Teaching

45 ~ Wednesday, November

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PAGE 46

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past students’ handicaps

TEACHING handicapped children is more than a
_job for Charies and Adola McWilliam —- it has

become a way of life.

North Vancouver
couple has been teaching
handicapped children and
adults for over 30 years, and
recently they opened the Ita
Wegman School at St.
Davids Church in West
Vancouver.

The

FURHYTHMY

By DAWN BUR:

The school, which has
been open since September
and boasts three students, is
based on a principle of
holistic health. Teachers

instructor Rey Down lends a helping hand to

{ta Wegman seliool student Andrew Martin while Samina
Qureshi, left, and Joe McRae try the exercise themselves.
Euchythmy is one of the subjects the students learn in an ef-
fort to develop their own individual potential.

concentrate on the students’
entire beng, teaching them
regular scholastic lessons as
well as developing their ar-
tistic and creative bends.
Funded by the Ita
Wegman Association of
British Columbia, which
promotes a curative method
of healing, the school was
set up to serve handicapped
chiidren whose needs were
not being fully met by regu-

regular size

lar schooling.

The principles of tiie
school are based on the work
of two doctors, Rudolf
Steiner and Karl Koenig.
Koenig founded the Cam-
phill movement, a worldwide
method of dealing with
handicapped people, which
the McWilliams learned.

The teaching of the hand-
icapped person is explained
as being ‘‘approached from

NEWS photo Terry Peters

SIMMONS ®.

a holistic standpoint,'’ where
the child “is placed in a nur-
turing environment in which
all aspects of the personality
are developed and = ap-
preciated,’’ Charles explain-
ed,

The object of the Cam-
phil} movement is to bring
handicapped children to
their fuliest potential, allow-
ing them to enjoy life more.

The Wegman school tries
to approach cach child on an
individual basis, to address
his specific needs. The three
children attending the
schooi, two boys and a girl,
aged nine and 10 have vary-
ing physical and/ or mental
handicaps.

The lessons the children
are taught, McWilliam ex-
plains, are geared according
to age. The teacher will
make a presentation,
perhaps taking an = event
from history, and the child
must then use any method to’
illustrate the lesson given.

After that, says Wegman,
the lessons are geared to the
actual ability of the child.
Fo. example, one child may
need help with body control
while another child may re-

65-220 Ibs:

quire help with speech.

he children are taught
lessons following the stages
of regular child develop-
ment. Movement is mastered
before speech, before think-
ing. Therefore, says
McWilliam, if a child’s
speech is impaired, the
school goes back to working
on improving movement be-
fore tackling the speech
problems.

Tne children attend the
school Monday to Friday for
six hours each day. Two of
the children are from the
North Shore, one is from
Vancouver. Cost of atten-
ding is about $350 per
month. The children are
taught by McWilliam’s wife
on a full time basis and also
see twa part-time teachers:
Reg Dawu, who teaches
eurhythmy, and Linda
Eterman, who teaches
music.

McWilliam and his wife
say they find it rewarding
work and are {ooking for-
ward to enrolling more stu-
dents. ‘[ne Scottish born
Charles aud Dutch born
Adolz have three boys of
their own.

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