Yesterday was filled with training for teachers from all of the special needs schools in the Lusaka area. Training at Baulini started with the school choir singing (the lead singer was absolutely amazing and the choir was integrated with children with disabilities and regular education students) and a short prayer. The teachers were an extremely attentive audience throughout the day. They had a lot of questions about autism and you could tell that they were thinking about children they taught and as the training progressed, the teacher were beginning to understand that these children likely have autism. They were able to share a lot of examples and descriptive behaviors related to autism and children in Zambia. We had a number of videos that we had taken in the village of a Zambian child and then also children in the U.S.
Jean presented portions of her Expanding the Circles curriculum and this went over extremely well. The portions were interactive and reflective and it was clear that the teachers were not used to learning in ways other then lecture. Jean also made them do a learning styles inventory and this also was a huge success. Matt topped off the training day with some information on the Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities and the various ways in which it interfaces with special education.
More singing from the group and then the Minister of Education came and formally presented certificates to each participant. After the training there were many formalities and we spent time talking with the employees who were there form the Ministry of Education and several of the teachers. There is much interest in starting a new college program that has more specialization in areas such as autism, applied behavior analysis, occupational and physical therapy, speech therapy etc…. They are so hungry for information.
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