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by gravida » Sat, 10 Jul 2010 6:08 pm
I have only heard about St. Gerards and Dover Court. I need to highlight that I do not have personal experience with any of these schools, but I've heard numerous opinions from parents of children with special needs.
St. Gerards does not sound too good, to be frank. One parent tried to sign her child there, went for the visit, the child was invited to join the class, but the parent was not allowed to sit in. She sneaked in and noticed that teachers were harsh with other students, using some physical force to sit down one autistic boy... She has never enrolled her child into the school. I known one more person who did not like St. Gerards, but the reasons are not that straightforward.
Dover Court is a good place. I know three happy parents, each with a child with different diagnosis, age and learning needs. It is not easy to get in, there is a waiting list. There is also a requirement to go through the assessment before the admission. If I am not wrong they charge $600.00 for the assessment which is done by teachers/therapists/principal/psychologist (not all at the same time, the people participating in the intake evaluation rotate and it's usually not the whole "set" of professionals). Parents are not allowed to sit in during the session and you are given only a short, snippy feedback, many times without explanation why the child is not eligible. Of course the three children mentioned above did get in. However, I've heard about at least two other cases where the kids were rejected without any concrete reason given. Unofficially one of the basic criteria is non-violent behavior. I can't tell anything more though about the requirements.
Once the child is accepted, the support and help is really good. I think the best in Singapore. Teacher-student ratio is appropriate to the age and severity of the disorder. I think it starts with 2 students for one teacher. Whenever it is appropriate, the child will be incorporated into the mainstream sessions i.e., one boy had a speech delay, but no IQ issues, so he was attending math in mainstream, which allowed him to be on par with peers when after a while he picked up his communication skills.
They offer full speech and occupational services, the therapy is delivered during school hours and it is charged additionally (slightly higher than the average private therapy charges, as far as I know). Parents receive regular reports on the child's progress.
All three children that I know are very happy there.
Oh yes, they are not cheap, but I am sure you have already checked their website.