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News › Surrey school reaches out with autism workshops
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Surrey school reaches out with autism workshops
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Posted by lightfoot on Thursday, May 15, 2008 (23:23:33)
SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS were yesterday introduced to new methodologies in teaching autistic children.
The Linden Bridge School from Surrey, England, which specialises in educating autistics from ages three to 19, is staging two weeks of workshops in Barbados in collaboration with the Autism Association of Barbados.
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The first from April 8 - 11 is for teachers and one from April 14 - 17, will be conducted for parents.
Lawton Walcott, president of the association, said the recently marked World Autism Day showed that every 15 minutes, someone new was being diagnosed with the disorder.
Autism is a brain disorder that affects development and can affect a person's ability to communicate, relate to others, and interact with his or her surroundings. Signs of autism usually appear by about 18 months of age and while there is no cure for autism, early diagnosis and treatment can help people with autism lead more fulfilling lives.
Walcott said the presence of the school here would help teachers to get a better grasp of the challenges faced elsewhere and how they deal with the condition.
Chief Education Officer Wendy Griffith-Watson, who officially opened the workshop, in the conference room of the Ministry of Education's Audio Visual Aids Department, said the timing of the session was right and she hoped that they approached teaching the children with empathy and dynamism since that was what teaching was all about.
"It is only within the last ten years that Barbados has seen this rise in autistic children, many of whom would have been kept at home years ago.
"After this outreach from the Linden Bridge School you will never really be the same again, because you will not get information on how to deal with autistic children and put it aside. . . So that from September when our officers come out to the schools we want to see you trying some of the new things," she said.
Headteacher of Linden Bridge, Ronwen Smith, said the number of autistics was also growing in Britain and huge changes were made in the way they approached autism.
"These are very special children, they will deskill you as teachers because the methods that are tried and tested do not work with them. They need very special teachers to work with them, they need a creative approach in teaching and what we have managed to create at Linden Bridge are those healthy learning opportunities," said Smith.
The workshops are made possible with assistance from the British High Commission, the British Women's Club and Courtesy Rent-A-Car.
nationnews.com
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Posted by lightfoot on Thursday, May 15, 2008 (23:23:33) (3044 reads)
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