Thematic Course on Supporting Students with SEN - Focusing on Students with Visual Impairment

The Hong Kong Society for the Blind was commissioned by the Education Bureau to host a ten-day full time on-the-job training course in mid-May 2022 on “Thematic Course on Supporting Students with SEN - Focusing on Students with Visual Impairment”. The Course target trainees were teachers of all primary schools, secondary schools and special schools in Hong Kong. The purpose of this Thematic Course was to enable trainees to understand the characteristics, behavioral problems and educational needs of visually impaired students through theories and practices, and to explore in-depth topics such as academic support strategies, teaching protocol adjustments, teaching and supporting resources, multidisciplinary teamwork and community supports, etc.

The course was with very rich content, including our optometrists and ophthalmologists to explain the causes and characteristics of visual impairment through simulated visual impairment activities, our staff of the Rehabilitation Centre introduce the “orientation and mobility” skills and our rehabilitation programmes, staff of the Information Accessibility Centre teach the communication skills with the visually impaired through demonstration of “Audio Description”, and our professional social workers to share the behaviour and emotional problems of visually impaired students, etc. In addition to the trainings in HKSB, the trainees also went to the Ebenezer School for class observation and internship; School teachers also shared the teaching skills and teaching protocols for teaching visually impaired students with the trainees. After completing the course, trainees will be able to apply relevant professional knowledge and skills to take care of visually impaired students to help promote the development of Integrated Education in Hong Kong.

Snapshots of the course: