June 4, 2002
In this year two class at St. Andrews — like a class in any school anywhere in the world — some of the students have learning difficulties. They and their mainstream peers are all getting the help they need. |
Labeled and isolated as they are, many such students start on a downward spiral of failure. Eventually they feel "I’m no good. I can’t do this."
 Mary Gibb, Head of School |
It doesn’t have to be that way insists Robert Kennet, Managing Director of the family of St. Andrews Schools. With Kennet, Mary Gibb, Head of School at the small Sukhumvit 71 campus, leads a staff that is striving to raise awareness that special need children can be helped to reach their full potential.
Many teacher education programmes don’t train teachers to identify and deal with special needs. That means twenty percent of the population – statistically the proportion with learning difficulties – is often disadvantaged. "Really they should have a chance," Kennet maintains.
For Gibb and her staff, special educational needs (SEN) means gifted children as well as those with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia (limits in the ability to control physical movements), attention difficulties, even temporary emotional trauma resulting from divorce, death or other tragedies. "We are making a difference in the lives of these children," Gibb contends.
Not only special needs
The school, which, like all in the St. Andrews group follows the British National Curriculum, opened in September 1998. Gibb is proud of progress since that time.
"Our reputation with special needs has kind of exploded and people are coming to us, sometimes with the wrong impression, that we’re a special needs school. But we’re not! We’re a small school with good academic standards. What makes us different is that we promote special needs with a policy of inclusion. We deal with a range of children with a range of gifts, challenges and difficulties. But the policy is to have them mainstreamed."
Mainstreaming means that there are special needs children in every class, working alongside other students.
Being a small school," Gibb explains, makes it much easier to focus on the child." From the initial assessment procedure to extra-curricular activities, students are given as much time, encouragement and attention as possible.
With twenty staff – teachers and teaching assistants — to 160 students that’s much easier to do than at a larger school, Gibb quickly admits. We are never going to be able to compete with a large school in terms of facilities, but for some students, St. Andrews is the right choice. Frankly, she says, "it’s important that parents go round and that they are comfortable with whichever school they choose. Our students have chosen to be here, and that’s nice."
There are no formal entrance tests at St. Andrews. A potential student – with or without special educational needs – spends a day in the designated classroom. There the child takes part in regular class activities. Gibb visits the student in class and at the end of the day gets feedback from the teacher. Evaluation sheets specific to each level require the teacher to observe and comment on everything from social behaviour to skills appropriate for the child’s developmental age, to mastery of appropriate content.
Gibb explains, "If a teacher finds it necessary, she can administer or ask to have our SEN department administer reading and maths tests. But we don’t make that obligatory." If difficulties become evident later, the SEN teachers are then consulted.
Although attitudes are gradually changing, some parents still don’t acknowledge that their child has, or may have, learning difficulties. However, even if there has been no suggestion of difficulties, teachers at St. Andrews are trained to note problem areas.
Those special youngsters
St. Andrews works hard at increasing teachers’ ability to identify and work with children with special needs by encouraging consultation among teachers and experts. Cooperative training is going on all the time. If a teacher tries one strategy and it doesn’t work, says Gibb, "It’s okay. Go back and re-evaluate – there’s no blame." Through consultation the teachers are empowered to try something different.
Suggestions for different strategies may come from any one of a bank of specialists all working with St. Andrews. These include an educational psychologist, a paediatrician, a child psychiatrist, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist. Not every child needs support from all five, of course, but having those resources available, says Gibb, "means we can focus on each child as an individual in order to get them mainstreamed."
The mother of eight-year-old Elliott who has dyspraxia talked about her son’s experience of being in a mainstream class. "It has taken a large team [of specialists]," she relates, "but he is such a different child."
In his home country, her son was given just three afternoons of help in a group of four children, all of whom had extremely different needs. "Here," this mother says, "he sits in a class next to a boy who has dyslexia. So he keeps my son’s concentration going and my boy helps him with his reading because his reading is marvelous. So they gel and they work together. It has benefited him in so many ways."
 Under the patient direction of SEN teacher Fathima Haris one student on the SEN programme works with a friend on communication and fine motor skills in a cooperative play environment. |
Elliott and his friend work alongside their mainstream peers in class and also have regularly scheduled sessions with experienced SEN teachers, John Warrington and Fathima Haris. One-on-one or small group attention from these specialists helps children gain skills to cope with their difficulties and to manage their learning.
Back in mainstream classes, teachers are skilled at making opportunities to practice skills that will help them be successful. Amy Kelley’s year six class recently took a sample UK SATs (Standard Attainment Tests) in preparation for the real thing coming up in a few weeks. The test, administered at years two and six, gives the school feedback about how students are performing compared with the standards of the British National Curriculum.
Kelley explains "now we’re looking at mistakes so we can rectify them. They have trouble at times interpreting questions. They’re working in groups, going through and putting the questions in their own words."
 Ms Amy’s class work together to assess where they made mistakes on their SATs practice test and rectify their misunderstandings. They are confident they won’t make mistakes next time. |
"I’m just rewriting the questions in a more understandable form," explains Sam. The test question reads: "You should look back at page 11 of your reading booklet to help you answer these questions." He explains, "So I changed it to: ‘First, look at page 11 of your reading booklet. It will help you answer all of these questions."
He had given himself clues to the things he missed: what to do first, then to check that he answered all the questions. What was required seemed obvious simply by reading the question, but for Sam it was far from obvious. Next time he comes to a similar question, however, he will be prepared.
Kelley emphasises that all students benefit from this kind of task. Good methods for special needs children are good methods for all children.
 Fiona Daniel and her four-year-olds are practising the shape and sound of ‘sh’. They’ve already used cards and pictures, now they’re writing on each other’s backs. Some children need tactile learning, all children benefit – and love it! |
Planning and cooperation
What happens in the classroom is the result of precise procedures that begin with the objectives, progression of skills and topics set out in the UK curriculum.
Overseeing academic activity for the St. Andrews schools is Graham Sullivan, Director of Education. His job, he explains "is to ensure the quality of the school for the parents." As the one responsible for the academic programme, he goes on, "I work through the Heads of Schools. If I’m doing my job properly, there aren’t any flaws in development that I haven’t already spotted and that the Heads aren’t already addressing in their plans."
At each level, there is a curriculum coordinator who works with the teachers. Within the guidelines of the curriculum, they select and adapt content suitable for their students and the Thai context in order to develop the skills demanded by the curriculum. If a child needs an individual programme, there are ways of including those needs, too.
Every teacher prepares a weekly plan which is submitted to Ann Gibb. That way, she says, "It enables me to be in and around the classes – I talk to teachers and the kids, I can see and know what’s happening."
The classroom teacher and the assistant co-ordinate by talking through the activities of the day. "The assistant would know what her role is." Gibb explains, "is it support, is it follow-up of a particular lesson with a particular group or a particular child, or is it general support?" The teaching assistants are Thai teachers with education degrees and experience in international schools.
Each week the classroom teacher provides evaluation, if necessary, on individual children. "So," explains Gibb, "if a child hasn’t responded well to a particular session, the teacher has an opportunity to note that."
Though they have small classes, the teachers at St. Andrews don’t get much non-contact time and all teachers have to be multi-talented, says Gibb. Ms Jo Simpson teaches her year seven students English, history, maths and geography and French to both her students and Ms Amy Kelley’s year six class. Kelley teaches science to both classes.
Outside of class time Simpson is encouraging two young entrepreneurs who have emerged in her class. Art is setting up a shop for students at the school. He’s been given 3000 baht and asked to make a profit. He’ll need Simpson’s help with the accounting. Nicolas is starting an after school Harry Potter club and she will advise him as well.
What's next?
 Melody Appleton, educational psychologist |
"We’ve got a programme in place that’s catering for all our special needs kids – we’re working with them – that’s done," says Gibb with a smile of pride. "We’re not looking for special needs students for our school at this point. We’re full." What is next for St. Andrews is an early intervention programme to serve children who will enter or return to other schools.
Beginning in September, St. Andrews will operate a language unit for children two to six years old who have language difficulties — but no other conditions. "With early intervention, language difficulties can be corrected," Gibb asserts.
How do you know that a child has language difficulties?
Melody Appleton, the educational psychologist who will lead the assessment team, explains. "There are some children who just don’t start to talk and parents get anxious." That’s at about two and a half years.
"Some children have expressive language difficulties – they can’t find the words, they don’t have enough words, or don’t know how or when to put the words together.
Alison Owen works with a typical language unit group. First of all, Monkey did a funny thing when talking with people – he looked away and had trouble asking simple questions. The children first identified Monkey’s mistake, then practised doing it right. For some that’s not as easy as it looks. |
"Then you have the child who doesn’t comprehend – who has difficulty understanding what you mean and what you say. They can’t put it together to get any meaning out of it. They all need very specific work because all of this has tremendous implications for learning." Appleton recently met a ten-year-old whose parents reported all the early signs but nothing had been done at an early age. The child is now superficially functioning – but failing.
For those assessed and accepted into the unit, there will be group sessions with no more than six students. Alison Owen, an occupational therapist and the language support teacher will implement each child’s programme as established by the assessment team.
Children who have the assessment but who cannot be accommodated by the programme receive a full report and strategies that could be followed up by a professional, parents or teachers.
The language unit is an ambitious plan, but St. Andrews has assembled the resources to make it work, not only for students at the school but for those fortunate enough to access resources that might not be available in their home countries.
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |