Children's training centres
4.5 Firstly, nurseries will be encouraged to accept children with minor disabilities, so that they can benefit from pre-school care in an integrated setting. Nurseries would be selected on a district basis and staff working in them will be provided with training on how to care for disabled children. The ratio of staff to children will have to be increased and financial assistance will be given for physical alterations of the premises to suit the needs of disabled children.
4.6 Secondly, for children who cannot benefit from pre-school training in an ordinary setting, special pre-school training facilities will be provided. Some facilities are at present available for children with impaired hearing, for blind children, for mentally retarded children, for the severely physically disabled and for those with multiple disabilities. These services will be improved and the number of places available will be increased on a district basis. The quality of training provided at the special schools or centres will be improved. Assistance will be provided in the form of staff training; cash grants for structural altera- tions and for the installation of special equipment needed for the disabled.
4.7 The Education Department will provide special training for staff employed in children's training centres run by the Social Welfare Department and by voluntary organisa- tions. The adequacy of facilities at such centres will be reviewed and steps will be taken to improve them where necessary. To cater for the many mentally retarded children who do not receive any training or education at the moment, additional centres will be opened on a regional basis. In the coming decade, it is anticipated that 3,300 additional places will be provided. 4.8 The total number of places to be provided at pre-school training centres, nur- series and children's training centres will rise from 1,776 in 1977 to 6,840 if 1986.
Development of special 4.9 schools
Development of special classes, resource classes and places in hospital schools
For the education of children with severe disabilities, including those with multiple disabilities, special facilities have to be provided. The class size for such children is normally smaller than that in ordinary schools. These special schools will provide educa- tion for the deaf, the blind, the mentally retarded, the maladjusted with severe behavioural problems and the physically disabled, at the pre-primary, primary and junior secondary levels. At senior secondary, tertiary and higher education levels, many of the severely dis- abled can receive education in an ordinary setting, with the provision of additional services to enable them to overcome their special difficulties.
4.10 In the coming decade, it is anticipated that there will be sufficient places in special schools for blind children, deaf children, maladjusted children and physically disabled children. In these four types of special schools the quality of services provided will be improved. Consideration will be given to the provision of social work services in special schools and training centres.
4.11
Much more will have to be done for the mentally retarded. In addition to the . provision of new places, parents of mentally retarded children need help and guidance if the children are to be given the best possible chance of development. Therefore a parent guidance service will be set up, based at the various special schools for the mentally retarded. Groups of parents from the areas served by the school will meet regularly to discuss their problems and experiences among themselves, and with the teachers and staff of the Educa- tion Department and social workers. Special schools will be provided with additional teaching staff, whose task would be to give guidance to parents whose children cannot attend the school or a training centre.
4.12 On 1st April, 1977, there were 3,805 places in special schools. By 1985-86, the number of such places will increase to 12,230 (Appendix 1).
4.13 For children with less severe handicaps, including the partially hearing, the par- tially sighted, slow-learning and maladjusted children, attendance at special schools may not be necessary. These children can receive education in an ordinary school, so long as it contains specialist services.
4.14 During the next decade, sufficient special class places should be available for partially hearing and partially sighted children. There will, however, be a shortfall of special or resource class services for slow-learning and maladjusted children, although they will still be provided with places in ordinary schools. However, in considering the rate of future development, it must be noted that the estimate of demand for services for both slow- learners and maladjusted children in the Green Paper was based on overseas prevalence rates. No accurate figures exist in Hong Kong; it will not be until the testing programmes organised by the Special Education Section of the Education Department have been fully expanded that a true picture will emerge. However, it is Government's intention to expand services at the maximum rate considered practicable and to expand testing programmes so that the demand can be determined accurately.
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