Professor Tan Ser Kiat,

President of MINDS

Members of MINDS Executive Committee and

School Management Committee

Principal, Staff and Pupils of Lee Kong Chian Gardens School

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my pleasure to join you this afternoon at the official opening of the Lee Kong Chian Gardens School�s new purpose-built premises. This occasion marks yet another milestone in the history of MINDS since it first started providing services for persons with intellectual disability some 40 years ago.

Completed in the year 2000, this new generation school is the second purpose-built special school developed by MINDS. The building is customized to meet the needs of children with intellectual disability. It has enhanced features and facilities to provide quality education to better prepare its pupils for life and work.

This new school is part of MOE�s Masterplan in collaboration with VWOs to redevelop and increase the capacity and facilities at the special schools. MOE has committed to fund 90% of the cost and to-date 4 projects have been completed, 3 are under construction and 11 are at various stages of planning. For those waiting for redevelopment, my ministry will carry out 5-year cyclical repairs and redecoration for their temporary premises. I understand that the other 3 MINDS special schools are in holding premises and plans are in the pipeline to redevelop Jurong Gardens School.

I commend MINDS for its commitment in looking after the needs of the intellectually disabled and for its continuing contribution to special education in Singapore. Although set up to cater to persons with moderate and severe intellectual disability, MINDS, responded to the emerging needs of children with autism and expanded its mission to include autism. I am happy to know that since July last year, MINDS had admitted some 80 children with autism into its 5 special schools.

In recent years, the number of children diagnosed with autism has been on the increase, in part due to a greater awareness of this condition. The number of cases diagnosed with autism has increased steadily at between 10 and 15 new referrals a month. In August 2001, MOE and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) both felt that a better long-term solution was to persuade more special schools to offer programmes for the unanticipated demand from autistic children. Similar to how MINDS responded, let me share with you other heart-warming responses we have received from the community in these past 2 years.

In October 2001, NCSS obtained the support of 9 special schools, including MINDS, who rose to the occasion to do their part for children with autism. That same month also saw the appointment of the Autism Resource Centre to conduct training in autism for teachers in the special schools. MOE and NCSS set up a special fund to sponsor teachers for this training. In April 2002, the first training course for 36 teachers took off. To date 72 have completed their training and another 72 would be trained by 2005. Following the completion of the first autism training course, MOE led the teachers to set up an Autism Support Group to provide a platform for professional sharing among teachers and professionals in the field.

In June 2002, MOE and NCSS disbursed a supplementary budget of $1.3m to enable the 11 special schools to admit 168 autistic children from the wait list. Subsequently another 2 more special schools came on board to help.

Last year also saw the formation of an Autism Workgroup comprising representatives from organisations involved directly with children with autism. These include NCSS, KKH, MOE, Autism Association of Singapore, Autism Resource Centre and the special schools. The workgroup determines resource requirements, referral and admission procedures and manages the autism wait list.

Autism is a spectrum disorder and children with autism fall within the range of this disorder. Their cognitive ability also varies, from profound learning difficulties to average and above intellectual ability. Some children with autism need structures and system to support their learning, while others can cope with mainstream schooling with some specialist support. I am happy to announce that a special school for children with severe autism who have the cognitive ability to access mainstream curriculum is in the process of being set up. This new special school, targeted to open in January 2004, is a collaboration between the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) and Rainbow Centre (RC). I am glad that the 2 VWOs have come together pooling their expertise to set up this new school. MOE welcomes ARC into our special education family.

As Chairman of the Co-ordinating Committee for Special Education, I am deeply-heartened by the responsiveness of the special schools and community-help groups. These �community-champions� came together with us to address the needs of children with autism. With continued support from VWOs, special schools and parents, I am confident that the needs of autistic children can be better met.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Lien Foundation for pledging a donation of $1.5 million to NCSS to meet its share of funding the recurrent cost of programmes for autistic children in the special schools.

In closing, I would like to extend my congratulations to the Executive Committee, the School Management Committee, the Principal, staff and pupils of Lee Kong Chian Gardens School on the official opening of the new school building. It is my pleasure now to declare the new purpose-built school of Lee Kong Chian Gardens School open.