SPED Students: Bright Readers
Updated: Feb 7, 2019
Bautista Elementary School and its partner organizations work together to bring the joys of reading to visually impaired pupils.
Bautista Elementary School has been a home to students with special learning needs since the establishment of its Special Education (SPED) program about 9 years ago. At present, the school has catered to more than 110 SPED students including those who are visually impaired (VI).
In 2015, Bautista Elementary School together with its partner organizations Resources for the Blind (RBI), USAID, Australian Aid, and World Vision, launched Project ACR (All Children Reading). The project aims to develop reading literacy in early primary grades and improve the reading scores of pupils with visual impairment.
The partner organizations donated instructional materials including Braille, computer and printer sets, and provided teacher training support. One SPED teacher, Ms. Jennifer Polo, completed specialized studies for SPED at the Philippine Normal University with a full scholarship grant from RBI.
Six visually impaired pupils at Bautista Elementary School made full use of the assistive learning devices from Project ACR. In the end, they improved not only their reading ability, but also their confidence in interacting with other people.
“Natuto po talaga akong magbasa at mas maganda na po ang naipapakita namin sa ibang kaklase po namin.” - Sean Michael, VI pupil
“Mas napagaan ang aming pag-aalaga sa aming mga anak. Mas nagkaroon kasi sila ng tiwala sa sarili nila at mas kaya na nilang gumalaw mag-isa.” - Nanay Mylene, parent of Alexa, VI pupil
“Parents are more cooperative when they see the support of partners. This encouraged me more to look for more partners who are willing to extend their help to address the needs of our learners and bring inspiration to parents.” - Mary Rose, Bulanadi, ASP Coordinator