The ABA Classroom Setting and Curriculum in Aoi Pui School

Aoi Pui School (APS) is the only private primary school in Hong Kong which provides schooling specially for children with ASD.

The school benefits students who may not be quite ready for a full mainstream placement by providing more individual planning to meet their education, learning and communication needs.

APS adopts Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in their teaching approach, which is a scientific proven approach that enables their students to achieve the best possible learning outcome.

Features about their ABA classroom:

1. Fun, ever-changing and age-appropriate thematic activities to learn to teach both general knowledge/concepts and individualized skills.
   Some activities include:
   

   Activities	Knowledge and skills to be trained
   Making a “Weather Report” Video	• presentation skills • techniques of filming & editing • English words / phrases about the weather
   “Taking the MTR” Role Play with Props	• why and who you should offer your seat to • appropriate vs inappropriate behaviours on the train
   Round the table “Discussion Groups”	• ideas generating skills • no interrupting others • how to politely disagree with others • note-taking skills

2. Flexible classroom table/seating arrangements to cater to the range of lesson activities and allow students to learn in different group sizes that match their current pace and abilities.
   



3. Learning takes place beyond our classrooms regularly in specialty rooms (cookery, hall, and playground) and in community locations so that skills learnt can be applied in their real settings right from the early stages of teaching.
   
4. Student lockers, class schedules, individual timetables and class bells give students opportunities to learn to become well-organized, tidy and independent individuals in a school environment.
   
5. Highly individualized and operationally defined goals are fitted into curriculum targeting skill deficits commonly find from students with ASD, eg. poor attention, low motivation, a lack of social skills and limited tolerance
   Some proactive and intensive training currently in our classrooms:
   • Tolerate a teacher erasing their work on numerous occasions each lesson
   • Teach understanding on why it is important to pay attention, what this means and looks like and realistically practicing it with target durations set with the student
   • Teach the concept of being flexible and the pros of having variety in life – accept wearing a different shirt everyday and eat something different for lunch.
   

Features about our staff training and curriculum planning:

1. Ongoing staff training and daily supervision occurs inside classrooms
   
   • Lead therapists are stationed in each classroom to provide daily supervision over programs so that the students are continually challenged, activities changed and ways of teaching are updated as soon as necessary
   • Supervisors or Behavioural Consultants are involved in classrooms regularly to help troubleshoot complex situations, offer experience and insight as well as oversee that teaching directions are aligned with long term goals for each student
2. Assessment, Interventions, Ongoing Evaluation
   
   • a strong focus on increasing skills and socially appropriate behaviours by assessment of skills deficits and inappropriate behaviours
   • implementing function-based interventions
   • ongoing data-taking to objectively evaluate effectiveness
3. Communication and collaboration with parents in formulating Individualized Education Plans (IEP) is at the core of our clinical practice
   
   • IEPs are reviewed every 4 months with parents in a 1.5 hours meeting with videos of progress across different skills learnt in the past term and discussions take place to determine the goals for the upcoming term
   • Parent Teacher Meetings are offered monthly while daily communication with parents over various mediums are taking place
4. Accountability, Transparency and Consistency of practice
   
   • student learning and behaviour plans, skills progress data and behaviour data are marked daily and well organised into folders

Informtion provided by: Ms. Suzy Law:

Ms. Suzy Law M.A., BCBA, BEHAVIORAL CONSULTANT Suzanne (Suzy) is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and trained as a Psychologist in Behavioral Psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Her experience comes from applying ABA in a variety of settings including schools, rehabilitation and residential settings for individuals with different forms of disabilities/conditions in Auckland and Melbourne. She joined AP Australia as a Psychologist in 2013 and has settled in at Aoi Pui School in Hong Kong since 2015. Her current role as Behavioral Consultant allows her to enjoy supervising cases, guide our lead teachers to devise comprehensive Individualised Education Plans (IEP), engage in ongoing meetings with parents, conduct staff training and present at workshops in Hong Kong and overseas.

Details

About APS:

Aoi Pui School (APS), formerly Autism Partnership School, is a private primary school and is registered under the Education Department. It was founded by Autism Partnership Foundation in 2007 and was the first school designed specifically for the needs of moderate to high functioning children with autism in Hong Kong. The school benefits students who may not be quite ready for a full mainstream placement by providing more individual planning to meet their education, emotional and communication needs. Aoi Pui School has many unique aspects that make it different from other schools in Hong Kong and come from our extensive experience in consulting to schools all over the United States. Website of APS: apschool.edu.hk