Sancti Spiritus Bets for Inclusion in Special Education Teaching Programs

Providing an all-round development of children, teenagers and young people with special educational needs (SEN) is a priority in Sancti Spíritus, central Cuba, where all the necessary conditions are guaranteed for these students to face their social inclusion independently.

So said Deisy Castillo Ibarra, head of the Special Education Department in the Provincial Education Office, who also pointed out that in order to achieve this goal the territory has both teachers and specialists responsible for the training of the students.

Those professionals work in the 13 special educational institutions that exist in the province as well as in some Primary Education schools attended by SEN students, she added.

According to Castillo Ibarra, there are more than 1600 special educational needs students in Sancti Spiritus who are classified within the following concepts: intellectual disability, psychic development retardation, behavior disorder, strabismus and amblyopia, blindness and low vision, physical-motor disability, communication disorders, deafness and hearing loss and autism spectrum disorders.

Local special education programs allow students to go through the different educational levels, to receive proper education and to have a job at the end of their school training. Accordingly, more than 60 young people with intellectual disability will benefit from this program during the present school year.

The educational official also remarked the role of the support teachers when providing advice on issues related to diversity and the characteristics of special educational needs associated or not with disability.