SINGAPORE – Parents of children with developmental needs will get more support with a slew of measures unveiled during the debate on the budget of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) on March 6.

These include more places in early intervention programmes and lower fees for Special Student Care Centres.

Here are some highlights:

1. More help for children and training for caregivers

About 1,500 places will be added to the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (Eipic) and Eipic-P in 2024.

Eipic supports children with developmental needs, such as autism and mild language developmental delays, in a group-based setting. It is provided by social service agency operators, while Eipic-P is provided by private sector operators.

This will ensure more children with developmental needs can receive timely support, said Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling on March 6.

In 2023, Eipic and Eipic-P supported 5,600 children under the age of seven who require medium to high levels of early intervention support. At the end of 2023, there were 2,600 children on the wait-list for both programmes.

“We will continue to expand our government-funded places to serve 80 per cent of children requiring medium to high levels of early intervention by 2027, up from 60 per cent in 2022,” said Ms Sun. “This will help to reduce overall wait times for enrolment into an early intervention centre, so that children with developmental needs can receive timely support.”

To further help parents, she said that a new six-month programme to train caregivers of two- to three-year-old children with developmental needs will start in the second half of 2024.

Children are referred to this pilot, known as Eipic-Care, by paediatricians when they are assessed to require early intervention.

In the programme, caregivers learn how to support their children’s social communication and engagement and behaviour through group workshops and individual sessions with psychologists.

Ms Sun said parents need to be equipped with the skills to provide early intervention support at home.

“International studies have also shown that parents are in the best position to embed intervention related to social and emotional skills in their children’s daily lives,” she said.

The pilot will run for three years, starting in one region. Parents can expect to attend sessions every one to two weeks. More details will be announced later in 2024.

2. Lower student care centre fees

Middle-income families will pay less for their children to attend special student care centres when current fee caps, set by the Government to ensure affordability, are lowered in July. Their out-of-pocket expenses will be reduced by up to 40 per cent.

About 100 families are expected to benefit from this adjustment each year.

Currently, fees for these centres, which offer subsidised before- and after-school care services for students with special needs aged seven to 18, are subject to fee caps, depending on their household income. Families also receive means-tested subsidies.

Special student care centres will receive additional government funding so that out-of-pocket expenses for after-school care for students with special needs as a portion of household income is similar to that for typically developing children.

For example, families with a monthly household income of $6,000 will see a one-third decrease in their out-of-pocket expenses paid for special student care centres, from $500 to around $340, said Ms Sun.

3. More employment support

Another 200 persons with disabilities are expected to be placed in employment by 2026 as part of the Place-and-Train (PnT) programme by SG Enable.

The programme, introduced in 2021, supports employers who offer job and training opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Under the programme, employers receive 90 per cent of salary support from the Government for up to one year for each hire. Persons with disabilities also receive a 90 per cent course fee subsidy for training courses under PnT.

Over 330 individuals have been placed in employment under the programme as at December 2023. More than 60 per cent of those who completed it remained employed with their host employers six months after PnT support ended.

4. More places in sheltered workshops

Sheltered workshops will have 500 more places by 2030, up from the current 1,700. These workshops provide work skills training and job support for persons with disabilities who can work, but are not yet ready or unable to take up open employment.

About 100 places will be added to the APSN sheltered workshop at Kembangan-Chai Chee Community Hub in 2024.

“Because of the good uptake of the range of work opportunities, we raised the employment rate of resident persons with disabilities aged 15 to 64 from about 28 per cent in 2018 to 2019, to 33 per cent in 2022 to 2023,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Eric Chua.

“We will press on towards our aspirational employment target of 40 per cent by 2030.”

5. More places in day activity centres

Day activity centres will have 500 more places by 2030, up from the current 1,800. For persons with disabilities who cannot work, these centres conduct social and recreational activities, and equip them with daily living skills.

MSF will start by adding 50 additional day activity centre places at the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore Jurong Training and Development Centre by 2025.

6. Higher transport subsidies

Wheelchair users and other persons with disabilities from lower-income families will pay less for dedicated transport services to help them access Eipic and other services.

From April 1, they will benefit from higher subsidies under the Enabling Transport Subsidy Scheme administered by SG Enable.

Currently, about 5,400 people with disabilities receive these subsidies. About 40 per cent of them are expected to see a reduction in their out-of-pocket transport fees by 10 per cent or more.

7. More support closer to home

SG Enable will launch two more Enabling Services Hubs in Jurong West and Punggol in 2025 to serve persons with disabilities in these towns, as well as in Hougang, Sengkang and Serangoon.

The hubs work with community partners to offer services, such as volunteer book shelving in the library and fitness activities, closer to where people live.

The hub serves as an alternative for persons with disabilities who are no longer actively receiving services, and can bring some out of isolation and into the community, said Mr Chua.

The first Enabling Services Hub was launched in Tampines by SG Enable in collaboration with charity SPD in August 2023.

To date, it has supported more than 140 persons with disabilities and caregivers living in Tampines and Bedok.

“You and I can play our part through small but impactful actions, such as looking out for those who need a hand, smiling more and staring less at unusual behaviour, and focusing on their abilities and not limitations,” Mr Chua added.