SKILD
Smart Kids with Individual Learning Differences
Supporting Children with Special Needs and their Families
SKILD supports children and youth with learning differences through specialized intervention, awareness raising, and through providing capacity building and resources to educators, parents, and the general community.
Neglected and Forgotten
Many children and youth suffer from unidentified learning differences that cause them to fall behind in their classes and few schools in Lebanon have a mechanism for recognizing these differences. The parents of these struggling students feel overwhelmed and discouraged about not knowing how to help their children succeed and wonder why they can’t just perform like normal children. Schools are unable to properly assess and assist these students because they lack trained staff or comprehensive programs that are equipped to deal with unique individual learning differences. The community at large remains ignorant of and lacks understanding for the challenges that these students face. And the government pushes the needs of these students off from one ministry onto another, stating that it is not within their domain, hence leaving schools without the funding they need to finance individualized learning programs. Finally, the students are left marginalized and vulnerable as they are misunderstood and rejected by their surrounding communities. Untold potential is being lost as these children are allowed to slip through the cracks and are left unrecognized for the talents and strengths they have.
SKILD’s Mission
In response to all of these issues, LSESD decided to inaugurate the SKILD center in 2011 in order to meet the needs of those children who have been left behind and to fill the gaps left by the educational system. By providing subsidized global assessments, SKILD is able to identify the academic, emotional and social challenges that children face and recognize their individual needs. Once a student has been assessed, SKILD creates an individual action plan for helping the students to advance not only in school but also in their personal life outside of the school walls. Multi-sensory programs such as the Life and Social Skills Sessions help children to learn how to navigate daily life in a fun, failure-free zone. Parents can also find support and a compassionate ear through the Parent2Parent gatherings. What’s more, SKILD helps private and public schools to set up and develop their special education departments by sending a trained team to establish programs or provide additional professional assistance. Finally, SKILD engages heavily in raising community awareness about the realities of learning difficulties and advocates for the rights of children with individual learning styles before the Ministry of Education.
SKILD’s Photo Gallery
Take a Virtual Tour of SKILD
Click on the pictures below to check out SKILD’s photo gallery .
SKILD News Articles
A New Frontier: Extending Inclusion to Higher Education
For most young people, finishing high school is just another milestone to add on the wall of family pictures. But let us imagine for a second that all of this is not possible.
Celebrating Special Needs Parents
As SKILD enters its tenth year of ministry, we are proud of parents who defied their community, took a stand against its shame and honor culture, and fought for their children to be recognized as an integral part of society.
SKILD’s Parent2Parent is Changing Lives
SKILD’s Parent2Parent was created as a support group that is a comfortable space for parents of special needs children to share their experiences and grow together. Watch Anna, a mother of a young girl with Autism Spectrum Disorder, describe her journey from despair to hope after joining Parent2Parent, where she found a listening ear after struggling with unanswered questions and fears for five years.
Call SKILD
Tel: +961 (4) 533791
Mob: +961 (71) 767605
Email Us
info@skild-edu.org
Address
Blata Str. Mansourieh
El Maten Lebanon