Expedite Recruitment: School Based Therapists
The Department of Health said they are “taking all measures to expedite the recruitment of school based therapists and mitigate the disruption in service to students.”
A spokesperson said, “The Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment can confirm that seven therapy positions are under active recruitment, only two of which are vacant.
“Of the two vacant positions, 1 candidate has been identified [Occupational Therapist] and may be filled permanently by November 2015 and the Department is aggressively looking for a relief for the other post.
“Of the five remaining recruitments, three advertisements have already been posted and closed on September 9 and work has commenced on advertising the other two recruitments.
“Recruitment of permanent post holders can typically take six months. In the past some therapist posts [for special needs and early intervention] have been difficult to fill and required overseas advertising.
“The Department is encouraged by local applicants responding to recruitment drives, as it speeds up the recruitment process when candidates who meet requirements can be sourced locally. The Department is also taking steps to ensure that employees will be in place before any therapist post is vacated.
“Existing clients and their families are encouraged to participate in training sessions that are offered to them by their therapists. Additional information and suggestions to assist in the overall development of communication and sensory motor skills will be made available on the Department of Health website health.gov.bm.
“Brochures will be posted onto the Department of Health website. Parent training opportunities will generally incorporate all disciplines: – Speech Language Pathologist [SLP], Occupational Therapy [OT] and Physiotherapy [PT].
“Children are unique individuals who develop skills at their own rate. Some children develop faster or slower than the average. Speech and language as well as gross and fine motor development occurs in predictable stages. Parents may have concerns about their child’s development in some areas.
“It is important that parents gain an idea of what skills to watch for and to have some idea of what should be developing at different age levels. Some of the parent training sessions that are planned will provide general information to explain the normal stages of childhood development.
“It will elaborate upon strategies that parents might utilize to observe and enhance their typical child’s overall development. Parents are encouraged to attend these training sessions in order to become empowered with knowledge about childhood development.
“Some children may have already been assessed by an Allied Health Professional as having a delay or a disorder in some aspect of their development. SLP’s, OT’s and PT’s are trained to design specific activities to assist the child to practice and improve particular skill areas.
“Some parent training workshops will be designed to focus on these specific areas, providing examples of activities and strategies that parents might employ to promote their child’s progress along the normal developmental continuum.
“As parents are in the presence of their children more frequently than a therapist might ever be, home practice is key to improving outcomes of therapy. Parents are encouraged to attend these training sessions in order to become empowered to incorporate practice activities in the home environment.
“The team of early interventionist therapists have been working steadfastly and diligently to manage caseloads and continue to provide a relatively uninterrupted delivery of general therapy services.”
If the students of the Ministers were in public schools and in need of therapists then I am pretty sure they would be in place. But I am pretty sure that their kids are either in private schools or boarding schools overseas and therefore this it not a priority for them.
Watching, Unfortunately, our fellow Bermudians are not looking out for their own. If they where there would have been many rebottles regarding the subject matter. Very disturbing how we can be so silent when it comes to our kids well being.
sad, so hope that I am wrong.