HOPE Qatar engages special needs students with online programme
HOPE atar Centre for Special Needs has recently launched a special video capturing the educational and therapeutic activities around the virtual classes it introduced in response to the restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and another special video showing how children are spending their free time at home.
According to HOPE atar Founder and Managing Director Dr Rajeev Thomas, the Centre swiftly developed a fully functional online virtual version of its programme with the support of class teachers and therapists and rolled out within a few days following instructions from atar authorities to close down educational centres to curb the spread of coronavirus.
He said such an innovative approach is inevitable to ensure that their students with special needs could continue to receive educational and therapeutic support at their homes and would not lose continuity in their individual educational plans.
“One of the objectives of HOPE atar is the partnership with the parents to empower them to deliver and reinforce the education and training that their children receive at HOPE. This has always been our approach because the child is with us at HOPE for a few hours daily, but the parents have the time to work with the child and reinforce what has been done in the classes for the remaining hours. This ensures that the child continues to be stimulated and the learning reinforced in a systematic manner even beyond the class hours. We adapted the same concept to roll out the in-house developed online virtual training module by empowering the parents to be our delivery partners,” Dr Thomas added.
The special educators and the therapists at HOPE atar jointly designed and developed daily lessons for each child based on their individual educational plans (IEP) using a combination of worksheets, video lessons, audio instructions and parent implementation kits which guided the parents on how each of these tools had to be administered for their child.
Mamta Yash, academic program coordinator at HOPE
atar, said: “Very detailed step by step instructions for parents made it easy for them to follow and implement the online home-based programme for their children. This was supplemented by video calls on oom and WhatsApp between the teachers and the students based on a fixed timetable that ensured that each child was able to receive one-to-one attention at specified times during the day.
“Constant round the clock support was available to the parents who could call and clarify any doubts they had and also send back regular feedback and completed worksheets and progress videos to the teachers to evaluate and provide the feedback.”
The Centre also rolled out its end of term evaluations and examinations for all the children through the online format and issued the end of term progress reports and the plans for the next term using this method.
On some of the challenges in engaging students with special needs in a distance learning approach, Yash said children with special needs have different levels of abilities.
She stressed that while some of them may be able to sit in a place and follow the instructions from the parents based on the guidance from the teachers and therapists, some children may find it difficult.
Mamta added, “Some parents found it more challenging than the others because of the unique nature of their children and the fact that the parents are not trained professionals in this area makes it more difficult for them to fully implement the online virtual modules. Some parents were also engaged in their own work from home which made it difficult for them to set aside sufficient time to dedicate for their differently abled child.
However, the majority of the parents were happy with the online distance mode that HOPE atar introduced and the feedback has been encouraging. It was also a learning experience for them as they could now better understand the efficiency and efforts of the special educators and therapists at HOPE atar who dealt with these children on a daily basis when they used to attend the regular classes at the centre.”
HOPE atar is currently preparing to implement the guidelines that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to facilitate the reopening of special education centres once the COVID-19 restrictions are withdrawn in a phased manner. This will include additional precautions and care that will ensure that each child studying at the centre and each of the members of the HOPE atar team are adequately protected from any problems. They are also in the process of implementing an internationally acclaimed educational framework that will be swiftly adapted to meet the unique needs of the children with special needs at HOPE atar once the classes resume in the next academic year in September. Plans are also on for the opening of a branches in Wakra and Al Khor shortly.
HOPE atar is currently accepting admission enquiries for the academic year 2020-21 and more information can be found at www.hope-qatar.org.