Through NCERD…
THE National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) is appealing to parents of children with special needs to communicate this to schools within their communities.

The institution said it is desirable in order to aid effective responses from the recently established Special Needs Education Unit and a telephone hotline, number 227-2865 was made available to the public yesterday to bolster assistance to parents seeking it from schools countrywide.

Ms. Karen Hall, National Coordinator for Special Needs Education

Coordinator for Special Needs Education, from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) attached to NCERD, Ms. Kate Stevens said, by giving the information, parents will raise a red flag to say they need help and she pledged support to schools and teachers.

She said parents who have children and, for example, are keeping them at home for different reasons, should contact schools in their respective areas, so they can get the opportunity to access education and develop to their full capacity.

“By beginning to communicate with schools, we, at the Special Needs Education Unit, will be able to assess what the child needs to be educated,” Stevens explained.

Ms. Jennifer Bowe, VSO Volunteer working with Special Needs and Remedial Reading.

She said other actions that can be taken to help a child realise full potential include letting them take part in activities at home with the family and feel accepted and encouraging school attendance and effective communication between parents and the school to address effectively the children’s needs.

Another VSO volunteer, Ms. Jennifer Bowe, who works with Special Needs and Remedial Reading, said special needs are not restricted to physical, communication and severe intellectual disabilities but rather extend to other learning disabilities that are not obvious.

She said one of the more common learning disabilities that is not obvious is dyslexia, which is a learning disorder that manifests itself as a difficulty with reading and spelling. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. Dyslexia is thought to be the result of a neurological defect and, though not an intellectual disability, it is variously considered a learning disability, a language disability and a reading disability, among others.

Ms. Kate Stevens, Coordinator for Special Needs Education with VSO.

Dyslexia is diagnosed in people of all levels of intelligence and Bowe asserted that education must be child centred.

Reiterating that access is a key to child development, National Coordinator for Special Needs Education, Ms. Karen Hall agreed that communication between parents and schools is quintessential.

Relationship
“What the parents need to do is build a relationship with the school and the Education Ministry through the Special Needs Education Unit. That way, we can achieve the goal of education for all,” she posited.

Hall, a person with a physical disability, as well, said the power of parents should not be underestimated.

“I went to special school for eight years and my mother decided I could learn. So she took me out and got me into a mainstream school. I know, firsthand, the power of parents,” she attested.

Hall noted that, like her, there are many persons with disabilities, whether visibly obvious or not, who have been successful because of parents who advocated and fought for their rights.

“Determination and a vision are what parents need to help children who have special education needs meet their potential,” she maintained.

Director of NCERD, Mr. Mohandatt Goolsarran.

Hall said, by coming forward, parents will not only be ensuring quality education for their children but would also help the unit to compile a database, which would contain particulars of each child so that the Education Sector can start addressing them.

According to her, this was a task left untended in the past and present efforts are intended to make up for the lapse.

Hall said a survey, begun November last year, is accumulating the information for the database and preliminary results can be expected within another six months.

She said the Bureau of Statistics, the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Programme and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) are among the stakeholders, whose participation is very important, from which support is being sought.

Hall said the vision behind the survey is for some level of assessment to be made, so that children in the target group can be properly placed into schools where they can develop to their full potential.

Director of NCERD, Mr. Mohandatt Goolsarran confirmed that primary among the services which the institution will be able to offer is training for parents, in addition to the provision of resources to meet academic needs of the targeted children.

“We are now setting the platform for a takeoff, so that what we have in the strategic plan for the next five years, education for all can be achieved,” adding that the Ministry of Education has committed to supporting the initiative.

David Rose School for the Handicapped, Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, Diamond Special School, New Amsterdam Special Needs School, St. Barnabas Special School, Sophia Special School and Linden Centre for the Disabled all cater for such persons.

St. Roses High School Unit for the Blind and Wismar Hill Primary School Vision Resource Unit are connected to the mainstream schools, but apart from those and assistance from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), there have been no avenues of support for children with special needs.

However, recognising the lack, education sector stakeholders have addressed it in the five-year strategic plan.