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The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 17

Location:
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Issue Date:
Page:
17
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

The Saturday Citizen The city's fomwr public school and collegiate boards pioneered many of the special services which are generally available in Ontario school systems. The remarkable network of special education programs and facilities will, as time passes, become available to all students within the jurisdiction of the Ottawa Board of education which was formed Jan. 1 to care for the education of elementary and high school students in Ot-towa. Vanier and Rockcliffe Park. Administrators with the new board say as fast as money alloivs the full range of services will be laid at the disiosal of the system's 52,000 students.

Ottawa will then be the leading city in the nation in terms of its special programs and facilities. Saturday, Sept. 12, 1970 Page 17 Special education itl I'- 'S'I -5 ft I Iff -vj Help for the slow, the gifted -Citlzen-UPI staff photos Kitchen lis a classroom Denise Swanson (left) and Charlene Vance 'al sliulies' in Burden school Kit A I providing special classes for the deaf and hard of hearing. And in 1930, a class for children with defective eyesight was established. From that modest beginning the PSB elementary system has grown into a sophisticated complex.

At Centennial School on Gloucester Street, opened in 1966, classes, where the most modern special equipment is used, are available to deaf and crippled children. Crippled children are accommodated in six classrooms, each with its own ground-level exit. A special platform at the rear of the building, away from city traffic, permits the convenient bus arrival and departure. A large well-equipped physiotherapy room with a full-time therapist is available to children in need of treatment. To allow teachers to devote full time to their teaching tasks, the school has a matron and an orderly who care for the physical needs of the children.

Some classrooms have modern equipment for the use of deaf children. Because it is essential that parents of deaf youngsters learn how best to communicate with them, special kindergarten classes are offered where children from age two spend one hour daily. A one-way allows parents to observe, and from this experience they learn how to communicate with their offspring. Hard-of-hearing students, whose impediments don't necessitate the use of equipment for the totally deaf, are taught in regular classrooms, but an itinerant specialist is available. All handicapped students at Centennial are given regular lessons in the swimming pool and students enrolled in special classes because of learning disabilities are bused from schools across the city for lessons and therapy in the pool.

In the late '50s the PSB set up special classes for children who were emotionally disturbed, neurologically impaired or perceptually handicapped. There are now nearly 40 classes for these children where specially trained teachers operate. To ensure individualized instruction and to reduce distractions, class size is limited to eight students. Here too, regular swimming classes are an important part of the program. For this group, volunteer teachers are sometimes brought into schools to work with students on a one-to-one basis.

By Bill Carroll Citizen staff writer Ottawa's 52,000 school children have at their disposal facilities to solve "special problems" second to none in Canada. Both the former public school board and the former collegiate institute board had, when amalgamated in January, well-muscled special education programs which will gel to become the nation's most complete "special education" setup. Many services now provided only for grade schoolers will within a few years be laid on for all students in the system. There is an increasing number of children whose special needs cannot be met within the regular classroom; These children include those with special learning disabilities, the physically handicapped, the emotionally disturbed, the neurologically impaired, the perceptually handicapped, slow learners and the exceptionally gifted. Every teacher employed in the elementary section of the Ottawa Board of Education system, has had some training in recognizing these difficulties.

Once diagnosed, the child's problem then gets the special attention of the board's professional staff. Team of experts That team includes people expert in handling the problems of special education, attendance counselling, general counselling, medical, psychological and social services. When a youngster's problem is seen to affect his progress, a teacher, principal, superintendent or other skilled person may request a conference where the problem and its solution can get close attention. Solution options range from placing him in a special class or a special program within a regular class to providing medical care, individual counselling, and part-time school programs. The assistance of other community service organizations is often sought.

Once placed in such special pro-least every two years and, where the grams a student's case is reviewed at situation evidently calls for closer scrutiny, review conferences are held. In 1962, the then public school board set up an education clinic. In 1969 that clinic, a diagnostic and treatment centre, processed 500- re quests for assistance. As early as 1926 the PSB, in a co-effort with the Ottawa Rotary Club, established a Sunshine Class for crippled children. By 1929 the PSB was rf.

In cases where their disturbance is so acute they are not able to tolerate the regular school atmosphere for even a short time each day, visiting teachers may be sent to their holies. Perceptually handicapped children, although of average or superior intelligence, are not developmental ready to proceed with the regular curriculum. Their ability to acquire information through listening, visualizing, touching or moving is not sufficiently developed. They need specific training in all these perceptual areas and in the areas of gross motor development. The department of physical education and special services had provided a program which meets their special requirements.

The aim of teachers in special classes is to try to prepare children for an eventual return to the regular schedule. Began in 1914 As far back as 1914 the PSB established classes for slow learners. This area was expanded in the 1930s to include older students in vocational-type schools. Today the new Borden school on Cambridge Street provides senior opportunity classes for about 250 boys and girls who are at least 13 years of age. The program combines basic academic subjects with vocational training in modem well-equipped shop areas.

Borden students may go directly into the work force or on to Highland Park High School where vocational training is featured. For older students, a two-week stint in a regular business or industrial firm is often included in their training. The school's guidance counsellor assists his charges in finding suitable employment wnen mcir iraining is complete. One of the most-rccently treated groups of special students is the exceptionally gifted. Beginning in 1956 the PSB offered special classes to this group.

Today there are 11 classes at each level from Grade 6 to Grade 8. Enrichment rather than acceleration is the key to this program. The regular course of study is covered for each grade but the treatment of course material is broader and more intence. Beyond stimulation to research and prove ideas, these students are encouraged to share the responsibility of developing a wholesome school spirit by participating in all school activities. By Bill Carroll Citizen staff writer The former Collegiate Institute Board which had jurisdiction of all city high schools until the establishment of the new Ottawa Board of Education had, when the new board took over Jan.

1, an elaborate program of special and extra-traditional education. This high school level network will be integrated with the elementary school special facilities as time and money permit. The net effect of fullblown integration will be to give city students every possible advantage in coping "with the increasingly difficult job of tailoring his skills, his personality, physical and mental capacity, so as to become a fulfiled human being. Ottawa's occupational training is a provincial showpiece. About five per cent of the city's high school population is enroled in the ultra-modern Highland Park High School.

Here they may earn a certificate of training which by reason of the school's high reputation with employers and a solid placement service run by the board virtually ensures quick employment upon receipt. The city's occupational program is soon, to be expanded by the addition of an east-end occupational school, Sir Georges Etienne Cartier, which will open in the fall of 71. The new school will train French-language and English-language students. Many of the students entering these schools will come from the elementary level Borden School which has an intermediate level occupational program. Commercial courses The board offers a special one, two or three-year commercial course for students with one year, regular high school behind them.

These courses fit young men and women with commercial aptitudes which might in a regular program go undeveloped. A four- Focatiouai training in the electronic age Dino Vigule talks to radio 'hain' in Arctic over Highland Park High's equipment High, elementary systems lo be integrated service has probably saved hundreds of youngsters from devastating dropout decision precipitated by forces beyond their control. The high school system has a nine-member team of psychologists who, together with parents and teachers, strive to make education as meaningful and effective a process as possible. The psychologists are an important part of the diagnostic team ensuring a more accurate picture of the students' personal and learning problems. The psychological team also provides short-term psychotherapy on a regular basis.

This is done both on an individual and group basis and, in exceptional cases, even family therapy is undertaken. At the high school level a placement service is provided to assist graduates in finding permanent and part-time employment. Part-time officers work out of all high schools and yearly drum up more than 1,000 jobs. The suitability of the board's technical programs is constantly monitored by its advisory vocational education committee. The committee includes area business and industrial men whose advice keeps the Ottawa system always in line with the needs of the community.

The system also has three schools for trainable retarded children. The department of education until recently did nothing for children with this handicap. But in the late 60s Toronto did recognize their training as a provincial responsibility and took over the schools which had been set up by parents. The CIB agreed to administer these schools during 1969 with a view to preparing them for administrative entry into the new Ottawa Board of Education scheme which became operative in Jan. 1970.

There are now three such schools, Bright Hope, Rose F. Kennedy and the new Clifford year bilingual commercial course is offered in two English-language schools and four on the French side. Special technical courses arc also available to students who would not readily adjust to the traditional teaching situation pattern. In this area special two-year courses are available to students who have completed two years of any five-year high school program. As well, a special one-year Grade 13-level course featuring mathematics and science has long been recognized as a superlative background experience to enrolment in an applied arts and technology college such as Algonquin.

For students interested in advanced employment levels as technichia'ns, the technical area offers specialized training in computer sciences and materials and processes. The board also provides a one-year program at the Grade 13-level in medical technology and another one-year course in biology and biochemistry. Art courses available A special four-year art course is available to students likely to attend provincial colleges of art. Graduates of this course often find their way directly into the commercial art field. For girls who have completed at least Grade 9 a two-year beauty culture course is available.

Graduates may earn an Ontario Department of labor diploma at the completion of this course. In the spring of 1968 the CIB established its own data processing centre. The centre has a Honeywell 200 computer that is used both for actual board administrative tasks as well as for educational purposes. Computer mathematics is being taught in 15 city high schools. Data processing is taught to many students at many city composite schools as well as at the High School of Commerce where an IBM 1401 is installed.

In the medical area, services offered to students are extensions of the those offered elementary pupils but adapted to the needs of teen-age students. The object of the program is to identify students with disabilities that might affect their education. Disability detection The service is primarily an education disability detection effort and is in no way intended to replace periodic visits to the regular family physician and dentist. In 1961 the CIB established a visiting teacher program to serve students who, by reason of serious illness or injury must be out of school for more than a month at a time. Last year 20 teachers provided in-home or in-hospital lessons for just less than 200 students.

Dental clinics are run at the Technical High School and at the High School of Commerce. These clinics handle upwards of 5,000 appointments yearly treating only students who are unable to afford private dental care. CIB has developed an attendance counselling team which keeps an eye on students who fail to go to class. These counsellors are not the old-style truant officer, who prowled the streets nabbing hooky players, but highly skilled social workers. They are dedicated to ensuring that students, beset and discouraged by family problems they cannot control, including poverty which may leave them shoeless, are not deterred from formal education.

500 helped yearly This small team treats about 500 cases yearly and provides practical assistance, e.g.; shoes, home problem counselling and where the youngster finds himself afoul of the law, courtroom guidance. This compassionate ill I 1 1 'i -r r-t-rfCtesi If texrtsaa Co-education in shop class Bernard Berniqne and Ennire Slurray at Borden school.

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About The Ottawa Citizen Archive

Pages Available:
2,112,752
Years Available:
1898-2024