Views/Suggestions on the Future Development of Rehabilitation Services Discussed by
the 2005 Hong Kong Rehabilitation Programme Plan Review Working Group
Items of Discussion / Directions of Strategic Development / Operational Matters(Part I)
Overall directions of rehabilitation service development / “Increase social capital” and “promote cross sector/department partnership” being the strategic directions for future service development
Flexibly utilize existing resources of the whole society and provide diversified services to meet the needs of people with disabilities
Formulate long term strategy to meet the challenges brought about by the aging of the population and the increase in mentally ill persons
Definition of disability / Continue to adopt the current simple and concisedefinition of disability for planning the development of rehabilitation service
Considering the development of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is not yet mature at the current stage and the technical problems involved in its implementation, it will not be adopted in the current RPP review. However, the Administration will continue to follow up and explore the feasibility of introducing ICF in Hong Kong
Acknowledge that “Specific Learning Disabilities” and “Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” are disabling conditions
Pre-school services / Uphold the current policy objective and provide full range of pre-school services for the disabled pre-schoolers, including early Education and Training Centre (EETC), Special Child Care Centre (SCCC) and Integrated Programme in child Care Centre (IP in CCC) to reduce pre-schoolers’ developmental delay through early intervention, to increase their opportunities for participating in ordinary schools and daily life activities, and to help their families to meet their special needs. / Review the waiting time and utilization of various pre-school services (EETC, SCCC and IP in CCC); introduce improvement measures and fully utilize existing resources to provide suitable services for disabled pre-schoolers. The review may include the following aspects:
Make early referral after conducting professional needs assessment in view of change of abilities of the children.
Reduce repeated applications for the same service such that new applications could be handled as early as possible.
Introduce a review mechanism for mild problem cases. The children may leave the service if they were professionally assessed not to require special pre-school service any longer.
When increasing service provision, change of service needs should be taken into account. EETC and SCCC might be set up to flexibly meet the diverse training needs of different districts. Increase service provision that is in line with the change of service needs and set up special child care centre cum early education and training centre so as to meet the different training needs of districts more flexibly
Provide user-pay service as an additional option for parents with better financial ability
Strengthen collaboration mechanism between the various medical professionals and primary schools. With parental consent, assessment reports by pre-school service providers should be passed to the concerned primary schools to facilitate their smooth transition.
Consider self-financing by special child care workers for obtaining further qualifications, which is in line with the practice of kindergarten teachers.
Education / Continue to implement integrated education policy with whole-school approach and review its effectiveness to ensure appropriate use of resources. / Education and Manpower Bureau has injected substantial resources for students with special education needs (including Capacity Enhancement Grant; Topped-up Fund; Pilot New Funding Mode and increasing professionals such as student guidance personnel, education psychologists and curriculum leaders etc). Schools should maximize the available resources in providing suitable service for students with special education needs. EMB should closely monitor how the schools utilize the resources to ensure cost-effectiveness and quality results.
EMB to enhance communication and collaboration with other sectors with a view to providing school-based curriculum in meeting the education and career needs of people with disabilities (PWD) under the context of the new academic structure for senior secondary education and higher education.
Maintain close liaison with parents, schools and rehabilitation agencies and to conduct timely review on the effectiveness of the policies with a view to providing suitable and effective support to the disabled students.
EMB to continue the provision of special education training for teachers and to promote the message of integration in education and provision of integrated environment for parents and the public.
Enhance the provision of speech therapy service for students in mainstream schools.
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