College Street School
Today we drove through city
traffic to College Street School, a special school for students
with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The school was
housed in an older building but the classrooms were bright and
clean with colorful posters on the walls. One of the lead
teachers walked me around to visit some eager secondary students
learning to make coffee drinks to sell to the
teachers. Volunteers have built a nice garden area with
raised beds and the teachers and students sell fresh produce to
local markets.
Our career transition workshop was
held in the open multipurpose room. Two old projectors displayed
slides on different sides of the room, one on a makeshift screen
tacked to the wall. Every so often a student would come through
the room to pick up some supplies and we could hear the sounds of
children playing out in the field next door.
We had about eight parents from
College Street school and others in East London attend, all with
children with disabilities ranging from 12 to 20 years
old. Most of the parents spoke Khosa along with some
English, so sometimes after I spoke or gave instructions, one of
the faculty repeated my comments in Khosa. The parents were eager
for answers to what will happen to their children when they leave
school.
We learned that students with
disabilities in this Province may enter school later than their
non-disabled peers, since they are often on waiting lists to
enter an appropriate special school and it may take several years
for an initial disability diagnosis, especially for
autism. Consequently, some of these children do not enter
school until the age of 8 or 10 and then leave at age 18 without
a clear plan for their next steps.
During the second part of the day,
we asked participants to meet in small groups to discuss the
current barriers to successful transition and listen to their
recommendations. The small group discussions were very
intense. It seems they found a forum to air their concerns
and many didn’t want to stop talking! After we finally wrapped up
the discussions, the day ended with a “Vote of Thanks and
Closure” from the Fort Hare University faculty members and a
traditional song.
