Sex Ed for Youth with Special Needs
We have to be proactive in protecting all children
Major strides continue to be made for youth with special needs in Dominica, specifically in the realm of education.
The Achievement Learning Centre (ALC), through Circle of Friends, is pushing full steam ahead on a project funded by the Government of Canada to educate youth and children with special education needs about their sexual health.
The Sexual Health Education Curriculum (SHEC) project is a milestone achievement for the organization, and a landmark program for Dominica. The SHEC project will provide parents and educators with a comprehensive toolkit of sexual education guidance that is developmentally and age-appropriate for atypical youth.
More than two years in the making, the SHEC project was the brainchild of former ALC intern Kayla Funk posted in Dominica through a joint partnership with the College of the Rockies (British Columbia, Canada) funded by Global Affairs Canada in 2019.
After identifying several challenges including a lack of trained educators and unsuitable learning resources, the ALC set out to develop an appropriate and culturally-relevant curriculum for educators and parents of children with special needs. Hence, the addition of Sexual Health Educator, Ms Funk to the school staff was the impetus of this project.
ALC Executive Director Beverly Leblanc notes, “[Atypical] ]youth. . . are still going through the physical changes of puberty that all adolescents face. Therefore, they need the appropriate tools and training to navigate this important developmental stage, including how to set boundaries and develop healthy relationships. The Executive director believes that it is critical that these young people receive accurate information to help them cope and process the different stages they will experience to understand their bodies and develop healthy consensual relationships.
After completing phase one of the Canada-funded project in April 2022, the ALC recognized that teachers using the new curriculum required additional, physical resources. As such, the ALC is developing practical activity books for students and procuring anatomical dolls. which will be distributed among the three special needs
schools in Dominica – Achievement Learning Centre in Canefield, Isulukati Special Needs School in the Kalinago Territory and the Alpha Centre in Goodwill. As participants in phase one of the SHEC project, the Roseau Primary School and Roosevelt Douglas Primary School will also benefit from these learning resources.
Leblanc described the curriculum as specialized and culturally-relevant, stating that it is designed to strengthen the capacity of teachers and to ensure they feel comfortable and confident in teaching sexual health education to children with special education needs.
She explained that being proactive in teaching special needs children about the human body is vital in light of the level of sexual abuse among children, particularly amongst atypical youth.
“They are very loving students and people might take advantage of them. Look at the increase in sexual abuse cases in [atypical] children. . . far less for those who do have disabilities and can’t explain what happened to them, also people might not believe them. Furthermore, we do not have the skills, tools and policies to protect them.”
Leblanc emphasized that, through this curriculum, students are taught positive messages about their bodies, social and interpersonal skills, good touches and bad touches, as well as how to make friends.
The first phase of the project covered training for parents and teachers, curriculum development, and the creation of social stories and communications messaging on the importance of sexual health education. The second phase of the project will include the development of activity books and procurement of teaching and learning resources to complement the delivery of the curriculum. Both phases of the project are supported by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI), a Government of Canada program designed to support small-scale, high-impact projects in developing countries, which align with Global Affairs Canada’s thematic priority areas for engagement. The activity books, currently in production, will be distributed to the three participating special education institutions by the end of Summer 2023
