Asian Resource Center
Asian Federation on Intellectual Disabilities

Star Raft Award星槎賞
The winners“The Excellent Partners of Inclusive Education” program
Special Education Association, ROC

Illustrate your Imagination @TS
Tanglin School, Singapore

Solidarity - and Communication - Centered Parent Education"Parents Camp"
Andong Young Myung School, Korea

23rd,Nov,2009

What does “Seisa/ Star Raft”?
There is an old Chinese story. A young man in a period under strict national isolation dared togo out and see the world. When he returned he saved his country with the knowledge andexperience he gained abroad. It is said that his raft arose from the sea and traveled across the sky.
A raft of logs of different lengths tied together with a strong rope. The word “Seisa” is composed of
two Chinese characters, “Sei” is the “Star” character. “Sa” is the “raft” character.
It is hope of Seisa Group to be your Raft with the spirit of “Living Together”.

“The Excellent Partners of Inclusive Education” program
Special Education Association, ROC

Inclusive Education Partners Awards
Origin of the Program
Inclusive education is the concept that students with special needs have equal
opportunities to participate in general education. Inclusive education emphasizes thatstudents with special needs are a part of society, and should not be seen as the “other”
or separated off. The 1997 Special Education Law promoted inclusion by requiring all
general schools to establish a special education committee. In an inclusive educational
environment, students and teachers have contact with those with special needs, and canlearn to respect their differences and build an open, inclusive society. Data from
Taiwan’s Ministry of Education showed that in 2008, Taiwan's inclusion rate forstudents with special needs was around 93%, nearly 60% of elementary, junior highand senior high schools have students with special needs among their student body.
With the inclusive education policy, teachers and administrators at general schools
are taking on the responsibility of educating students with special needs. Teachers andschools put a great deal of effort into creating a learning environment suitable forstudents with special needs. They have taken wide variety of approaches: improving
the physical environment; increasing acceptance of students with special needs in theschool community; adapting teaching strategies; adjusting school regulations.
Whatever the method, school staff has worked hard to ensure the success of inclusive
education.
The efforts and dedication of general schools and their staff are the key tosuccessfully including students with special needs. These efforts should be recognized
and rewarded, and experiences shared so that other schools can learn from them. The
Special Education Association feels keenly its social responsibility as a
non-governmental organization, and through the unstinting support of the board, works
to overcome the limitations on its finances and manpower. On the occasion of its
fortieth anniversary, the Association therefore organized “the Excellent Partners ininclusive Education Contest”. Over a period of eight months, working to strict, public
criteria, the Association found teachers and school administrators who had madeextraordinary efforts to include students with special needs. The winners were namedExcellent Partners of Inclusive Education. The program aimed to raise public
consciousness of our duty towards students with special needs; so as well as
embodying the principles of special education, it also recognized excellence inpromoting inclusive education, in order to encourage more schools and teachers topress on with inclusion. Examples of success in inclusion were also published in thehope that more people will follow the lead of these award winners.

Illustrate your Imagination @TS
Tanglin School, Singapore

This activity uses multimedia technology to make teaching more effective, andlearning more engaging and exciting, in achieving improved understanding of ourstudents in Tanglin School (TS).
Through this activity, our students acquire the ability to read and interpret media(text, sound and images) to produce data and images through digital manipulation, as
well as to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained form digital environment.
Students use computer programme to communicate, by deciphering or reading
messages embedded in its interface (e.g. e-book). They retrieve data form the web, thus
developing their knowledge not only in how to use search engines, but also how toevaluate the retrieved data. They develop a good command of 'photo-visual literacy', as
research has found that students with learning disabilities perfume better withgraphic interfaces than with traditional text-based books.
Launched in 2006, the digital literacy programme has benefited more than 1000
students with mild intellectual disability. Over 100 teachers have been trained inusing it, with the help of volunteers from the community at large. Recognition andsupport continue to flow in dorm the community – from seed money of just S$10,000,community groups have donated S$100.000 each year over the past two years tosustain the activity. In recognition of its outstanding achievement in this activity,
Tanglin School was the recipient of the President's Challenge award from no less than
the President of the republic of Singapore, in 2007 and 2008.

Solidarity - and Communication - Centered Parent Education"Parents Camp"
Andong Young Myung School, Korea
Background on the Parents' Camp:
Parents of children with disabilities need various information about theirchildren's disabilities. Furthermore, they are in need of communicative context toshare and understand their feelings and to interact with each other. To make thishappen, it is required to develop a parent education program to meet the diverse
needs of parents who have children with disabilities. "Parents' Camp" provides not
only an array of activities to meet the needs of parents but also the opportunity forparents to actively explore various problems, such as emotional distress, anger,isolation, sacrifice, uncertainty about future, which they experience while dealing
with the reality of raising children with disabilities at their home.
Contents of the Parents' Camp:
The contents of the Parents' Camp are as follows:First, the Parents' Camp has provided the opportunity for camp participants toexperience the importance of family through role-playing.
Second, the Parents' Camp has provided the opportunity for family unification.
Lastly, the Parents' Camp has provided a variety of programs such as emotion
exchange through writing letters to children, families, and educators, experience ofdisability, purification of emotions through laughing therapy, various gameactivities, and art therapy.
Outcomes of the Parents' Camp:
According to the results of the parent survey conducted after the Parents'
Camp was successfully over, parents' happiness quotient has improved. In
particular, parents have voluntarily participated in the camp to establish
sympathy among parents of children with disabilities, explore new ways ofcommunication, and form ideal relationships among parents, students, andeducators. Through the Parents' Camp, the parent group meeting is newly
organized to lay the foundation for continuous work and to actively participate intheir children's education.
Successful Factors:
Special schools are accountable to put in effort to provide the best education tochildren with disabilities. With such accountability in mind, parents and educators
have considered together what needs to be done first for wellbeing of children withdisabilities, and they have come to the conclusion that first and foremost parents
need to vigorously express their love to their children. Although many individuals
have expressed concerns about the Parents' Camp, the Parents' Camp has provided
the solidarity- and communication-centered context for parents of children withdisabilities because of educators' efforts for developing various programs, parents'
willingness to participate in the program, and discussing future activities.