Adequate knowledge and understanding of the evolvement of behavioural patterns of any child as well as its management is pertinent particularly with societal trends in the education sector.
Several undetected and undiagnosed psychological disorders in early childhood, according to the experts, is said to be contributory to certain behavioural issues amongst adolescent and young children in the 21st Century.
It is on this premise, and the quest to fill the knowledge gap amongst educators that Reconnect HDI, in partnership with Portsbrigde
Educational Services, a frontline educational training consultancy has organised a 2 day training with the theme “Identification and Management of Childhood Behavioural and Psychological Disorders”
The training which took place at Raberto School Hall, Abuja on 2nd and 3rd of February 2018, had close to 80 registered participants in attendance most of whom were head of schools, teachers, counsellors and caregivers from private and public schools within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and its environs.
According to Dr Stella Adagiri, Director, Portsbridge Educational Services and Executive Director Raberto Schools, Abuja, “this training is very critical at this time, as behavioural issues in schools across Nigeria are becoming quite prevalent, hence urgent intervention and training such as this becomes crucial amongst educators in both private and public sectors.”
“Having identified existing huge knowledge gap in behavioural management and safeguarding of children in Nigerian Schools, we were prompted to collaborate with Reconnect HDI leveraging on our resources and strengths, to change the narratives within the education sector and bridge the knowledge gap between the public and private schools” she said.
Speaking further Stella affirmed that by the end of the two-day training every participant would have been well-informed on how to identify and manage behavioural and psychological disorders among children in schools and understand the various interventions and approaches to support children dealing with various forms of abuse and addiction challenges. She however noted that parents need to be carried along and cooperate with the school for effectiveness and implementation.
Alexa Agara, a Clinical Psychologist at Reconnect HDI, said most parents and teachers often ignore the early signs and symptoms of behavioural disorders in their children and pupils due awareness denial and knowledge gap.
‘’Many parents and educators often ignore or in most cases are unable to identify these behavioural symptoms which makes this training important, as it aims at furnishing and guiding them with vital information in identifying these symptoms and follow due process for instance by seeking early diagnosis and clinical help”.
Dr Dayyabah Shuaibu of Recconect HDI added that the training would also help the participants to understand the signs to look out for especially in students as the rate of substance abuse and
addiction is on the increase and this greatly affects learning.
Dora Fadeyi, a Teacher from Raberto Schools Abuja, who was also a participant at the training, said she has learnt how to understand the peculiarities in various children and how to attend to them differently without discrimination.
“I have just received clear understanding of the roles our emotional intelligence can play in the identification and management of early childhood behavioural disorders among the students today which is quite important to my work as a counsellor” said Mrs Lilian Osemini, a School Counsellor from a Government Secondary School,
Mrs Afam the Principal of Raberto Schools one of the supporters of the training, stated that the training was very enlightening especially as regards to handling teenagers and knowing what signs to look out for in abuse and addiction cases.
Overall the training was a huge success and the feedback very positive.
More Photos at the Training
