This month we hel
d a teacher training workshop for our local partner school Luke International School with a focus on Understanding Special Needs. This was also an effort to empower educators on how to make learning and the classroom environment more accessible for students with needs. During the discussion a look at the local laws which advocate for people with disabilities’ and the cultural influences that affect how disabilities are viewed were explored.
Emilia Velásquez is an Educational Therapist from Quito, Ecuador. She graduated from Universidad de los Hemisferios in 2021. She has had experience working in multiple social organizations related to disabilities and low income families. She has worked as an Instructional Assistant for three years and now she is part of the Learning Support Department at Academia Cotopaxi.
She is passionate about finding and creating new pedagogies and connecting or collaborating with teacher nerds. She has her own podcast about educational strategies to promote equity focusing on topics related to Disability, Migration, Ethnicity and Gender.
On January 27, we hosted a wonderful networking event in Sofia to connect educators and service providers in our community.
We are excited to see our organisation growing to include all types of educators, therapists, and educational psychologists. It was a wonderful opportunity for guests to learn more about SENIA as well as share their experiences, resources, and vision for the future of inclusive education.
Thank you to everyone who joined us, we can’t wait for the next one!
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Lat December, we had the incredible pleasure to host Dr. Stephen Shore in Sofia, Bulgaria!
Dr. Stephen Shore is an autistic professor of special education at Adelphi University in the United States. He is also an author and speaker, and was recently a keynote speaker at the 2022 SENIA Europe Conference in Bonn.
The Anglo-American School of Sofia hosted Dr. Shore, where he was able to speak with educators, students, and parents in the community. Dr. Shore presented on topics including the 4 A’s of Autism, Bullying, and Sensory Diets. Our team of educators were especially engaged when they had to step into the place of an individual experiencing sensory overload – a unique and challenging experience for many!
We are so grateful to Dr. Shore for sharing his knowledge and experiences to help our community grow.
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This year’s watch party was an opportune time to invite local teachers to discuss the state of special needs in the Abidjan Community. The event allowed for discussions about how we as educators can create more inclusive environments for our students. We found many commonalities in the challenges we face around raising awareness about neurodiversity and disabilities. In the next year we will begin teacher training and sharing of best practices to build teacher capacity!
Emily Finn earned her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy (OT) from the University of California, Davis, in the United States. With more than 10 years of practice working with children with various needs, she is currently the Clinical Director of Together Occupational Therapy center in Quito, Ecuador, where they focus on therapy based in sensory integration. She is also a supervisor for a therapy company based in California where she focuses on mentoring OTs in the school-based setting.
The SENIA West African Chapter Committee discussed the status of special education in the local community of Abidjan. The history of civil war in Cote d’Ivoire is in the backdrop of a society who is hopeful for the future. Sadly, as is the case in most African countries, children with special needs remain side lined from governmental support. Local policies and laws are vague and in some instances impractical, due to the limited resources available. The adoption of transitional organizational policies from the NGO community provides some hope for equity and inclusion, however, there are still a cultural and religious barrier influenced by limited awareness about disabilities.
As a committee we visited the Association Imagine le Monde. The visit was enriching and exposed the committee to the realities of special needs institutions in Cote d’Ivoire. AIM is one institution that brings hope to the community, doing amazing work in creating opportunities for students with more intensive needs. They give their students access to education, practical life skills and vocational skills. AIM is a safe place to grow and learn and the facilitators parental support, with seminars on how to raise students with special needs. We are grateful to be a partner school and the committee will be working to sustain these relations with them, through vocational projects to assist the adults with disabilities to receive sheltered employment.
The SENIA West African Chapter hosted the first SENIA Virtual Conference in December 2021 at ICSA. In attendance were 20 elementary, middle and high school teaching staff. This was a much needed opportunity for professional development, awareness about diversity in learning and reducing stigma associated with special needs.
The event was highly interactive with participants engaging in discussions on the platform with other teachers in international schools across the world! This brought our community closer to other schools and inspiration was ignited about how we can create more inclusive access points for our students. The presentations were enjoyable with many moments for deep reflection and discussion. This was a great opportunity for teachers to reflect on best practices, to become advocates in demystifying special needs in Cote d’Ivoire.
