AVSW - Part 2 of 5

Dear Friends,

I am helping to fundraise for ARC in its 2023 AVSW or A Very Special Walk. The charity is moving to its next phase to provide much needed services for adults on the autism spectrum.

MY CHALLENGE: Recall the 23-year history of the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) and share 23 memorable photo stories

Click https://avsw.autism.org.sg/participants/denise-phua-2074033a to donate to ARC.

Thanks for caring! Denise

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4. 4TH of my 23 Memories of serving in autism charity, ARC.

ANITA RUSSELL, my son’s Australian speech pathologist, closed her popular Orchard Road clinic and joined ARC to found the EARLY INTERVENTION UNIT of ARC in 2002.

Like the other pioneer staff, she gave her all. This WeCAN EIP was globally accredited, years later.

We owe Anita a lot. And her husband, David Russell.

5. 5TH of my 23 Memories of serving in autism charity, ARC.

Pathlight School, the FIRST AUTISM-FOCUSED SPECIAL SCHOOL was started in 2004, under ARC. It was neither a ‘typical’ special school or mainstream school – it offered mainstream syllabus to children with autism.

Not many parents wanted their children to come at first. Enrolment in year 1 was 41; to breakeven, we needed 400. Tough times then.

The team worked hard to educate the kids. The results, both academic and otherwise, spoke for themselves.

Today, enrolment is close to 2,000.

6. 6TH of my 23 Memories of serving in autism charity, ARC.

In Pathlight School’s early years, we learnt that students on the autism spectrum are really good in computer. We ran a lot of IT classes and started an IT design academy. At that time, we relied on donated old computers which can be slow and frustrating for our students.

Things are much better today.

7. 7TH of my 23 Memories of serving in autism charity, ARC.

Singapore was not strong in special education and especially in autism back in the early years. We kept learning from autism experts from all over the world and then localized practices to suit the Singapore context.

One practice I learnt was how Australian special schools started SATELLITE CLASSROOMS so their students can be seen, heard and perhaps learn in a mainstream setting.

I am grateful to MRS SARA MENON from CHONG BOON SECONDARY SCHOOL for allowing Pathlight secondary school students and teachers to use their physical classrooms and to join some of their social and academic activities.

MOE later officially supported this integration model.

8. 8TH of my 23 Memories of serving in autism charity, ARC.

Children with autism grow up to become adults with autism. We found that with training and support, at least half of these adults can do some form of work.

ARC started an E2C OR EMPLOYABILITY & EMPLOYMENT UNIT led by ex-banker Jacelyn Lim to assess, train, place and support our special ones in suitable white or blue-collared jobs.

Adults services are costly. It is one of the reasons why we still need to fundraise.