Supporting individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Singapore
It has been reported that there is a rise in the number of individuals being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Singapore along with evolving changes in public awareness, attitudes, and levels of financial support occurring in the field in recent years. As such, this column presents the current status and issues related to the identification, provision of early intervention services, education, and transition into youth/adults for individuals with ASD in Singapore. Additional needs and future recommendations are also included.
Changing professional identities: A qualitative study of how Singapore allied educators managed their own resistance to change
In order to recruit sufficient special education allied educators for children with mild special education needs in Singapore public schools, the government removed the general education allied educators scheme, and offered its incumbents the opportunity to retrain as Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural Support). This qualitative research traced the mid-career identity change process of seven allied educators who accepted this offer. Analysis of interviews using Corbin and Strauss’s grounded theory produced 13 themes grouped into five categories. The five propositions derived from these categories showed how participants managed their resistance to professional identity change by recognising the similarities between their current and new roles and identities; and by experiencing the new role under the mentorship of senior Allied Educators (Learning and Behavioural Support). This resistance self-management process resulted in participants’ increased commitment to their new identities. Implications for facilitating professional identity changes amongst educators are discussed.
Voice banking to support individuals who use speech-generating devices: Development and evaluation of Singaporean-accented English synthetic voices and a Singapore Colloquial English recording inventory
Voice banking involves recording an inventory of sentences produced via natural speech. The recordings are used to create a synthetic text-to-speech voice that can be installed on speech-generating devices. This study highlights a minimally researched, clinically relevant issue surrounding the development and evaluation of Singaporean-accented English synthetic voices that were created using readily available voice banking software and hardware. Processes used to create seven unique synthetic voices that produce Singaporean-accented English, and the development of a custom Singaporean Colloquial English (SCE) recording inventory, are reviewed. The perspectives of adults who spoke SCE and banked their voices for this project are summarized and were generally positive. Finally, 100 adults familiar with SCE participated in an experiment that evaluated the intelligibility and naturalness of the Singaporean-accented synthetic voices, as well as the effect of the SCE custom inventory on listener preferences. The addition of the custom SCE inventory did not affect intelligibility or naturalness of the synthetic speech, and listeners tended to prefer the voice created with the SCE inventory when the stimulus was an SCE passage. The procedures used in this project may be helpful for interventionists who wish to create synthetic voices with accents that are not commercially available.