Support you can get in Singapore

Some of what your family needs is already paid for by the government. Most parents are never told. Here is what exists, who it is for, and the first step.

Most of what is here depends on your household income, usually worked out per person living in your home. The thresholds are higher than people expect, so it is worth reading the figure on each one rather than assuming you earn too much to qualify.

We do not run any of these programmes and we cannot get you a place on one. Who qualifies and what is available does change, so each one below shows when we last checked it and links to the official page.

Getting recognised

Persons with Disabilities Concession Card

Also called PWDCC

What it gives you: Up to 55% off adult public transport fares. You can also buy a monthly pass at $55 for unlimited travel on trains and basic bus services, and there is no extra fare for distance beyond 7.2km.
Who it is for: You need to prove your child’s disability with a Disability Verification Form, completed by a registered healthcare professional. The official page sets out no other condition.
What it costs: The page gives no application fee. The monthly pass, if you want it, is $55.
How to start: Apply online through SG Enable’s website. The card is posted to you within 14 working days of the application being received.
What to take with you: A Disability Verification Form, completed by a registered healthcare professional.
Who runs it: Administered through SG Enable

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Getting therapy and early support

Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children

Also called EIPIC

What it gives you: Learning and therapy support for a child from birth to six who needs a fair amount of extra help with their development. A team of early intervention staff and therapists work with your child, usually at a dedicated centre, with the aim of supporting their development and making it easier for them to join a mainstream school later.
Who it is for: Your child needs to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, aged from birth to six, and a paediatrician must have assessed them as at risk of a developmental, intellectual, sensory or physical disability, or a combination of those. A child already on another government-funded early intervention programme, such as DS-LS below, cannot be on EIPIC at the same time.
What it costs: For a Singapore Citizen child, between $5 and $430 a month, depending on your household income per person. The page does not publish the income bands, and does not say what a Permanent Resident family pays. Your child’s centre can tell you which figure applies to you.
How to start: This is the part to know before you start looking for a form: you cannot apply directly. Your child has to be assessed and recommended by a medical professional as suitable for EIPIC first. The official page does not spell out how to arrange that assessment, and points families to SG Enable’s Enabling Guide for the fuller process.
Who runs it: Early Childhood Development Agency

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Development Support and Learning Support

Also called DS-LS

What it gives you: Support built into your child’s ordinary preschool day, for a child in K1 or K2 who needs a lighter level of help — with speech and language, social skills, motor skills, behaviour, or early literacy. Staff work with the preschool rather than seeing your child at a separate centre.
Who it is for: Your child needs to be enrolled at K1 or K2 level and be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident. A child already on another government-funded early intervention programme cannot join DS-LS at the same time.
What it costs: For a Singapore Citizen child, $5 to $290 a month for the Development Support part and $5 to $130 a month for Learning Support, depending on household income per person. The page does not give the bands.
How to start: Start with your child’s preschool, which assesses eligibility itself if it offers the programme. If it does not offer DS-LS, ask the preschool to contact its zonal Therapy Team — that step is the one most parents would never think to ask for.
Who runs it: Early Childhood Development Agency

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Money and equipment

Assistive Technology Fund

Also called ATF

What it gives you: Up to 90% of the cost of an assistive device your child needs, with a lifetime cap of $40,000. It covers buying, replacing, upgrading and repairing devices. It does not cover consumables.
Who it is for: Your child needs to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident with a permanent disability, and the official page names autism and intellectual disability explicitly, alongside physical, visual and hearing impairment. Your monthly household income per person needs to be $4,800 or below — or, for a household with no income, the annual value of your home $21,000 or below. A qualified assessor also has to have decided which device your child needs.
What it costs: You pay whatever share the subsidy does not cover, which depends on your household income. There is no application fee on the page.
How to start: Go through a therapist or social worker at a public hospital or social service agency — they assess and submit the application for you. If your child is not already under anyone’s care, go to a polyclinic and ask for a referral letter to a public hospital. The social worker handles the means testing with you.
What to take with you: A Disability Verification Form, completed by a registered healthcare professional. It is worth logging in to SupportGoWhere with Singpass first to check whether your child’s disability status is already verified.
Who runs it: Ministry of Social and Family Development

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Caregivers Training Grant

Also called CTG

What it gives you: $400 in the first year towards approved courses that teach you how to care for your child, then a $200 top-up each year after, with the balance capped at $400 at any one time. You pay at least $10 towards each course yourself. If more than one person caring for your child wants to train, they share the same balance.
Who it is for: The page leads with people aged 65 and over, so it reads like a scheme for elderly care — but your child qualifies through the other route: a care recipient who is a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident and has a disability assessed by an approved healthcare practitioner. You qualify as the main person caring for them.
What it costs: At least $10 of your own money towards each course.
How to start: Choose an approved course, then tell the training provider you want to use the grant at least two weeks before it starts. They give you the application form and submit it for you.
Who runs it: Agency for Integrated Care

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Home Caregiving Grant

Also called HCG

What it gives you: A cash payment of $200, $400 or $600 a month towards the cost of caring at home.
Who it is for: The bar here is high, and it is worth knowing before you hope: your child must permanently need help with at least three of the six everyday activities the scheme counts — eating, bathing, dressing, moving from one place to another, using the toilet, and walking or getting about. Many children who need a great deal of support will still not meet that. Beyond it: your child needs to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident with a parent, child or spouse who is a Citizen, live in Singapore, not be in a residential care home, and your monthly household income per person needs to be $4,800 or below — or the annual value of your home $21,000 or below if the household has no income. A household owning more than one property gets the lowest $200 rate.
What it costs: Free to apply. It is money paid to you.
How to start: Apply online through the Agency for Integrated Care’s eService portal, or in person at any AIC Link. It takes up to four weeks.
What to take with you: A completed Functional Assessment Report from your GP, a registered nurse, or a registered physiotherapist or occupational therapist. Your NRIC details and your bank details.
Who runs it: Agency for Integrated Care

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

School

Getting a professional assessment

What it gives you: A full picture of your child — what they find easy and hard across physical development, communication, learning, and managing feelings and relationships — leading to a diagnosis and a recommendation about the right school and support. This is the report that opens both of the doors below.
Who it is for: Any parent who thinks their child may have a special educational need. An assessment at a government hospital is subsidised for a child under 7 if you have a referral from a polyclinic, or from a clinic that accepts the Community Health Assist Scheme card.
What it costs: The page says the government hospital route is subsidised for a child under 7 with a referral, but does not give a figure, and does not say what a private assessment costs.
How to start: For a child under 7, ask your polyclinic or CHAS clinic to refer you to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital or the National University Hospital. You can also go straight to a psychologist on the Singapore Register of Psychologists. Start at least six months before any school application deadline, because the report feeds into everything else and none of it is quick.
Who runs it: Ministry of Education

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Applying to a special education school

Also called SPED school

What it gives you: A place at a government-funded special education school. You can name up to three schools, but the decision turns on which school can support your child’s main diagnosed condition rather than on your preference — worth knowing before you set your heart on one.
Who it is for: Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident children applying for Primary 1 or Junior 1, and returning Singaporeans applying at any level. If your child is already enrolled somewhere and you want to move them, that is a different route, below.
What it costs: The page states no fee for applying.
How to start: Apply online through MOE. Give yourself about a year: book the professional assessment around six months before your first-choice school’s deadline, and gather a medical report and reports from your child’s preschool or early intervention staff. Schools usually reply within three to six months, and if you are offered a place you have two weeks to register.
What to take with you: The professional assessment report. A medical report from someone who knows your child’s history. Reports from preschool or early intervention teachers.
Who runs it: Ministry of Education

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Moving your child to a special education school

What it gives you: A route to move your child into a government-funded special education school if their current one turns out not to fit. MOE reviews it centrally rather than leaving it to the current school.
Who it is for: For a child already enrolled at a school. This is not the route for a new Primary 1 or Junior 1 application.
What it costs: The page states no fee.
How to start: Ask your child’s current principal to start a transfer. An MOE educational psychologist and specialists review it with the school, and MOE then recommends the school it judges fits your child best. If you decide not to take that place, your child stays where they are — the page describes no way to have the recommendation itself changed.
What to take with you: Whatever the current school asks for. If your child already sees a doctor or psychologist, MOE has medical and psychological report templates the school can pass on to them.
Who runs it: Ministry of Education

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

SEN Officer support in a mainstream school

Also called Allied Educator (Learning and Behavioural Support)

What it gives you: Help in class, and one-to-one or small-group support, from a trained member of school staff — for a child who is coping in an ordinary school but needs extra help with reading and language, maths, or managing feelings and behaviour. Every primary school has these staff, and schools with more need get more of them. In secondary school the same support can extend to exam arrangements such as extra time or larger print, and to equipment like hearing aids or magnifiers where a sensory or physical impairment calls for it.
Who it is for: Children with dyslexia, ADHD, mild autism, hearing loss, or a physical or visual impairment, who are managing in a mainstream school. It is not for a child whose needs are moderate to severe — that is what a special education school is for.
What it costs: The page states no fee. This is support the school already provides.
How to start: Talk to your child’s teacher, or to the school’s SEN Officer, and ask for a professional assessment if there is not one. Schools also identify children themselves, from what parents and teachers notice alongside observation by trained staff.
Who runs it: Ministry of Education

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

Special Education Financial Assistance Scheme

Also called SPED FAS

What it gives you: School fees waived in full at a special education school, free textbooks and workbooks, free school attire, subsidised meals — seven a week at junior level, ten at senior level — and $21 a month towards public transport, up to $252 a year.
Who it is for: Your child needs to be a Singapore Citizen, enrolled full time at a special education school, and not already getting financial assistance from another MOE-funded school. Your household’s gross income needs to be $4,000 a month or less, or $1,000 a month or less per person. It is granted automatically if your child receives ComCare, or has a sibling on the equivalent scheme at a mainstream school.
What it costs: Nothing. You reapply each school year, and it is not backdated — approval partway through a month starts from the following month.
How to start: Ask your child’s school for the application form. If your household’s only income is from work, MOE checks it directly against tax and CPF records and you submit no income documents at all. If anyone in the household has other income, such as rent or dividends, you will need their latest tax assessment and CPF contribution history.
What to take with you: Your child’s birth certificate or NRIC. If anyone in the household has income other than from work, their latest Income Tax Notice of Assessment, twelve months of CPF contribution history, and NRIC copies for household members.
Who runs it: Ministry of Education

Read the official page

Checked 11 September 2026.

If you're told no

We looked for two things and could not find either on an official page: a way to challenge a special education school placement decision, and a general route to complain if a school treats your child unfairly because of their disability. On the first, MOE’s own page says a child who does not take up the recommended place stays at their current school, and describes no way to have the decision changed. On the second, we found nothing official that gives a parent a route to use. That does not mean nothing can be done. It means we could not find something we could point you to and stand behind.