School of Education host workshop on special educational needs

On the 7th of October 2015, the School of Education, UNMC hosted a workshop entitled Engaging Children with Severe and Profound Disabilities to Build Communication for the public. The workshop, was conducted by Dr. Anne Emerson, Associate Professor in Special Needs from School of Education, UNUK, aimed to provide the participants with practical strategies to communicate with students who appear to have profound needs in schools.



Dr. Emerson, who had also recently contributed to the teaching of a postgraduate taught module in Special Needs in UNMC, presented communication principles and strategies from the MORE model (Means, Opportunities, Reasons and Expectations) that she developed with another UNUK colleague, Dr Jackie Dearden. Through video presentation of a few case studies, Dr. Emerson demonstrated that given the right opportunity and expectations, even the most challenging students to teach could engage in communication and develop literacy skills.

The workshop was not only attended by staff and students of UNMC, but by educators and parents from as far as Melaka. In general, the workshop participants found it informative, worthwhile and inspiring. The videos presented helped them to understand the non-typical communication and engagement skills shown by children with severe and profound disabilities and subsequently engage in more meaning interactions with these children.