Comprehensive education for children with special needs to come up for high-level discussions

Children with special needs and the need to ensure ways to help them in their transition to adulthood will come up for discussion at a three-day International Conference on Comprehensive Education for Children with Special Needs in the Kerala capital.

To be organised from July 5 to 7, by the Different Art Centre, in association with the Adelphi University, USA, the prestigious biennial event is supported by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India, and the Social Justice Department, Government of Kerala. Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan will inaugurate the conference at 10 am on July 5.

Titled the International Conference on Comprehensive Education for Children with Special Needs, the three-day conference will be held from July 5 to July 7, 2023, at the Different Art Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. Significant about the conference is that scholars, researchers, academicians, practitioners, individuals with disabilities and their parents from around the world will participate and share practical and research-based knowledge along with their experiences for promoting successful transition of people with disabilities into adulthood.

Experts of repute arrive to be part of conference

Luminaries such as Dr Stephen Mark Shore, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Special Education, The Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, Adelphi University, New York, USA; Dr. Mathew Wappett, Utah State University, Utah, USA; Dr. Xiao-lei Wang, Adelphi University, New York, USA; Dr Sophie Sakka, INSHEA; and many more experts from the US, France, Japan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, and India will speak at the event. Organising partners include Adelphi University, New York, USA; Utah State University, USA; INSHEA, Paris; CRE for RCI Registered Professionals; Stanford University, California, USA; Sophia University, Japan; and the University of Cambridge, the UK.

Different Art Centre has been doing extensive work among children with special needs for quite a few years now, and is renowned worldwide. Gopinath Muthukad, Founder and Executive Director, Different Art Centre, said, “the proposed international conference aims at focusing on diverse strategies that parents, teachers, other professionals in allied fields and family members can use to effectively help individuals with disabilities transition from high school”.

Platform for dialogue with disability experts, individuals with disabilities, and parents

The three-day conclave will witness expert lectures on independent living skills, vocational skills, college education, employment, relationships and sexuality, social and emotional well-being, activities of daily living. Research-based strategies and models that have been developed and successfully implemented in different parts of the world will also be shared at the event.

The conference will also give shape to a platform for open dialogue and discussion with disability experts, individuals with disabilities and parents to learn best and well-reasoned practices for individuals transitioning from high school to adult life.

Conceived as a perfect platform to discuss in detail the possibilities of comprehensive education for differently-abled children, the problems faced by them as they move from adolescence to adulthood and the solutions to problems that arise during the transition phase. Eminent researchers and teachers from around 20 countries will participate in the conference. 

Apart from providing a platform for international experts, teachers and researchers, the conference will also be an ideal space for students, researchers, practicing professionals and parents of differently-abled children from Kerala and other states of India to be part of the discussions that have been charted out over the three-day period.