A key entity in the provision of services for the island’s disability sector, the McCam Childcare and Development Centre (MCDC), has joined the many organisations whose continued existence is now under threat as critical funds have dried up.
Its motto “it is no small thing to influence a child so fresh from the hands of God”, the 27-year-old McCam is distinguished for publishing the first early childhood curriculum in Jamaica and the Caribbean.The MCDC, with offices at 231 Old Hope Road in Kingston, said it opened its doors in 1986 in response to the demand for educational programming for children with a range of special needs at the early childhood level and currently care for children up to eight years of age – from the gifted to the slow learning.“The uniqueness of this institution for children, is in the integration of the student population,” said board chairman Lewis Campbell. “Children with special needs, for example, work alongside gifted children without special needs, and this allows for the acquisition of skills, as these children work and play together.”Campbell said that another advantage of this system was the “increased awareness and sensitivity it brings to each other, particularly those with disabilities”.McCam’s inclusive education programme runs from nursery education to a pre-school programme, covering the requirements of the student population, including those with special needs between the ages of six months and six years.With this in mind, McCam Childcare and Development Centre, only a year old in 1987, established the Unit for the Total Development of Special Needs Children (UTDSC), a not-for-profit organisation.“The Unit is governed by a board of directors, and the centre works in collaboration with other agencies and government institutions to develop and effectively implement early intervention services, and facilitate the operation of and understanding of the various needs of these children,” said Campbell.Children with disabilities now make up 40 per cent of the population of the centre’s nursery and school programme. Other children are also referred to the Centre for assessment and therapeutic interventions, from educational and early childhood institutions, medical practitioners, and the general public.McCam’s services also include the Inclusive Early Childhood Services for nursery, pre-school and kindergarten, special education services and pre-school kindergarten grades 1 and 2. Through therapeutic intervention, children up to eight years of age are served by a team consisting of an occupational therapist, a school psychologist, a clinical psychologist, a behavioural specialist, and a special educator.The Centre conducts workshops and seminars for teachers and parents, and provides practical experience for students from various institutions including nursing, special education and early childhood practitioners in training; it also serves as a resource centre for the dissemination of information on children with special needs.But despite its vital services, Campbell said, the McCam Centre had been hit by a reduction in grants, which now threatens its existence.“We have spent countless hours trying to keep afloat. The operational cost for maintaining the Centre has been a burden over the years,” team member Juliene Campbell-Donaldson acknowledged.Still, Campbell, the Centre’s programme director, Pauline Watson-Campbell and Campbell-Donaldson are determined to keep McCam going and are putting the final touches to a fund-raising drive which will be launched shortly.In the interim, they are urging the Government and other supporting entities to keep their partnership going in the interest of the community of disabled children.HOUSE RULES
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Don"t let McCam Childcare Centre go under!
