Students with special education needs have been told, at Campus B of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, to look beyond the challenges they are facing and use their several abilities to work towards success in life. The timely admonition came on Monday, March 7, as the school observed Special Education Needs Week under the theme “Your Challenges Do Not Limit Our Abilities”.
There are about 130 students at Campuses A and B, and 31 at the Workshop Initiative for Special Education (WISE) and at Campus C, who receive Special Education training. There are nine teachers in the Special Needs Department which is headed by Mrs. Katherine Brown.
“We must celebrate these students. They are very good at different things with some good at athletics and others excelling in their particular areas of study,” Mrs. Brown said. “We want the general public to support them so that they do not feel left behind while they are searching for love and somebody to look out for them. That is why we are encouraging them to join different clubs and uniform organisations so that they can use their energies in a positive way. We want to see them rise up as leaders because we see the great potential in each them. That is the reason we have set aside this week to let them know that despite the challenges they are facing they have the abilities to rise beyond those challenges.”
Mrs. Brown added: “We are also focusing on strong families because we know that if the families in Anguilla are weak, then our society will be weak and we know we must instil values in our students.”
The students were given religious counselling by Pastor Gerard Gumbs. “Every challenge can be overcome if we are willing to tackle it,” he advised them. “God has given abilities to you to overcome the challenges you face from day to day…It begins with your mind set. You have to have a mind that says I can do it; that I would not allow a particular challenge to stop me from doing what I know I can do. You have to have a mind that says I will be successful in the area I can be successful in – and created in you by God is the ability to overcome. What you need to do is to recognise what challenges are before you; analyse them; see how you can tackle them; then put your mind to overcoming them and you will be successful in whatever you intend to do.”
Pastor Gumbs also spoke to the students about the need to build strong families; to show respect for others; to pay attention to anger management; to stay clear of alcohol and drugs which destroy fam
ilies; and to avoid illicit sexual relations.
Special Education Week began on Sunday, March 6, with a service at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church. The other activities included an assembly and advice session on Monday followed later in the evening by a power point presentation for parents by Dr. Linda O.M. Banks; and over the next few days a visit to the Public Library; talks by a number of guest speakers; a numeracy and literacy competition; a field trip to the Adrian T. Hazell Primary School to see the all-girls and the all-boys classes; and a social and relaxation visit to Sandy Ground on Friday to conclude the series of activities.
