Teachers take training honours

A TOTAL of 92 parents, teachers and special needs assistants in Co Kerry, who completed training to help children with behavioural problems, have been presented with certificates.

The Institute of Child Psychology and Education (ICEP) worked with the Kerry Education Service (KES) to provide blended training courses in the area of autism and applied behaviour analysis.

Each group met face-to-face on a weekly basis over five weeks and discussed topics they had read online during the week. The groups met in their local education service school, facilitated by teachers. One school embarked on a whole school training in the area of behaviour. They used the online course, Supporting and Managing Student Behaviour, as a basis for developing a whole school discipline policy.

“We are very happy with the quality of contribution to the online discussion, which demonstrated the level of interest and the dedication of the participants and the Kerry Education Service to their students,” said ICEP director Dr Moya O’Brien.

In October 2006, members of the KES staff, met with parents of children with autism (Kerry Autism Action), to discuss their concerns about the level of educational provision for their children at second-level. The first phase of the online training took place in late 2007.

Study groups were set up in each of the KES schools and participants met weekly to discuss the modules.

The 59 participants graduated with certificates in autistic spectrum disorder in January 2008.