All Aboard the Ride to Travel Independence!
#60Stories
16-year-old Sheth Ryan, a student with Intellectual Disability (PWID), had ridden Bus 2 often enough to know that the next stop was his. Still, he hesitated to rise from his seat, and looked around anxiously as if seeking reassurance. It was only at the very last minute that he hit the buzzer and alighted.
Seated at the back of the bus, 58-year-old Chan Mei Leng, Transition Planning Coordinator (TPC) at MINDS Towner Gardens School (TGS), broke into a huge smile. With Ryan on track for graduation in the next few years, Mei Leng and her team had been training students like him to navigate from school to home independently. After 16 weeks of training, he finally succeeded.
Preparing for Life After School
The joy of seeing students achieve these little milestones is part of what has kept Mei Leng with MINDS since she joined in 1983. Over the years, her role has evolved from teacher to TPC, and today she focuses on helping graduating students make a smooth transition into adult life.
Sometimes this means organising visits to day activity centres for parents to see the options available to their child. Other times, she works with external stakeholders such as SG Enable to find job placements for students. In addition, Mei Leng identifies areas of improvement for students, and devises training programmes to close the gap. Teaching students to travel independently is an important part of her role as it can open doors to a wider range of recreational and work opportunities, she says.
She elaborates that students at MINDS are exposed to travel training during their community living skills classes. During these classes, they start by role-playing road safety measures such as how to use pedestrian crossings in the classroom, before practising at traffic junctions nearby. As they approach graduation, job coaches take those who are job-ready on public transport and work with them on a one-to-one basis to help them learn to navigate the system on their own.
A Personalised and Person-centred Approach
Although Ryan had completed travel training, Mei Leng found he needed more practice and guidance. “He couldn’t recognise numbers well and wanted to get on every bus with the number 2,” she explains, noting that he also suffered from a lack of confidence.
To begin travel training with her students, Mei Leng works with a team comprising of teachers and job coaches from TGS, and each child’s parents to find the best way home by public transport for each child. Each child is then accompanied on the route twice a week by a teacher or job coach. Once the child is familiar with the route, he or she tries it on their own, with MINDS staff following from a distance. The team also simulates problems, such as missing one’s stop, so the child knows how to react if the situation occurs.
This personalised approach allowed the team to adjust the pace of the training to meet each child’s unique needs. For example, to help Ryan identify the right bus to take, Mei Leng gave him placards to refer to. To build his confidence, she also gradually let him take the lead while on the way home — even avoiding making eye contact with him so he would decide what to do on his own.
Being able to travel independently boosts their confidence and self-esteem.
They are proud that they can make their way home on their own!
Building Confidence for the Future
A lilt appears in Mei Leng’s voice as she shares about Ryan’s growth. “At the end, I could really see the difference in Ryan. He transformed from a very shy, non-communicative boy to someone more confident and friendly,” she says.
She adds that the situation is similar for other students. “Being able to travel independently boosts their confidence and self-esteem. They are proud that they can make their way home on their own!”
That said, Mei Leng acknowledges that going from school to home is just one of the many routes students with intellectual disability will need to familiarise themselves with. She also believes that there is a need for greater public awareness, and initiatives like the Travel Makers Programme that can educate the public on how to help commuters with special needs.
Her hopes? That with the combined efforts of MINDS and the community at large, her students will enjoy a “good quality of life” even after graduation — lives filled with enriching activities, meaningful connections, and joy.
We would like to invite public transport providers and the general public to show care to commuters with special needs like Ryan.
Riding public transport may be a small step for most of us, but for those with special needs, it can be a big leap towards a better future. So, whether you are offering up your seat or lending a helping hand for them to find the way to their destination, every little bit counts in making our public transport system a more inclusive one for all!
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