The Education Bureau will implement a multi-disciplinary, evidence-based and whole-school-involved tiered intervention model to support students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in public sector ordinary schools from the 2020-21 school year.

The bureau announced the initiative today, saying about 10,000 students are expected to benefit from it.

Given the surge in students diagnosed with autism in the past decade and that schools find it challenging to teach such students, the bureau has been conducting a pilot project since 2011 to try out evidence-based ASD-specific strategies in 89 primary and secondary schools.

The bureau said it has yielded an effective and evidence-informed three-tiered intervention model for local schools to help such students develop emotional regulation, social communication and learning adaptation abilities, as well as to relieve stress faced by their teachers and parents.  

It will deploy additional resources to assist all public sector ordinary primary and secondary schools in phases to implement the tiered support model and related strategies to enhance support for autistic students.

Under tier-one of the initiative, it will arrange a team of multi-disciplinary professionals to participate in case discussions and conduct lesson observations, as well as arrange workshops and networking activities among schools.

Under the second tier, the bureau will provide an additional $62 million per year to enable schools to collaborate with non-governmental organisations in arranging supplemental small group training.

Individual education plans will also be implemented in the third tier.

The bureau added it is committed to supporting and catering for students with different types of special educational needs.