A Sandton-based pre-school, The Talk-Shop, focuses on the special needs of their pupils.
These needs vary from speech difficulties to health-related issues to an array of other difficulties that make it difficult for the child to function in an ordinary school environment.
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The school operates as a non-profit institution and has a bursary fund to provide free schooling and therapy for underprivileged children. The school’s principal, Barbara Bennett said, “The beneficiaries of the bursary fund are the children. [This] allows us, if we make any extra money, to immediately put it back – either into salaries or into school projects or for equipment for the children, so the children benefit.”
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Two years after the school was founded in 2002, the parents started a bursary fund when they realised the parents of one of the pupils could not afford to pay his school fees.
“Since 2004, 14 underprivileged children have been awarded bursaries to attend the school. There is a strict policy at the school about protecting the identity of the recipients, so teachers and therapists don’t always know who they are.”
Bennett recalled a memory of a pupil who had difficulties talking. “He arrived with big behavioural problems as a result of being frustrated about not being able to talk. He would bite and scratch people. We see that with a lot of our children.”
She stressed that it is important for children with difficulties to be educated in a specific environment. “It’s not because they are horrible, unruly children. But it’s because they are so frustrated because they can’t talk. Because of that, the child [is] isolated – isolated from peers and from the community. And parents [are often] labelled as being unable to discipline the child.”
Bennet highlighted that many parents believe that these children need a ‘jolly good smack’ but explained that this advice is terribly incorrect and will only make the child’s problems worse. The school offers many therapies such as speech and hearing therapy, and parents are encouraged to contact the school with any questions or concerns.
Details: talkshop@netactive.co.za
