Mico Care Centre providing full assessment for persons with learning challenges

Children with learning and intellectual challenges in Jamaica who are referred to The Mico University College CARE Centre are assessed either individually or in groups, according to Ann-Marie Minott-Williams, administrative manager for records, quality assurance, and public relations at the centre.

Individual assessments are described as full assessments, and there are also field-based, or group, assessments.

“In the case of an individual, or full, assessment, a full battery of cognitive and academic testing measures are administered to test a child’s intellectual and academic functioning on a one-on-one basis.

“This type of testing is typically conducted over a two- to three-day period, where a child is seen by at least four clinicians, which includes a medical screening done by a nurse and comprehensive social investigations conducted by a social worker,” Minott-Williams told The Gleaner.

She explained that the team also includes a psychologist and a special educator.

“The social worker conducts one-on-one interviews with the parents and the child, and in some instances, discussions are had with the school or teacher to gather relevant data or with other family members where deemed necessary,” the administrative manager explained.

Minott-Williams said that in special circumstances, clinicians may provide parent training and counselling. At the end of the process, a parent conference is held to discuss the findings and recommendations are made. A final assessment report is then generated for the family and the child’s school.

Recommendations

“Where learning gaps or a specific learning disability and/or a behavioural condition that interferes with learning are identified, recommendations could take the form of follow-up actions and interventions by way of referrals to specific institutions/agencies that provide various intervention services or to the Ministry of Education for placement at a school of special education, as well as to the Child Guidance Clinic,” Minott-Williams said.

She said that on occasion, the involvement of the Mico CARE Centre extends to the institution providing a recommendation for intense remediation through its medium-term (12-24 weeks) or long-term (two-year) remedial intervention programmes or to the Mico Practising Special Education Unit.

Other intervention services offered by the centre include after-school and summer remedial classes, parent workshops, and behaviour-management training, as well as teacher-training seminars.

Field-based, or group, assessments, as was the case of the Ocho Rios Primary School, where roughly 40 students were assessed in February this year, Minott-Williams said: “This type of assessment typically includes groups of 25 or more students and is administered at the various locations of the requesting schools.

“The difference in this type of testing, is that it features a combination of groups, as well as individual testing, and utilises a shortened version of the battery of cognitive and academic testing measures.

“These assessments are also conducted by a psychologist and a special educator.”

Trained psychologists

Importantly, Minott-Williams pointed out that “all our psychologists are trained to do both psychological and academic testing, so in instances, we may have a psychologist administer both components of the assessment, as was the case at the Ocho Rios Primary School”.

Some experts working with special-needs children and at least one teacher at Ocho Rios Primary had questioned how one person at Mico CARE was able to assess 40 students over just two days.

But Minott-Williams explained that field-based assessments are primarily used by school administrators to get a snapshot of the functioning levels of their students from time to time to inform curriculum changes and intervention programmes that may be deemed necessary to plug identified gaps.

“It is important to note that at the end of these evaluations, where significant gaps are identified, the final reports would include recommendations for such students to be taken into the Mico CARE Centre for full assessments to be done.

“It is also important to point out that all schools that participate in field-based assessments get the opportunity to benefit from what we call a ‘follow-up field assessment workshop,” Minott-Williams said.

The Gleaner reported last week that of the roughly 2,500 young people between five and 18 years old who attend school and who were assessed by the Mico CARE Centre in 2018 for a learning disability, 75 per cent were boys. At the same time, another 1,000 students were referred to the centre but could not be accommodated, suggesting a shortage of qualified personnel to carry out the assessments.