Attending to Every Child’s Needs

One of Wai Mang’s first encounters with special needs children was running to the class of a teacher who called for assistance, taking a child to the back of the room, and sitting on the floor with him to calm him down as the lesson resumed.

That was in the late 1990s, when she was in charge of Henry Park Primary School’s Learning Support Programme, which brought her into close contact with many such students.

One of them was only in Primary 2 when she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. While her father considered putting her on a course of medication, Wai Mang told him, “let me try to reach out to her”. And so she did, by giving her a “Happy Book” to write positive reflections, and creating the post of “photographer-in-charge” so she could pursue her interest in photography in school.

Those early experiences instilled in her a desire to learn how to better support them, so she spent a decade-and-a-half doing her Masters and PhD — while still teaching full-time — in this field.

Today, she is Henry Park’s Head of Student Well-Being, and the training she has provided her colleagues can, more often than not, pre-empt an incident. One colleague recently saw a student loitering in the lobby during lesson time. Because she knew the boy was suffering from oppositional conduct disorder, the teacher was able to use the correct techniques to communicate effectively with the boy, so as to get him to return to the classroom. Through this, a potentially upsetting incident was avoided.

And the Primary 2 student Wai Mang took special care of? She has since graduated to be an accountant.

Reaching Out to All Students

But Wai Mang’s strategies go far beyond special needs. She says, “Today, many children don’t have people listening to them. But all children have needs. When a child is feeling good, it’s the time to establish rapport, reach out to him and show you really care.”

For that reason, she has made it a point for every teacher in Henry Park to speak with two of their students for five minutes each week, rotating through all their students in a few months. Among other benefits, these short but personal sessions can help identify students who feel isolated and stressed.

Sometimes, caring takes the form of appreciation points, which Wai Mang gives out to students and entire classes for various achievements, such as making the effort to write out their homework neatly. The points can be exchanged for rewards like stationery items, book vouchers or some sports equipment. With time and guidance, the students grew to be intrinsically motivated.

But the bottom line for Wai Mang is to treat all children with respect, speak calmly with them and never shout at them.

In this manner, she managed to get a boy, who was sluggish in his homework submission, to complete all the English homework he owed her in one weekend, simply by taking the time to talk to him during one recess. She told him she trusted him. The boy began catching up with the rest of his class, and Wai Mang feels he is now ready to help two of his friends mend their ways too.

Winning Over Students and Parents

Well aware of the influence of parents, Wai Mang goes out of her way to harness their co-operation. She maintains a daily class blog so that they can keep up with their children’s activities: lessons, homework, even information on relief teachers if Wai Mang has to be away.

On top of this, she sends parents reports on their children’s attitude towards learning, behaviour and progress every fortnight. “It’s all part of my partnership with the parents. By keeping them informed, they can help me reinforce what I’m telling their child in class,” explains Wai Mang.

Despite all she has done, Wai Mang does not believe she has any special gift in educating special needs children. To her, any teacher can be taught the necessary skills, as long as they are without bias or some preconceived notion, because “the children can feel the bias, even if it is unsaid.”

Truly convicted that all children can and want to learn, Wai Mang continues to share actively the knowledge and skills she has acquired with others in the fraternity. 

I’m one of the naughtiest kids but I’m behaving well in her class because she teaches very well. She’s very kind and generous. She tries to help her students and give us what we need; she puts in the effort. – Pavian Chong, Primary 5