Chinese children with ASD in Hong Kong (SAR): development of inclusive practice

Abstract

The advancement of inclusive educational provision in the Asia-Pacific region has been guided by international research. As one example, Hong Kong has developed a unique and cultural response to inclusive practice within the region. This paper reviews Hong Kong's development of inclusive education practice for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It provides an account of how services in education have developed for Chinese children with ASD, from diagnosis to school placement, and how the students are supported. A number of challenges for the region are discussed including those related to pedagogy, mentoring, placement, support and the need for culturally appropriate professional learning.This review was undertaken by identifying research from an exploration of four electronic repositories, ProQuest,

‘Unconscious’ inclusion of students with learning disabilities in a Malaysian mainstream primary school: teachers' perspectives

“…Other than the person‐related variables, educational‐environmental variables such as the teaching materials, physical resources and specialist supports were found to critically affect teachers' attitudes towards inclusion (Bradshaw and Mundia, 2006). Among all, big classroom size, lack of teaching materials, inflexible timetable, inadequate time, didactic teaching approach, lack of specialist supports and types of schools are the most cited factors found to negatively affect teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education (Bradshaw and Mundia, 2006; Peters and Forlin, 2011). To explain the intertwining relationships between these variables, Kuyini and Desai (2007) used the Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen (1985) as the model to assess the relationships between the teachers' attitudes and knowledge of inclusive education on their teaching practices in Ghana.…”

Challenges Encountered by 17 Autistic Young Adults in Hong Kong

“…Certainly the additional manpower will not solve the present problems unless the schools begin to look at the causes of the unsatisfactory outcomes of the inclusive education implementation. The negative attitude towards inclusive education from the community in general and teachers, parents, and students in particularly (Cheung et al , ) and inadequate teacher training (Peters & Forlin, ) are, no doubt, on the list.…”

“…In the USA, one out of 150 children has been diagnosed with ASD in 2000 and one out of 68 in 2014 respectively (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000, 2014; as cited in Chen et al , ) and around 50,000 adolescents with ASD enter adulthood every year. It is estimated that 3,800 persons are diagnosed as ASD with a prevalence rate of 0.1% in Hong Kong (Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2009) and this figure indicates a lower prevalence rate than elsewhere in the world (Peters & Forlin, ).…”

Addressing Autism Spectrum Disorders in China

“…In fact, searches for (((“ASD” or “autism”) and “China”) limited to methodology “literature review” and language “English”) in PsycINFO yield only six such reviews, half of which are compiled by a single Hong Kong‐based research collaboration. Two of the six articles focus on prevalence research (Sun & Allison, ; Wan et al., ), one on screening and diagnosis (Sun et al., ), one on parents’ needs (Wong et al, ), one on services provided (Sun, Allison, Auyeung, Baron‐Cohen, & Brayne, ), and one on inclusive practices (Peters & Forlin, ). A seventh article focuses not on autism research but simply on child psychiatry in China (Zheng & Zheng, ).…”