What have I accomplished so far.........

            In just  three weeks....  Let's see, first I gathered data, talked to staff, and observed their current state of education.  Then I proceeded to write a Referral process that included holding one or two team meetings. This concept is difficult for the Kenyans to understand, as they are not used to team meetings regarding children. They do lots of teacher training on various topics but they do not talk about the children.  So, I said it will be a 15 - 20 minute meeting with all the right people at the table, including the parent. This is also a foreign concept to them.  The team decides what the child needs and it might not be assessment, it might be family intervention, or changing the child's seat, or sending the child to the eye or ear doctor....The process ends with  eight categories of identification: Autism, Developmental Delay, Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Deaf and / or Blind, Physical Disabilities (includes epileptic, asthma, crutches, etc), Learning Difficulty, and Mental Retardation (we thought hard about this label and decided it was the only words the teachers would understand).  Missing from the list is the category of Emotional Disability and ADHD.  These two categories will be too difficult to discern due to the culture these people live in. I have typed up the Referral form and the Minutes form.  At the end of the Referral process, each team will write a Student Success Plan ( this is the substitute for an Individualized Education Plan) which includes 2-3 goals for this individual child. 

This is Blessing

Evelyn and her mom

      This is a great plan on paper, now to implement it....Reaching out to parents is one of the main focuses of this so we can explain to them that their child is a child of God and is truly a blessing.  We started to attend the community parent meetings weekly to educate the parents.   Matter of fact here is a picture of a child named Blessing.  Her mother heard that we were doing outreach in her community and she was waiting for us when we arrived back at the school for lunch. Blessing is Developmentally Delayed and is functioning as a 6 month old child. She is 2.5 years old. And Evelyn's mother did the same thing, she was waiting for us and when we arrived, she took us to her house.  She carries Evelyn everywhere.  Evelyn is 12 years old and does not speak, she has physical issues and scoliosis.  Evelyn cannot manage any of her own care.  These are two of the children we met.  Another part of the process is assessing the students who are currently in the schools.  That is where we are now.  We completed 97 assessments this week, and will continue to asses the other 25 next week.  We are using an informal system I taught to three teachers who are certified Special Education teachers, from the  Kenyan University system.  We are using simple tools from the classroom and other tools that visiting schools have left for the classroom teachers.

         

Assessment station

 

I made sure that all the teachers are doing the same assessment.  It is surely archaic, but where there was nothing, there is something now.  We have a system and an infrastructure.  The next step is look at all the data and see where it leads us. I have already informed leadership we will need to open a resource room and asked them to start thinking of what classroom space we could use. Now if we only had  a teacher....and on I go.....