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| Front row from left: Maggie Dellafera, Barbara Salamy, and Sue Ryan. Back row: Kathy Ress, Cecele Browne, Lornette Manners, Premier Vance Amory and Adella Francis Photo Provided |
Charlestown Nevis (March 10, 2004) -- Supervisor of the Special Education Unit of the Nevis Island Administration at St. Thomas, Ms Adella Francis, says that there is need for a policy to be put in place to compel parents of children that have been assessed to have special needs to have them (children) taken to the special needs school.
Speaking to GIS on Wednesday following a meeting with the Premier and Minister of Education, the
Hon Mr. Vance Amory, and the visiting Optimum Chance team from New Jersey, the Supervisor said that they need to get parents accept that if a child has special needs that they should accept the programme at the Special Education Unit.
Ms Francis who said that the Premier was supportive of the idea, added that while in his office, “We spoke about the special needs and what has been done, based on the assessments that have occurred thus far and what can be put in place.”
She said that the Optimum Chance team that included its Director, Ms Barbara Salamy, was in Nevis to assess children. “These are children where teachers in the regular schools, primary schools especially, have had problems with and they have identified that there are needs. These children will be assessed and recommendations will be made by these therapists.”
In the New Jersey team were Ms Kathy Ress, a physical therapist, Ms Maggie Dellafera a special education specialist, and Ms Sue Ryan, a speech therapist. They were accompanied to the Premier’s office by the Acting Principal Education Officer, Mrs Lornette Manners, and the recently retired Supervisor of the Special Education Unit, Mrs Cecele Browne.
The assessments were carried out at Ministry of Education headquarters, Marion Heights, where 43 children that also included those at the Special Education Unit came forward. Some were as young as three years.
“Our mission is to help create an awareness, on the island, for children with special needs and to help support their families (telling them) that there is always hope,” noted Optimum Chance’s Director, Ms Salamy, who added that there are always abilities even if it is in disability.
She commented that if a child does not walk properly, “it doesn’t mean that they can’t think what goes on properly. If they don’t speak properly, they can still think and be productive in society. So we encourage families to come to the Special Education Unit and seek this help or talk to their district nurses and get some direction.”
According to Ms Salamy, every child deserves their optimum chance to learn and to be productive in society and stressed that every child can have that chance. She pointed out that as an organisation, they deal with nongovernmental organisations through the special needs school.
Physical Therapist, Ms Kathy Ress, said that this was probably their tenth visit to Nevis, and every time they are here they offer special education, speech therapy, occupational therapy, while their director, Ms Salamy does outreach with the nurses and the government officials.
“We will be evaluating children and we will be trying to get families who are not bringing in their children in to bring them in and start to see the needs that they have,” she told GIS advising that there is nothing that anyone should be ashamed of, “but if it will help their children then we need to show them where to start with that help.”
She pointed out that they would want the children who have been recommended by their teachers to get some evaluation, as it would mean that they can then go where they can get the best help and noted that it is not in the nursery school system, that such help is available, but in the Special Education Unit where they can get the specialised help they need.
