Practising Licence Programme: Special Needs Community Practitioner (ONLINE)
The specialty programme covers special needs community services (SNCS) based on a participatory, community-based, transdisciplinary approach to treatment. It encompasses intervention, rehabilitation, and management of acute and chronic cases related to intellectual and developmental disabilities within a residential home context. As children with disabilities grow into adulthood, many are unable to lead independent lives and require full-time residence in a community home. This is where Special Needs Community Practitioners (SNCPs) play a vital role. Within the SNCS approach, three key aspects of the SNCP’s professional work are: (1) nursing care for people with disabilities living and working in a therapeutic community; (2) application of the principles of universal design in therapeutic community living and working; and (3) assessment, evaluation, and profiling of people with disabilities to prepare them for living and working in a community home.
International Association of Counselors & Therapists (IACT) is the largest and most prestigious professional body of its kind, based in the USA, admitting individuals who have fulfilled the rigorous requirements of its practising licence programmes as licensed counsellors or therapists. Membership is a mark of high standards and excellence. Practising members are clinically knowledgeable, bound by high ethical standards, and widely respected. They are eligible to practise in many countries across North America, Asia, Europe, and beyond.
IACT’s practising licence comprises three tiers: Credentialed, Registered, and Board-Certified, with Board-Certified being the highest status. As required by IACT, all coursework, assignments, and essays must be supervised and verified by an IACT-approved instructor and submitted to IACT’s Assessment Board in the USA for final assessment.
Merlion Academy is authorised to supervise and verify trainees’ work in support of their IACT membership applications, with additional support provided by the IACT Singapore and Malaysia chapters. Upon admission as an IACT member, graduates are eligible for Allied Membership with the Association of Educational Therapists (Singapore).
Admissions are conducted on a rolling basis and may commence at any time.
Course Modules:
- Module 1: Community Care Services for People with Special Needs
- Module 2: Lifespan Human Development (Late Adolescence to Late Adulthood)
- Module 3: Disabilities & Disorders in Adulthood
- Module 4: Functionality, Disability & Health
- Module 5: Treatment Planning in Community Care Service (with Case Studies)
- Module 1: Disabled Elderly and Elderly Disabled
- Module 2: Neurodegenerative Disorders: Assessment & Intervention
- Module 3: Screening and Assessment for Adults with Special Needs
- Module 4: Comprehensive Healthcare for Adults with Special Needs
- Module 5: Sustainability of Special Needs Community Care Services
- Module 1: Special Needs Community Care Service Management
- Module 2: Current Challenges faced by Special Needs Community Practitioners
- Module 3: Universal Design vs Inclusive Design
- Module 4: Collaboration with Other Professionals
- Module 5: A Comparative Study on Special Needs Community Programmes
Assessment:
1. Assessments are assignments based, mainly submission of publishable journal articles and papers.
2. Guided learning hours to fulfil: 30 hours per module (150 hours in total).
3. Non-guided learning hours (reading time and journal papers writing for publishing): 30 hours per module (150 hours in total).
Practicum:
220 hours of internship under clinical supervision at a counseling center or therapy clinic or hospital.
Duration:
8 months per tier
Entry Requirements:
Age
21 years and above
Minimum qualification
Minimum a bachelor’s degree in
i. special education, education, psychoeducational therapy, biology, medicine, counselling or psychology; or
ii. any discipline with postgraduate diploma in teaching, education, educational therapy, psychology etc.
English requirement
1. IELTS 6.5 (reading and writing must be at 6.5); or
2. A pass in English Language paper at GCE Ordinary Level
3. Equivalent (Pearson English Test, TOEFL).
Course Fees:
(Non-refundable one-time application fee of SGD 95.00 is payable upon application)
Program fee
SGD 1,500.00 per module
Marking fee
SGD 50.00 per module
Payment mode
Stripe / Credit card / Alipay
Refund Terms
90% – more than 28 days before course commencement
50% – less than 28 days before course commencement
10% – less than 3 days before course commencement
0% – more than 3 days after the course commencement
