Mavis Findlay-Joseph recently travelled to the United States as the latest Eastern Caribbean candidate of the US Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

Findlay-Joseph is an education officer II with the Ministry of Education in St Vincent and the {{more}}Grenadines. She will take part in a three-week project on the “Education of the Exceptional Child,” with seven other candidates from the region. Exceptional children is an inclusive term that refers to children across the spectrum of exceptionalism, including those with cognitive and/or behaviour problems, children with physical disabilities or sensory impairments, and children who are intellectually gifted or possess special talents.

This exchange will bring together Ministry of Education officials, policymakers, and educators who work in special education and curriculum design throughout the Eastern Caribbean. The objective of the programme is to expose participants to new ways of effectively designing curricula and utilizing differentiated instruction that addresses the needs of an important minority, the exceptional children.

The programme began on April 7 in Washington, DC, and it will include travel to at least four cities across the United States, including: Boston, Massachusetts; Des Moines, Iowa; Jackson, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The programme concludes on April 24.

The IVLP is the Department of State’s premier, professional exchange programme. The programme brings together emerging leaders in their respective professions to learn how US experts in that profession operate and to share best practices with the other programme candidates who hail from the same region and across the globe.