By Philip Tengzu
Loho, (UW/R), Dec. 13, GNA- Special needs children at the St. Don Bosco Special School at Loho, near Wa, have received free communication screening to ascertain the level of support they need to enable them to participate actively in social and academic activities.
Teachers and caretakers at the school were also screened to be offered the required support and training to enable them to assist in the proper development of the children at the school.
The KHAD-SAN Africa, a Non-governmental Organization (NGO), organised the free communication screening for the school with support from the Beautiful Smiles Project and Albrim as part of efforts to contribute to the holistic development of the children.
Madam Salima Sidiki Sangari, the founder of KHAD-SAN Africa, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview during the screening exercise that the NGO had planned a series of interventions to aid the children in communicating effectively and the screening was the first step taken.
A total of 55 children at the school comprising children with different conditions such as autism spectrum, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome among others went through the screening exercise.
“The screening will help us know the category they are and there is support we give the teachers to help the children in the classrooms in their learning, communication and social interaction.
After the screening we will come back with the training, which is a very important part of the project”, she explained.
Madam Sangari indicated that some parents and guardians hid their children with such difficulties away from the public due to a lack of awareness of those conditions and the stigmatisation associated with having a child with such a condition.
She, however, said, “People with communication difficulties or special needs should not be kept hidden, there is help, and the earlier you seek help, the better and easier for the child to be free.”
Madam Sangari, a speech and communication therapist encouraged parents and guardians of such children in the Upper West Region not to “hide” them in their homes but to take them to the regional hospital for support.
KHAD-SAN Africa is an NGO that seeks to support both children and adults with communication difficulties to communicate well whether through sign language, writing or verbal communication for people to understand.
Madam Sangari said her decision to form the organisation was to extend the speech and communication therapy services to people in the Upper West Region since the limited licensed therapists in Ghana were in other regions, especially the southern sector to the neglect of the Upper West Region.
Madam Faustina Kuubaare, a House Mother of the St. Don Bosco Special School, said they were going through a lot of challenges in caring for the children due to the communication and cognitive challenges of the children.
“You will show them to do something like bathing, and at that moment they will do it, but once you leave him or her to do it by him or herself, he or she forgets”, she explained.
Madam Kuubaare, therefore, expressed hope that the screening and support they would receive would help improve their social interaction to ease the challenges of the House Mothers.
Some of the children who interacted with the GNA had unclear speeches while others could talk but did not make any meaning in their speeches.
GNA