THE Valenzuela Special Education Center (Valsped) has 755 special students
The Valsped has a Gross Motor Development Area (GMDA) facility that seeks to develop children’s physical skills that involve body movements, the Public Information Office (PIO) said in a news statement.
The PIO said the facility, worth P5 million, features various sports and gym equipment, carefully and strategically placed to facilitate training in performing everyday activities such as walking, running and jumping, among others.
It explained the GMDA was “particularly constructed to address the needs of children with cerebral palsy for gross motor function clarification system or the need for mobility and ambulation. The area has basketball, table tennis and dart, aimed to promote interaction and socialization among children.”
Aside from that, the administration of Mayor Rexlon T. Gatchalian has put up an aqua-therapy pool worth P1.5 million in the Valsped.
The PIO said this aqua-therapy pool was established “for treatment and exercise-based activities [of the special children] aimed to help children with special needs in terms of relaxation, fitness and physical rehabilitation.”
The newly opened facility is the only public aqua-therapy pool in Metro Manila.
The PIO added the Valsped students will undergo an assessment to be conducted by the resident developmental pediatrician, Dr. Carmen Reyes, for the latter to identify children who are in need of aqua-therapy sessions.
The center currently has four physical therapists registered in the Philippines who will supervise and facilitate sessions.
One of them is Angelo Salvador, who emphasized the importance of the facility, which serves as a venue for children who have problems with mobility and proprioception or relative body strength. He said, “The aqua-therapy pool employs the warm-water mechanism; it helps to tend muscle tension of children with special needs. It also allows for water-based exercise, which improves the balance and equilibrium of children.”
Dr. Teresita Pangan, Valsped coordinator, said the twin facilities at the Valsped are “important to be able to provide them services that will be beneficial to their growth, and these new facilities will indeed be very helpful to our students’ welfare and development. And what’s best here is that it’s all free for our students.”
Valsped started on January 22, 2016. It caters to students from 4 year olds and older who have special needs.
