School corner: The importance of special-needs schools
Commencing with the academic calendar for 2024, the Highway Mail will be chatting with some schools in the area to find ways to remind parents about important principles to follow and ways to keep the development of their schoolgoing children smooth-sailing throughout the year ahead.
TRAID School and Therapy Centre principal Joshua David speaks about the importance and need of special needs schools in society. Located in Cowies Hill, Pinetown, and Pietermaritzburg, the Triad School offers services for students at all stages of life with a variety of classes which include remedial academics from Grade R to Grade 12, early intervention classes and junior and senior vocational classes. The school also offers individualised therapy programmes.
Outlining the purpose of special needs schools, David says, “Many people are born with a unique set of needs and abilities. Special-needs schools are important because pupils are provided with individualised education and support for students who have unique learning requirements.
Also read: School Corner: The importance of the teacher-parent relationship
“Special needs schools help create a constructive environment to address these students’ distinctive needs. Using experience and expertise, these institutions carefully consider pupils’ challenges and ways of thinking to teach them in a way that will enable them to develop healthily. The individualised approaches promote their social, emotional and academic development,” he explained.
David says that students with unique needs often cannot get the support they need at mainstream schools. “The large classrooms and broad approach to teaching does not develop the deficit skills that special needs students have, and it does not provide them the individual attention they need. This is what differentiates special-needs schools from mainstream schools.
“Special-needs schools usually provide small classroom sizes to ensure that each student receives the attention and individualised approach that they need to develop and achieve their potential,” he said.
David carries on to advise parents to pay attention to their children and act immediately if they suspect that their children might need to attend a special-needs school.
Also read: Atholl Heights Primary School welcomes newly appointed principal
“If parents or educators in nursery schools notice any red flags in a child’s development, such as not developing steadily with their peers, it is best to approach a special-needs school like Triad which specialises in these cases.
“It is crucial to receive early intervention between the ages of two to three years old which will increase a student’s chances of becoming academic by 80%. Once a child is six years old, it is difficult to develop their language and behaviour, and we estimate that their chance of becoming academic is reduced to 30%. Evidence of the benefits can be seen in our students, Olwethu and Anuska, who joined the school’s early intervention programme many years ago and have now successfully matriculated with the Class of 2023,” said David.
For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
