Butterfly Ghana Foundation,’ an NGO, in partnership with the Anlo Special School has organised a seminar for parents and teachers of children living with disabilities within the Keta Municipality, to ensure their proper caregiving.

The seminar, with support from the Autism Awareness Care and Training Centre and Jonny and Friends 4 Autism, a support group, was aimed at teaching caregivers about the various forms of disability among children.

Mrs Elorm Kuenyehia Duah, the Director at Autism Awareness Care and Training Centre, Accra, educated the participants on the various forms of disability including Physical and developmental ones.

She focused on the intellectual and developmental disability of infants such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome among others.

Mrs Kuenyehia Duah called on parents to pay critical attention to their children from early childhood, to enable them to identify any possible form of disorder that may occur for early care and attention.

She also advised parents to desist from any act of discrimination against such children among their peers and to provide them with equal care as their siblings.

Sheila Lomokie, a special needs educator, urged teachers to be abreast with time and do more research on how to handle children living with disabilities in their classes.

She also took participants through how to communicate with such children for them to effectively benefit from their instructional periods, especially in class.

“These children have their mode of comprehension, therefore we must develop how to communicate to them, use of colour codes and pictures is one acceptable way to communicate with them,” she said.

Madam Elinam Emma Sallah, the team lead at Butterfly Ghana Foundation, expressed her satisfaction with the outcome of the seminar.

She told the Ghana News Agency that it was important for all to support the project from to provide an enabling environment for all children to thrive.

Parents and teachers who participated in the event expressed their satisfaction with the programme, attesting that they had learnt better communication skills for better interaction with their wards, and to effectively provide them with care devoid of discrimination.

Over 40 parents, teachers, and some major stakeholders in the disability ecosystem in the Municipality participated in the programme.