Education vital Society activity

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 30

Education vital Society activity

Preparing the adult disabled to live in the community is one of the most rewarding aspects of Crippled Children Society activity according to Averil Harper, head of the educational unit. As with all society programmes the education in living skills has to vary from client to client. At the end off the life skills training programme run by the society clients move into two flats operated by the society in Wharenui Road for six months. After this they can enter into the wider community. A source of some frus-

tration to Averil Harper is the number of her clients who she feels have been short-changed by the education system.

“With some clients we have to start at absolute ground level, teaching literacy and basic math skills to them,” she said.

Apple computers are used to teach disabled clients everything from literacy to budgeting skills.

The disabled are one group the new technology has benefited greatly as the effort required on older mechanical systems mad? typing beyond the reach of many disabled people.

The computers enliven the learning process for the disabled, Averil Harper observes.

The education unit also conducts training that familiarises clients with

urban living. “We get a good number of clients who do achieve a high level of independence,” she said.

Averil describes her work as, “Hard but rewarding work that is frustraating in that the school system did not do more with them. Some of our clients if provided with a decent education would have been very good indeed.”