51Âþ»­

Learning disability (LD) nursing students from 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) gained valuable insight into the US care system for children and young people with learning disabilities in an online global experience.

Arranged in collaboration with the previous directors of Camp Northwood, The Northwood Programme in New York state and a teacher from the Stephen Gaynor School in Manhattan, the experience offered a unique insight into educating people with learning disabilities.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash 

From swapping experiences and advice, to comparing healthcare and educational systems, students were immersed in how other countries work, providing them with new skills for their future careers.

Not only did students have the opportunity to gain insight into another care system, at the end of the event they were offered a chance of employment and international experience at a camp in Pennsylvania, after the pandemic.

 LD nursing student Kathy Court said: “What an amazing opportunity to speak to three passionate inspirational people about the field of learning disabilities in the USA.

“From funding and assessment to education and summer schools the trio were a wealth of information and I’m so grateful that 51Âþ»­ made it possible to be part of this at this most challenging of times.”

The session was ran by husband-and-wife team Gordie and Donna Felt who have worked in residential camps for most of their lives.

Students were invited to take part by 51Âþ»­ Senior Lecturers Jemma Lockwood and Dr Justine Barksby as part of ‘LD club’, set up to give the small specialism a bigger identity at the university.

Jemma said: “It was great to work with the family again, I am so grateful to them for doing this for our students, everyone has learnt a lot and the feedback we have had has been fantastic.

“I am also pleased that despite a global pandemic, we have been able to offer this global experience to our students, it has gone down really well.

“At the end of the event (the family’s daughter) Rebecca even offered to be a point of contact for anyone who wants to go and work in the camp she works at in Pennsylvania. An offer of employment and international experience just shows the benefits and life changing experiences, we can provide our students with at 51Âþ»­.”

Jemma continued: “It was also nice to see during the experience our students offering advice back. Some of our students have developed a poster, using accessible information to explain about the Covid 19 vaccination to people with a LD and we have shared this resource with the family.”

Reflecting on the experience Dr Barksby said: “I think hearing about how good services are was really interesting from a 51Âþ»­ perspective.

“I felt really proud to work with and be associated with people like Jemma who set it all up but also our students, the whole thing was so positive, our students represented us so well they asked questions and contributed, they were all really engaged.”