Special help for deaf SC candidates

Profoundly deaf candidates may also apply for aerograph assessment.

The federation treasurer (Mr David Heather) has commended the development and said it would go a long way towards helping deaf children get through the examination.

Most of the deaf children coming up to, or sitting SC, have been identified as victims of the rubella outbreak of the mid-1960s.

Traditionally — with the exception of the deaf — the department has approved special examination conditions for SC candidates disadvantaged by “identifiable medical conditions.”

Last year the department set a new precedent in a pilot scheme which provided a reader or a writer — in some cases both — for 18 selected candidates who fell outside the “identifiable” medical criteria.

Fourteen of the candidates passed SC, and the department was encouraged to put the trial on a permanent footing.

This year, all students with specific learning disabilities which the department classifies as “non-manifest handicaps,” may make application through their principal for special assistance.