Children in Hong Kong normally attend nursery schools or kindergartens at the age of two or three. Compared with those of primary and secondary education, the courses of preschool education are relatively easy, focusing on children's interest in learning and self-care skills. On promotion to primary schools, children will receive more training on reading and writing. At this stage, the weaknesses of children with "specific learning disabilities" (SLD) will emerge. If parents or teachers find that their preschool children or students have distinguishable signs of learning disabilities, they can ask for an initial screening using the Hong Kong Learning Behaviour Checklist for Preschool Pupils developed by the Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Research Team. Such screening, however, is not an official assessment. In Hong Kong, the earliest official assessment is only for children aged six or above.

Since 2006, the Education Bureau has been sending circulars at the beginning of every academic term to remind class teachers of primary one of the need to identify SLD students early. Two months after the start of the term, if a class teacher identifies a pupil with features of SLD, he or she should inform the parents and conduct an initial screening using the "Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Behaviour Checklist - For Primary School Pupils". When the case has been preliminarily confirmed, the school will refer the pupil to the Education Bureau or educational psychologists of sponsoring bodies for conducting firstly an intelligence test to ensure that the pupil's learning difficulties are not caused by mental deficiency, and secondly, for an official assessment.

Assessment of Specific Learning Disabilities

Teachers may make immediate referrals whenever they find their students have such needs, regardless of whether their students are studying primary one or above. The target group for assessment is between six to 15 years old.

Educational psychologists will carry out SLD assessments for students at risk. However, since their work is mainly concentrated on learning and cognition, focus is given only to the type of SLD accounting for the largest share, i.e. Dyslexia. If an educational psychologist suspects that a student is involved in several areas of SLD, such as co-ordination disorder, attention deficit or specific language impairment, etc., he may refer the student to other relevant government departments or voluntary agencies for continuous assessments and services. However, referrals cannot be made for students with SLD in Mathematics as neither recognised nor official assessment tools have yet been developed at present.

Apart from conducting assessments for students, educational psychologists will also provide teachers with recommendations on teaching and special examination arrangements. Assessment provided by the Education Bureau is free, but obtaining a copy of the detailed report will incur charges based on the quantity of paper required. However, the charges for assessment services and reports from educational psychologists of individual sponsoring agencies are subject to the practices of such agencies.

PS & SR Branch Welfare Services Group