Teachers to receive training in identifying, supporting SEN children

In the new year, the Education Ministry will be introducing tools for teachers to identify children with Special Education Needs (SEN) using a structured approach, allowing them to benefit from specialised services.
The Regional Special Education Needs Disability Diagnostic and Treatment Centre is responsible for identifying, treating, and preventing disabilities across countries within the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

A multi-disciplinary approach is taken, with stakeholders from the Health Ministries and Education Ministries collaborating to provide this comprehensive evaluation. Departments involved include speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, behavioural therapy and stimulation.
In this week’s Education Spotlight, the Coordinator of the Centre, Keon Cheong shared that while some teachers were capable of assessing students with special needs, the new tool will guide them on how to effectively address and identify persons with SEN.
“To date, teachers who have been engaged in doing ongoing assessments, observing children, and monitoring their progress have been able to identify and recommend that the child be screened. More structured than that is the screening packet that the Ministry of Education will launch soon, where teachers will be trained how to use the screening packet, so now, we have an instrument to really guide them,” Cheong explained.
Part of their response intervention mechanism is to identify struggling learners and put evidence-based strategies in place. Should these fail, the learners would be referred to the Center.
“Response intervention is a multi-tiered approach. There are three tiers. Tier One deals with universal screening, and Tier Two deals with evidence-based teaching practices. Should the individual not be successful in Tier One and Tier Two, then this is where the Centre comes in, in Tier Three, and we do a comprehensive evaluation that informs eligibility,” the specialist expounded.
Persons can access services at the Centre through walk-ins; referrals from organisations, hospitals or the school system. However, there is a backlog in the system owing to a shortage of staff.
“We do have a backlog indeed. That is a result of shortage of staff so we were forced to end interviews for 2022 in August, because I had 80 persons waiting to come in. Anyone looking to access the services of the Center right now would be given a date any time after February of 2023.”
After the assessment of the child is completed, a report is shared with the parent after which an individual education plan is drafted. Parents, the teacher, and SEN officers would discuss the findings, placement, and academic goals.
“The individual education plan has a life of about six months, so we would be able to check in…Once we identify those goals and everybody signs to them, parents need to know that they are part of the process and need to support the teacher,” the coordinator added.
“At the ending of the year, what we do here is we give a tally of the overall number of persons who would have been assessed and the most prevalent category of disability; this information goes to the SEN unit at NCERD [National Centre for Educational Resource Development], since they have a mandate on training.”
At the Centre, construction is ongoing for the first-ever sensory room, along with a pool to facilitate aquatic therapy to students with disabilities.