| As the Ministry of Education works towards improving inclusivity in the education system, officials believe that more must be done to make classrooms inclusive for children with special needs.Amanda La RoseAnd rehabilitation services could go a far way in improving inclusivity in this regard, says Amanda La Rose, a Rehabilitation Assistant and a Key Opinion Leader with the Ministry of Health.In an interview with Kaieteur News, La Rose explained that she has worked 14 years with the Ministry of Health. Currently, she is attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). She said that over the years, rehabilitation services have been improving in Guyana. She added that these services had aided the school system and, about eight years ago, outreaches began to schools in Guyana.“We started to work in the schools, we would go in about twice a week and we would do some Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy. We also incorporated a bit of Physiotherapy,” she said. She said that the officials would work along with teachers in the classroom setting towards goals like getting the children to focus and gain attention skills. The focus was particularly on children with special needs.However, she said, this programme hit a snag when a number of challenges arose. Amongst the challenges was accommodation.“We would have had periodic challenges in terms of the school accepting us there and making the school accessible to us,” she said. She said that oftentimes, the classrooms were inadequate for the type of services required. In time, the bi-weekly trips reduced to one a week before fading out altogether.When asked whether the average Guyanese classroom fostered the use of rehabilitation services, La Rose responded, “No; at present it does not.”She explained that over time, training would have been done with trainee teachers from the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). She said that there had been a push for more Special Education educators.“Upon graduation, we would sensitise them on what is Speech and Language Therapy, what is Occupational Therapy, and how to deal with certain conditions. We also spoke to them on how to identify certain special needs children.” She said that this early identification goes a far way and helps teachers capture children from an early stage.“We need to capture disabilities and limitations from an early stage as well as children who may have developmental delays and poor attention span. Even children who may be short-sighted and can be brought to the front are things our educators must be taught to identify,” she said.However, she said, any improvement in rehabilitation services would first require trained therapists.According to La Rose, the GPH’s focus on Occupational Therapy really began about five years ago.This department [the Occupational Therapy Department] has been up and running about that period. Prior to that, we only had an occupational therapy room.”As someone with more than a decade of experience in the health sector, she highlighted that the system’s limitation in Occupational Therapy was its lack of a permanent, resident Occupational Therapist. Currently, she said, the health care system has been relying on visiting Occupational Therapists.“We’ve always had to rely on visiting Occupational Therapists coming from Peace Corps,” she said. She said that while hospital officials have “been trying”, it is not enough.“We’ve had to rely on the guidance of various persons who would have come and spent like two years then they would have given their inputs on how an Occupational Therapy Division runs, what Occupational Therapy entails and they would have done like outreaches,” she said.She continued, “We need someone to really guide the whole process and stick it through and ensure that there is full representation. Right now, because there’s no representation, you sort of have haphazard things happening. For example, you have someone for two years, they implement something, and then they leave. After that,Cheap Jerseys Online, you have to depend on someone coming for a next period and you might not have somebody there for quite some time.”She stressed that the visiting professionals have worked “extremely, extremely well” and have benefited the Occupational Therapy Department. She explained that they have enhanced the knowledge of the local officials they would have worked with during their stints in Guyana. She said too that they have enhanced the locals’ foresight, discipline and their management of conditions in Occupational Therapy.“But there is always room for improvement and we’re not where we should be. We need local persons to make representations for us at the Ministry level. We need people to say that we need this, and this is why we need this. We need people to really push for us,” she said.La Rose further said that while there is a Physiotherapy Association, there is no such organised group for Occupational Therapy.“OT needs that sort of representation. That would really help to drive it home,” she emphasised. |
