Topic Preview: Getting Appropriate Placement for your Child

Time slot: (1:00 - 1:30 PM)
Frances Olivia Mijares-Magtoto

Your child has been referred to a specialist because of certain behaviour and unusual developmental growth. The specialist confirms it...your child has special needs. With the diagnostic report in hand, you are ready for the next step. But where do you start? What are you to do now?

Educational specialist, Frances Olivia Mijares-Magtoto, Ph.D. (candidate), invites you to learn about what SPED has to offer. This learning block session incorporates a brief overview of Special Education in the Philippines – its legal definition, the learners to which it caters, different types of educational placement available, and the team and system that can provide support you need to allow your child to reach his full potential. However, this learning block focuses on how to determine the most appropriate educational placement for the identified child. It encourages parents to consider certain factors to determine an excellent match of student, school, and teacher by working through their feelings and thoughts about their child’s diagnosis as a first step.

This 30-minute session asks parents and teachers to reflect on their personal values and priorities, communicate clearly what each one wants for the child, and listen to what the other has to say; all these to achieve the most for the student given the time allotted. Getting the appropriate educational placement is possible when all stakeholders are clear on what is to be achieved. There is no “best school”, no ideal student and teacher, and no perfect parents; thus, in education, we only aim to make a GOOD MATCH.