Tuesday 19 March 2019
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BUSINESS DAY
21
EDUCATION Focus on special education: Community-Based Instruction
Isaac Osae-Brown
R
esearch reveals that Communitybased instruction (CBI) is a strategy or instructional method that promotes the teaching and use of academic and functional skills in the student’s natural environment. The setting, as well as the tasks performed in these settings, should be relevant to the student, facilitate independence and be age appropriate. Community-based instruction (CBI), a hands-on learning program located within the community, is a critical component of the education program for students with disabilities. This is primarily because, as adults, the community is where they will need to use the skills acquired during their school years. Trips to
community locations occur concurrently with classroom instruction. Although students may initially learn and practice a skill in the classroom, they will eventually practice the skill by applying it in a home or community setting. For example, a student who learns math skills in the classroom may later practice those skills during a shopping expedition. The main purpose of Community Based Instruction is to train students in a natural community environment to live, work, and recreate as independently as possible. Community-based instruction (CBI) is comprised of teaching opportunities with targeted instruction on a consistent basis. The American with disabilities Acts (ADA) was signed into law in 1990 to prohibit any form of discrimination against persons with disabilities. This important piece of federal legislation also requires most public and private accommodations, buildings and transportation systems to be accessible to persons with disabilities. Government agencies and
committees on employment of people with disabilities bring together information about practical steps employers can take to make accommodations for the functional limitations of applicants with disabilities. In some African countries like Nigeria, students and individuals with disabilities are often not encouraged to participate in complex activities of daily living due to their dynamic disabilities that limit cognitive and functional engagement in their schools and communities. A large number of school leaders do overlook the importance of community-based instruction and forget to provide professional development to teachers in this field. Research reveals that community-based instruction can help augment students’ executive functioning and improve adapted behaviour. In order words, individuals with disabilities if exposed to community-based instruction will get along in their environment with greatest success and least conflict with typical peers.
KELECHI EWUZIE
S
enior Secondary students across Nigeria have an opportunity to test their literary skills as entries for the Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition opens. The competition is one of Mike Okonkwo’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities aimed at raising the standard in the educational sector in the country and at the same time sensitise the students by making them analytically minded so as to excel in their world by developing their ability to think through issues. The competition which opens from March 18th to June 7th, 2019 and has as it’s the topic “Justice as an Instrument of Enduring Peace in Nation Building”. According to a statement signed by Oluwayomi Uteh, group manager, Opera tions and made available to BusinessDay, the entry requirements for students to participant include: Essay of maximum of 2000 words, a Passport Photograph of the Student, Full Name, Address, Contact Telephone Number, class, school and Name and Telephone contact of the Principal. Essay could be submitted through email to essay@
gram must be directly related to the areas that prepare students to function in their community which are: Among the domains of community-based instruction are: domestic (daily living), vocational, recreation/ leisure, community and social. The domestic domain (self-management/home living/daily living) includes several areas, such as the following: Eating and food preparation, grooming and dressing, hygiene, health and safety, assisting and taking care of others The vocational domain covers the following areas: Classroom/school jobs, paid and non-paid work experiences within the community. The recreation/leisure domain includes the following types of activities: School and extracurricular activities, activities to do alone, activities to do with family and friends, physical fitness activities The community domain addresses many different areas that relate to the quality of life, including access to community resources, such as the
following: Travel, community safety, shopping (food, clothing, etc.), dining out (fast food and restaurants), community services (social security administration, medical, dental, legal services and libraries) The social domain covers team work, parallel play, turntaking and activities to share items. The benefits of implementing community-based instruction are enormous and when government agencies which service the citizens apply aggressive approach to address community-based instruction in our schools, our communities as well as our children will benefit with increased social, behavioural and self-esteem skills that will help develops work habits and enhance quality of life. Isaac Osae-Brown works for the Compton Unified School District in California as an Education Specialist and a beginning Teacher Mentor. He is an advocate and a speaker for Special Education services in the United States and abroad. www.facebook.com/ inclusivemindset
The evolving dynamics of discipline
Students test literary skills as 2019 Mike Okonkwo essay competition entries open trem.org or by post to The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) International Headquarters, Obanikoro/ Anthony Oke Bus Lagos. Uteh observes that National Essay Competition spans over a decade of developing and rewarding the writing skills of Nigerian youths towards national development. “The prizes for this year’s competition will be presented to the winners at the 20th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, which has been scheduled for Thursday, September 5th, 2019 at the Muson Centre (Shell Hall) by 10.00 am prompt”, she said. Like previous years, the star winner school gets three set of desktop computers and a printer, while the student goes home with a trophy, Laptop, N100, 000.00 cash and a plaque. The first runner up school gets two set of desktop computers and a printer and the student goes home with a cash prize of N75, 000.00 with a plaque. The second runner up school gets a desktop computer, while the student gets N50, 000.00 cash prize and a plaque. Uteh further said that over the years the competition has been very successful in reshaping the thought pattern of the students to develop problem-solving skills.
The end results of special education are to foster independence and with that being said, all individuals with disabilities can develop their full potential through education and vocational training after school. A critical component of CBI is the involvement of parents and other members of the community such as business owners, teachers and local establishments. The expectation is that students with disabilities will live, work, shop and play in integrated, natural environments in the community with accommodations and supports. The first goal of CBI is to teach students to function as independently as possible in as many community environments as possible to enhance their quality of life. Through CBI, students learn skills that are identified both on the individual educational plan (IEP) and in the school curricula. The second goal is to provide students with expanded options regarding independent or supported living, employment and leisure time activities. The core of any CBI pro-
OYIN EGBEYEMI
A
s common as the statement, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” in Proverbs 13:24 is, it seems as though it is gradually losing its meaning through generations, both literally and figuratively. The behaviour that people exhibit is somewhat a reflection of their upbringing. So when we take a careful look around us, we would notice that there are behavioural traits specific to certain generations. Observing individuals from each generation, you would get a good understanding of why these traits are distinct. People in our society aged about 45 and above were brought up in very strict households. In fact, majority of their mothers were either teachers, other forms of educators or had day jobs with schedules, which allowed them to go back home at reasonable hours to face their children and households. Mothers then were very strict; some would even call them wicked due to their approach, which sometimes
involved physical disciplinary measures or other means which, today would be viewed as extreme, dramatic or even incriminating. Notwithstanding this, the products of this generation turned out okay. Majority of them became selfmade adults. However, when this generation started to breed their own offspring, they reflected on their parents’ ways and decided that they didn’t want to be as “wicked” and actually desired closer relationships with their children, which they did not enjoy from their parents. So the shouting and dramatic acts of discipline reduced a little bit. But some of these parents had to be smart to tailor their techniques to their children, as all children are different and some require a little more discipline than others. However, others did not quite get it right, and this is demonstrated through certain behaviours their children (age group of early 20s to late 30s - millenials) exhibit, which include a sense of entitlement, impatience, lack of respect and lack of independence, amongst others. With today’s generation, there seems to be a lack of clarity regarding this area of discipline. This matter is far more complex than it appears on the surface. With global consumerism trends, wealth becoming more of a materialistic venture than a dignified status, continued leniency in the approach of
disciplining children, limited amount of time parents get to spend with their children due to longer working hours and women spending more time at work, there seems to be a bit of an interesting shift in the approach to discipline both locally and globally. One argument is that because parents do not spend as much time with their children as they used to in the past, some of them rely on materialistic gratification, for example by buying them sweets or toys if they miss out on a school play or certain activities that their children are involved in, or just not being in the picture at all. Furthermore, parents may even feel so guilty for not spending enough time with their children that when these children misbehave, they give them a pass. However, this is really not what children need because the truth is that these solutions are only temporary, and are in no way the means of teaching children the difference between right and wrong. There is another argument, which stems from the materialistic movement in our society. Some of the things that are perceived as normal or “cool” in the current generation are actually not normal; some are very far from normal. It brings forward the question; why do parents now have a complex about what schools their children attend, whether
their children speak with a foreign accent (whilst attending school in Nigeria with Nigerian teachers), how many times in a year they travel abroad, how many countries they have travelled to and even what they do for their birthday parties (the good old living room and garden parties of the 80s and 90s no longer suffice). Parents need to realise that their moral values transcend directly to their children both consciously and subconsciously. There was a case in the United Kingdom that gave some insight into parents’ indiscipline in the school system. It spoke about a ruling by the Supreme Court to fine parents for taking their children out on holiday during term time. Since when did this even become an issue? The whole point of schools taking their time to prepare a calendar is so that parents can plan their schedules around it. Hence, there really is no excuse even for early vacation from or late resumption to schools, unless there are extenuating circumstances, which the parents ought to have discussed and arrived at an agreement with the school. This ruling came up as a result of a parent who took his daughter out of school for a 7-day trip to Disney World during term time. Oyin Egbeyemi is an executive administrator at The Foreshore School, Ikoyi, Lagos.