A teacher training workshop, hosted in Eleuthera at the Wellness Center in Palmetto Point on Thursday, February 20th, by Exceptional Education Outreach (EEO) Bahamas in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE), gathered educators from various islands, including the Exumas and Cat Island, to participate in a seminar focused on autism through a holistic lens. Two teachers from each primary school in the Eleuthera district were invited to take part by the MOE, and teachers from private schools in Spanish Wells and Harbour Island were also in attendance. 70 teachers overall were in attendance in person, and 150 teachers took part, from six islands, via a live Zoom link. Notable speakers included Dr. Michael Alessandri, head of the Center for Autism and Related Diseases at the University of Miami, alongside occupational therapist Natasha Bravo and speech therapist Amanda Alvarez. Their collective expertise aimed to equip teachers with strategies to accommodate diverse learning needs, particularly in light of the rising number of students on the autism spectrum.
Lang Hudepohl, a special education teacher based in Florida, and visionary of EEO Bahamas 25 years ago – when it began as a special education outreach initiative in Harbour Island, explained that the organization, which hosts seminars annually in collaboration with the Bahamas MOE, recently created the ‘Family Island Partnership’ (FIP) to enhance special education services across The Bahamas. This partnership, she said would see the ministry bringing special education teachers to the Family Islands, while EEO Bahamas would partner by providing training, school supplies, materials, along with hearing and vision screenings. The February workshop in Eleuthera, said Hudepohl was a soft launch of the FIP – with teachers flown in from Exuma and Cat Island to attend.
Describing EEO Bahamas’ current structure and mode of operation on the island of Eleuthera, Mrs. Hudepohl outlined, “At EEO we take a three pronged approach. Number one, the first thing we do is make sure that there are no physical barriers to children’s learning. So, we work within the public school system and we test the hearing and vision of any students that are referred for having learning differences. The second part is we have teachers that are integrated EEO teachers. We have 8 currently that are integrated within the schools and use a push-in and pull-out model where they work with students in small individualized groups. And then the third component is the teacher training, which is what’s happening today. We do teacher seminars as well as parent workshops.”
Some of the schools which benefit currently by having access to EEO Bahamas special education teacher resources across Eleuthera, include Harbour Island All Age [where the initiative began], Laura Anderson Primary in The Bluff, Gregory Town Primary, P.A. Gibson Primary in Hatchet Bay, James’ Cistern Primary, Emily G. Petty Primary in Governor’s Harbour, Emma E. Cooper Primary in Palmetto Point, Tarpum Bay Primary, and Rock Sound Primary school. Approximately 250 students in Eleuthera, said Mrs Hudepohl are involved in the EEO Bahamas special education program.
For Lang, EEO has been a labour of love, since she first saw the need, as the daughter of a second homeowner in Harbour Island, half of her lifetime ago. She was inspired, she said because Eleuthera, and The Bahamas felt like home to her. “I’m a special Ed teacher… I have friends and people here that I care about. And I wanted to help create a program where there was a need and there wasn’t anything existing.”
Now in its 25th year, EEO Bahamas, said Mrs. Hudepohl, was at an important moment to be able to make an impact across the Family Islands, with Eleuthera as the model. “Because of this Family Island Partnership – there’s a huge potential, when you have a nonprofit and a public collaboration. So, the Ministry of Education and EEO’s partnership is going to be able to inspire and to reach the entire Family Islands if we get the right funding and if we keep up this momentum.”
