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Wong Lee Shya TG 01

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Video 1: The transition period, from primary to secondary are the important phase for students with autism. They tend to struggle during this period pertaining to their social skills and in addition to their academic’s performance. In order to help students with autism manage and overcome the transition period, as AED LBS, besides focusing on the social skills aspects, their academic aspect should also be taken care of to boost their esteem. It is important to build good rapport with HODs, subject heads and subjects’ teachers because we need them to understand the academic part of assessing. For example, if a student has problems with understanding comprehension, we need to find out from the HODs and teachers to understand the exams questions and the appropriate answers needed before we could come out with strategies that would work out and can help the students.

Video 2: Transition phase is the hardest for students with learning issues. At times parents might be too protective or worried for their child’s safety. However, when they reach secondary school, they need to learn how to adapt and to achieve this, parents need to learn how to let their child be independent. In order to help the student to be independent, adaptations, adjusting and modifications need be done for lessons, having different mode of assessments and even for the student’s basic needs. For example, modifying her skirts to elastic waistband skirts, and instead of buttons, changing it to Velcro for her uniform. All these just to ease her in wearing the uniform independently. Having routines are also important so that the student know the steps taken to do something, and with enough practices they are able to do it on their own.

Video 3: Helping students with learning issues most of the time need a collaborative effort, it is a whole school effort. It would be good to set goals and targets pertaining the student’s progression whether in academic or a skill as it will be clearer and more concise to what is needed to be done, what needs to improve and so on. Similarly, a work system is something beneficial for us to use.

Video 4: It would be significant to listen to the student’s view and opinion when it comes to making choices even, thou sometimes we tend to think student tend to make decisions without thinking. They might have their own supporting reasons for choosing a particular subject for example. When a discussion is needed to discuss about a student’s progression in school, it would be wise to include those who can help make a difference such as subject teachers, school leaders, HODs and parents. As an AED LBS, to help the student with learning issues, we need to be able to identify their strength and weaknesses by getting to know them, gather feedback from teachers or even class observation. We need to identify factors that might affect the student and most importantly to identify what type of learner the student is. With this information, we can then think about ways or right strategies to help them improve progressively.

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My takeaway for all the 4 videos is that i have learnt the importance of collaborating with other stakeholders. It takes a village to raise a child to see success in them. Collaborating with other stakeholders allows us to understand the student needs better and apply the necessary accommodation that works best for the child. By giving them the opportunity and continuing believing in them, this will help them succeed and excel in life.

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My key takeaways from the videos are as follows:

1) An AED LBS must always review and prioritise the needs of a child. Their area of needs may change from time to time. We should also not generalize that all children diagnosed with the same condition tend to have similar needs. As mentioned in the video for example, we tend to assume that a child with autism has needs in social interaction whereas they may have needs in academic areas.

2) Collaboration with school leaders, colleagues and other stakeholders are important. This will enable us to explore more, find other possibilities to help a child grow and reach out to a common goal for success.

3) Transition support is important and necessary to help a child adapt to changes and for them to love their school experience.

4) Providing support, opportunities, scaffolding and even modifications at times will help a child develop and grow in their learning. On the other hand, we need to remember that the key is to help them achieve independence and celebrate every little success.

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From the videos, I saw how every educator tapped on their respective strengths and beliefs to provide wholesome support for their students. Despite the differences in the way help was rendered, there is a very distinct commonality across the four of them and that is their intentions. They clearly knew of the change they want to see and how they want to affect change. They communicated their intentions well to others too and that resulted in many others extending their hands. With a purposeful view in mind, this whole community of stakeholders worked together towards adding value to the lives of students with special needs. Every bit of effort was significant, regardless how negligible one might have perceived it to be. It was an undeniably heartwarming sight to witness as the movement transcended roles and responsibilities, where all was done in good faith. Truly a culture to adopt and model after for everyone of us here.

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My key takeaways are, firstly, we need to work closely with different stakeholders to provide our students with the best help to fulfil their potential.  Secondly, we have to be aware of changes in curriculum or education system, know how they affect our students with special needs and prepare them for the changes.  Lastly, we should never assume we understand what is the best for our students and make decisions for them.  We should find out from our students themselves what they are thinking and what they want.

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Key takeaway 1:
Stakeholders hold a  critical role in helping to mould a child. Be it in the area of academics, behavioural problems or social skills, the AED LBS does not work in silo with the child but with the support of SLs, fellow colleagues, sometimes OTs, parents and sometimes even SEAB.All in all, collaboration is one of the core aspects of the job of an AED LBS.

Key takeaway 2:
Despite the depth of the subjects in secondary school, an AED LBS can still help to support the child academically such as in the case of Mr Jeyaram and Ms Lee Ya Mei. The video depicted the ways that an AED LBS can help with these subjects such as taking a look at the course outline, bearing in mind the areas the child is facing difficulties and working with the respective subject teachers on how to help the child.

Key takeaway 3:
Believing in the child is an important aspect of the role of an AED LBS.

The child is capable of performing if you believe the child can and if you are willing to do the necessary foundations to help the child achieve.

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It takes a village to raise a child. And then some.

What these videos have taught me is that this ain't a one man's job and you need grit, determination, tenacity to champion for the causes of your students.
If you think that you can wing this job alone, you're in the wrong lane.
Changes are NOT gonna happen overnight so be prepared to be in it for the long haul.
This job requires people skills which is why your TSR has gotta be rock solid and you gotta be a people person. By people, I mean every single person that you come into contact with who may affect the student one way or another.
Some interventions may come easy, some take light years.
Not every case will be a success story but that should not be a reason to doubt yourself.
And when a case does become a success story, it's doesn't mean you rest on your laurels.

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As an AEDLBS, it is not possible for us to be working alone to help a child. It is important for us to work collaboratively with all the stakeholders involving the child; parents, teachers, CMT, school leaders. From the start, we need to share the expectations, set goals and have a common direction to work towards so that it is a collaborative effort. Our work must always be student-centric. It is about adapting to the needs of the child and giving opportunities for the child to shine, no matter how small the progress is. We must always believe in them in order for them to believe in themselves.

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Every child [with special needs] has their own learning needs and abilities. Hence, the kind of assistance we provide differs from child to child. For that to be effective we need to work closely with teachers, parents. A good communication and rapport with different stakeholders will bring us smoothly in helping the child. Every success, no matter how small or big, has a ripple effect and is worth celebrating.

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My main takeaway is that an LBS cannot work in isolation but needs to work in collaboration with all the necessary stakeholders in order for the child to show progress. Like the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Communication is the key.

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They always say that it takes a village to raise a child. Coming into the education industry, I have seen this time and time again, where the contributions from everybody in the community and the different stakeholders are salient in the success of all the children under our charge. This point has also been highlighted by the four LBS in their success stories. While all of them were spot on in terms of their intervention strategies and support for the children, they needed the cooperation from the different stakeholders in order to see their plans come into fruition. Hence, coming into this job, it is important to build rapport and have good relationship with teachers, parents, school leaders, and other key people in a particular child's life.

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My main takeaway from all the videos is the importance of teaching routine in supporting the student with special needs. Beside routine teach the student to be independent that will help them not only in school but into the outside world. All 4 LBS mentions the importance of collaborating with all the stakeholders include the parents and the involvement of the whole school in setting goals and targets will lead to better planning in helping the special needs student. The effort not only came from the LBS but also from the teachers to reinforce and will give a consistent approach to the intervention done by the LBS. Most importantly is the student learning to embrace themselves. To be motivated and self-driven to success plus the LBS and teacher encouragement and stepping in for the student from the beginning to help them without giving up on the student in difficult times. The most important thing that I observe from the video and I agreed is that using the student's strength to overcomes the difficulties the student is facing. Do not give up on the student no matter how difficult the situation is. Persevere and be the one that the student can put his/her trust and believe in. (P.S.“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is a strength.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger) - Stay strong everyone!

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My main takeaway from all the videos is the importance of a collaborative effort in helping to support a student in the school environment. From all the videos, the success of the student was only possible due to the effort of all different stakeholders such as parents, school leaders, teachers and the LBS to work towards a common goal that they have set for the child. When teachers were willing to make modifications to their delivery of lesson in order to suit the interests of the child, and when parents were willing to reinforce the skills learnt in school to the home setting, the student is more able to receive a consistent and well-supported education. It is also important to involve the student in setting of such goals to consider his/her interests and preferences, so that they will be motivated to challenge themselves to achieve the targets set out for them.

Another takeaway would be the importance of patience and dedication towards our students as an AED (LBS). In all the cases, it was really the constant and unwavering support provided to the child that led to the child’s eventual success. Having the belief that every student is unique and has the potential to succeed will influence the way we relate to them and promote their independence instead of limiting their abilities or performance.

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I am inspired by Ms Lee for being meticulous in her work. It is important that as AED (LBS), we must  find out what would work best for our students or what are the tools that could enhance their academic performance.

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My key take-aways are...
1. We have to take each student with an open-mind. Do not scope and generalise difficulties with the special education needs that they have. For example, linking autism with social skills only whereas a student can also be affected by the academics. For example, some comprehension questions require understanding of emotions from a certain passage. Some kids with autism, might not understand this as they have difficulties seeing the perspective of others.

2. Importance of support from all stakeholders such as parents, teachers, therapists and more. As much as parents want the best education for their children, it is important to set realistic goals and expectations. Communicate it with the parents clearly so that parents and all partners in the school understands it well. Teachers too have to play their roles well and make considerable accommodations.

3. As much as possible, teach the students with SEN to be independent. Make accommodations on other means but allow them to do as much things on their own. Challenges are important to all students including students with SEN. Without challenges, they will not see a need to have a drive to be better in themselves.

4. Do not think lowly of students with SEN. Some of us might misjudged them of thinking that they might not make good decisions. They might need support but allow them to have a mind of their own and have a say in their own decisions. Advise accordingly of possible pros and cons to the decision made but do not make important decisions for them. This is important in secondary school level where identity is very important to them.

5. When making accommodations, use their strengths to help overcome their difficulties. And make sure we do research on AA and whatnots for examination so that we can help the students best and not short-change them.

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Yeo May Lynn Melissa (TG3) My key takeaways:

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Yeo May Lynn Melissa (TG3) My key takeaways:

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-to provide support for our students holistically.
-collaborative effort with all stakeholders can bring about greater results.
- to be open to all types of accommodations, as long as the focus is on the students needs and it fosters independence in the long run.
-listen to our students viewpoints genuinely and give them a chance to have their voices heard and supported.

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Raden SIti Norafifah Binte Raden Amran (TG1)

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Raden SIti Norafifah Binte Raden Amran (TG1)

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The 4 keys take away for me are;

(1)   Collaboration with all stakeholders.

In all the four videos, all the interviewees mentioned that they work closely with the different stakeholders. This stress the importance of collaboration and a team work effort in assisting students with their difficulties.

(2)   Importance of discovering the needs of each individual student.

Interviewee in the first video mentioned the need to give academic supports to students with autism and not just social skills support. Due to the diagnosis, AED (LBS) may easily assume that social skill is the necessary support needed by students. However, students with autism will also benefit from academic support due to the high-order thinking skills required in academics as they progress to higher level of education. As for interviewee in the second video, she had supported the student to acquire basic life skills. Whereas interviewee in the third video had supported his student in accepting the changes as student underwent the stage of puberty. These shows that every student have different needs. Hence, instead of jumping to conclusion and assuming that our students needs support in the commonly known area of social skills or reading and writing, we should always try to know our student better to be able to recognise the different support they may require.

(3)   Getting the students involve in decision making.

Interviewee in the fourth video shared how the adults were, at first undermining student’s decision-making process. However, after consulting the student herself, interviewee discover that student had thought through her decision. As adults have the tendency to think that we know what is best for our students, we may overlook their opinion, thoughts and feelings. It is important to consider student’s opinion as ultimately; they are the ones who will be going through the process.

(4)   Setting expectations.

The sharing by interviewee in the fourth video shows how much preparation was made in advance for student. Since the beginning, teachers have gathered to discuss the expectation, student’s strengths and weakness. From there, they supported her slowly to acquire the necessary skills. Having the expectation laid out made it easier of teachers to know in which area do they need to support the student. Teachers can then work on a plan to scaffold students to acquire the necessary skills to meet the expectation put in place. This was also mentioned by interviewee in the third video. Interviewee mentioned that expectation of students was clearly discussed with parents.

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Key takeaways from the videos:
1.The importance of joint effort by the various stakeholders such as teachers, AED LBS, parents and school leaders in order to achieve the best outcome for the students. It was mention in all the 4 videos, how important it is for these stakeholders to work together to create a good learning experience for students with SEN.
2.There are many routes to achieve the same destination .If you have the best interest for the student at heart do not give up but try to hand hold the student to arrive at his goal tapping on the resources and support available. Motivate the student and celebrate even minor achievements.
3.Belive in your student ,listen to their needs as well as interests. The video number 4 on Sally is a good example foe this. Good teacher student relationship is the key understand our student with SEN .
4.Stuents come in all sizes and shapes. There is no one size to fit all. Similarly we need to understand  the student's profile before designing plans to serve the individual student's needs .

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My main takeaway is it takes a village to raise a child. As an AED LBS, we might have different kind of challenges. But we should always keep in mind that we are not alone. Collaboration is very important. When we collaborate with different stakeholders, it makes our job much easier and we will have access to more resources. Whatever it is, our central focus is our students. Whatever we do, we should keep in mind that we are doing it for them. So understanding what they need and want is very important. In order to do all this, the passion and heart to serve is essential. Motivating the students whenever they need help the students to break boundaries and achieve. So the positivity should come within before it is being spread to our students. Let us be inspired and inspire others!

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Wendy (TG01)

“It’s take a while village to raise a child..” Raising a child is not easy; raising a child with special needs is even more challenging. But I am glad that so many people ( different stakeholders) are inside the “village” to guide and help children with special needs to reach their potential.

Understanding the needs of the child is very important. What strengths and weakness the child have? What learning styles they learn best at? Are there any distracting factors at home or in school that is hindering their learning? When we have a holistic information of the child, we then can better support the child in his/her learning.

When we are planning for intervention/withdrawal session. We should always plan and celebrate small successes. You never know how these successes  can influence the child’s confidence and moral.  Motivating them to try and never give up.

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Sandra Sunarti (TG03)

In the first video, it talked about how a secondary school boy who needs to adapt to changes due to change in curriculum. The AED in the school stepped up and work together with HOD to better support the child. They come up with worksheets with additional notes to help the child understand the subject futher. In the second video, the teacher encourages independency. Persuaded the parents to let the child try things on her own. Teachers on the other hand made the necessary arrangement such as elastic skirts, velcro shirts, a change in water tap and make changes to the latching door. These small steps would rolled into bigger steps and I believed it gave an independent feeling to the child. This would therefore motivate her and continue to strive better. In the third video, it shows us that collaborative effort would make a difference in the student's life. It takes a village to raise a child. School leader, teacher, LSO, AED, therapist, teachers work together to help the child. In the fourth video, the AED(LBS) listens to what the student suggest and work around it. Collaborative effort between the school leaders, teachers and the AED herself. They also came up with ways in which would help facilitate her learning. This in turn helped her to be more independent in her learning. Overall. I feel that what these videos wants us to take away is that firstly, collaboration is extremely important when we want to help a child. An AED cannot work alone, it needs support from parents, school leaders, teachers and most importantly, the child itself. Success stories are essential in this line as it keeps us going and motivated to continue to strive better for our students.

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After watching the videos, my key take away would be communication.
Communication is the soul of bringing every personnel together to make things work effectively and successfully.
Buying in from all parties like students themselves, teachers, parents and school leaders is crucial as it sets as a collaborative effort to carry out intervention plans.
I am glad that we are not 'fighting' the battle alone in school and we have school leaders to receive support from. With such collaboration, it would make a huge difference in SEN students for both their academic learning and character building.
I feel that it is important for this group of students to gain independence during their years of schoolings as they will carry these learnings through their lives in future.

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After watching the videos, the one thing that strikes me most is that all of them, are tireless in their efforts to help our SEN students. Whether it is totally changing the student's uniform so she can gain independence or adapting resources to suit the needs of them.
It is also heartening to know that, we are not alone in this. Everyone (all the various stakeholders) are doing their part in making the SEN students' learning journey a rewarding and fruitful one. Besides helping them achieve academic improvement, but more importantly, I felt is for them to gain independence in the process of learning.
Lastly, to not give up when the going gets tough. 'If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.' - Ignacio Estrada

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My key takeaways from the four videos

-        Look into all aspects of the child that they may have a deficits in. Do not only focus on social skills when we know that they are diagnosed with Autism and we sometimes stereotype them with a certain deficit rather than actually observing and finding out what they actually need the most help in.

-        Promote independence in all our students. After all they will eventually leave the school system and enter the adult working world. We want them to be able to face the world on their own and not be shut into their own cocoon.

-        Collaborative effort is important in our cause of championing the rights of our students. Without the teamwork and understanding of other stakeholders, we may not be able to help our student reach his/her maximum potential.

-        It really takes a village to raise a child, what more a child with special needs.

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#Community of Support

Every stakeholder brings with them a different, significant role in supporting the life of a student with SEN. Thus, it is important that everyone involved harmoniously work together to help create a positive impact on him/her.

#Be Resourceful

In order to enhance a student’s learning capabilities, it is important for us educators to constantly upgrade ourselves with fresh new knowledge, stay resourceful and never to shy away from trying new things. An effective educator will help tailor to every student’s needs and create a climate of learning in the most creative way.

#Have an Inclusive Heart

It is important for people in general to gain some kind of personal, practical knowledge and experience towards students with SEN. Thus, if we dream of having an inclusive community for the future, we as future AED(LBS) should advocate positivity and role-model the right attitudes. We should promote an environment of care, support, love and warmth for everyone because truly, that is what inclusion is all about.

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The main takeaway for me after watching the videos is collaborative effort. It is never a one man show when it comes to helping the students in school to excel. All parties must come together and work hand in hand for the benefit of the child before any progress can be seen. From experience, this is very true. Moreover, from one of the video, the LBS mention that he was unsure whether the child motivates the school staff or the school staff motivates him to enable the success story to happen. i think all who work with children before will agree that we as educators need motivation from our students too. when students motivates us by trying their best, we in turn will go all out to do everything in our means to guide them. When the students see that we are working hard for them, they in turn push their own limits and excel. This to me is a positive cycle. Hope that in future, with the help of parents and colleagues, everybody can come together to create this positive cycle for the students under our care. What is the ultimate goal for our students after we finish this course? For them to be able to excel in their own life according to their strengths and overcoming all their difficulties.

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From the 4 videos, I have gathered that in order for AED LBS to affect change, it must begin with the heart to do it. Blind conviction without a plan will not manifest the success that one wishes for. All of the AED LBS in the videos clearly defined the issue, knew what they wanted to achieve and how they wanted to achieve it.

The next thing that screams for attention is how all 4 AED LBS had communicated with the relevant parties to come together to affect change for the benefit of the students. All of them understood that working in silos, is far from productive and will not bring them closer to their objectives. It is also good to note as to how communication with all relevant parties will allow a common understanding of shared objectives.

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1.       Collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the education needs of our children is essential to enhance the capabilities of our children. This would include experts; subject teachers, HODs, SLs, external agencies and most importantly the parents or caregivers of the child. As AED LBS, we do not and should never work in silos.

2.       In order to collaborate successfully, as an AED LBS one needs to be resourceful and constantly read up and explore the variety means of available teaching methods that are suited to the needs of our profile of students. Individually, one needs to be resilient in tough times and aspire to be an effective “detective” through our observational skills, inquiry with others and analysis. We also need to sharpen our content knowledge dealing with behavioural and learning needs of children, move with changes in curriculum and education modifications in Singapore context, and have a support system to rely on in managing our children more effectively. Discover what works and what does not and its impact on children’s development.

3.       To always assess children’s areas of strengths and weaknesses. Setting up of goals for children through discussion with parents and teachers. Apply adaptations and modifications where necessary and also take child’s wants and needs in considerations.

4.       Perseverance and importance of setting the right tone in school in order to be an effective influence agent.

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It is heartening to see the AED LBS in the videos so passionate in their line of duty. Children with SEN have very diverse needs and abilities, and therefore it is important to ‘know’ your student. Knowing the profile of your students find out their strengths, interests and use it as an advantage to work on it to empower them.

Main takeaway - ‘It takes a village to raise a child’. It is necessary to have a collaborative effort from all stakeholders (parents, teachers, AEDs, caregivers, school etc) to ensure that the child thrives. It takes commitment and support to make a difference to the child’s life.

As AED LBS, we need to take the initiative to look through empirical based strategies to find which ones work best and modify or adapt it to suit our contexts as well as the child’s needs. It is also important that we should also take the initiative to find out something that we are not sure of to keep ourselves ahead. As AEDs, we play a big part in shaping a child’s progress in life.

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My main takeaway for the videos will be team work. Helping a child of any disability, be it physical or learning disability, it requires the commitment of different individuals who are willing to make a difference for the child. Stakeholders like the teachers, school leaders and even peers are important to the success of helping the child. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child.. Collaborative effort also have been takes between teachers and AED to make differentiation instructions for students with different types of disability. All 4 AEDs shown in the videos have gone the extra mile in order to have their students achieve in their own ways.
To sum up, as an AED LBS, we need to be sensitive, to know when to empathise, to be observant, to know our students well enough in order to help them in whatever we can.

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My main take away from the 4 videos is support and perseverance. I believe support played a huge role in the success that the students achieved and perseverance not just from the students but from LBS, friends, family and  'cheerleaders' from within and outside of school helped the student to reach their goals.

Another takeaway from the videos is sometimes we cannot just lead the students to their destination but rather follow along side by side and to carry them when they get tired. Just like the footsteps in the sand story or when Sam carried Frodo into Mount Doom. I believe that by being beside them along their journey, they will feel supported. The videos got me thinking that learning together with the students may also help them feel better about themselves. For example, if student do not know how to do something, can pretend that you also do not know and both try and figure it out together.

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My main takeaway is that when supporting supports with special needs, we have to be adaptive to changes, changes in our pedagogy, changes in our strategies, changes in our mindset, to suit the different and constant changing needs of theirs.

Close relationship with stakeholders is also important. We do not work alone, and as the proverb goes, it takes the whole village to raise a child. Everyone has a part to play in the development and success of the child.

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The prevalent takeaway I gathered from watching the four videos is, it is fundamental to work closely with all the stakeholders, the parents, teachers, HODs, school leaders, SEAB, external agencies and even with the students themselves.

Equivalently, with innovation and to challenge the norms such as modifying the curriculum materials, additional notes & scaffolding the passage, changing of the uniform to Velcro & elastic skirt, giving opportunities to attend mainstream school and to use self created visual guide for FCE practical exams all benefited their respective students overcome their learning issues . Therefore, to keep trying different strategies, empirical research and learning issues is not limited to academics, learning to be more independent is just as important.

Thank you for reading ('<')

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Having watched the 4 videos, my main takeaway was that all the Senior AED (LBS) identified the needs of their pupils and worked in partnership with the school team as well as parents to lead their pupils to achieve success.

As an AED(LBS), firstly I need to gather information to find  out which key area do I need to focus on to support the pupil. Then I ask myself how to support the pupil and what strategies can I use. I need to collaborate with different stakeholders and work as a team to meet the objective. I have to consistently review the progress of the pupil to see if he or she is progressing towards meeting the objective.

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Video 1. It is important that we do not let our assumptions of a particular disability, limit our assessment of our student’s needs.  Helping ASD & ADHD students is not always about learning social skills, but academics too. As educators, we can  make the effort to study and learn the subjects of our student’s, and help make it easier for them to understand. I’m inspired by  Mr Jeyaran ‘s willingness to study academic content and study skills in order to help his students. I also admire his willingness to share with other teachers strategies he used, so that more SEN students in the mainstream can benefit and experience success.

Video2: I’m encouraged by how Michelle’s school was willing to make the neccesary adaptation by starting at her student’s level first, before slowly guiding her up to the next level towards being independent.  As educators, we should not hesitate to use alternative communication techniques (like writing and texting), and different modes of assessment to help our students thrive in the mainstream school.

Video 3: It showed the importance of whole-school effort, together with the family, to help the student to succeed.  Mr Muhamad Bin Dahler really believed in his student, and that made a lot of difference.

Video 4: I admired how Ms Yah Mei showed how much she respected  her student’s point of view.  It showed how she valued her student first, and that motivated her to find out more from relevant agencies what accommodations are allowed to help her student succeed.

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One major takeaway is the importance of working with different stakeholders. It is not just a one-man show when it comes to supporting the development of the student but requires us to engage everyone involved to work together for the betterment of the student.

I gained a new perspective from the videos. The AED talked to the student and found out why she wanted to take FCE as her subject when the adults felt that D&T or Art suit her more. It is not about what we think is best for the student. It is finding out what the student really need and want. Often, the adults will have their own thinking and impose it on the student. The more mature students know their strengths and weaknesses, especially for secondary school students. The student is the main party and should have a say in the decisions affecting their life.

I was inspired by how the different LBS going the extra mile and tapping on various methods such as uniform modifications and arranging suitable examination accommodations. To provide the best arrangement for the students, we should examine their needs and provide customised interventions for each and everyone of them.

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Key takeaways from the videos:

It takes the whole village to raise a child. I totally agreed with this. As an AED(LBS), we need to work very closely with the stakeholders that supporting our students. Communication and collaboration among all the different stakeholders is the main key for helping and supporting our students in school.
Besides, being resourceful is also important. To support our SEN students, we must first well equipped and prepared ourselves with the skills and strategies. We always mentioned getting to know our student's strengths and weaknesses in order to help them better, we must always know what's our strengths and weaknesses in order to help our student better. As an AED(LBS) we must believe that every child can learn however they learn in different ways and pace. We must believe in our student. Understand their needs, motivate them and give them time to excel. As an AED(LBS) is definitely not an easy job, but with all the support from everyone here, i believe everyone of us will definitely have the meaningful journey !

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Key takeaways from the videos:

1.       To achieve the best outcomes for our students, the different stakeholders need to work collaboratively. In all the videos, the AED (LBS) cited the joint effort of stakeholders such as teachers, school leaders, caregivers and therapists as key to promoting positive outcomes for the students.

2.       We should provide accommodations and adaptations to enhance the learning of our students. Mr Jeyaram Kadivan shared that the teachers in his school modified the curriculum and provided extra notes for their students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Additionally, Ms Michelle Lim said that the teachers in her school used different modes of assessments to accommodate the needs of their student with selective mutism.

3.       We should provide appropriate scaffolding and tailor learning according to the strengths of our students. Ms Lee Yah Mei talked about how she used visual guides to help her student (who is a visual learner) to be more independent.

4.       We should promote self-determination in our students and consider their opinions and preferences. Ms Lee Yah Mei and the school provided the student with the opportunity to pursue a subject of her interest and supported her to be successful in it.

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It takes a whole village to nurture a student with Special Educational Needs (SEN). My roles as an AED(LBS) will then be crucial to be that at least one responsible adult in his/her learning journeys who:
(1)   believes in this particular student with SEN,

(2)   advocates and speaks up for him/her through my lens as an specialist or professional in SEN, and

(3)   brings together this village community comprised of school stakeholders, through professional communication and collaboration, so as to better support this student with SEN.

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Collaboration with all stakeholders such as the teachers and parents is an important factor to ensure that the students with special needs  will be able to overcome the challenges in school.
It is important for us as AED(LBS) to listen to the considerations of the students in choices such as subject combination instead of dictating what is best for them. This will keep them motivated as they are involved in the decision making process.
I always had the impression that  Students with Autism's main area of concern is  social difficulties. From the 1st video, I have learnt that they will also struggle with academic issues such as understanding of the text and the emotions of the characters in English and English Literature. As AED (LBS), we have to find strategies from empirical research that are suitable and can be use in the local context to support the students and help them overcome their issues with the help of teachers. This can be done through the use of role play during withdrawal classes and support by the teachers by giving them extra notes and scaffolding the passages.

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Aisah Bte Bakar (TG02)
My main takeaway will be adaptations of the strategies and interventions as well as the collaborations among stakeholders; teachers, student, parents, AED LBS, Senior Leaders and even SEAB.
We cannot deny that social skills are important for these students with SEN but yet, academic challenges are also as important on top of their emotional needs. Being able to look at all perspective and lay down expectations and objectives, with the child's in mind, help to make the transformation even more rewarding.
As AED LBS, we need to be resourceful and ask if unsure.
Adaptations can be in the form of modify of curriculum resources, changing uniforms to velcro type and elastic skirts, use of technology for project work e.g. in the form of video format, creating new resources for students who need to understand puberty and visual guides with SEAB approval.
Sometimes, by us helping these child, we are also helping ourselves and pushing our limits.
we must have faith in ourselves as well as the student.
In addition, students under transition have to face more challenges and expectations but if they have determination to success, shouldn't we also have that positive vibes. If they don't have that positive vibes, shouldn't we share ours because sharing is caring.

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From all the videos, one thing is very apparent. Communication is key. Communication between teachers, parents, AED LBS and students is a very important aspect in making things work. One can plan a superb intervention but without buy in from the different parties, things won't work.
Secondly, TSR is important. With good TSR in place, students and teachers would be able to work better together and students would benefit from the lessons that have been planned.
All the LBS highlighted in the videos showed they had a variety of experiences working with SEN children. These videos would serve as a motivation for myself when I start serving as an LBS in schools in the future.

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"Everything must try at least once" - which I agree truly with what Mr. Muhammad mentioned in his sharing.

From all the 4 videos, it is evident that these experience LBS have read up and tried many strategies to see which works best for the many students with the different learning difficulties. I have learnt that as an LBS, we should not just focus on the 'easiest', 'less hassle' strategy just because it is 'convenient'. Instead, we should be flexible enough to try out any strategies with our students as there is no 1 strategy that will work for example with 2 students with Austism even though they may share similar needs. It is always a trial and error phase as at the end of the day we have to see which strategy works best for that child at that moment of time.

I was also especially touched to hear that there are parents who are truly supportive and are committed to work with schools in order to help their child achieve success be it academically or just socially. It is very heartening when parents themselves come forward to share about their child and are open to discussion on how all of us can play a crucial part in helping the child to assimilate into the school or even to talk about sensitive issues such Sexual Education which i agree is not easy to to converse about but it is a must to talk about especially for students going through puberty. I feel parents' positive involvement right from the start will already help us to 'conquer 1 obstacle'. As an LBS, I will want to further support in this area by sharing possible suggestions or approaches with the whole team and even the child itself. I feel that is important to hear from the child themselves to know what they are comfortable with so that I could encourage them as they progressed further.

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I learnt that communication is key. It is also important to collaborate effectively with all stakeholders.When we have a good working relationship with stakeholders in nurturing the child, it will have many positive outcomes.

I also learnt that as an LBS , teacher student relationship is very important.It has to be established first. Its through that that we can through to our student and carry out a successful intervention.

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When supporting SEN students, many LBS tend to focus on the social aspect when it comes to providing intervention. Some students might not have a diagnosis but are academically weak. Hence, LBS will need to consider at all aspects of needs before deciding on what to focus on.

It is important to have the buy-in and collaboration between all stakeholders so as to support the students holistically.

It is also important to empower student to be independent. LBS must believe in their student and set realistic and achievable goals. It is also important to empower teachers by sharing useful strategies.

As curriculum becomes more demanding, higher order thinking is expected from the students. Hence, transition support is important for our SEN students to cope with these changes

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I feel that as an AED LBS we have to work closely with all key stakeholders in the school. This is probably one of the important factors for success. Supporting these students appropriately will enable them to reach their fullest potential. While the support is in place, we should believe that the kid himself can do it.

Also as an AED LBS, we must know the profile of the child. This is important to determine their strengths and weaknesses so as to tailor the appropriate assessments and interventions accordingly. With this, it is easy to manage the expectations and goals for the student.

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It is very good to get to hear real life experiences from others. It gives you an authentic feel of what is happening in an actual situation.

The saying it takes a village to raise a child is very apt when it comes to student under our care. We may be the person 'guiding'' the child but it will be for naught if the other teams and stakeholders do not help in as well.

At the end of the day the child is the utmost importance. We need to know the child better in order for us to come up with a good method to help the child.

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Key take-away from the videos

·        The most important thing as an AED (LBS) is to communicate effectively with school personnel such as school leaders, year-head, form and subject teachers and also stakeholders.

·        Parents plays a huge role in the lives of these students. Parents are willing to send their children to speech and language classes if there is a need to. If parents are more open-minded and supportive it will impact positively on their children’s life.

·        It is important to know about the profile of the students. One way to achieve this is to build rapport with them. With this knowledge that we gained about the students it would be easier to work with them.

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Sharifah Insyeera Binte Nasar Ahmad (TG01)

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Sharifah Insyeera Binte Nasar Ahmad (TG01)

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I agree that intervention for students with autism usually gears towards the social skills component. However, AED LBS should also observe their academic needs as well because students with autism could have difficulties in language subjects. This is where working with HODs and subject teachers is critical as we need to understand how the exam questions are crafted and what answers that is expected before teaching the necessary skills to the, Being weak in the areas of emotions, students with autism fall back when it comes to questions involving these components. Since higher order thinking skills is expected of students, AED LBS needs to deliver strategies in understanding comprehension text through role playing. Another way is by scaffolding the comprehension text passage to assist the student in understanding the content of text. Once these strategies are successful, it can be shared to other teachers to help them support their own students with special needs. This way AED LBS can empower the teachers as well.

Transition process is a big change for students with special needs. I believe It is crucial to have discussions with parents to allow the student be more independent, especially when they transit to a secondary school. AED LBS need to make arrangements for the students to cater to their needs, including the basics. The AED LBS also needs to work closely with parents to prove that the student is capable of being independent as parents can be overly concerned. It is important to make parents have this assurance because eventually our aim is to make our special needs students to be independent.

Students with reading difficulties could have self-esteem issue as it is hard for them to keep up with their peers. I recognized the importance of the whole-school approach in helping these students. However, parent’s support and commitment to help their children also helps in their learning development. For example, mainstream schools might not be able to meet certain expectations that parents set but the involvement of parents to take the effort in sending their child for further reading therapy and enrichment will help the child to learn better. The AED LBS holds an important role in giving recommendation to help the parents seek interventions that is beyond the school’s resources. It is also important for AED LBS and the school to set targets for the child, so that there will be targeted goals, hence progress can be measured and seen. This also helps the parents to see what is needed to be achieved by the child, and they could assist with it too. With the support received, the child will benefit holistically.

Student with autism has sensory issues that they need to cope with. This is important to take note of when the student has to choose elective subjects such as Art, FCE and D&T. Even though the student has interest in D&T, the student might not be able cope with certain activities as it might be too sensitive for their senses. This will affect their progress and involvement in that subject negatively. Hence as AED LBS, we have to be the one to flag these culpable issues out, to prevent possible undesired outcomes in the future. This of course has to be done under discussion with teachers and other stakeholders. Collaboration is key, and I strongly believe that with collective consensus, we are able to help make the best decisions for the students.

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From all the four videos, I realised that all the four AED(LBS) mentioned a lot about working with various stakeholders to help the child with learning issues. It is really heartening to see the amount of people coming together with the same goal and that is to help that one child who requires some support in his learning. From here I can infer on how important it is to work collaboratively. The boat won’t sail far if there’s only one person that does all the rowing. The same concept can be applied in school too whereby the LBS shouldn’t be the one running the show alone.

Quoting the examples shared by some of the LBS from the videos, it is encouraging to see how some teachers ‘step-up’ and walk the student home after seeing the LBS doing it previously and at the same time giving the student their personal space to learn independence by walking 2-3m apart. Another example was also on how teachers scaffold their learning resources to best accommodate the needs of the student and all the other teachers follow suit too. This is a perfect example of different people coming together all for the benefit of the child.

As an AED(LBS) in the future, I feel that there shouldn’t be a ‘plan’ for me to prep myself on how to better support my students with learning issues. What should be right is understanding that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’. I have to learn to be flexible and cater to the demands that is needed at the point of time. At the end of the day, as long as I’ve placed my student to be my utmost priority, everything else is secondary.

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Mr Jeyeram’s willingness to hone his teaching skills sets as an exemplary to remind myself to be opened to seek different ways to refine my teaching to benefit students with special needs in the area of academics.  Ms Lim’s video has highlighted to me that the area of special accommodation should not be neglected as it has impactful learning experiences for our students with special needs.  Mr Muhammd’s video has mentally prepared me that as AED (LBS), I will face students with diverse learning needs.  His initiative to walk behind the student led the teachers to step forward to help and that very much described the saying “It takes a village to raise a child.”  As for Ms Lee, she demonstrated the importance of being pro-active in knowing and supporting students with special needs by interacting and understanding their thought processes.

To sum up, as AED (LBS) to be, we need to be versatile, sensitive, observant and have faith in carrying out our duties to assist the students under our care.

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My personal takeaways from the 4 videos are:

1) AED LBS do not work alone in school.  It requires a collaborative initiative that requires the cooperation of the HOD, the Year Head, teachers, parents and a lot others to help pupils with SEN to fit into the mainstream.  Communication among the stakeholders is important. Conditions and expectations have to be clearly laid out to allow all stakeholders to agree on and work on.

2) When we support children in academic needs, we have to find out what areas of component that the child is weak in and come up with evidence based a strategies tweaked to our local context to teach them how to complete them with understanding.

3) AED LBS needs to be very flexible and adapt to changes because sometimes there is no progress or unexpected turns of events.  Hence, constant monitoring is needed to track for changes.

4) AED LBS also have to understand the strengths and weakness of the children, their learning style and the amount of support they are getting at home and in classroom to work on possible areas of support.

Overall, the role of an AED LBS carry many hats. He/she is always constantly  keeping a lookout to the children with SEN from a distance and celebrate success with them.

The 4 videos are very inspiring and they surely set a standard on the professionalism of an AED LBS.

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What are the takeaways that I have from the 4 videos?

I observe all 4 AED (LBS) have a very positive relationship with stakeholders. With a good rapport from subject teachers and parents, the AED (LBS) can support the student more effectively and learning can take place.

We need to understand our students well before we carry out any intervention plans. Depending on the student’s needs, the resources are usually individualized as they are specifically tailored for the student only.

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I had a heartfelt reflection after watching the 4 fantastic sharing from the 4 AED(LBS). My main takeaway - It takes a village of people to raise a child. "Everybody is unique and capable in their own way. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. ” Their love and passion is seen through their strong belief in empowering the child to learn and gain success in every little way.

Their work evolve not only on the child's diagnosis and  needs but also tapping on their strengths to empower them to grow. They work collaboratively with various stakeholders to provide adaptations and modifications ( material notes, curriculum, Velcro for uniform, visual guide resources, mode of assessment etc). They do not focus on the child's disability but rather the child's ability of being capable to complete the task on their own after stepping up on the interventions provided. All these will not be achievable without doing any ground work (observations, setting goals, collaborative work, creating various resources).

The secret recipe (lesson plan) to smell success requires not just adding the finest ingredients (resources, evidence-based strategies) but also using the appropriate utensils (support from various stakeholders) and adjusting the fire/ temperature (patience and realistic expectations).

Hence, the key focus that the 4 AED(LBS) has effectively portrayed was displaying the application of the Ecological framework where the main focus is on the child, looking at every aspect of who and what is revolving around them and how best they can support them. They definitely had demonstrated the effectiveness and importance of communication with the child and everyone around the child.

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It is truly inspiring to be able to hear the success stories of the 4 AED(LBS).

As an AED(LBS), I understand that a child’s needs may not be fixated to his diagnosis. For example, the needs of a child diagnosed with Autism may not be specifically just social skills. Therefore, this shows how important it is for an educator to always look at a child’s needs beyond his diagnosis. This is so that the child will be able to cope in a mainstream setting with the right level of support.

From the 4 videos, it is also evident that collaborative efforts from all stakeholders is part of the key ingredient to their success stories. Students will be able to reach out to their fullest potential when support and motivation are provided all around them. Tapping on fullest potential, I think it is also crucial for us, as educators, to always make it known to the students that we believe they can do it.

I have also learnt that, as an AED(LBS), is it important for one to build rapport with his students. With rapport comes mutual understanding and trust between the AED(LBS) and students.

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1) Persistent effort

Explore new ideas and strategies and make adaptations to help student learn.

Help students develop mastery motivation to enhance their academic functioning in school.

Impress on students that language and communication skills are key to developing their intellectual capacity.

2) Influence outcomes

Help students evaluate choices so that they can make informed decisions to achieve positive learning and behavioural outcomes.

Teach students to be responsible of their decisions and actions.

3) Nurture partnerships

Secure buy-in from parents, teachers, school leaders.

Keep up-to-date with intervention and financial support programmes provided by social services agencies (SSA) and various government ministries.

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To increase the effectiveness of supporting our students with needs, it is important that we look towards a whole school approach. For example, working with subject teachers to find out more about the student’s difficulties in class and working together to support this student through the implementation of strategies. We can also work with the HOD and SH on the possibility of having different modes of assessments for our students. As mention in the video, a student with a diagnosis may also have co-morbid difficulties. Therefore, as AED(LBS) we need to know our student well so that we can pick out what are their difficulties. With their difficulties in mind, we are able to plan interventions/strategies to support our students.

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Main takeaways are:

High order thinking skills and academic areas are also important areas of development for students with disabilities. As LBS, we do not only focus on social skills teaching during our support of students.

As LBS, we need to be patient with parents and try to win over their support. With perseverance and effort, parents will be able to see minor improvements and will be assured that changes are possible.

All stakeholders were involved in the best way they could with parents being the main driver and initiator. LBS do not work alone in a vacuum and we need to realize this.

Success came because all stakeholders were involved and cooperated to support the student with needs.

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It is always a team effort that involves the school leaders, Year-heads, teachers, parents and myself to find a common ground in regards to the student’s academic and non-academic achievements especially for students’ with disabilities. The main takeaway from the videos, I learnt from the seniors that as AED (LBS) my role is to know the student’s needs, strengths and weaknesses, and their challenges really well so that I can set appropriate goals and expectations with the student’s needs and strengths in mind, and use strategies, or appropriate learning tools, or modify curriculum, instructions and assessments to further strengthen students’ skills, boost their strengths and enhance their learning.

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Every student is unique. It is important to understand the difficulties students are facing first before trying to implement ways/strategies to help them. The strategies used too need to be suitable for the student and in our local classroom context. We should not only focus on 1 area (e.g. social skills) but instead, we should also look at other areas (academic) to support students with special needs.
As an educator, we need to believe that students with special needs can be independent. Adaptations have to be made to allow these students to achieve this goal. We need to ensure that basic needs of student's are met before looking into further interventions. Most importantly, we need to provide a safe and conducive environment for the student.
It is not just about finding the student's weakness but instead we have to tap on student's strengths (e.g. visual) which will benefits the student in many ways.
Lastly, we need to work collaboratively with all stakeholders (parents, teachers, HODS and Principal). It takes all the stakeholders to work together to support the SEN student.

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As an AED (LBS), I should not just focus on teaching social skills to students with autism. In supporting students with learning issues, I also need to give them academic support. It is important to provide the necessary scaffolding for students to comprehend passages, especially for some subjects where students are required to do higher order thinking.

I also see the need to promote students’ independence. It was heart-warming to see that the school was willing to accommodate to the student’s needs by allowing uniform modifications, changing school amenities to provide a safe and conducive environment for the student to learn.

Collaborative effort from all stakeholders is important to support students with learning needs. School should not give up and need to adopt a pragmatic approach for every student to be giving an opportunity to lead a normal childhood.

As an AED (LBS), I see the importance of giving students a chance to prove themselves. The school can show support by showing respect to student’s decision. Ultimately, our main objective in the education fraternity is to nurture students to be confident, self-directed, active and concerned citizens.

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These videos have changed my views on how to look beyond the social skills deficit of a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  Unless the student has co-morbidity with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, we tend to only focus on improving his social skills and ignore the struggles he may have in his academics. Through these videos, I realised that although a student with ASD might not have a learning difficulty, it does not mean he is not struggling academically.

As an LBS, it is important to learn the curriculum better so that we can understand the difficulties our students are facing and work on strategies to help overcome these difficulties. Knowing the strategies of how to help the students may not be helpful if we do not understand the needs of our students.

I am also very heartened to see the collective effort by the teaches, LBS and parents helped the student with selective mutism and difficulty with her fine and gross motor skills became more independent. Instead of focusing on the student’s inability to speak, she found alternatives that would allow her to still communicate with her peers such as through video calls and WhatsApp. Also, instead of forcing the student to present, she could submit her assignment in a video format. It is also encouraging to see how supportive the classmates are in accommodating to the different needs of their friends.

Through these videos, I can see how the success stories by the LBS is not achieved through the hard work of just one individual. It is a collective effort of the different stakeholders in modifying the environment for the student, accommodating to their different needs and understanding their difficulties in order to support them better.

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From the 4 videos, I have learnt one important thing and that is to communicate and collaborate with all stakeholders. From the videos, all the AED (LBS) worked very closely with the parents, teachers, HODs and even the principal when supporting students with special needs. Through all 4 videos, part of the success stories is the collaborative effort from key stakeholders. Teachers were supportive and were willing to go out of the way to accommodate and modify the resources for their students. Parents also play a huge role in ensuring that their child gets the optimum support. The third AED (LBS) mentioned that the parents were willing to send their child for Speech Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy if needed. This shows that when it comes to supporting students with special needs, it is not just a one-man show, rather, it is a whole-school and home collaborative effort. Every stakeholder plays a part in ensuring that the student receives the maximum support to showcase their fullest potential.

Another takeaway I got from the videos is that it is important to know the student we are working with very well. We should know their interests, strengths, difficulties as well as their needs. Just like first video, the AED (LBS) thought that the student would need social skills sessions however realized that the student in fact needed more support in academic aspects. Only when we know the student very well inside out, we can then decide what is the best and optimum support we can give them.

I have also learnt that when we AED (LBS) are working with students with special needs, it is important to take into account the best interest of the student, not just what we think is best for the student. This is especially shared during the 4th video where the student wanted to take FCE but all the stakeholders had doubts about it. However, instead of forcing the student to take other subjects, they supported her and accommodated to her needs and never gave up looking for ways to ensure that the student is able to show her full potential despite her needs. It is a definite learning point for me, to give what is best for our students but taking into consideration greatly their interest.

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Video 1: Mr. Jeyaram Kadivan (St. Gabriel’s Secondary School)

I was very impress with Mr Jeyaram and the English Language and Humanities department for working together to support students with disabilities who had challenges coping with the subject. Using evidence-based strategies, Mt Jeyaram taught his students to decipher the meaning of the passage and understand emotions. He even managed to get the buy-in from teachers to modify curriculum material and provide scaffolding for students.

Video 2: Ms. Michelle Lim Peck Hong (Bukit Merah Secondary School)

Ms. Michelle shared how she provided support for a student with selective mutism through accommodation and adaptation to build more independent skills. I was very impressed with the creative idea and efforts put in to do this. For example. Ms. Michelle customized the school uniform with Velcro and elastic skirt to enable her student to dress independently. In time, the child became more independent and confident enough to travel to school independently.

Video 3: Mr. Muhammad Bin Dahlan (Endeavour Primary School)

I learned how good collaboration between parents and the school is important for a child with special needs to succeed in school. It is also very important for both parents and school to be able to communicate well with each other, set expectations and goals for the child to achieve and to be transparent about their limitations.

Video 4: Ms. Lee Yah Mei (Bukit Batok Secondary School)

I was very impressed with how Ms. Lee and the teachers went the extra mile to help their student with autism excel in FCE. From looking at the student’s strength and challenges, they created a visual guide for the student to enable her to work independently. They even checked with SEAB about using visual strategy during her practical exam for FCE and worked closely with the student to develop an “approved” strategy in order to take her exams.

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With a strong support and guidance from parents, teachers and friends, students with learning needs will be able to do equally well or even better than their peers. From the 4 videos, it is clear that working with the various stakeholders in nurturing the child will have the most positive of outcomes. Having clear expectations and goals at the beginning, helps to chart the student’s growth. I love how Sally’s parents actually supported her decision in taking up the subjects despite some teachers were against it, and that they just wanted her to experience FCE instead of wanting her to ace the subject. I thought that really sent a message to the child that the parents were behind you and that it is okay to try things out of our comfort zone. At times, as an adult, we tend to play it safe and do not want to get out of our comfort zone. Stories like these, are truly an inspiration and a motivation for us to believe that each child is a gem.

As an AED LBS, our teacher-student relationship has to be excellent. Without good rapport with our students, it’s going to be difficult to get them to buy in with our interventions. Also, not forgetting to work closely with the various stakeholders (parents and teachers) to help and reinforce certain interventions that we have taught the students. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.

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My key takeaway from the 4 videos :- shows the dedication, passion and commitment which is an essential element to be an AED(LBS). It is an inspiring videos to watch as commitment to student learning can be an important factor in motivating students. It involves a whole school approach to have a crucial role to play to ensure that all students reach their full potential for growth irrespective of individual and family related factors, socio economic status and life experiences.
Cooperation and networking between school, external agencies and relevant stakeholders can facilitate exchange of practices and help make the crucial transition from early childhood education and care to primary schools and from primary to secondary education easier for learners and their families.
I believe that every student is unique and special in their own way. Every aspect of my teaching will be shaped by the role I want to play in the mentorship and development of my students. I will continue to inspire students with care and empathy to help them realize their full potential and provide them the academic and emotional support.

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- Though curriculum can be challenging as some subjects require higher-order thinking, we should have faith that our SEN students can learn. We should not deny them the opportunity to experience the learning journey. The results are secondary.
- The focus should always be on any form of transition and change. These include level promotion, changing of class teachers, transiting from primary to secondary school, and maybe even tertiary institutions.
- Basic needs should be looked into above anything else when encountering a student at any level.
- The use of ICT can be an advantage in helping SEN students accomplish their work.
- Collaboration is key in order to help an SEN student. I particularly like how a parent requested for 'any other relevant personnel...'
- Like any human being, SEN students deserve respect and constantly be reminded of their sense of self. This should propel anyone forward towards achieving their individual goals.

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One of the takeaways I had from the videos that we watched was that one of the key factors to seeing success in our students is really the collaboration between different stakeholders. Across the 4 videos, all of them would mention about collaborating with the teachers, parents, school leaders, other school staff and external agents to help. It really drives home the point that as an AED (LBS) we should not be working in silos. It really requires everyone’s different efforts to help the student gain independence or make an improvement in the target area. Commitment and responsibility in following up for each of the stakeholders’ parts are also very important or else, the interventions planned might not be effective for the students.

Another takeaway from the videos are the acceptance of challenges both on the student’s part and the teacher and LBS’s part. What was inspiring was the fact that the LBS might have felt that certain interventions must take place for the student to gain independence, even though the actions to take are challenging and might even seem impossible but they challenged themselves and still went ahead to try. The students also challenged themselves and worked well with the teacher, not giving up along the way. In accepting the challenge, they were able to push the limits for the student, hence resulting in their success factor.

The last video also prompted me that sometimes we should avoid thinking that we know better, sometimes our students know what they want and if they are able to express that, then what we have to do is to trust them and give them their freedom of choice, especially for the students who are in secondary school or those that really shows their thought process in conversations. I think it is also recognizing that in the end, it is the student’s life and their journey to take and we are there to support them and maximize their potential as best as possible. After all, the biggest motivation has to come from within and from the students themselves.

- Tedra (TG02)

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My Key Takeaway from the 4 videos

From the 4 videos, the takeaways I learned are:

(1) Keep things in perspective

Different people face different challenges in life. In the case of Ms. Lee Yah Mei’s client, the child had multiple issues and decided to choose FCE as one of the subjects at Upper Secondary. While many people were sceptical about her decision, Ms. Lee pondered and decided to keep things in perspective in the best interest of the child

(2) Be your own expert

In the case of Mr. Jeyaram, he explored the academic aspect of students with autism in his school. He took the initiative to find out empirical studies on how to do well for the subject of Humanities. Also, he worked with various teachers to tailor to the needs of the profile of students in that school.

(3) Keep calm and stay positive

In the course of Ms. Michelle Lim’s work, she interacted with a client who has selective mutism with fine and gross motor difficulties. At the start, it was not easy to work with the client’s parents and convincing them to allow the child to be more independent as she is currently studying in a secondary school. With a positive attitude and determination, Michelle managed to convince the parents and came out with strategies to work towards the client’s independence.

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What is the main takeaway that you have from these 4 videos on how you can support students with learning issues?

My key takeaway from the videos would be the different strategies and experiences shared by the four AED(LBS). I have learnt that every steps encountered by them is a journey as well as a process of discovery and acceptance. Eventhough along the way, there might be denials, guilts and other negative feelings thrown by the students towards them but certainly as an educator, they understand their students’ perspectives pretty well and selflessly gave their very best in supporting them further.

Most students just need the right push and motivation at the right time to catch the “AHA” moment that will give them directions or purpose for them to work hard and strive in everything they do. I might not know when that “AHA” moment will appear for my own set of students that I will be working with but I just have to keep on trying and not to give up similarly like what the 4 AED(LBS) have been doing.

Being in this profession all we can do are to keep doing what we believe in and work towards achieving success. Just like the saying, “every little steps goes a long way” .Most likely without our realization, we could have created many “AHA” moments for our fellow students.

I believe much effort had been put in to ensure a fruitful learning experience for both AED(LBS) and the students. Moreover, with great partnership between school and home, it helps in making a positive impact to the special needs community as well. I hereby conclude that it takes a village to raise a child and I believe Mr Jeyaram, Ms Michelle, Mr Muhammad and Ms Lee did a tremendously good job to inspire and ignite their students’ lives in their own special way.

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What are the main takeaways that I have from these 4 videos on how you can support students with learning issues?
No matter how we can help the students with learning issues, we need to do differentiated, scaffolded and explicit steps, materials(worksheets ,study notes, clothing, etc), strategies or skills.
We need to work with all stakeholders to support the students with learning issues holistically, practically and mutually too.
Both students and educators can inspired each other to meet the students' needs and goals for life or academic achievements.

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My main takeaway from the videos is to customize your strategies and support for students as each student is different and it is not a one size fit for all. Firstly, Mr Jeyaram's student was diagnosed with autism and though autism has been linked to lacking social skills, Mr Jeyaram's student was also lacking academically. He also mentioned how the teachers have modified learning resources to help the students. Michelle's student had fine and gross motor difficulties and a lot of adaptations was made during her transition from primary to secondary school. The school had to modify the method of assessment, school's facilities and class resources. Muhammad's student was very weak academically and was at first recommended to a SPED school. After arranging speech therapies for him and communicating their expectations to him, the student performed better and become more motivated. Yah Mei's student who was diagnosed with autism, wanted to take up F&N as her applied subject. Though Yah Mei's student may do well in the theory part, Yah Mei have found out that her student may need to improve on practical skills. Due to this, they came up with a visual guide for the student to improve on her practical skills and then moved on to getting her to create her own visual guide. All in all, they have adapted in one way or another for their students.

All the AED (LBS) in the videos share the same belief that their students are capable to do whatever they set their minds to. With the right support and encouragement, students with SEN can perform as well, if not better than any other students in school.

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What is the main takeaway that you have from these 4 videos on how you can support students with learning issues?

My main takeaway from these 4 videos is that it is important for us as AED LBS to consider the other needs of the student and not only focus on 1. For instance, while we focus on social skills, we have to also factor in the academic ability of our students to allow a wholesome approach in supporting them.
Similarly, when we use evidence based strategies, it is important for us to adjust these strategies to suit our local context and our students. As much as possible, where applicable, we may tap on the use of ICT in our interventions to engage our students better.
Lastly, it is wise and necessary to have a good relationship with the different stakeholders such as parents, teachers and school leaders in working with our children. Collaborating with the different stakeholders is vital in supporting our students.

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Video 1

My main takeaway is to not adopt tunnel vision when it comes to supporting students with learning issues. I agree with Mr Jeyaram that educators tend to focus on teaching social skills particularly to students with autism. I understand that educators main goal is to fulfill students’ basic needs. But Mr Jeyaram highlighted that students’ requires academic support as well. One of the requirements for secondary school is to analyse and interpret passages. It is challenging for students with autism when there is a change in curriculum as the old resources are no longer relevant. I believed that Mr Jeyaram collaborated effort with teachers worked out positively. Reason being, teachers saw the need in providing the necessary scaffolding for students to comprehend passages, especially for humanities where students are required to do higher order thinking.

Video 2

My main takeaway is to promote students’ independence. Our goal as educators is to nurture students to be confident, self-directed, active and concerned citizens after completing 10 years of compulsory education. From Ms Michelle’s sharing, I understand that her student requires support from her grandma or mother in primary school. Hence, I am glad that Ms Michelle were able to convince the parents to let go of their child. I believe that this is not an easy feat considering that the child’s mother and grandma supported her throughout the 6 years of primary school. Convincing parents in one challenge down. The other challenge is to ensure that the child’s basic needs are met. It can’t be all words and no action. I am truly inspired by the school’s willingness to accommodate to the child’s needs by allowing uniform modifications, changing school amenities to provide a safe and conducive environment for the child to learn.

Video 3

My main takeaway is that collaborative effort from all stakeholders is vital to support students with learning needs. It was comforting to know that the parents initiate a meeting with the school to discuss their child. But what was truly inspiring is that the school were willing to adopt a pragmatic approach to give their child an opportunity to lead a normal childhood. Despite numerous challenges, the school did not give up. Instead, teachers went above their duty by ensuring the child reaches home safely, explaining puberty and bodily changes to a child with learning needs and more. I agree with Mr Muhammad that the child plays a key role. From his sharing, I understand that the child is driven and wants to continuously improve himself. Hence, with the right support he can achieve great things.

Video 4

My main takeaway is to give students a chance to prove themselves. The school had doubts when Sally opted for FCE amongst other subjects. I am glad that Ms Yah Mei had the opportunity to listen to how Sally’s arrived at her decision. Moreover, the school respected and supported Sally’s decision. Honestly, I am inspired by Ms Yah Mei for putting in a lot of effort in supporting Sally during practical session. I am able to relate to this because I undergo a similar experience with one of my students for FCE. Trust me, it is not easy supporting a teenager with sensory issues in the kitchen. Furthermore, Ms Yah Mei went the extra length to check with SEAB for the use of visual guide. Nonetheless, things worked out positively in the end. When Sally emerged as the top scorer for FCE, it is like a cherry on top of the cake.

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Takeaways from Video #1

It was encouraging to see what Mr Jeyaram has done to help his students in their learning. I agree with him that it is important to work together with our fellow teachers to revisit the academic expectations of our students who has learning difficulties and look into what strategies can be implemented to help our students in their learning.

It makes sense that we sometimes get easily blinded by the diagnosis of our students that we lose focus on the other areas that the student may be struggling in. Hence, it is crucial that we look beyond their diagnosis and address the underlying issues as well, as it may hinder their overall performance in school too.

Takeaways from Video #2

It was inspiring to see the things Ms Michelle does for her students such as promoting independence in her students. The adaptations of materials and consideration of physical setting to accommodate to her student’s needs were heartening. I also find it assuring to see the rapport she has with the parents which I feel is important for the betterment of the student.

I feel it is necessary that as educators, we look into our students’ needs and see how else we can accommodate to our students. I like that ICT was used as a tool to assist the students in their learning and the willingness of the school to allow different modes of assessment for the students with learning needs. I think the implementation of buddy system is also useful as it helps promote friendship, the ability to foster a greater sense of responsibility and a more inclusive school environment.

Takeaways from Video #3

Mr Muhammad mentioned the importance of collaborative effort involving everyone in school, relevant professionals like the occupational therapist, physiotherapist and parents for the benefit of the student’s success in school. It allows every one of the stakeholders to contribute in the best way that they could through communicating expectations and setting of realistic goals for the student. I like the idea of it as it helps people learn from each other and gain a better sense of how things work.

It is also useful to note that as educators, we need to understand the academic frustrations of our students and provide them with not only academic support but emotional support as well.

Takeaways from Video #4
Ms Lee’s sharing was very meaningful. It recognizes how important it is to have rapport with our students. It builds trust between the student and the teacher, which can be used as a way to find out rationale behind their decision if the circumstances arise. She also makes an effort to look into her student’s strengths and weaknesses as it helps her to better determine the readiness level of her student.

It is admirable to see the effort and time taken to help the student in their learning especially through the various classroom observations, creating of resources to aid student in their learning and liaising with various stakeholders to look into feasible possibilities that could accommodate to the student’s needs.

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Chillsie Wong (TG2)
My takeaways from Ms Lee Yah Mei, AED (LBS) of Bukit Batok Sec School

I was very encouraged by the wonderful success story of Yah Mei's student, Sally.

Yah Mei took the time to understand why Sally wanted to take FCE instead of D&T or Art. She realized that Sally had considered her choice carefully and had valid reasons for it. Often SEN students are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.

Yah Mei checked the subject requirements and found that Sally was weak in the practical. Based on Sally's visual learning style, Yah Mei used a visual guide to help her.

When the visual guide helped Sally to successfully complete 90% of her practical independently, Yah Mei took the initiative to check with SEAB, and confirmed that a visual guide is allowed during the practical examination.

With the help of a visual guide, Sally became one of the top achievers for FCE during her N Level examination.

Yah Mei is an understanding, creative and resourceful AED(LBS). She was instrumental in helping Sally achieve success.

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1.  Takeaways from Mr Jeyaram Kadivan, Senior AED (LBS) of St Gabriel’s Sec School

I am inspired by Mr Jeyaram for going beyond his duties in giving support and providing interventions for academic needs other than the learning and behavioural needs of two students with autism.

He read up empirical research papers for strategies in helping the students in meeting the English Language or Humanities curriculum that required higher order thinking skills. On his own, he conducted a one to one intervention session with the student to support them in understanding the comprehension text and in acting out the emotions. It is heartwarming to learn that the students managed well in the National ‘O’ level exam.

2. Takeaways from Ms Michelle Lim Peck Hong, Senior AED (LBS) of Bukit Merah Sec School

I am inspired by Ms Lim for putting effort into looking into the basic needs of the student. Her little effort helped to motivate the student to come to school and also helped to encourage the student  to take bus to and fro school without any support from her mum.

From this video, I am inspired by Ms Lim and the staff in her school for making a big difference in the life of the student who then moved on to study at the Polytechnic for further education despite her disabilities. I believed that it is important to think positively and as educators, we need to try anything that we could utilise to help the student achieve her academic expectations. This shows that educators in school play a big part in moulding or breaking a child in his/ her progress through life.

3.  Takeaways from Mr Muhammad Bin Dahlan, Senior AED (LBS) of Endeavour Pri School

I have learned from Mr Muhammad’s sharing that it takes a  whole school effort to help a student who chose to attend mainstream school. It was a happy story as the child had done well and could remain in the school and the success factor was that all stakeholders were involved in the best way they could. It was a success when the teachers who were supporting the student had motivated him and the student was also self-driven to be better than where he was.

I am very impressed by the way the teaching staff cared for the student. It was mentioned that teachers were watching for the student during recess and making sure that his buddy did not abandon him and there were teachers who walked  2 to 3 metres behind the child to see him home.

4.  Takeaways from Ms Lee Yah Mei, AED (LBS) of Bukit Batok Sec School

I have learned from Ms Lee’s sharing on how they have helped a student with autism become a top achiever in the FCE subject at ‘N’ level. This was accomplished with a visual guide design of the recipe which greatly helped the student who is a visual learner.

It was the joint effort put in by AED(LBS) and the FCE teacher in training the student to create the visual guide for herself that has helped her complete 90% of  the whole practical without the help of her class buddy or teacher.

I believe that such a miracle would not have happened if Ms Lee did not bother to check what are the factors that were affecting the student’s performance in FCE. It was Ms Lee’s observation that led the student to create her visual guide design which could be brought in during ‘N’ level with SEAB approval.

I am inspired by Ms Lee for being meticulous in her work. It is important that as AED (LBS), we must  find out what would work best for our students or what are the tools that could enhance their academic performance.