By Dillon Goring
AS part of efforts to ensure that persons who have physical or intellectual disabilities or behavioural difficulties that affect their ability to learn are adequately taught, the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) is now offering an Associate Degree in Special Needs Education.
Assistant Chief Education Officer for Special Needs at the Ministry of Education, Keon Cheong, recently told the Guyana Chronicle that the programme was developed given that there are more than a dozen special needs schools and classrooms across the country.
Cheong explained that the programme is intended to give teachers in mainstream schools and special needs schools, the skills, knowledge, techniques, and best practices to deal with these learners.
“The direction in which this programme will take the ministry and by extension, the country, is a direction in which we are providing every person with a disability to function as best as they possibly can, and with that functioning, they can be included as best as they can,” Cheong told this publication.
He believes that, with the implementation of this programme, leaners with disabilities can now be in a better position to make a greater impact on the development of the nation at large.
Meanwhile, Cheong said that there is a grey area between special needs and a disability.
According to him, special education needs take into consideration the diversity of our society.
“Because persons are diverse, it does not mean that they cannot access the services that are available, and against the backdrop of education being a right and not a privilege, this means that there is a need for supporting persons with disabilities, “Cheong told Guyana Chronicle during the interview.
Cheong further explained that when we talk about special educational needs, we are talking about learners with significantly greater challenges and when we talk about a disability, we are talking about those with mental and physical impairments.
Cheong pointed out that while there are 13 special needs spaces not all of them are schools. He said that they are trying to make the distinction so that the general public can understand.
He said that there are special needs schools and special needs units.
“There are special needs schools and special needs classrooms. The special units would be the special needs classrooms that are found within the mainstream settings and we have the associate degree that is being offered at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and that is being informed by the work coming out of the Regional Special Needs Diagnostic and Treatment Centre,” Cheong said.
Cheong further explained that, at the level of the diagnostic centre, a comprehensive assessment of an individual is done.
There is a speech therapist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, and pediatrician, who attend to the needs of this individual to better understand his/her functionality. His/her assessment is done to find ways and means to improve the individual’s academic performance.
“It has always been part of the ministry’s mandate to support learners at all levels. Now we have a department and we have faces to put to the advertised plan and procedure, but it has been part of the ministry’s mandate,” Cheong said.