Some Special Educators who participated in a training
programme on cerebral palsy on Tuesday said they have been enlightened a lot
“We did not know that there were adaptive devices that could
be used for children with cerebral palsy in the classroom,”
“We did not know that we could make adaptive equipment with
cardboards and pieces of paper,” Mr Kweku Nkum Yeboah, Teacher at the Twin City
Special School told The Special Mothers Project in an interview.
The Special Mothers Project uses the media to advocate on
cerebral palsy issues
Mr Yeboah said it has been a useful two weeks training
session which will enhance their work as special educators, going forward.
Mrs Patience Kyei, Special Educator at the Dansoman
Community Special School, said she will communicate what she had learnt to her
colleague teachers.
“Many teachers in the regular stream do not understand
special education and are not able to handle children with special needs
especially cerebral palsy, with the two weeks training, our school will be more
open to accept children with cerebral palsy.”
Mrs Kyei said she is also willing to do outreach programmes
on cerebral palsy in the community, while making sure to also engage more with
parents of children with special needs
Mr Victor Atitsogbi, Special Educator at Three Kings Special
School, Battor, said he will be organizing a trainer of trainers programme for
his school to enhance their understanding on cerebral palsy.
The participants, however, urged government to be more
committed to the education of children with special needs especially children
with cerebral palsy in Ghana.
Children with cerebral palsy are usually very intelligent,
most of the time their IQ is not affected by their disability but we do not
have the infrastructure and the support we need to accept them into schools.
“We realize that there is very limited knowledge on children
with cerebral palsy and all children with special need among the rank and file
of the Ghana Education Service, hence very little is said about it,” they said
emphasizing the need for government to show more commitment.
Ms Mandy Budge, Head of Multikids Africa, an
organization that advocates inclusion of
children with special needs and organizers of the workshop said they intend to
start a mobile therapy clinic to the various special needs school to ensure
that the children get the required services
“Our Mobile Multidisciplinary team will work together with
the schools to ensure that the children get the required therapy services while
in school. We also hope to extend the training programme to all teachers,” she
said
Ms Budge said Multikids Africa is committed to build the
capacity of teachers and therapists locally to ensure continuity and
sustainability of the training programme.
“We will also put in place an effective monitoring team to
ensure that the right thing is being done,” she added
The training programme for Special Educators in selected
special schools aimed at creating a group of teachers and university lecturers
who will be able to incorporate children with cerebral palsy in the education
environment.
The project on the theme: Enabling Education for children
with cerebral palsy in Ghana also hopes to enhance the human resource capacity
of professionals working with persons with cerebral palsy.
Two paediatric physiotherapists from the United Kingdom,
Diane Lyle and Sophie Appleby provided practical hands on training to the
teachers to enhance their knowledge on basic therapies they can do with the
children in the classrooms.
While Ms Jean Westmacott, Head of CPA equipment trained the
teachers in the making of the Appropriate Paper-based technology equipment
The programme is funded by the UK Aid Direct with support from
Cerebral Palsy Africa, Multikids Africa and SWEB Foundation will also equip the
teachers to demonstrate strategies to sensitize communities to the needs of
children with cerebral palsy and benefits that education can bring them.
You can also share your inspiring story with The Special Mothers Project www.specialmothers.org
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