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It has been anything but an ordinary summer for a group of seven Ryerson students.

Led by sociology professor Jean Golden, the group of early childhood studies and social work students put their skills to good use at Every Child Counts, a school in Abaco, Bahamas, that provides education for children with learning, developmental and physical disabilities.

The Ryerson students spent five weeks this past spring working with children in the classroom and the community. Two of the students are in Early Childhood Studies and travelled to the Bahamas as part of their academic placements while the other five are in the Social Work program and went on a volunteer basis. They all have very strong backgrounds in working with children with special needs through their studies at Ryerson and work experience.

“It seemed like an easy match. We’ve got something that we can offer to assist them with and in turn, our students could learn a lot,” says Golden. “They could develop their own skill sets and their own understanding of problems faced in developing countries.”

Golden, a sailor, has been docking in the Bahamas for nearly 30 years, and that’s where she met Lyn Major, the founder of Every Child Counts and learned about her work with children with special needs.

Major’s inspiration for the school goes back several years when she and her husband adopted twin boys and discovered they had autism. At the time, there were no special needs programs available in Abaco and government funding was scarce. The gap convinced Major to open Every Child Counts with the help of the community and now they provide specialized schooling for more than 100 students. The Bahamian government does not fund public education of most students with special needs.

Early Childhood Education students Erikka Dal Bello and Archana Kathir spent most of their days working with those children in the classroom.

“One thing I noticed at this school was the need for more teacher assistance in order for the students to receive more one-on-one attention,” says Bello. “During one-on-one work I really noticed the students’ love of attention and encouragement.” 

“I saw a big turnaround in some students after praising them for the work they did and by showing them that I cared about the work they did.  With one particular student, I was told he does not know letters and numbers,” says Bello. “After working with him, I was able to help him correctly write his name, as well as write and identify numbers one through four.”

She and Kathir assisted children with math, reading and self-help workshops. They even developed a dance and performance program to encourage physical activity and help children build self-esteem.

“The students of Every Child Counts are talented and this activity allowed them to express their creativity as they were to move according to a given beat and rhythm,” says Kathir. 

The five social work students – Rachel Gillis, Amanda Lewis, Stephanie Henthorn, Heather Cox-Gurdon  and April Pisani – worked in the classroom and in the community with Golden on research projects. The students also helped coach the athletes participating in the Special Olympics in Nassau County.

Golden says special needs children are often invisible and stigmatized in the community. Ryerson and Every Child Counts are working together to increase the Ryerson student placements, and to develop community awareness programs, a vocational training centre and an assisted living centre for children and adults with special needs.

“The more you broaden out your understanding of how people live in different cultures – in different economic conditions and in different parts of the world – the more you begin to understand that we are all human beings with the same needs and human rights,” says Golden.