Lola's Special Needs Awareness Blog: #AboutLastNight on My Weekly Special Needs Awareness Radio Show...

Last night on the Dewdrops Community Centre's Weekly Special Needs Awareness Radio Show on Kiss FM Abuja, we discussed 'Exploring the Creative and Innovative Aspects of the Special Needs Child'. It was quite an interesting episode as it drew practical experience from the 'Young Engineering and Photography Etiquette Program' by Young Engineers Club, Kub Konekt Abuja. With us in the studio was Ms. Blessing Ingyape, a special education teacher at the Dewdrops Community Centre and Mrs. Emuobo Ochojila of Kub Konekt.

I began by stating the need to bring out the best in the special needs child and that children with special needs in society are not to be looked down upon or pitied but can exhibit great potentials in an enabling environment.

I further explained that many special needs children do not have the proper environment to explore their creative abilities and many of them have achieved much more in developed countries where they have a better environment that enables them explore their creativity and develop abilities. I mentioned that sometimes, people with these special needs may perform better than "regular people" as they see their activities as challenges they have to overcome and strive hard to overcome them.

Mrs. Ochojila explained that creativity in children involves using their imagination to come up with new ideas which encourages critical thinking. She stated that when the creativity of a child is not encouraged, their progress becomes hindered and they are unable to find solutions to simple problems. She also further talked about the activities carried out by the Young Engineers Club, Kub Konekt, where the kids are taught to replicate models using available resources (pieces). They also learn to pull models apart after building which helps in developing their fine motor skills and is very vital in building their creativity.

Ms. Blessing added that children with special needs are sometimes more creative than "neurotypical" kids. She also noted the importance of working with special needs children based on their cognitive abilities rather than their age. She described cognition as the mental process of being able to think, experience, feel and learn things independently.

On our chat about how photography helps spark creativity in kids with special needs, we talked about how photography helps to increase concentration and focus where kids try to capture things they like and explore. Mrs Ochojila added that photography sparks their creativity by helping them appreciate what they see and in the process helps build their fine motor skills.

We concluded by explaining how the Young Engineers Photography and Etiquette Programme plays a vital role in helping kids socialize better by building team work and conflict management while working on their activities.

We ended the show by answering some questions from listeners who called in on the show.

Join us again next week,same time, same station.

Please consider sponsoring this programme to keep us on air. Kindly call: 07057630825 or send us an email at: admin@dewdropscc.org

To read the reports of previous episodes, visit my blog: www.lolasnap.blogspot.com