International Schools for Children with Special Needs

As humans, there are a lot of things that divide us; race, gender, religion, caste. These divisions tend to promote certain groups while crushing some. We are all very lucky to live in a time which promotes the practices of an egalitarian society.

Needs of people with disabilities, however, are often overlooked. They might be getting quotas here and there but they are stilled looked down upon and their emotions, wants and opinions are frowned upon by the society. One still doesn’t see no/few people with disability in managerial positions and so their voices are left unheard.

Education is a tool which has time and again provided underrepresented groups a stage to present their views. It has been essential in making people understand the afflictions that these people are subjected to.

Schools are temples of education but if your child has any disabilities they need a special environment which helps them adapt and grow like their peer. There are more than 2,500 schools for children with special needs in India but most of these schools aren’t effective and only provide meager facilities for face value.

International schools in India are famous for the advance knowledge and thinking they promote and so choosing an international school for your child promises them a world of equal opportunities.

Here are the country’s best international schools for children with special needs:

The Aditya Birla Integrated School, Mumbai
The Aditya Birla Integrated school has been educating children for over 110 years, with a curriculum specially designed to challenge students who have learning differences.

They are accredited by the Indian Council for Special Education, and tasked with educating the nation’s special needs children, ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Speech and Language Impairments, Dyslexia to Intellectual Impairment, Low IQ and visual-spatial modality.

They also have a highly inclusive policy wherein special needs students are taught alongside students without special needs. Their teachers undergo extensive training in Cognitive Strategy Intervention, communication.

The Heritage School, Kolkata
Heritage School follows a policy of inclusion, wherein children with learning disabilities and other development delays are co-opted into mainstream classes.

Special educators monitor the academic progress of challenged children and administer personalized needs-based programs in specially designed resource centers to help them cope with mainstream learning.

Committed to offering a stress-free learning environment, the school management has also made a special effort to provide a highly qualified team of counsellors on campus.

Gateway School, Mumbai
Gateway School is a non-profit, non-sectarian school that provides high quality education to children with special needs. It was founded in 1992 by Sanjeev Talwalkar, Loretta Joseph and the late Behram Khurshedji Wadi.

Gateway School has one-and-a-half acre playground, air-conditioned classrooms, wheelchair ramp access to all rooms, low chair or table height in classroom, lifts available to transport wheelchairs and children between floors, ramps leading to the toilet areas, toilets with handrails for support, toilets with raised seat height and special facilities for female students.

Step by Step, Noida
Anyone who uses a wheelchair can enter the school building without difficulty. Every floor has ramps, lifts, and wheelchair-accessible restrooms. To ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to participate, appropriate modifications have been made in classrooms, libraries, and laboratories.

Children with disabilities are given special emphasis in the fields of physical education, drama, arts & crafts, performing arts, life skills, and information technology. The special needs team works closely with the mainstream teaching faculty, special educators, speech and language pathologists, occupational/physiotherapists and counsellors.