Sam Sharpe Diagnostic Centre an open avenue for disabled students

WESTERN BUREAU:

While the Granville, St James-based Sam Sharpe Diagnostic and Early Intervention Centre has only been in operation for less than three months, it is providing a welcome avenue for disabled students in western Jamaica to express themselves and be part of the local education system.

The facility was built at a cost of J$62 million and was officially opened on October 23. However, operations at the centre did not begin until less than a year later due to delays in staff recruitment.

The centre recently highlighted its activities and mission with its staging of the Disabilities Awareness March and Expo 2019 on December 6, in collaboration with the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, the Montego Bay Learning Centre, the HEART Trust/NTA, and the Montego Bay Autism Centre. The event was held in acknowledgment of Disabilities Awareness Week under the theme, ‘I Have a Voice, Include Me.’

Tracy-Ann Pinnock, centre manager of the Sam Sharpe Diagnostic Centre, explained that the facility provides assessment of clients’ learning disabilities and gives recommendations to aid the individual under treatment.

“Over the years, we’ve had students suspected of having learning disabilities, and teachers and parents are not sure if something is wrong. At the diagnostic centre, we have a team of clinicians, psychologists, social workers, and nurses, and these persons conduct the assessments,” said Pinnock.

“After that, we generate the report which makes recommendations for accommodations or modifications that will assist the client. We do counselling services and consultations in special education, and right now we have walk-in clients lining up, plus requests from schools in the area.”

The centre’s activation has proven to be a timely one for disabled persons in western Jamaica, as the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) released a report in November, stating that deaf and hard-of-hearing children are kept out of specialised institutions by their parents.

According to the JAD’s 2017 to 2019 report, enrolment in the schools it oversees dropped from 284 students during the 2015-16 school year to 247 in the current academic year. The lack of enrolment caused one of these schools, the Maranatha School for the Deaf in Top Hill, St Elizabeth, to shut its doors.

Need for facility

For Tashikia Sinclair, regional special-needs coordinator in the Ministry of Education Region Four, there is an immediate need for facilities like the Sam Sharpe Diagnostic Centre to provide assistance for disabled persons or those with special needs.

“The need is quite immediate, as we have students who are on waiting lists for placement because we don’t have available placement for many of our students. Some of them are waiting to be assessed and to be properly diagnosed so that we have an idea how to treat each situation,” Sinclair said.

“In Westmoreland, for example, of about 300 students, we have 70 per cent of them who are still awaiting placement. They are in school but not appropriately placed, so they are in school just to ensure they are occupied, but they need to be in special schools. Until we’ve diagnosed them and we find out what is really happening, we won’t be able to remedy the issue,” Sinclair added.

In the meantime, Joshcia Lawrence-Brown, a special educator assigned to the Sam Sharpe Diagnostic Centre, believes that the centre’s current tactic of raising awareness within the immediate community of Granville and surrounding areas is causing more persons to come out and seek the facility’s services.

“We are pretty new, and the community is just learning about us day by day, so the aim of the disabilities awareness march was that, as they see our presence, they would learn about the centre.

“The response so far is good, as persons are coming to us more and more, and once they know we’re here, we’re getting the walk-in clients coming in a lot more,” said Lawrence-Brown.

“We know that in Jamaica, there’s a move towards spreading disability awareness, and we want to ensure that as a centre for diagnosing and assessing students, we play our part in sharing and spreading the word about disabilities.”