Four Buffalo teachers are donating their time, skill and experience to conduct a six-week training course this summer for teachers of the mentally retarded in the Caribbean area.
The project was organized by Francis G. Hardy Jr., an assistant professor in the Mental Retardation Department at Buffalo State University College.
His associates in the course, to be given in Kingston, Jamaica, from July 19 to Aug. 28, will be Charles G. Novak and Mrs. Martha Brown, assistant professors and coworkers at BSUC, and Leon J. Wild, a teacher for the Buffalo Association for Retarded Children.
It is expected that 16 teachers from several Caribbean localities will attend. The project was arranged in conjunction with the Caribbean Council for Mental Retardation and the Jamaica Association for the Mentally Handicapped.
…
MR. HARDY TAUGHT at a mission school in Jamaica from 1956 through 1959 and has visited the island regularly.
His interest in the field of teaching the mentally handicapped was spurred during his experience in Jamaica.
Mr. Hardy said today that the Caribbean teachers participating are committed to teaching the retarded but have had no specialized training.
“We hope to give them some of this on their home grounds, where it will be much more relevant than if they went away to get this training,” he explained.
His intention from the outset was to provide this training opportunity at no cost to any Caribbean association.
…
THIS HAS BEEN made possible by funds from three sources that will cover living expenses and transportation costs for the four Buffalo volunteers.
Mr. Hardy received a Rosemary F. Dybwad Award of $1000 from the National Association for Retarded Children toward the project.
The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation has authorized a grant and the Western New York-Jamaica Partnership of the Partners of the Americas has agreed to underwrite travel expenses.
Partners of the Americas is a national volunteer organization with four chartered chapters. Each has a relationship with a specific country in Central or South America or the Caribbean for cultural and technical exchange programs and community development.
George E. Weichmann is chairman of the Western New York-Jamaica Partnership.
