Link Education
Special
Learning
Needs
At Link Education, we unlock every student’s potential through close partnerships with families and educators, delivering high-quality, client-focused services. We ignite curiosity and nurture a lifelong passion for learning, empowering student to embrace their individuality, achieve their goals, and confidently navigate a changing world.
1: 1 Intervention
Every student deserves the right support to shine. Our experienced team offers personalized guidance tailored to each learner’s strengths and goals, crafting fun, effective strategies that boost both learning success and social confidence.
Behavior Support
We uncover the root causes of challenging behaviours with a proven, systematic approach. Our customized behavioural intervention plans replace negativity with positive strategies, empowering student to make smart choices and thrive.
Shadow Teacher
We deliver personalized in-school support that helps every student thrive. Our experts boost curriculum engagement, guide positive behaviours, and spark meaningful social connections—partnering seamlessly with schools to customize materials and strategies for real success.
Workshops
Empower parents, educators, and professionals with our dynamic, interactive workshops on neurodiversity, proven best practices, and game-changing strategies. Walk away equipped with practical tools and confidence to truly support every student's success.
Group Classes
Fun, engaging group sessions spark social skills and lasting friendships. In a nurturing space, student learn, connect, and grow together with confidence.
Counselling
Our compassionate counselling services guide student and families through emotional and behavioural challenges with expert care. Our warm, accepting approach builds resilience, restores balance, and nurtures lasting well-being for all.
Why Choose Us?
Expert Team: Our Counsellors
Our passionate team of specialists combines rich expertise in student development
and neurodiversity to support every student to thrive.
Emily Siu
M.Ed., BCBA, IBA
Behaviour Consultant
- Master in Education
- Board Certified Behavior Analyst
- International Behaviour Analyst
- Certified Positive Parenting Coach
Jennifer Chan
M.C., BCaBA, IBA
Behaviour Consultant and Counsellor
- Master in Counselling
- Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst
- International Behaviour Analyst
- SEP™ practitioner in training
- SOl Intermediate Level Practitioner
- Brainspotting™ certified practitioner
- Tomastis® Practitioner (Level 1)
- PEERS® School-Based Certified Provider
Community Focus
We aim to foster an inclusive community that celebrates
neurodiversity and empowers every student.
Client-Centered Approach
We focus on truly understanding and addressing each student’s and family’s unique needs and goals, delivering personalized, effective support and guidance every step of the way.
Special Education Needs (SEN)
Special Educational Needs (SEN) refers to a diverse range of learning difficulties or disabilities that require additional or specialized support for children to access education effectively compared to their peers of the same age. These needs arise from physical, sensory, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, or social challenges that hinder typical academic progress or participation in school settings. In contexts like Hong Kong’s education system or international curricula such as IB, IGCSE, A-Level, and OSSD—which you’ve worked with—Special Educational Needs (SEN) support emphasizes inclusion, individualized plans, and holistic development to prepare students for university admissions or pathways to Canada, the US, or UK.
Definition of Special Education Needs (SEN)
As defined by the Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB), Special Education Needs (SEN) encompasses students who encounter persistent challenges in learning or everyday functioning, necessitating specialized educational support. Typical difficulties involve intellectual disabilities, language and communication impairments, attention deficits, physical or mental health conditions, and struggles with emotional regulation.
In recent years, the number of SEN students in Hong Kong has continued to rise. From approximately 43,000 students in the 2016/17 school year, it increased to nearly 60,000 in the 2021/22 school year. Among them, about 40% of students have specific learning difficulties, while the rest have other types of Special Education Needs (SEN).
9 Types of Special Education Needs(SEN):
1. Intellectual Disability
Intellectual disability refers to students whose intelligence is significantly below average and who develop more slowly than their peers. Even after reaching adulthood, their cognitive abilities typically remain below those of other adults. Students with intellectual disabilities often face many challenges in learning and daily life, such as weaker abstract and logical thinking, poor memory, short attention span, limited language expression, less flexible motor coordination, and weaker social skills.
2. Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism is a developmental disorder that usually appears before the age of three and is associated with abnormal brain functioning, such as congenital damage or developmental irregularities. These students differ significantly from their peers in areas such as cognition, thinking, attention, and concentration. They may appear passive, have difficulty understanding others’ thoughts and feelings, and display rigid or repetitive behaviors. As a result, students with autism often face considerable challenges in social communication and interpersonal relationships in their daily lives.
3. Attention Deficit／Hyperactivity Disorder
4. Mental Illness
Mental illness is a condition that affects students’ daily lives, manifesting as abnormalities in cognition, thoughts, emotions, perceptions, behavior, or physiological functions, thereby impacting their academic performance, social interactions, and work. Common mental illnesses in children and adolescents include anxiety disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as more severe conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
5. Specific Learning Difficulties
Specific learning difficulties encompass a range of learning abnormalities, such as challenges in reading, mathematics, writing, or motor coordination. The most common is dyslexia, which manifests as difficulties in word recognition and writing, with relatively weaker abilities in learning words and related cognitive skills for reading and writing. Developmental Coordination Disorder, on the other hand, presents as inflexible movements that affect daily activities, self-care, and academic performance.
6. Physical Disability
Physical disability refers to impairments in the central and peripheral nervous systems, or musculoskeletal issues caused by trauma or other congenital conditions, resulting in limb impairments that hinder or limit one or more aspects of daily activities. Common categories include cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal muscular atrophy, muscular dystrophy, amputation, osteogenesis imperfecta, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.
7. Visual Impairment
Visual impairment refers to a condition where, even after wearing glasses or undergoing surgical correction, the better eye’s vision in a student remains below normal standards, indicating visual impairment (commonly abbreviated as “VI”). Ophthalmologists assess individuals based on visual acuity and field of vision to classify students as having mild, moderate, severe visual impairment, or total blindness. Generally, students with visual impairment may exhibit difficulties in visual recognition, such as challenges in reading and writing.
8. Hearing Impairment
Hearing impairment affects students’ auditory and verbal communication abilities. Students with hearing impairment (HI) typically exhibit difficulties such as struggling to understand quiet conversations, relying on lip-reading without hearing aid assistance, and facing communication challenges in noisy environments.
9. Speech and Language Impairment
Common speech impairments in students can be divided into four main categories: articulation problems, language problems, fluency problems (stuttering), and voice problems. These impairments affect students’ communication and expression abilities—for example, incorrect pronunciation leading to unclear speech, difficulty understanding sentence meanings, weaker sentence organization skills, and improper vocal cord use causing hoarse or lost voice.
Mainstream inclusion with differentiated teaching, extra time, or assistive tech.
Specialized interventions: speech therapy, behavioral plans, or counseling
Transition planning for post-secondary paths, vital for HKDSE, OSSD, iAL, IB, IGCSE, GCSE & A-Levels students eyeing overseas unis.
Parents play a vital role as equal partners in the SEN identification and assessment process, providing essential insights into their child’s development, behaviors, and needs both at home and school.
Sharing Observations and History
Parent supply critical background like family history, medical records, or behaviors unseen in class (e.g., anxiety at transitions), which teachers and SENCOs incorporate into initial screenings or Short Notes.
Active Participation in Planning
Parents attend consultations to co-develop Individual Education Plans (IEPs) or SEN Support Plans, voicing priorities and agreeing on outcomes, interventions, and next steps like referrals to psychologists or therapists. Their consent is required for external assessments, and they collaborate on tools like questionnaires for early profiling.
Reviews and Ongoing Feedback
Termly reviews, drop-ins, or progress meetings allow parents to evaluate intervention effectiveness using data, observations, and their input, adjusting supports as needed.
Early identification of Special Educational Needs (SEN) significantly enhances long-term student outcomes by enabling timely interventions that address learning, emotional, and social challenges before they compound. This proactive approach, emphasized in Hong Kong’s inclusive education policies like HKDSE, leads to better academic achievement, reduced mental health risks, and greater independence into adulthood.
Prompt assessment prevents frustration, low self-esteem, anxiety, or behavioural issues common in undiagnosed Special Educational Needs (SEN) (e.g., ADHD, dyslexia), fostering resilience and positive peer relationships. Long-term, this correlates with lower rates of depression and better employment outcomes, as seen in studies of speech disorders or specific learning difficulties.
Early action also can reduces future resource demands on schools and families, promoting efficient inclusion via services like LINK Education’s outreach. Delays, however, perpetuate cycles of underachievement, underscoring the need for streamlined parental-teacher collaboration in diverse settings.
Not necessarily. The Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) champions the principle of “inclusive education,” aiming to enable students with special educational needs (SEN) to integrate into mainstream schools and learn alongside their peers. Schools offer tailored support and counseling services, allowing most SEN students—unless their disabilities are severe—to thrive in ordinary mainstream settings.
LINK Education provides specialized support for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN), helping them thrive in mainstream schools through inclusive services like school-based counseling, educational psychology assessments, speech therapy, and individualized intervention programs. With a team of experienced professional counsellors, the organization delivers outreach to primary and secondary schools, promoting emotional well-being, academic progress, and social integration.