Senator Reid said he has made this assessment in response to discussions about whether students have achieved the desired educational goal.
He said statistics from a 2004 study left him concerned as it showed that 24 per cent of Jamaica’s children had intellectual and cognitive deficiencies.
Senator Reid, who was speaking at the opening of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College Diagnostic and Early Intervention Centre in Montego Bay on Tuesday, reiterated the need for the tracking of children from conception to about age seven.
He under that initiative, the government would “track every child that is born and make sure they are developing appropriately, and where there is need for early intervention, it takes place.”
One in every 42 boys in Jamaica is autistic, while it affects one in 167 girls.
The diagnostic centre will seek to identify, assess and promote early intervention for children with disabilities in St. James, Trelawny, Hanover and Westmoreland.
Shocking stats, almost difficult to believe. I wonder how some of the familial and societal stressors contribute to the cognitive development of some of these children. There are so many adults who are lacking impulse control that I wonder how they handle the stress of dealing with a special needs child.
Certainly this is a topic requiring further investigation and knowledge sharing.
I agree. A lot of these issues are intergenerational, sometimes the parent/ family men’s are not even able to identify if a child has special needs, and the situation just perpetuates.
It really does hurt my heart.
I dont believe this stas. Jamaicans have a way to change the narrative on any situation based on the audience. If he was addressing nurses he would lament how stats have shown that getting vaccines have impacted positively on Jamaicans children as 7/10 are operating at Mastery Level in GSAT (PEP).
At the function to honour students who got over 90% in GSAT (this year). He was singing a different tune.
Wonder why? This is rather interesting…7 out of 10, that’s insane. Something is very wrong.
It’s the vaccination they giving to the children.
Those stats are Inconsistent. 7/10 is not 24% as stated. 24% is more believable and equals around 2/10. That type of error, especially with regards to education, is unacceptable.