December 14, 2001

Dear Sir,

I am replying to the letter from 'A very special parent' published in The Royal Gazette on December 12.

The correspondent said that she was a parent of a child with what society calls 'special needs'.

She was concerned that her child should not be sent to a special school as the child had flourished in mainstream education.

Let me state first and foremost that the Ministry of Education has no intention of forcing students with special needs to attend a special school.

We are delighted to hear that this child has done so well in a mainstream school.

Most students with special needs benefit from being part of a mainstream school and the student body as a whole is richer for including them.

There are, however, a very small number of students who have what we call 'intense' needs.

These are children who are unlikely ever to be able to live independently in the community.

They need more than three hours of support each day, they are unable to dress themselves, they cannot follow directions or focus on where they are going and cannot recognise danger.

The parents of some of these students have expressed concerns that their children are not best