Chong Yuen Chi

These three weeks have brought me unforgettable memories and valuable experience. I felt lucky that I could come to Caritas Jockey Club Lok Yan School for a three-week exploration activity. At first I was worried that I would not be able to cope with it, because most of the students with severe intellectual disability  would study in Lok Yan School, and this was my first time to have contact with students with severe intellectual disability.. Furthermore, since the students could not talk, I was also worried that this would affect the degree of my participation, yet I discovered that it was just a groundless worry.

During my internship, I needed to observe and assist the teaching in two classes. The abilities of students in the two classes vary greatly , so I could experience many different cases. In addition, I was very fortunate to learn a lot of knowledge outside the textbooks, such as the use of eye tracker and intensive interactive teaching strategies in teaching, skills for caring for students, etc., which will also be of great help to our future teaching.

In the middle of my internship, I cherished the time that I could spend with students. For example, if the students do not come to school, I would take the time to visit them in the hospital. After getting along with each other, I realized that I should not take  it for granted for students to come to school. For many times, they could not go to school for different reasons such as medical examination, taking oxygen, suffering from convulsion, etc.. Yetthey worked very hard to study and participate in classes. I was very moved to see that they could do most of the tasks and activities within limited ability, and this also encouraged me to work harder to help them.

The reasons for me to participate in the SSPS program were to accumulate experience and to find out whether I am suitable for teaching in special schools. I am grateful that this internship has helped me find my own value. The happiest thing is that one of the class teachers and teaching assistants said that I was very suitable to be a special education teacher. They also said that I was very patient, and they could see that I loved students very much, and devoted myself to classes, etc. This has given me more confidence and motivated me to aim at becoming a special education teacher. I also felt that my efforts paid were fruitful. While I was still thinking about whether I should be a special education teacher or not, one class teacher told me that he could see improvement in a student through my help. That child would pretend to fall asleep in the class in the past. But now he could respond positively. He said that it may be because I kept providing help for him for a long time and gave him a sense of security (most of the classes are one-to-two/one-to-one). And that student was the one that I accompanied most often. I am glad that I can influence and help the student. In the past three weeks, I felt the cooperation of the special school team and enthusiasm to students, which also influenced me. I really want to be a teacher in the special school. Although there is still a long way for me to become a teacher, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to SSPS for enabling me to make my goal clear, and I will work in this field for a long time.

Ho Kit Shan

It was an honored for me to have this three-week internship opportunity in Lok Yan School, since the environment here is more special than other special schools and it belongs to one of the hospital schools. And students have multiple disabilities with the weakest learning ability. Apart from intellectual disabilities, they also have various physical and functional disabilities. 

During my internship, I understood the difference between sympathy and empathy. In the early days, looking at them, I always felt miserable. Most of them are orphans, and they live in hospitals for a long time. Due to physical disabilities, their freedom is even less than other students with special needs. They could not fully use their five senses to see, touch, and they were completely passive in the classroom. Every time I looked at them in class, I always felt a sense of sympathy.

But as the days go by, I guided the students to do treatments personally, namely eye-tracking training practice and intensive interactive training respectively. During the period, I had different experiences and feelings. The students I trained are considered to be with better learning ability in the School. The student I trained belonged to the few students with good visual and auditory abilities. But in the early stage of training, because I failed to discover what she was interested in, even though I kept on encouraging her, she did not attend and respond to me. This made me question my teaching ability.

But during the second week of internship, she actually responded to my voice during the professor’s visit, and constantly manipulated the shooting game with her eyeballs. The instructor even said that this was the highest score she had ever obtained. Witnessing her progress and hard work, I was really touched. Although they have too many physical restrictions, during the internship, I could observe that  they could  use their remaining strength to study and live. Although they will feel dull, we could think from another perspective that compared to lying on the bed every day, attending class is a way to enrich their life!

On the other hand, I am very grateful to the Principal and teachers of Lok Yan School. The Principal is a very energetic person who always has a smile on face. Her daily encouragement to the staff is very meaningful. The teachers have also helped us a lot. In the aspects of designing teaching plans and understanding students, they have given me a lot of useful advice. In addition, when the staff members knew that we were students of the Bachelor of Arts in Special Education, they continued to encourage me and thanked us for our participation in the special education sector , and gave me many suggestions for my future direction! My three-week internship in Lok Yan School has given me a sense of achievement  and allowed me to see the meaning in special education!