲層閱讀障礙模式存在於中文讀者之中。
[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]

The social communication needs of young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex and yet this area has not been well researched. The present study investigated the social inclusion of young adults with ASD in colleges. A total of 80 young adults studying full- time in colleges completed the self-developed on-line questionnaires on the social perceptions of their peers on the spectrum. The findings indicated that about half of the respondents would engage peers on the spectrum in their social groups. However, the respondents showed the least willingness of having someone with ASD to join their collaborative project groups. About half of the respondents mentioned the communication challenges in socialising with peers on the spectrum. Our findings re-affirmed that the importance of peer support to include young adults with ASD to different social and academic contexts in post-secondary education settings. The strength-based approach to support young adults on the spectrum to increase social connectedness and self-confidence is discussed. 自閉症譜系障礙(自閉症)年青人的社交環境是複雜、多層次的,但現時,這方面的科研卻十分缺少。本研究的目標是探討自閉症年青人的社交融合情況。80位全日制專上學院或大學生填寫了關於他們與自閉症同輩交往的網上問卷。數據顯示,大約一半的填卷者願意與自閉症同輩交往,但是他們卻最不願意與自閉症同輩做小組研習活動。大約一半的填卷者表示社交溝通困難是主要的挑戰。研究結果肯定了同輩互動對自閉症年青人融入社群及學習環境的重要性。總括而言,本文建議利用「優勢模式」來擴闊自閉症年青人的社交圈子及提升自信。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Journal of Special Education is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
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This small-scale exploratory study identified strategies used by three intellectually very able university students with specific learning difficulties for maintaining motivation on their path to achievement. All three participants were located in Hong Kong. The research questions were: (a) What coping strategies are used by intellectually very able university students with specific learning difficulties? (b) What are the critical influences driving and supporting their motivation to achieve? A narrative inquiry method was used to obtain and analyze data. Two gifted university graduates and one undergraduate, all with specific learning difficulties, were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and open discussion. Data indicated that they developed strategies to cope largely in response to adverse learning environments. The support of significant persons, such as parents and teachers, were also seen to be essential for sustaining their motivation to achieve. Implications for supporting university students with specific learning difficulties are briefly discussed.
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Supporting students with special education needs (SEN) in classroom is a main duty for teaching assistant (TA). According to the Code of Practice of Education, students with SEN in Hong Kong were encouraged to enroll in mainstream school. Therefore, TAs are inevitable to work with students with SEN. This research was an investigation on TAs' self-efficacy which was a factor that would affect students' achievements and classroom management. There were two purposes in this research. First, level of TAs' self-efficacy would be explored. Second, the effect of training course to accommodate students with SEN on TA's selfefficacy would be studied and further suggestions on training course reformation would be made. Quantitative method was adopted in this study. 463 TAs had participated in this study, and their self-efficacy had been tested in 5 domains: teaching support, learning support, behavior management, cooperation and administrative support. Data indicated that TAs were most confident in cooperation and least confident in teaching support and behaviour management. Training to support students with special education needs (SEN) were found to contribute to TAs' self-efficacy in all 5 domains. However, no differences were found among different training hours because the training course cannot meet the needs of TA. This paper suggested that future TA training course should put more emphasis on teaching support and behavior management.

This study examines the impact of a revised one-week training course on teacher self-efficacy in terms of improving teaching and learning strategies and classroom management to support students with special educational needs (SEN) in ordinary schools in Hong Kong. Various teacher-related variables (i.e., level of prior training in special education, confidence in teaching students with SEN, knowledge of legislation and policies, years of teaching, teaching experience with students with SEN, gender, and school type) are analyzed among 347 regular primary and secondary teachers. Teacher confidence and school type are determined to be significant predictors for the self-efficacy of teachers in inclusive education.
[Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.]

Enormous variation exists among nations and regions in their inclusive education provisions. In addition to comparisons based on policy documents and figures, in-depth and contextually grounded comparative studies involving qualitative data based on stakeholder’ experiences are needed, especially between western and Asian regions or nations where socio-economic and cultural contexts vary greatly. This article examined and compared how the conceptualization of inclusive education and elements that affected school leaders’ decisions to participate in inclusive education in Guam and Hong Kong where vastly different socio-economic and cultural contexts were present. An interpretive qualitative approach of interviewing school leaders was adopted to permit an in-depth understanding of these contexts. Findings revealed that the legislation-based versus the cultural heritage of Confucianism and the geographical location versus the elite education system of Guam and Hong Kong were key contexts affecting conceptualizations and challenges in the two regions. Large scale cross-national qualitative studies are called for to examine contextual factors from other key stakeholders, to give meaning to statistical figures and policy documents, and to offer more meaningful interpretation of the relationship between national contexts and inclusive education provisions.
[Copyright © 2017 Whole Schooling Press.]