Angelmum
Moderator
REACH gov - More incentive support for family with special needs child/children
Missed the boat (entry closed), not sure whether we'll be seeing any incentive.
Let's wait till next wk for official announcement.
Posted this:
Having a special needs child is extremely expensive.
Example 1 - Early intervention in govt special school cost $100 - 300/mth whereas a normal child attending nursery or K1/K2 is spending so much lesser.
Example 2 - Primary school fee cost less than $20 whereas govt special school cost above $50/mth.
We were forced to spend more yet our Edusave funds are unable to cover the yearly fees in govt special school. We are relying on the cheapest form of education in Spore yet still find the costs high. The special schools are not doing much as the provide therapies to selected children. Claimed my child is good enough so had to be discharged from therapies - my child is facing poor fine motor skills, as well as speech. If I don't rely on school and therapists, who else can help? Private therapies are so expensive, charging above $100/hour - not everybody is able to afford without feeling the pinch. School claimed not enough therapists - Claimed didn't get enough funding to hire to let all children benefit from therapies
.
Example 3 - a normal child can buy a stroller cost $50 to a few hundreds depending on their budget.
We were forced to buy special needs stroller (cheapest is Maclaren upright buggy) that cost above $550. Funding only available to household income of $1500-2000/mth. What about those who are caught in between, having household income $4000 each mth? We were left to fight alone and trying hard to survive .... so helpless to be borned in Spore. I believe special needs parents don't mind having 2nd hand items but are we being offered this choice at a much lower cost - 50 to 75% from usual price?
AWARE posted this " - Currently married parents with children under the age of seven are entitled to up to six days of paid childcare leave a year. AWARE would like to see this converted into six days of paid ‘dependent’s care’ leave applicable to any working Singaporean, with ‘dependents’ including older children and parents.
This, AWARE believes, would be a more equitable policy as it acknowledges the needs of working Singaporeans, whether married or single, who have to care for aged parents or dependent siblings. Furthermore, children above seven years old will still need the care of their parents."
I like this idea of Dependent's Leave. I had not applied childcare leave before as my child was already 7 yrs old when I re-joined the workforce. I had to take annual leave to attend Parent's meeting, bring her to KK hospital for regular reviews, attend therapies (previously, too costly/unaffordable), child falls sick, check on maid/child's progress in school, etc.
Nobody had looked into our plight, understand our concerns nor tried to extend some extra help eg childcare leave to us. Hope this time, it will be given to household with disability. A simple nod makes us feel we are not forgot by Spore govt.
It would be great if the levy for our domestic helper can be further slashed. We were not offered a childcare centre to place our children with multiple disabilities. We didn't employ a maid to show off, it is a necessity so that we can work in order to cope with Spore high costs of living. Having a special needs child is already traumatizing, pls don't make our lives more miserable.
Pls give us an easier pathway to survive here!
Missed the boat (entry closed), not sure whether we'll be seeing any incentive.
Let's wait till next wk for official announcement.
Posted this:
Having a special needs child is extremely expensive.
Example 1 - Early intervention in govt special school cost $100 - 300/mth whereas a normal child attending nursery or K1/K2 is spending so much lesser.
Example 2 - Primary school fee cost less than $20 whereas govt special school cost above $50/mth.
We were forced to spend more yet our Edusave funds are unable to cover the yearly fees in govt special school. We are relying on the cheapest form of education in Spore yet still find the costs high. The special schools are not doing much as the provide therapies to selected children. Claimed my child is good enough so had to be discharged from therapies - my child is facing poor fine motor skills, as well as speech. If I don't rely on school and therapists, who else can help? Private therapies are so expensive, charging above $100/hour - not everybody is able to afford without feeling the pinch. School claimed not enough therapists - Claimed didn't get enough funding to hire to let all children benefit from therapies
Example 3 - a normal child can buy a stroller cost $50 to a few hundreds depending on their budget.
We were forced to buy special needs stroller (cheapest is Maclaren upright buggy) that cost above $550. Funding only available to household income of $1500-2000/mth. What about those who are caught in between, having household income $4000 each mth? We were left to fight alone and trying hard to survive .... so helpless to be borned in Spore. I believe special needs parents don't mind having 2nd hand items but are we being offered this choice at a much lower cost - 50 to 75% from usual price?
AWARE posted this " - Currently married parents with children under the age of seven are entitled to up to six days of paid childcare leave a year. AWARE would like to see this converted into six days of paid ‘dependent’s care’ leave applicable to any working Singaporean, with ‘dependents’ including older children and parents.
This, AWARE believes, would be a more equitable policy as it acknowledges the needs of working Singaporeans, whether married or single, who have to care for aged parents or dependent siblings. Furthermore, children above seven years old will still need the care of their parents."
I like this idea of Dependent's Leave. I had not applied childcare leave before as my child was already 7 yrs old when I re-joined the workforce. I had to take annual leave to attend Parent's meeting, bring her to KK hospital for regular reviews, attend therapies (previously, too costly/unaffordable), child falls sick, check on maid/child's progress in school, etc.
Nobody had looked into our plight, understand our concerns nor tried to extend some extra help eg childcare leave to us. Hope this time, it will be given to household with disability. A simple nod makes us feel we are not forgot by Spore govt.
It would be great if the levy for our domestic helper can be further slashed. We were not offered a childcare centre to place our children with multiple disabilities. We didn't employ a maid to show off, it is a necessity so that we can work in order to cope with Spore high costs of living. Having a special needs child is already traumatizing, pls don't make our lives more miserable.
Pls give us an easier pathway to survive here!
Last edited:
