The Rainbow Centre
Kenneth Lyen
Interviewed for the National Archives of Singapore
by Denyse Tessensohn
INTRODUCTION
The Rainbow Centre is an organization that started three special education schools for developmentally challenged children, and was founded by Kenneth Lyen. The first school was started at Margaret Drive in 1987. The Rainbow Centre was created in 1992 as an administrative body to look after the Margaret Drive School and to plan for starting new schools. As the board members were unchanged, technically one can argue that the Rainbow Centre was actually started in 1987, so therefore the start of the Rainbow Centre was unofficially backdated to 1987. The second school started in 1995 was the Balestier Special School, which moved to Yishun Park in 2005. The third school was the Woodland Campus which was started in 2018.
1985 EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM STARTED BY MINDS
The impetus to start the Rainbow Centre was because the early intervention program for disabled children under the age of 7 which was started by the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) in 1985, had no space for expansion. I was a member of the MINDS board of governors and after discussion with the board, it was agreed that the program should find a new site.
The children comprised several diagnoses, including Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other medical syndromes associated with delayed development. We also took in children with multiple disabilities (eg blind and physically disabled, or deaf and intellectually disabled).
1983 PROF FREDA PAUL, PAEDIATRICIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
I joined the Department of Paediatrics National University Hospital in 1983. Professor Freda Paul who looked after disabled children, informed me that she was going to retire in 1985, and asked if I would like to take over her clinic for the “Mentally Disabled” as she called them. Without realizing that she had already asked several other paediatricians, I accepted. This National University Hospital clinic had over a thousand patients, and I quickly realized that the majority did not receive any schooling or therapy. I did not like the name “Mentally Disabled Clinic”, so I renamed it “Developmental Assessment Clinic” (1985). I also started a parallel clinic at the Singapore General Hospital, to do developmental assessment of children, and that was also named “Developmental Assessment Clinic” or DAC (1985).
1985 DR VICTOR SEAH, MINDS
Coincidentally at the same time (1985), Dr Victor Seah Yun Zhen invited me to be on the management board of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). However, at that time MINDS only took in children from the age of 7 years and above. Dr Seah had already started a small pilot early intervention project for children under 7 years old to receive special education at MINDS. However, they did not have enough space. After discussing the issue with the MINDS board of governors, it was decided to relocate the early intervention program for the under 7’s at another site outside MINDS.
1986 DR TAY ENG SOON, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION
I approached my Oxford University colleague and friend, Dr Tay Eng Soon, who was Minister of State for Education, and asked if he can help us find suitable premises for an early intervention program (1986). He immediately agreed and gave us permission to use an empty school, the Margaret Drive Primary School, to start the special program. Incredibly his ministry of education rented this school to us at $1 per year! I realized that the government did help special education by giving us premises for almost nothing, instead of giving us money. Later, in 1988, they would subsidize the running costs (see below).
1986 ASSOC PROF SUSHILAN VASOO
Another coincidence occurred when Member of Parliament, Associate Professor Sushilan Vasoo, invited me to be on the Community Chest panel for deciding which charities to distribute funds and how much funds to be given. I immediately informed Dr Vasoo that there may be some conflict of interest as I was just starting a school that would also apply for these funds. However, he reassured me that the committee members were aware of this, and that he would trust my integrity (1986).
1986 DR EE PENG LIANG, COMMUNITY CHEST
So while on the Funding Panel of the Community Chest, I went to see Dr Ee Peng Liang, the founder and president of the Community Chest, to ask if he would help me start an early intervention school for children with special needs, to which he immediately agreed (1986). I was amazed by this instant support. Together with Bee Wan Ditzig, the executive director of the Community Chest, they asked me to write a proposal. Thus, I proposed that we set up a school to take care of developmentally delayed children, who were mostly Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other unknown causes of disabilities. We also took in multiply disabled children eg blind and physically disabled, or deaf and intellectually disabled. The school was named Margaret Drive Special school (1987).
1987 ANN DEVADAS, PRINCIPAL, MARGARET DRIVE SPECIAL SCHOOL
I looked for a principal to helm this school and found a special education teacher at Dover Court School, Ann Devadas. She was young but she took up the challenge of becoming a principal of a special education school. One of the problems she had to face was that there were no teachers trained in special education, and so she had to train them herself from scratch. We recruited O-level graduates (a few years later we raised the entry bar to A-levels) and taught them about special education, and also about physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. We had a holistic philosophy to help the child in all areas of development, and we employed an individual education plan for each student. We called these jack-of-all-trades teachers “developmentalists” as they had to fulfil multiple roles. We started in 1987, taking in only about 20 children. The numbers grew very rapidly, and we accepted as many children as we had developmentalist-teachers available, but we still had a long waiting list. Indeed, children sometimes had to wait over a year to get in. The staff-student ratio was around 1 teacher to 6 students, but we encouraged relatives (parents and grandparents) and helpers to accompany and help take care of their children.
1985 DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENT CLINICS
Meanwhile, in the two Developmental Assessment Clinics I was running (NUH and SGH), I noted that some of the children had speech delay, repetitive behaviours and poor socializing. I consulted some paediatric psychiatrists asking whether they may be autistic, but I was informed by one of the psychiatrists that autism was very rare, and in his opinion, there were no autistic children in Singapore. I did not believe him, and in 1988, I decided to start a program at the Margaret Drive Special School, for autistic children.
1988 AUTISTIC CHILDREN PROGRAM
Once again I approached Dr Ee Peng Liang at the Community Chest for funding, and once again he agreed immediately. I remember the kindness of Dr Ee when he told me to just go ahead and start the program, and not to worry about funding as he would take care of that. I thought I had met a living saint!
1988 DR TONY TAN, ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR THE DISABLED
In 1988, Education Minister, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam invited me to sit on The Advisory Council for the Disabled, a committee that he had started, to look at increasing government funding for voluntary welfare organisations. Up to then, there was virtually no government funding for special education and for organistions looking after the disabled. We recommended that the government should help fund up to 50% (a figure given to us by Dr Tony Tan) of the running costs for special education, and this was approved by the cabinet (1988). Later, when it came to funds for buildings and other structures, the government increased their support from 80% to 90%. There remains an issue when it comes to non-standard items, such as a swimming pool for hydrotherapy, a room for physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy rooms. These items were not in the standard list of rooms and equipment, and they would have to be funded by the Community Chest.
1989 JUNE THAM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL
As the Margaret Drive School was getting larger, I needed an executive director and principal, and so I approached June Tham of the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN), and she agreed to take up this new position. The success of the school and the programs are largely due to June Tham, and I owe her a huge debt of gratitude.
1989 DR VERA BERNARD, STEP PROGRAM
I then looked for someone to run the Autism program. Quite out of the blue, another coincidence unexpectedly sprang up in 1989. I got a phone call from a lady with a German accent, Dr Vera Bernard, who informed me that she was a specialist in the education and training of children with autism. She had done her doctorate with Bernard Rimland in America. And she was now in Singapore because her husband had moved here to take up a post as research professor at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, National University of Singapore. I invited her to help start our program, and she agreed.
Then I asked her what was the nature of the education and training she would introduce, and she informed me that she would use behavioural therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis or ABA). My heart sank, because I thought of behavioural therapy to be a variation of Pavlov’s conditioned reflexes for dogs. Nevertheless I did not object, as I was quite ignorant in this area. However, I did follow up the autistic children who I referred for this treatment, which Vera Bernard named “Structured Teaching for Exceptional Pupils” or STEP program (1989). We started with 12 children. As there were no teachers trained in this area of special education, we had to train the teachers from square one. Comparing children not on the program with those who were accepted onto the program, I noticed that the latter had advanced much more in terms of improved speech, socializing and reduced repetitive behaviors, and their parents were also very satisfied with the therapy. In the beginning we placed an upper age limit of 12 years, but this was extended to 18 years around 2015.
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1989 SPEECH THERAPIST, PHYSIOTHERAPIST, OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST, PSYCHOLOGIST
Once again, we had no trained teachers who were able to handle autistic children, and so Vera Bernard had to train the staff in behavioural therapy. We looked around for speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and psychologists, and with difficulty, we eventually managed to find them. Pictured above is psychologist Faridah Ali Chang. We were able to get support from the Community Chest, from the Ministry of Community Development, and also from the Ministry of Education, to fund our teachers for further training overseas. Slowly and surely we gradually acquired the expertise required for the complex education of autistic children. The student numbers grew steadily over the years, and because we did not take short cuts, and we consistently pressed for excellence, our reputation grew.
1992 THE RAINBOW CENTRE
The Margaret Drive School (started in 1987) was supported by the Ministry of Community Development as well as the Ministry of Education. This dual support had some inefficiencies and also some administrative difficulties. For example the Ministry of Education would not fund children under the age of 7 years, so we had to remember that younger children were funded by the Ministry of Community Development, but once they reached the age of 7, we had to change ministries for funding. Therefore in 1992, we decided we would strengthen our administration body to run the school, and the Management Committee agreed to this. I proposed that we name this umbrella body the “Rainbow Centre”. There were one or two objections because at that time the word “rainbow” was being used to refer to homosexuals. However, I explained to the board that “rainbow” also meant “inclusivity”, and that we did not want to discriminate children of different disabilities-abilities. The board accepted my explanation. In later decades, when most of our children were on the autism spectrum, the picture of a rainbow became wonderfully appropriate.
1995 BALESTIER SPECIAL SCHOOL
In 1995 we started a second school at Balestier Road, and we called it the Balestier Special School. This moved to Yishun Park in 2005. In 2018 we started a third school at Woodlands. The three schools are managed by one Board of Governors at the Rainbow Centre. I am still sitting on this board.
1999-2001 MUSICAL THEATRE
I have written and staged 32 musicals, which is probably the largest number of original musicals written by any individual in Singapore. As a substantial number of my original musicals are written for children, I have dubbed the “Father of Children’s Musicals”! I have also been involved in writing a musical for the National Day Parade 1997.
Three of the musicals I have written were to raise funds for the Rainbow Centre. They were organised and produced by The Rotary Club of Singapore North, and have been very successful:
1999 Yum Sing!
2000 Temptations
2001 Sayang
I have been involved in the education of musical theatre writing at Raffles Hall, National University of Singapore from 2010-2019.
2004 PATHLIGHT SCHOOL, 2005 ST ANDREW’S AUTISM SCHOOL
In 2004, two of our board members, June Tham and Yew Teng Leong, helped start the Pathlight School for autistic children. Another board member, John Ang, helped start the St Andrew’s Autism School in 2005. Thus I believe we have made a considerable impact in the care and education of disabled children, especially those on the autism spectrum. Not only have we started several schools, but we have also trained countless teachers.
2012 VISIT BY THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE
In 2012 the Rainbow Centre at Margaret Drive received a visit by Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.
2018 FAMILY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
Our latest project started in 2018 is family training to help them look after children on the autism spectrum. Named the Family Empowerment Program, we got seed funding from the Koo Foundation of Hong Kong.
CHANGES TO PRIORITIES AND NEEDS OVER TIME
As mentioned above, we started off providing services for the under 7’s. Later this was extended to 12 years of age, and a few years ago, this upper age limit was further extended to 18 years. When we started in 1987, the majority of children had Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and we also had children with multiple disabilities. Autism spectrum children were admitted two years later in 1989. The number of children with autism has increased while Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disorders decreased. Currently most of our children are on the autism spectrum. Education and training started off with special education, speech therapy, physiotherapy ad occupational therapy. We have now added art and music therapy.
FUNDING
When I became involved with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) in 1985, there was hardly any government involvement. Certainly funding for all the special schools were 100% funded by charities like the Lee Foundation (to date they have donated over $1 billion), the Lien Foundation, and other charities. We also used to sell flags on the roadside to raise funds for maintaining our special schools. This changed in 1988 when Minister Tony Tan Keng Yam chaired the Advisory Council for the Disabled. The government then contributed up to 50% of the running costs of schools, and later up to 90% of the building costs. There was no special medical care, but the diagnosis and medical care were done in the paediatric departments of the Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and KK Hospital. Antenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities (eg Down Syndrome) were carried out under the usual government subsidies for pregnant mothers. Postnatal screening for hypothyroidism, G6PD deficiency and other conditions were introduced in the 1970s to 1980s. Screening for hearing was introduced in the 2000s.
The government encouraged private donations to special schools and organisations by giving donors a 2.5 times tax rebate, which in effect meant that if the donor gave $10,000, they potentially would not have to pay the $10,000 tax that they would otherwise have to pay. The net effect is that the government is paying the special schools that sum of money they would otherwise have collected from taxes.
There is also a compulsory contribution taken from taxes (ECF, SINDA, CDAC, and MBMF) which goes towards supporting non-governmental organisations dealing with the disabled and for special education.
FUTURE CHALLENGES
I have a few basic philosophies that shape my wishes for the future:
a) Prevention is better than cure. If we can discover the causes of childhood developmental conditions, we may be able to prevent more of these states. Already the incidence of Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy has fallen. I hope that autism will follow suit.
b) Inclusive education: Different, not disabled. I do not believe in segregating children with differences into separate schools or institutions. Children have different abilities and interests, but we should not partition them into isolated schools. They can still join in other activities such as sports, art, music, dance, etc. We need to develop a mindset that we are all part of a family.
c) New technologies. Creating new technologies to help the disabled should be given more funding. Enhancing communication, facilitating the integration of special children into society, allowing them to travel, shop, etc with ease can be developed further.
Thank you!
Interviewed on 4 March 2020
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