We concluded our ASSESSMENT series last night by highlighting the "Benefits of Assessments in Inclusive and Special Education: Psychological, Audiological and Educational" @ Kiss 99.9 Fm.
Dr PJ Fakudze mentioned that clinical practice in developed countries require all new born to undergo several neonatal evaluations and assessments before been allowed to go home with their parents. This is also accompanied by scheduled regular follow up assessments till the child is of school age. At the point of entry into elementary school, school age children are again assessed by a multidisciplinary team consisting of clinical psychologist(s), paediatrician(s), general educator(s), special educator(s), etc to determine the child's level of readiness emotionally, physically, socially and otherwise. This will help guide with appropriate school placement and support.
Mr Charles mentioned that audiological assessments are very important at every stage of development and that hearing loss or hearing impairment could affect adults as well contrary to the general belief that the percentage of children that experience hearing impairment is higher than that of adult. He further stressed the importance of regular audiological assessments and his professional advice is that we undergo audiological assessments at least once a year. He stated that such healthy practice could help with early identification and early intervention in inclusive and special education.
The phone lines were opened early as promised and our listeners called in to ask several interesting questions which were adequately responded to by Mr. Charles and Dr. PJ. I also had the opportunity to bare my mind on the benefits of assessment when two different callers called in. One of the callers mentioned that he is quite good at expressing his idea verbally but had challenges putting it down in writing (composition/essay) while the other caller's issue had to do with handwriting or copying notes that is more than a full page. Both callers expressed their dissatisfaction with the negative effects of these challenges on their academic performances.
In my response to the callers, I further explained the importance of assessment for effective and successful inclusion practices. Learners with dyslexia, dysgraphia and other disabilities if properly assessed would benefit from inclusive education without been "marked down" if the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is properly adopted and implemented in our educational system.
The idea of UDL is that with modifications of representation (material), expression (methods of communication), and engagement (how students respond to curriculum), teachers can include a much wider range of students in typical classroom instruction. Simply put, UDL entails designing lessons that are appropriate for the dyslexic, dysgraphic and all learners in general.
Join us again next week, same time, same station.
For sponsorship, please call: 0705 763 0825 or send email to: admin@dewdropscc.org
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your comments or questions here. Thanks.