Every child matters – Osae Brown

Isaac Osae-Brown is a special education teacher based in California, United States of America. He was in town this week as the keynote speaker at the Kingscourt second annual conference on special education and spent some time talking to BusinessDay about special education for children with special needs.

Tell us little about yourself and your organization
My name is Isaac Osae-Brown; I work as a programme and educational specialist in a special needs school. I am also a trained administrator from California state university to manage public schools and provide instruction to all students with multiple disabilities including autism.
I am in Lagos for the Kingscourt second annual conference on special education as a keynote speaker. The theme of the conference is “All hands on deck” to ensure that all children with disability get the right attention they deserve in this country.
Kingscourt is established to help children with disabilities and also to support the government and other agencies. Now, more than ever, organizations such as the United Nations KINGSCOURT, and many others are vital in the fight for inclusion for children of all abilities in our schools.
Who are children with special needs?
In the US, they are known as “Children with disabilities or Children with special needs.” Research reveals that each day in the United States, millions of children go off to school, all with different strengths, weakness, abilities and disabilities that necessitate some type of special instruction. Special education is the practice of educating students with special needs in a way that addresses their individual challenges. The disability types are classified under 13 categories protected by Special education law called Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The United States is involved in developing the functional and academic needs of all individuals with disabilities and strongly challenges any obstructions that prevent equal access and keep those with disabilities from full inclusion in society.
What is it about Kingscourt that brought you to Nigeria?
As I said earlier, Kingscourt is a Non- governmental organization (NGO) that is established to ensure that children with disabilities, every child with special needs will be serviced appropriately. That means they will be diagnosed, tested, they will be evaluated and able to access information in school just like any other children because disabled level in Nigeria are not properly taken care of.
We are here to work together to improve teaching and learning. I ask all leaders regardless of any affiliation, to join in supporting a strong, inclusive, safe and innovative education system that ensures all students can succeed.
Our school systems must remain centers for inclusive education. This is because all children regardless of family circumstances, where they live, their disabilities, how they look or the language they speak, have the right to quality education that helps them to reach their full potential. There is a need for inclusivity in our education system here in Nigeria. We are here today because we want all hands to be on deck to make a change in the learning and teaching habits of all children and take a pledge to support quality education that ensures all students including those with disabilities can succeed in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
What is special education needs?
Special education is a service provided to physically and emotionally challenged students. These services are provided in the school system, so if you look at the school system, the curriculum is adapted to fix typical needs with children without any problems, but special education curriculum is modified and adapted to fix the needs of special kids who have disabilities.
Disability can range from cognitive disability to physical impairments. So that is why they also have to be part of the school system.” We do not have to push children away because of their disabilities”. Special education with appropriate instructions modifies and supports these kids in a way that they will have access to increasing instructions for education in schools.
How do special needs students learn?
Children with disability can learn in Nigeria if they have proper structure in the school system, especially when they have trained special education teachers because their own format of learning is different from the normal school system.
Special education teachers are trained to junk instructions to meet the level of these kids, so they can learn if they are adequately prepared and directed the right way that will meet their needs.
Most of these instructions or some of the resources in the classroom are tailored towards their individual needs, because the needs of the children are different based on their disability levels.
How should parents handle their education and interactions with others?
Special needs children really have challenges with coping with other children. So if you are a parent and have a child with special disability, you need to be knowledgeable of the type of disability the kid has and you also need to teach other kids the disability your kids have especially the teacher and kids in his or her classroom that the kid is not mad but just has challenges. Most of these kids are not socially inclined most of the time. They just want to be alone. The parents just need people to know the type of challenges the kid is having.
In Nigeria, parents tend to want keep their children away from the public, what is your take on it?
Every child has a right to education and besides, sickness or diseases can come to anybody. So if you have a disease, it does not mean you are evil or a plaque. It just needs to be cured. An example is a case of autism, which is a neuro type disease; all we need is an assessment, diagnosis and then treatment. The doctor will treat, followed by counselors and speech therapist that will all work as a team. We should not attach spiritual aspect to it because once it is added, we have stigma and people are scared of that. It is the stigma and stereotype that is denying most special kids education because people do not want to associate with them.
How can parents notice that their child has a disability and at what age should they be on the lookout for symptoms?
Most of the disabilities do not come early, they mostly come from one and half to two years, if you have it as a parent or you noticed your kid can not talk or walk when the child gets to the age, then you need to see a doctor for assessment. They are in the position to find out what is wrong to detect early childhood disease that can crop up.
What is your advice to parents whose kids need special education?
Parental role is building high achievers in schools; Parents should be role models for learning. They are their children’s first teachers – exploring nature, reading and cooking together, as well as counting together. Through guidance and reminders, parents help their kids organize their time and support their desires to learn new things in and out of school.
Parents should also learn to pay attention to what their children love. One of the most important things a parent can do is to notice a child. Is he a talker or is she shy?

Find out what interests him or her and help to explore it.Set aside time to read together, Read aloud regularly, even to older kids. If the child is a reluctant reader, reading aloud will expose him or her to the structure and vocabulary of good literature and get them interested in reading more. Also parents should Keep TV to minimum, Watching lots of TV and playing games does not give children the chance to develop their own interests and explore on their own, because it controls the agenda.
And lastly, learn something new yourself as parent. Learning something new is a great way to model the learning process for your child. Take up a new language or craft, or read about an unfamiliar topic. Show your child what you are learning and how you may be struggling.
What can government do in the area of education of special kids?
First and foremost every child matters, In the United states, former president Roosevelt was on a wheel chair. The government needs to educate them and support them so that they will not become a liability to the country, with education they become independent thereby advocating for themselves, which is very important.
The governments needs to be aware of what special needs education is all about and find ways of integrating it into the education system. Another aspect is proper funding.
What is the average cost of taking a special child to school?
In the United States, it is free because it is very expensive. The process needs to be replicated in Nigeria but the constitution needs to be amended to take care of that process.