Learner Facilitator

Mara Blokpoel is an experienced special needs learner facilitator; qualified Foundation Phase teacher.

See her listing here on RemSpecED.

List your practice for R175 excl. VAT for 1 year on South Africa's leading Remedial & Special Education website

Outcomes Based Education (OBE)

Outcomes Based Education (OBE) has been something of a hot potato for South African educators and administrators in recent months with some very tough questions being asked of government.

In theory, the idea is sound, but the reality that is actually happening in the classroom is very different with teachers drowning in paperwork and a constantly 'moving target' of what is and isn't allowed.

Those being educated also seem to be getting rewarded for mediocrity.

Give us your comment on whether South Africa needs to drop OBE or what changes need to be made to the system to make it effective in educating South Africans.

Future proof your child - Parenting the wired generation

Nikki Bush, who has previously written for RemSpecED has written a great book that is an ideal gift for parents and teachers.
Read the complete article here....

Wellness vs. Training

Author: Rival Wellness (www.rival.co.za) – Paula Barnard
Many companies and HR departments battle to distinguish between Wellness and Training when considering budgets. Ultimately this is because Wellness requires a certain level of hands on "Training" or Education for staff but "Training" itself doesn’t necessarily contribute to Wellness.

In this article Rival Industrial’s Wellness division takes a look at how to balance your Wellness and Training requirements.

Areas of overlap
Both Wellness and Training require:

• Skilled staff able to assist, develop and educate other members of staff
• Depending on the nature and size of your organisation you will may require certain investments in technology to communicate a effective Training and Wellness policies e.g. Intranets, Education material, software etc.
• Follow-up education programmes to promote Social and Professional Staff Development

Scenario
Lets consider for a moment the impact of a Financial Wellness program within a fictional organisation:

• You currently employ 50 staff in a Manufacturing environment
  70% of your workforce are on entry level wages working in your factory
• Your business is battling to meet legislation around Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) supplier requirements
• Failing to meet the BEE requirements is capping your Business to Business opportunities within your sector
• If you had your choice you would wish to promote from within to develop a BBBEE component rather than bring in outside parties you don’t know
• Poor Money Management does plague your staff and they are often finding themselves in trouble for poor credit repayments, meeting medical expenses or saving anything that down the line could be used to develop themselves with additional training
• Ultimately as an employer you would like to begin an education program for these staff to warn them of the dangers of Credit Cards, Debt, no savings for a "rainy day" or no retirement planning
• You the employer cannot justify investment in these staff to attend SAQA / NQF rated Financial courses where the staff are very likely to be out of their depth *

Your needs
In this scenario you as the employer probably have a couple of goals:
Social Responsibility – you want to find a way to encourage your staff to understand some fundamentals of money management with the end goal that you would like to reduce employees approaching management for loans, school fees for children, funds for training and the emotional stress of debt
You would like to establish a "baseline" from which you can assess general employee Financial understanding and eventually establish which of your staff would benefit from development of managerial / financial development
Succession planning like this can lead to a smooth introduction of a BBBEE element within your organisation

You cannot afford to have large chunks of your workforce involved in training exercises simultaneously as this would lead to a loss of productivity

Strategy
Training is easy – if you want somebody to reach a certain skills level you identify the person, select the course, write the cheque and send them on their way to the training institution.Wellness strategies require a bit more planning to get the maximum value out of them.

Firstly it’s essential to market the idea to your staff. This immediately will show your staff you have their interests at heart and when they understand the benefits of attending and getting involved they will be a motivated delegate. A motivated delegate takes in more and contributes more.

Secondly you will need to break up staff into manageable groups to ensure no reduction in productivity. It is also a good idea to look at dividing staff up into comparable income brackets as they are more likely to speak freely and openly about their challenges if they believe others in the room will be in the same boat.

Depending on the size of your organisation you may decide to invest in a Financial Wellness week where staff are split into groups for various 1 hour workshops culminating with a feedback session on the Friday.

Staff work through the Wellness week and they are provided with a platform from which to ask questions and in this instance a general improvement in overall Financial Wellness.

Management is able to build some employee loyalty as they demonstrate a willingness to retain and look after their staff. They are also presented with an opportunity to assess a broad staff component and identify / earmark staff demonstrating potential for additional training. Hopefully you will also have taken the first steps to better educated employees around financial matters.
South Africa undeniably suffers from horrendous skills shortages in most sectors. These problems can only be addressed by accredited training courses. However a Wellness program offering staff education on issues such as Financial Wellness, Addiction, Nutrition etc. can be a fantastic way to develop a workforce from within.

It can also be hugely rewarding for management to see their investments in staff paying off.

An HR manager that can strategically balance the Training and Wellness requirements of the business may find they reap dividends of a happy, well trained workforce.

* This comment definitely does not deride from the quality of SAQA / NQF rated courses. This comment simply means that you feel your business may not feel it will see a return sending your employees on a course when they do not have a certain base-line qualification.

About the Authors:
Rival Industrial (www.rival.co.za) is a Gauteng based Wellness company. The Wellness Division is headed up by Occupational Therapist Paula Barnard. Rival supplies Wellness Solutions over a broad spectrum including Financial Wellness, Nutrition, Addiction, Sensory Wellness, Flu Management etc. For further information please contact Paula Barnard on 011 673-4421 or e-mail paula@rival.co.za

Receive South Africas top Remedial & Special Education publication

To receive South Africas leading Remedial & Special Education publication please download the subscription form and fax back to us on +27 11 673-9975

The form can be downloaded here

Cost is R275 for the year and subscription can be paid via internet transfer or credit card (Master / Visa)

For further information please contact Paula Barnard on +27 11 673-4421 or via e-mail (paula@remspeced.co.za)

Educational Software

On-line sales agents appointed

Internet AdSales has been appointed as the on-line sales agent for the ManufacturingHub.co.za (Manufacturing) and RemSpecED (Education / Parenting) titles.

Publisher Marc Ashton comments - "Both on-line sites have readership of 3000 plus unique users per month and this figure continues to rise. By partnering with Internet AdSales we are not only offering a professional sales function but we are able to extend our brand exposure to potential advertisers beyond the Gauteng region."

For on-line sales please contact Internet AdSales on 021 762 5863

Print sales and editorial enquiries can be addressed to Marc Ashton on 011 673-4421

Demand for Education products remains strong

RemSpecED's diverse portfolio of Education products has been well supported since the launch of our on-line store.

Products including:
Therapy equipment, educational books and DVDs, Acorn Kids products and other have seen a consistent demand for teachers, parents and therapists.
Thank you to all the customers who have supported us to date and we look forward to continuing to offer you a diverse range of products.

Kind regards,
The RemSpecED team

www.remspeced.co.za

New Designer for Rival

Rival Industrial (www.rival.co.za) , the publisher of RemSpecED is pleased to announce the appointment of a new addition to our Design team. Our design offering is now able to further build on its skills in Print, On-line and hand drawn design.
Baba Tjeko a former NEMISA student has joined our team as of the 1 April 2007. Baba can be contacted via e-mail (baba@rival.co.za) or on 011 673-4421.Rival is now able to offer:

• Competitive print design for brochures, adverts, letterheads and business cards
• Design of on-line creatives for web branding
• Packaging design and layout
• Animation
• Free Hand drawing / illustration
  

For further information on these offerings please contact Marc Ashton (marc@rival.co.za) or on 011 673-4421.Alternatively visit www.rival.co.za

Exciting events from Bella Vida Therapy Centre

Bella Vida Therapy Centre and Dr. John Demartini invite you to attend:Attention Surplus Order (ASO), tackling ADD and ADHD from the inside out.

Powerful Parent – Powerful Child(Filial Play Therapy Training)
For further information please visit www.remspeced.co.za

CHILDREN WITH ADHD – DEALING WITH FRUSTRATION

Feelings of frustration that aren’t dealt with adequately can lead to aggression. A lack of knowledge exists between the relationship of frustration and ADHD (Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder), and yet it affects the daily functioning of many children1.

The complete article can be found at:
http://www.remspeced.co.za/Articles/20070320_0001.htm

A parent’s perspective

Our second daughter, Jenna, was born on 16 September 1998.Who would have suspected that that day would change our world in so many ways. Jenna was born with Down syndrome. Our perception of what life is all about changed as Jenna started growing up in our family. Little things became big things and big things became little things. Early intervention, therapies and research became top priority.
The complete article can be found at:
http://www.remspeced.co.za/Articles/20070317_0001.htm

Are you looking for Design Solutions for your Gauteng based SME?

Rival Industrial (www.rival.co.za) operates a full service design offering including:

- Development of Corporate Intranets and Content
- Design and 3D Animation for client specific requirements
- Flash Design
- Animated logos for web publishing
- Design of print adverts
- Corporate letterheads
- Brochures- Websites
- Business Cards
- Digital CD / Catalogues / DVD products
- Any other design solutions your business may have

We offer a cost effective small design team to accomodate for SMEs in Gauteng.For further information please contact us on 011 673-4421 or contact sales@rival.co.za.

Visit www.rival.co.za

Corporate Wellness for Gauteng

Experience and services offered include:
- Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP)
- Sensory Integration Programmes in the Professional Workplace
- Financial Wellness
- Addiction Counselling
- Mentoring and Coaching Programmes
- Teambuilding Exercises
- Formation of support desks to assist your employees
- Strategic Communication Systems for conveying your organisations wellness strategy
- Development of HIV / AIDS programmes for your business
-Non technical / Entry level workshops and presentations can be done in Zulu and Sotho allowing you to expand your Wellness offering to your entire workforce
-Translations of Corporate Wellness content into Zulu / Sotho

The core philosophy of our EAP programmes is to allow for Continued Professional Development to allow your employees to feel they are developing by being productive in your workplace.

Industrial Ergonomics
Rival Wellness combines the principles of Sensory Integration and our knowledge of the Corporate marketplace to offer a solid Ergonomics offering,

This includes:·
- Assessment and implementation of Ergonomically sound furniture for your environment
- Ergonomic assessment of staff including
- Pre-screening and pre-placement testing
- Work-place assessment and consultation
- Ergonomics workshops

Wellness workshops (Half & Full Day) offered by Rival Industrial Wellness

Other Wellness Options presented by Rival Wellness

· HIV/AIDS: Awareness campaign, and implementation of a health promotion strategy.

. Introduction to Financial Wellness: This is an entry-level course aimed at Lower to Middle Income earners looking for a basic level of financial management including budgeting, banking, credit and debit cards and merchandising accounts.

.Flu Management: Awareness campaign, at office/centre vaccinations in April.· Health Risk Management: Awareness of the risks of smoking, poor diet, poor physical fitness, obesity, and alcohol consumption on the development of chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and stroke.

· Mental Health Promotion: Stress and burn out awareness, emotional leverage awareness (EQ), and intervention on sensory wellness, stress management, time management, work-life balance.

· Family Support: Family needs assessment, family wellness awareness.·

. Personal Development: Awareness of opportunities for personal development, life skills training such as personal finance strategies, leadership courses, job mentorship, continued professional development, career guidance

· Addiction Management: Drug, alcohol, gambling, food and other addictions awareness, opportunities for individuals to be referred to support groups, implications of addiction on the family unit, family counselling.

· Transition Management: Coping with uncertainty, retrenchment stress, merger stress, job seeking strategies, knowing your rights as an employee.

· First Aid Training: Courses on home and work place first aid

· Optimal nutrition for wellness: Dietary tips for the “healthy” body and mind. Influence of diet on performance.·

. Workplace ergonomics: prevent back pain, muscle fatigue and poor performance due to poor ergonomics of the work environment and sensory overload of the environment.

· Sleep regulation: many people are suffering from sleep disorders due to stress, environmental threats and over commitment. This can lead to chronic conditions (fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome), stress related disorders (depression, suicide and anxiety), and general ill-health due to the bodies lack of resources to fight illness. Awareness and intervention strategies.

· Are you moving?: At work exercise awareness, establishing that going for a walk during office hours is a good thing as it promotes clear thought and brainstorming as well as clearing the mind for focused work

The Small Business Toolbox: A guide to assisting budding entrepreneurs get their feet into Small Business with some practical tools and suggestions.

If you believe your business is being either negatively affected by the lack of a wellness strategy or could be more productive by addressing the above please feel free to contact Paula Barnard on 011 673-4421 or via e-mail to discuss further (paula@rival.co.za)

For further information please visit www.rival.co.za

Sensory regulatory difficulties in babies -

Sensory Regulation is the ability of the brain to establish a balance between shutting out and letting in sensory stimuli. Each baby has a different threshold, or tolerance for stimulation. This means that while one baby can remain in a calm state for a longer time, another baby may become quickly over stimulated by the same environment. What is just right for one, may be way too much for another.
The complete article can be found at:
http://www.remspeced.co.za/Articles/20070313_0002.htm

Interview with Francoise Harrison on CranioSacral Therapy

Francoise Harrison is a qualified Occupational Therapist who has a wonderful practice in Chartwell, Johannesburg. She is passionate about her work with children and took a moment out of her busy day to help us to better understand CranioSacral Therapy.
Complete article can be found at:
http://www.remspeced.co.za/Articles/20070313_0001.htm

Mathematics Workshop for the Visually Impaired

For further information please visit:

http://www.remspeced.co.za/Articles/20073112_0001.htm

RemSpecED – Magazine on remedial and special education is South Africa – Goes Monthly!

Parents, teachers and therapists have welcomed the news that the RemSpecED magazine will be a monthly magazine! This full colour mag is a welcome source of validated information on parenting the child that has challenges to learning and development.

Deonette, Occupational Therapist from Durban, commented "I received the copies of the RemSpecED magazine yesterday and wow!!!! What a surprise. It is so nice and informative. Thank you very much for this offer - I feel it is almost too good to be true." She, like many practitioners, is offering the magazine to her clients as added value to her practice.
The first edition was launched in February with a print run of 5000 copies, and is distributed through specialised schools, therapy practices and doctors waiting rooms. "Parents crave information when they have a child with specialised needs", says Paula Barnard, editor of RemSpecED. "Since the launch of the print magazine my email has been flooded with questions from parents ranging from which is the best school to why does a child need visual therapy, to should I hire a facilitator? We have had many mainstream schools ask if they can subscribe even though they are not remedial based as they see value in the content for teachers to be able to help the children in their classes who need some additional support. The response has been overwhelming!"

RemSpecED is a unique magazine in that it covers the challenges that other parents never face, and it is very local focussed with resources available and the situations experienced in South Africa. The key is that the information is realistic to the circumstances that we face in our unique country. It is not a generic parenting magazine, you won’t find your most elaborate party idea, but you will find how to throw a party for 10 hyperactive children and survive!
RemSpecED goes out to parents, therapists, teachers and others involved with children who need additional support in learning and developing. It provides a unique platform to market products that are healthy, educationally valuable and developmentally appropriate, as the readers of this magazine are motivated buyers where the best interests of their children and clients are concerned.

The deadline for RemSpecEDs march edition is 2007/03/16

For further info visit www.remspeced.co.za or e-mail Paula (paula@remspeced.co.za)