The needs of educating learners with special needs may affect various areas such as behaviour, communication, social interaction, reading, writing, other specific skills or physical abilities. Learners with SEN often require additional or different educational support to help them access the curriculum and succeed in their own learning.

 

All facilitators at GiGi can work with all the different needs and are capable to adjust the learning journey accordingly. We accommodate children that are still attending a mainstream school through tuition, 24/7 care and/ or VHT but sometimes a (temporary) full time placement at another facility in or outside Zambia is advised.

 

We try by all means to find a placement for the child and sometimes we may agree on a placement at GiGi. This placement is firstly depending on the existing group – which we call a ‘second family’- present. Although all students work at their own individual level, the continuous positive, encouraging and social interaction is crucial for everyone’s growth and therefore a placement may not be possible and/ or suitable.

 

We do not shy away from any challenges and all children deserve to learn and grow, but safety and the well-being of the whole second family will always be our first priority. The parents’ approval of our approach and willingness to cooperate with the facilitators at GiGi is therefore of upmost importance.

 

In practical terms this entails a continuous open and honest communication with the facilitators and a presence when needed at short notice. Growth is change and change in behavior or approach is crucial and that may be extra hard for the child’s family to accept and adjust to.

 

Therefore, we offer 24/7 care and guidance whereby everyone needs to be willing to change and adjust in order for the child to overcome challenges and to change and grow. 100% agreement is needed at all times and when agreement cannot be achieved anymore we will then ask the student and family to leave until agreement can be reached again.

 

There is no 100% guarantee of success at our Hub. It’s a journey whereby growth and success depend on many factors. We know that success is there when facilitators, student and parents are honest and open about everything and keep the communication going. Success is there when everyone involved is willing to try new approaches and is willing to even change him or herself. The journey may become very intense at times and may become even discouraging.

 

We simply want to hold hands with everyone involved and use all (internal and external) expertise available to achieve growth.