Dr. Angela kerins Education, Training and Rehabilitation for People with Disabilities. IEFE 4 Presentation - February 2014

1. IEFE Forum 2014
Education, Training and Rehabilitation
for People with Disabilities
Dr Angela Kerins
Chief Executive, The Rehab Group

2. Overview of This Presentation
- Introduction to the Rehab Group
- Overview of Rehab Group’s Education and Training
Services to People with Disabilities
- Some Key Issues in education and training of PWD:
– Mainstream or specialist? Focus on educational outcomes is key to success
– What Steps can Stakeholders take to deliver positive outcomes?
– Person-centred delivery- Individual education plans
– Bridging supports – ensuring that transitions go smoothly
– Choice – for individuals and parents

3. Investing in People Changing Perspectives

4. Rehab Group – Overview
- 65 years’ experience in providing services to people with disabilities and others
-
-
who are marginalised.
Training, education, health and social care, employment services
Operates in Ireland, the UK, Netherlands, Poland and now KSA
Recognised as international experts in the provision of training,
education and rehabilitation services to people with disabilities
Unique model, based on individual planning and support for
people with disabilities
Supports people with all types of disabilities
A continuum of education services from pre-school , primary, secondary, after
school respite services, to pre-employment training, support in accessing
further or higher education, support to return to education.
Support to re-train after acquired disability- e.g. Mental health difficulties,
acquired brain injury, illness, spinal injury etc.

5. Rehab Group – Key Statistics
Established - 1949
Turnover
- c€200m
Locations
- Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Poland,
the Netherlands & the Middle East
Staff
- 3,800 (14% people with declared disabilities)
Over 84,500 people supported in 2013 69,000 people in education and training
11,500 people placed into employment
3,000 people receiving health and social care services
1,000 jobs supported in Nepal, Mauritius, Taiwan, Panama and India

6. Role of Education
- Changing economic & social conditions make education increasingly important
- Many people with disabilities are trained for jobs that are now gone
- Positive discrimination requires pwd to have requisite skills. For such
affirmative action to work, individuals must have the opportunity to develop
those skills.
- Education is now lifelong
Education stats among people with disabilities
– France: >50% have no basic education
– Ireland: 46% leave education after primary level
– UK: 25% have no qualifications
– USA; 50% leave high school early

7. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services
Red Hill School:
- School for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder
in Limerick, Ireland. Opened in 2008
- Primary school with approved secondary status
- Pre-school facility.
- 68 pupils, 12 teachers and 25 Special Needs Assistants
- Specialist assistance to children with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.
-
Key Success Factors:
Individual learning plan for each child
Mix of teaching methods, tailored to the needs of each child
Early intervention with pre-school services
Small classes

8. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services
CASE STUDY
- Isabella, attends Red Hill School’s preschool
- She is non-verbal, she has no words only
sounds
- Before she came to the school her family
were struggling with her outbursts.
- Then: she would go from calm to
hysterical very quickly, had meltdowns,
biting and chewing everything and
sometimes her family.
- Now: With two weeks she had calmed
down and had started smiling. She has
gone from daily to rare outbursts. Schools
is a safe environment for her.

9. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services (cont.)
National Learning Network’s Training Courses
- Pioneered individualised learning plans for people with disabilities internationally –
Specialist provision
- 50 Centres around Ireland, and distance learning
- Employment-focussed training -Wide range of courses
relevant to the local labour market
- Students individually assessed and learning goals set
- Fully accredited – National Qualifications Framework,
and other relevant awarding bodies
- Continuous entry – no waiting time once student is ready to start
- Employer-based training model- learn in the workplace- partnerships with employers
are essential to success.
Successful: 90% of those who complete courses go on to employment or further
education and training.

10. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services (cont.)
CASE STUDY
- Walter developed mental health difficulties while working in finance and
he needed to take some time out.
- He had always been a talented artist, even teaching art in his spare time
- He started attending NLN’s Artlink Course for people with disabilities and mental
health difficulties to help them to build careers in the art world.
- It provides a high level of training and support and is very highly regarded as the
course acts as a feeder course for many of Ireland’s most renowned art colleges.
“ like many other students here at the college, I’ve had a varied career. I guest that’s
what gives NLN such a vibrant atmosphere. We all have different life experiences
and have travelled our own path to get here.

11. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services (cont.)
Student Central: partnership with the National University of Ireland Maynooth
- Aim: To improve academic outcomes, supporting
students with a mental health difficulty, ADHD and Aspergers
to meet the learning and study demands of the course.
- NLN and University collaborate to identify students in need, providing individuallytailored study support on a regular basis.
- Individualised supports develop key academic skills needed to succeed:
– e.g. academic reading and writing and note-taking, referencing,
– exam revision and strategy, presentations,
– goal setting, time management and organisation.
– focus on wellness and developing positive mental health
- Innovative partnership. Unique in Irish Universities. 140 students have benefitted so far.

12. Rehab Group’s Education and Training Services (cont.)
- Disability Support Service:
- National Learning Network provides a disability support service to 8
Mainstream Further Education Colleges in Dublin, Ireland.
- Courses range from music, computers, business, accounting, beauty
therapy, sports, health and social care, art, technology.
- Support service to staff – how to adapt teaching methods to
support students with particular disabilities
- Support service to students – confidential, free service
available to all students- including assistive technology,
study skills, learning styles, application for financial support etc
- Promotion of disability issues among the student body
- Encouragement of students with disabilities to attend the colleges

13. Support services for Students with Disabilities
- Student Assessment Service
- National Learning Network service offered in Institute of Technology
based in Dublin
- Integral part of the support services offered in the college
- Works with individual students to promote their independence and
encourage them to develop the skills they need to progress in college
- Every first year student undergoes a learning assessment so that each person can
understand their personal approach to learning
- A plan is put in place to help the person to develop strategies to fulfil their
potential
- Support is provided with educational, emotional and physical issues
- Is significantly improving outcomes within the college and reducing drop-outs
- This is an example of a specialist service which has been fully mainstreamed.

14. Some important lessons we have learned
- Specialist v mainstream education and training: Integration for its own sake does
not work. The most important thing is to ensure the child/ learner can progress at their
own pace and be supported to learn. Focus on educational outcomes and removal of
barriers to achieving these.
- Individual education plans are essential
- Choice is essential- choice for students and for parents of children
- Teachers and courses must have flexibility to suit individual needs. Teaching styles
can and should be adapted to learning styles
- In a mainstream environment, it is important that all staff ‘buy in’ to the concept of
supporting students with disabilities and making the
necessary changes to support them to learn.

15. Some student experiences of mainstream v. specialist
learning environments at Further Education/Third level:
Experience of Mainstream College
- No proper assessment of individual learning
-
needs
No insufficient additional supports for learning
or social needs
Little understanding of needs by academic staffno or little accommodation
Lack of study/academic skills
Failure to integrate socially- lack of
understanding support among student body
Lack of confidence following personal
challenges
Non-completion of course and economic
inactivity. Return to social welfare support.
Experience of Specialist Supports
- Assessment of individual learning needs
- Tailored supports for learning or social
needs
- Academic course materials adapted for
accessibility, exam accommodations made
- Study skills and research skills support
regularly
- Accepting environment, supportive staff
and awareness of additional needs
- Great surge in personal confidence and
ambition
- Completion of course and support for
transition to next stage – employment/
further education

16. Mainstream versus Specialist at primary level
CASE STUDY
- Louis, aged 9 is in Red Hill School.
- He had tried mainstream education but it
hadn’t worked out for him
- His parents decided he needed specialist
support. His mother described the school as
a welcome ‘find’ in a long search for
supports for her son
- Then: Louis used to bottle up his thoughts
and then have an outburst.
- Now: Louis has advanced so much in one
year – he now reads to an age appropriate
level, he has improved his maths, he is
smiling and laughing again, his
concentration and balance have improved,
he makes eye contact.

17. Individual Education Planning
Assessment of need of individual.
- Documenting with the individual (child/adult) the current level of learning and the
goal. Identify the steps needed to reach the goal and formulate a plan for the
achievement of each of those steps.
Plan the learning journey
- Supporting individuals to make goals and review regularly- imagining the future.
- Encouraging ambition – achievable targets develop confidence and support longerterm planning.
Managing and reviewing the journey
- Regular review with the individual, input from family where appropriate
- Learner at the centre, and in control – software: goals input of own learning
achievements and updating of goals etc
- Allows for ongoing review to make sure goals are reached and quality controls are
in place

18. Bridging Supports
- People with disabilities often fall through the gap at points of transition. The risk is
high at the point of completion of formal school education
- This is particularly the case where a person has not received enough support in
mainstream education
- National Learning Network provides a range of centre-based and outreach bridging
supports which help people to overcome any obstacles they face to making an
effective transition.
- Provide support with vocational skills, literacy, numeracy as well as softer skills
such as confidence
- Help people to build the confidence to enter the workforce or go on to further
education. Supports may need to continue.

19. Bridging Supports
CASE STUDY
-
Robert sat his final school exams twice and failed both times.
He dropped out of school and spent three years at home doing nothing.
He found it hard to communicate with others
National Learning Network’s Outreach service started working with him.
It taught him about body language and facial expressions, helped with his selfawareness and mental health. It helped him to overcome things more easily and to
manage his temper
- With support he applied to go to college to study journalism and the support
continued while he was in college helping him with course work, supporting him to
make presentations

20. Choice
- Children and adults with disabilities must be able to make the best choice for them
in relation to education.
- There is no-one-fits all approach
- The emphasis is on mainstreaming but it doesn’t always work
- Choices must therefore be available
- The role of family in supporting the right decision is key
- Some will need specialist support – the ideal is providing specialist support in
mainstream environments
- Ultimately, a person should be on achieving mainstream outcomes and should get
all the help they need to achieve this.
- If you had a heart complaint, you wouldn’t only see a general practitioner

21. The role of all stakeholders
All stakeholders must be willing to adapt in order to maximise the potential of people
with disabilities to achieve in education
State
- Implement non-discrimination legislation and legislation to underpin a statutory
assessment of need
- Invest in a system based on personalised supports
Teachers
Adapt teaching styles to meet the learning needs of the class
Families
- Encourage children to aspire in education, to think about their future careers
- Help them to make the right choices
- Advocate for the best possible provision
Students
- Be ambitious, think big

22. In conclusion
- There no such thing as one right way to support someone in education
- The education and training system must be flexible to meet individual need
- Design the education supports around the person, in consultation with them
- Focus on outcomes rather than inputs
- Specialist services are increasingly recognised as essential to achieving mainstream
outcomes
- Teacher training is key to accommodating different learning styles
- Choice is essential and parents must be fully consulted in the case of children
- All stakeholders must be committed to supporting people in education

23. Thank you
For further information:
Angela Kerins, Chief Executive Rehab Group
Tel: 00 353 1 205 7356
Email: angela.kerins@rehab.ie
www.rehab.ie