Stepping Stone for Special People
by: Sarah Gonzalez - Garcia
Even in death, my Dad reminded me of our bigger purpose in this world – to live a life for others. We spent my parents’ anniversary visiting a school that was close to my Dad’s heart --- Stepping Stone Special Education Philippines. My Dad was very involved in the school being part of the Rotary Club of Makati. He would talk to us about finding a perfect location for the new campus, boast about their graduates being employed, but I never really got the chance to visit and get to know more about it when he was still alive.
Stepping Stone - Center for Excellence in Special Education
Stepping Stone is a non-profit foundation, and a Center for Excellence in Special Education. Its vision is to help individuals with special needs (regardless of social class) integrate into society. When we scheduled a visit to turn over the donations from my Dad’s wake, my heart burst with pride. In my head, my Dad helped make this happen. I wish I got to tell him how proud I was of him. With a bigger space to fulfill their vision, their second campus in Sucat, Parañaque has amazing facilities, mostly built from donations and grants from various institutions. Apart from their facilities, they have certified SPED teachers and have affiliations with various universities for their licensed therapists.
Sarah Gonzalez-Garcia with her family in front of Stepping Stone - Parañaque.
From Therapy to Vocational Services
Stepping Stone offers the following:- Therapy Services (the most affordable across all centers from what I hear)
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech Therapy
- Physical Therapy (open to all, with or without special needs)
- Special Education Classes for children (2-20 years old) with a 1:4 teacher- student ratio, keeping each class size to 8 students.
- Regular Classes (Nursery – Grade 3, Grade 4 to start in SY 2020-2021). While they are mainly a SPED school, they want kids in regular classes to develop empathy and understanding by socialization, thus offering regular classes.
- Vocational Services (open to all): They have Barista, Cooking, Housekeeping courses and have facilities for hands-on training. These are TESDA-accredited and students get certificates upon graduation. Some of their graduates with special needs have been employed by partner institutions such as hotels and restaurants.