The early childhood education and intervention services in Singapore have experienced a period of rapid development and growth. Numerous new initiatives and programmes have been developed to ensure young children with disabilities and their families are supported as full members of the community. Such efforts reflect the focus on early childhood intervention and inclusion from the first to the fourth Enabling Masterplan, a government document providing guidance for disability services in Singapore. These new programmes also demonstrate that the early childhood services in Singapore have evolved from the traditional ‘dual system’ arrangement in which children with disabilities were separated and isolated away from their typically developing peers. This chapter first provides a brief overview of the history and context of early childhood education and inclusion in Singapore, followed by descriptions of five programmes: the Inclusion Coordinator scheme (ICO), the Inclusive Support Programme (InSP), the Developmental Support and Learning Support (DS-LS), the Early Intervention Programme for Infants & Children (EIPIC), and the KidSTART Programme. Drawing from the lessons learned from these five programmes in Singapore, recommendations for implementation and future improvements include the challenges of early identification, the calls for seamless service provision, the needs for restructuring teacher training and professional development, and the importance of including the voices of children and families in programme development and policy making.

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Fostering Inclusion: The Evolving Early Childhood Intervention and Inclusion Landscape in Singapore

  • Huichao Xie,
  • Kenneth K. Poon,
  • Levan Lim

摘要

The early childhood education and intervention services in Singapore have experienced a period of rapid development and growth. Numerous new initiatives and programmes have been developed to ensure young children with disabilities and their families are supported as full members of the community. Such efforts reflect the focus on early childhood intervention and inclusion from the first to the fourth Enabling Masterplan, a government document providing guidance for disability services in Singapore. These new programmes also demonstrate that the early childhood services in Singapore have evolved from the traditional ‘dual system’ arrangement in which children with disabilities were separated and isolated away from their typically developing peers. This chapter first provides a brief overview of the history and context of early childhood education and inclusion in Singapore, followed by descriptions of five programmes: the Inclusion Coordinator scheme (ICO), the Inclusive Support Programme (InSP), the Developmental Support and Learning Support (DS-LS), the Early Intervention Programme for Infants & Children (EIPIC), and the KidSTART Programme. Drawing from the lessons learned from these five programmes in Singapore, recommendations for implementation and future improvements include the challenges of early identification, the calls for seamless service provision, the needs for restructuring teacher training and professional development, and the importance of including the voices of children and families in programme development and policy making.