School for Special Needs marks 30 years

The Kingstown School for Children with Special Needs celebrated their 30th Anniversary with a range of artistic displays in the classrooms at their annual open day last Wednesday.

The items on display included paintings, cake decorations, and postcards.

Principal, Esther Carr-Weithers said she is always delighted to have such an event at the school. {{more}}She said the program carried out at the school aims to breaks down the barriers that are associated with children with special needs and to give them the necessary training to venture into the field of work. One of the main setbacks she mentioned is the unavailability of transportation to get the children to and from school. She said, “The fact that children are living with disabilities does not mean they are different from others.”

Weithers also mentioned that the children are progressing at a rate that they can handle. However she noted that many of the children are challenged with speech impediments and a speech therapist is not available to deal with the situations that they face on a daily basis.

Terrance Davis, who has been a teacher for the past 12 years, said the children are very intelligent and all they need is the extra attention. He stated there are mainly two types of disabilities at the school. These are Autism, which is a condition that affects the brain, and Downs syndrome, which causes slowed growth. He also stated that they would like the students to have a vehicle readily available to them, and also computers.

Davis said that working at the school is very easy and he would not trade it for the world.

For the celebration of their 30th Anniversary, a party was held at the school on Wednesday, and tomorrow, the Leo Club will host another party for the children where each child will be given a gift.