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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today (December 11):
Question:
In the 2010-2011 Policy Address, the Government indicated that it would enhance the services provided for autistic children on aspects such as healthcare, education and pre-school services, including providing more information about autism to parents and carers of autistic children and expanding the professional team for relevant healthcare services. Besides, the Government indicated in the Budget released subsequently that services would be provided for an additional 3 000 or so children with autism or hyperactivity disorder each year. Regarding the services provided for children (i.e. persons aged under 18) with autism or hyperactivity disorder, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of children who were assessed for autism or hyperactivity disorder in each of the past three years, broken down by age; among such children, of the respective numbers of those who were diagnosed to be autistic children with and without intellectual disabilities, as well as those diagnosed to have hyperactivity disorder; of the current number of autistic children in the territory according to the authorities' estimation;
(b) of the respective details concerning the healthcare, education and welfare services provided for children with autism or hyperactivity disorder by the authorities in the past three years, and the respective waiting time for such services; and
(c) whether the targets of the healthcare, education and welfare services currently provided for autistic children include autistic children without intellectual disabilities; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che is as follows:
(a) The Department of Health (DH) provides comprehensive developmental assessment services through its Child Assessment Service (CAS) for children under 12 years of age who are suspected to have problems during their growth stage, including those with tendency for or symptoms of autism or hyperactivity disorder. After the assessment, the Child Assessment Centres (CACs) will formulate follow-up plans and make referrals according to the needs of individual children.
In each of the past three years, the six CACs under the DH conducted assessment for over 8 000 children. Among them, the number of confirmed autism cases were between 1 600 and 1 800 and that of confirmed cases of hyperactivity disorder between 2 000 and 2 200. There were 900 to 1 100 children confirmed as suffering from both autism and developmental delay/intellectual disabilities. The detailed figures are set out in Annex.
As the CAS of the DH is not the only service unit to provide developmental assessment services for children in Hong Kong, the Administration cannot project the total number of persons suffering from autism in Hong Kong based on the above figures.
(b) and (c) Following preliminary assessment by the CAC of the DH, children with autistic tendency and hyperactivity disorder or symptoms will be referred to the specialist out-patient clinics of the Hospital Authority (HA) for further assessment and treatment.
In 2012-13, the HA provided relevant medical services for over 6 100 children and adolescents suffering from autism and over 6 800 children and adolescents suffering from hyperactivity disorder. Autistic children with intellectual disabilities can also use the services provided for autistic children by the HA.
To enhance the support for children and adolescents suffering from autism or hyperactivity disorder, the HA expanded the multi-disciplinary team comprising various healthcare practitioners in 2011-12 to provide early identification, assessment and treatment for an additional 3 000 children with autism or hyperactivity disorder each year. The professional team will provide appropriate treatment and training for those children in order to help them develop better speech and communication skills, improve interpersonal relationships and social skills, problem solving skills, behaviour adjustment and emotional management, so as to help them communicate and get along with others in daily life.
As regards developmental assessment services provided by CAS of the DH, in the past three years, nearly all new cases were attended to within three weeks, and assessments for over 90% of the newly registered cases were completed within six months. In 2012-13, the median waiting time for first appointment of HA's child and adolescent psychiatric services was about 19 weeks.
On education support services, autistic students with intellectual disabilities will attend schools for children with intellectual disabilities for intensive support, while other students having autism or hyperactivity disorder but are of average intelligence will attend ordinary schools.
To help ordinary primary and secondary schools cater for students with special educational needs (SEN) (including students with autism and hyperactivity disorder), the Education Bureau (EDB) has been providing additional resources on top of the regular subvention, professional support and teacher training for schools, and encouraging schools to adopt the 3-Tier Intervention Model (Note) to support students with SEN. Schools may flexibly deploy resources to employ additional teaching staff and/or procure professional services to render appropriate support for the students.
In addition, since the 2011/12 school year, the EDB has launched a pilot project on the enhancement of support services for students with autism in ordinary primary and secondary schools which comprises structured on-top small group training for students with autism. EDB also published the "Development of Executive Skills Resource Package" in the 2009/10 school year for primary schools to strengthen the executive skills of students with hyperactivity disorder through school-based group training programme.
Should students with autism or hyperactivity disorder still exhibit severe emotional and behavioural problems despite the school-based remedial support, schools may, upon parental consent, refer the students to the Adjustment Unit of the EDB for pull-out intensive intervention. For those students who do not show significant improvement after receiving support, the EDB will consider providing schools with a time-limited grant to employ teacher assistants to provide individualised support in order to help the students concerned to establish classroom routines.
On the welfare front, the Government has strived to provide children from birth to six years old with disabilities or at risk of becoming disabled with early intervention through pre-school rehabilitation services, with a view to enhancing their physical, psychological and social developments, thus improving their chances of studying in ordinary schools and participating in daily life activities, and helping their families meet their special needs.
The Early Education and Training Centres, the Special Child Care Centres and the Integrated Programme in Kindergarten-cum-Child Care Centres of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) provide training for children with disabilities, including those diagnosed with autism and hyperactivity disorder. There are currently a total of 6 245 pre-school rehabilitation places. SWD anticipates that about 607 additional places will come on stream in 2013-14. The waiting time for SWD's pre-school services in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 are 10-15 months, 12-17 months and 13-17 months respectively.
Meanwhile, the Community Care Fund has launched an assistance programme on "Training Subsidy for Children who are on the Waiting List of Subvented Pre-school Rehabilitation Services" since December 2011 to provide training subsidy at a maximum of $2,615 per month for pre-school children (including those with autism and hyperactivity disorder) from low-income families who are in need of rehabilitation services, thereby enabling them to receive self-financing services operated by non-governmental organisations and facilitating their learning and development.
Note: Tier-1 support - quality teaching in the regular classroom to help students with mild or transient learning difficulties. Tier-2 support - "add-on" intervention for students with persistent learning difficulties, including those with SEN , e.g. small group learning and pull out programmes. Tier-3 support - intensive individualised support for students with severe learning difficulties and SEN.
Ends/Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:15
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