Students with autism and intellectual disabilities will benefit from a new curriculum at Fernvale Gardens School in Sengkang, Singapore, that aims to meet their needs and improve autism-friendly spaces.
This comes after the school, under the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds), observed a growing trend of children with autism and intellectual disabilities over the years.
Fernvale Gardens School has 300 students; more than fifty percent have autism and intellectual disabilities, up from about 50 percent last year.
The revamped curriculum, announced on Thursday (August 4) by Minds, has benefited about 50 students since it was piloted in September last year. The plan is to roll it out to all students by next year.
Matthew Ou, Fernvale Gardens School principal, said students will be given more avenues to explore their interests at a younger age and deepen their strengths as they age. The school caters to students aged seven to 18. Possible areas of interest include sports and games, visual arts, and information and communications technology.
“We encourage them to find one or two interests by the time they are secondary school age,” said Ou.
Teachers have recently been trained to handle students with autism and intellectual disabilities.
