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To: Prime Minister, Minister/Finance, Minister/MCYS, Minister/MOE, MP/Denise Phua From: Parents with children who have autism

spectrum disorder APPEAL FOR MORE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR ADULTS WITH AUTISM (19 YEARS OLD ONWARDS) AFTER THEY LEAVE SCHOOL Aim We are a group of parents with children who have autism spectrum disorder. We would like to appeal for more Government support for adults with autism (19 years old and above) in the following areas: 1. To more systematically and proactively create more work opportunities for autistic adults who are able to work fairly independently 2. Set up sheltered workshops for autistic adults who are able to work in a supervised, controlled environment. 3. Significantly increase the capacity of adult day care centres for autistic adults, who are unable to work. Definition Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD) covers a wide range of diagnosis e.g. autism, aspergers, ADD, ADHD, sensory integration disorder, PDD NOS, Global Developmental Delay (GDD), etc. Due to the wide scope of ASD, the behaviours exhibited by the individuals vary greatly. The traits are complex and challenging including but not exhaustive, poor social skills, poor communication skills, some are totally non-verbal, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), rigidity, high anxiety, overwhelming senses, inappropriate behaviour, etc. Coupled by the fact that they look physically normal, the general public tend to be less understanding, less forgiving and often scared by their inappropriate social behaviour. Current situation Autism now make up 32% (1536) of all Sped students, and form the 2nd largest group of sped students behind intellectually disabled children. (Statistics based on Straits Times 5 November 2011.) Over the last few years, MOE has been doing more for these children. However, there is little support after these children leave school at 18 yrs old. Many end up staying at home, which can lead to regression of ability and a waste of MOEs investment on them during their younger years of learning/training in school. The following schools have a concentration summarises their current programmes. School Program for autistic children 6+ to 18 years old AWWA Yes Eden Yes of students with autism and the table Program for autistic adults 19 years old and beyond None None

Pathlight Rainbow

St Andrew

Autism Youth Centre

Yes None Current program serves children None up to 12 years old. New program serving teens 13 18 years old will start in 2013 Yes 1 adult day care years old, current places Yes 1 adult day care years old, current places

centre for 19 55 capacity of about 30 centre for 19 55 capacity of about 30

The following schools take in mostly intellectually disabled students (about 80%) and have a much smaller number of autistic students (about 20%) School Program for 6+ to Program for 19 years old and beyond 18 years old APSN Yes Vocation training leading to ITE certification and job placement Metta Yes Vocation training in food preparation, baking and housekeeping, etc. Day activity centre for the intellectually disabled MINDS Yes Job attachment program for those who can work fairly independently Sheltered workshop jointly set up by MINDS and SIA, where the adults pack earphones for SIA, for those who can work in a closed environment Adult day care centres for those who are unable to work For autistic adults, currently only St Andrews and Autism Youth Centre cater to a small group of autistic adults. However, as the adult programs are not funded by Government, the 2 adult centres are unlikely to expand beyond their current capacity of about 30 places each. With such limited adult day care capacity and a lack of sheltered workshop and job placement programs for autistic adults, it seems evident that majority of the present 1536 autistic students in sped schools will end up staying at home after they finish school at 18 years old. Metta and MINDS have good vocation programs, sheltered workshops and adult day care centres. However, these 2 schools tend not to take in too many autistic children due to their more challenging behaviour problems. MCYS has existing policies e.g. the Open door fund and employment assistance program for people with disabilities. However, these programs may not benefit autistic adults due to employers low awareness and understanding of autism. MCYS also has funding for social enterprises. However, the sustainability of social enterprises hiring

autistic adults is likely to be low. We parents can set up a social enterprise to keep our children productively employed. However, the enterprise may have to close down following the death of the founding parent, should the next generation be unwilling to take over. A more sustainable model would be for the Government or VWOs to take up this job creation role. As our autistic children grow up, we parents are aging and will become less able to take care of the autistic adult, physically, emotionally and financially. Hence, there is an urgent need for the Government to help the autistic adults. Proposal It is important to note that the current generation of autistic children may be different from the previous generation, in that the current generation has been able to benefit from early intervention and better sped education/training. Hence, the current generation may have a higher chance of contributing to society if the jobs and environment are suitable. Right now, there is lack of Government support probably due to the perceived notion that a large sum of financial resource is required. However, if we can come up with workable pilot job creation models, and subsequently replicate the successful ones on a bigger scale, the Government may be able to support the needs of the autistic adults at a lower cost than it envisages. Autism need not be a social burden. If we customize jobs and work environment to suit them, perhaps 50% of the adults can be productive in some way. We hope that the Government can seriously consider taking the lead in the following recommendations: A. More systematically and proactively create jobs for those who are able to work in external environment. The following are some examples: Get NTUC to take a lead in the training/hiring of some autistic adults, by actively identifying a few suitable jobs within the various NTUC organizations (e.g. Fairprice, Income, Orchid Country Club, etc) and piloting unpaid internship programs for those identified jobs. E.g. attach a few autistic adults to the NTUC supermarkets/Cheers store. Once the individual has acquired job competency, NTUC could hire them as paid employees, or they could go on to look for jobs in other supermarkets/convenience stores. If the pilot program is successful, the Government can subsequently use this proven model to actively encourage other organizations to adopt them. Help the schools set up and manage small social enterprises, e.g. set up a car washing/grooming business at a petrol station/shopping mall car park, or set up a small coffee shop or mini mart under HDB void decks. One teacher or trained volunteer parent can act as job coach/supervisor. If these pilot programs are able to take off, the schools can expand the social enterprises and involve more autistic adults.

B. Sheltered workshops for those who can work in a controlled environment: Help create more sheltered workshops for autistic adults, using the SIA-MINDS collaboration model which seems to have been tried and tested over the years. Assist all the schools with a concentration of autistic children, e.g. AWWA, Eden, Rainbow, St Andrews, etc, to set up sheltered workshops so that some of their students can transit smoothly into these workshops after 18 years old. C. Day care centre for those who cannot work: Day care centres are important to continually teach the autistic adults functional living skills, engage them meaningfully, prevent mental function regression and provide aging parents with at least half a day of respite. Provide funding to significantly expand the capacity of St Andrew and Autism Youth Centres adult day care programs. Fund all the schools with a concentration of autistic children e.g. AWWA, Eden, Rainbow, St Andrews, to set up their own adult day care centre for 19 55 years old, so that their students can transit smoothly to the day care after 18 years old. The curriculum may include training the teens/adults to contribute to the school by taking on e.g. unpaid supervised cleaning, gardening, canteen, simple administrative work within school/day care. Such initiatives may reduce the schools expenses required to hire external help.

Currently, SPED schools are still run by VWOs with MOE playing a supportive role. We hope MOE can take on the ownership in educating all children of Singapore, include special needs education, so that VWOs can pay more attention in setting up and managing small social enterprises, sheltered workshops and adult day care centres. D. Community living programs and nursing homes for autistic adults In the longer term, we hope that the Government will also look into setting up more community living programs and nursing homes for autistic adults, so that these adults are appropriately taken care of when their parents pass on. Conclusion Governmental support for autistic adults is still visibly lacking. We parents hope to work together with the Government to give our autistic children a better future and reduce our burden as aging parents. We are willing to work together with the relevant Ministries to strategise and implement these and other recommendations.

This appeal is supported by the following families: Parents name, childs name, childs birth certificate/NRIC number,

name of school

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