By Svetlana Marshall
A SPECIAL centre dedicated to enhancing the attention given to children, adolescents and youths with disabilities is to be located at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) at Turkeyen.During the Fifth CARICOM-Cuba Summit in December 2014, Cuba agreed to offer technical assistance to facilitate the regional project which is to take root in Guyana.

The project is titled the “Centre to Stimulate the Development of Children, Adolescents and Youths with Special Education Needs Associated with Disabilities”.
In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Cuba’s Ambassador to Guyana Julio César González Marchante explained that during the initial stage, the West Demerara Regional Hospital was identified as the ideal place to facilitate the project.
However, during a recent meeting with the Government of Guyana, the Cyril Potter College of Education was selected instead.
“We visited some places where we think the project should be based, we visited for example the West Demerara Regional Hospital, we visited the Cyril Potter College of Education and we visited different schools. The [Cuban] delegation believed that the West Demerara Regional Hospital was the best place, but according to these new meetings they (the Guyanese Government) decided that the college would be better,” Ambassador Marchante explained.
As discussions continue on the operationalisation of the centre, the Government of Guyana and the CARICOM Secretariat are analysing a draft proposal which was submitted to them in March by the Cuban Government. Once approved, the centre would be put into operation.
According to the CARICOM-Cuba project proposal, the Centre to Stimulate the Development of Children, Adolescents and Youths with Special Education Needs Associated with Disabilities would attend to a wide range of different forms of expression of the disabilities.
Initially, special attention would be paid to physical-motor disabilities, intellectual disabilities, sensorial disabilities, visual, hearing, deaf-blindness, disorders in the autism range , language and communication disorders, behavioural disorders and disabilities associated with chronic diseases and health situations.
The general objective of the project is to enhance the attention given to children, adolescents and youths with disabilities through the theoretical-practical preparation of the different socio-educational agents in the Region. This would ensure that the processes of prevention, diagnosis, early stimulation, learning for life and social inclusion are fostered, thereby favouring access to culture, services, decent employment and overall development.

Sensitisation and diagnosis
During the first phase of the project, which will last for a period of 12 months, 10 Cuban specialists will operate within the centre, focusing on sensitisation and overall diagnosis.
These specialists are expected to design, pilot the instruments and application of overall diagnosis (macro-diagnostics) of the current state of educational development, taking into consideration the different scenarios making up the CEDAD Project.
The population with disabilities will also be characterised, in addition to the current situation with regard to the overall attention being given to persons with disabilities in the region, with major emphasis being placed on Guyana.
“Characterising the level of preparation of the region’s professionals, initially in Guyana, that would receive professional training to prepare them in areas of work adapted to logopedia, psycho-pedagogy, pedagogy, social work and psychology, making up the multidisciplinary team… and exploring the dynamics of social awareness,” are among other objectives outlined by the participating parties.
During the second phase, which will also last for a period of 12 months, 12 Cuban specialists are expected to evaluate and diagnose children, adolescents and youths with special education needs associated with disabilities.
Additionally, they will undertake the professional development of specialists with similar profiles in the Region, starting first with Guyanese.
The development of occupational language therapies, support psycho-pedagogical treatment, directed tasks and psychological attention, family education and guidance sessions and life workshops with teachers and other educational agents are among the other areas to be covered.
In 2003, the Regional Education Project for Latin America and the Caribbean analysed a number of shortfalls in world education. Among these are the exclusion of children with disabilities, the lack of equity and the insufficient training for family members and teachers to provide the attention required for the educational needs presented by these cases.