The Kianh Foundation in Hoi An has realized the dream of providing a purpose-built day centre that is providing education, physiotherapy & speech therapy for children. The Dien Ban District was selected as the site because it was a major catchment area for children being surrendered to the Hoi An Orphanage. Dien Ban is just 15 minutes away from Hoi An, but is a world away from this charming and increasingly prosperous tourist destination.

This brand new building is very well appointed and has a superbly trained staff to serve the needs of all of the children.

They need the following:

• Staff training in working with children on the autism spectrum;
• Speech therapy for the children;
• Transition skills for community-based learning;
• Sponsorship of a child;
• School supplies.

(More photos here.)

The Hue College of Medicine and Pharmacy

Hue

The vision is to build a society where each member recognizes that everybody, regardless of his or her disability has the potential to learn and to participate in social life. Therefore, our society can develop “flexible” school models which allow everybody to participate and learn according to his or her abilities.

The Early Intervention Centre serves children with autism. A cooperative program with the Duc Son Care Orphanage has also been established.

They are in need of:

• Teacher training;
• School supplies.

(More photos here.)

The Office of Genetic Counselling and Disabled Children (OGCDC) under the roof of the Hue Medical College has been setting up projects for children with disabilities since 1999. The project of Early Intervention (EI) in Hue city, the Central of Vietnam emphasizes on creating a professional environment for supporting families with children with disabilities as well as teacher training and colleague support.

Dr. Nhan and the OFFICE OF GENETIC COUNSELING & DISABLED CHILDREN (OGCDC)

HUE UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY

•First center in Nam Dong mountainous district for people with disabilities;

•In residence are 20 young people ages 16 to 25 years, of whom 50% are ethnic minorities;

•Residents receive professional training appropriate to their needs.

This project created jobs for young disabled artisans, most of whom are hearing-impaired, training them on how to make handicrafts from recycled materials and traditional textiles.

The Faculty of Education was established in 2003. The primary mission is to train and develop a high quality human resource for special education. The faculty also works as a research center. To date, 261 students have been trained to teach and work in the field of special education. They have also trained 366 teachers who came back to school for standard training in special education via in-service training methods.

They are in need of:

• Teacher training;
• Assessment tools to assess children;
• Workshops for methods and techniques;
• School supplies.

(More photos here)

Dr. Brenda Lazarus conducts a teacher training session.

Dr. Giang, right, with IASE volunteers, students and staff

Craig, an IASE volunteer trained our professionals in BASIC-3.

IASE VSP volunteer Craig Goldsberry expressed his feelings: "My trip to Vietnam was wonderful. All travel worked out well. It was an extraordinary month in Vietnam with extraordinary people doing extraordinary things." The people were warm and welcoming. Xin chao, xin chao, xin chao very much!!!" While in Ho Chi Minh City he was able to visit the Santa Maria Clinic and HCMC University of Pedagogy, in Hoi An the Dien Ban Day Centre and also the OGCDC Projects of Dr. Nhan in Hue.

Featured in this photos: VSP volunteer Craig Goldsberry with psychologists being trained by Dr. Giang

Published in the May 2014 issue of Annuntiatus

My name is Hazel from Hong Kong. This is my first volunteer service project with IASE. The one word that I would use to describe this trip is "Fulfillment". The volunteer service project means “fulfillment” in many different ways.

Fulfillment means being with like-minded people

Our IASE VSP group consisted of Marg Csapo, Mary Gale Budzisz, Iris and myself. Though we come from diverse background and variation in experience in the area of special education...   (Click here to read the entire article) 

Published in the February issue of Annuntiatus

A fortuitous meeting with three Vietnamese colleagues at the Biennial Conference of IASE in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2014 led to a volunteer experience at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy. The invitation was to work with faculty on an understanding of specific learning disabilities (LD). I flew to Ho Chi Minh City and conducted workshops in January 2014 for faculty of special education...

(Click here to read entire article)