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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Anthony Denkyirah, associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, will spend the summer in Africa sharing his knowledge of transition planning for individuals with special needs. A native of Ghana, Denkyirah will return to his birthplace as a scholar in the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship (ADF) Program.

The distinguished program awards African-born academics currently living in the U.S. and Canada, who work in higher education, an opportunity to conduct educational projects at African higher education institutions. Denkyirah will spend three months at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.

“I teach transition planning at SIUE, and have a special focus on individuals of all ages with significant special needs,” said Denkyirah. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to bring my knowledge to Ghana through this fellowship. Muslim communities have many children with special needs. Proper training in transition planning would prove particularly helpful.”

Denkyirah has three main objectives while in Ghana: teach transition planning to graduate level students, coordinate services with community leaders and parents of individuals with special needs, and teach a research course on transition planning and rehabilitation.

“Transition planning offers different ways by which we can help individuals with special needs establish themselves as they move through life: going to school, living independently, and participating in community and social activities,” Denkyirah explained.

According to Denkyirah, many children with special needs in Ghana are highly educated. However, when they graduate from school and move back home, their family and society often reject them. This makes it extremely difficult for them to make a successful transition after school.

“You see them on the streets begging because they don’t have a job,” he said. “To ask these children, who have special needs, to go and compete with people for non-existent jobs doesn’t make sense. Transition planning would help those individuals learn skills like customized employment, ‘selling’ what they have to companies.”

To make transition planning impactful for individuals with special needs, Denkyirah says it’s imperative he collaborates with community leaders to create a program that will precisely fit the current culture of the developing country.

“Since I was born there, I know the way the country operates,” he said. “I know the circumstances under which special needs are organized. I’m going to try to help develop transition programs that will be useful to the families and their children in the Ghana countryside.

“We will have discussions, seminars, and a training program for police, the minister of education, minister of social welfare and development and the minister of employment.”

Denkyirah also plans to organize training for parents of children with special needs. He says parental involvement is crucial for the success of transition planning.

“We need to sensitize parents and families of children with special needs to accept these children,” said Denkyriah. “They can’t be left on the streets to beg, or be put at risk of weather and transport, greedy people or high rates of crime. These children are often directly targeted in those situations.”

Through his teaching of graduate level academics, Denkyirah hopes his training on transition planning will spread throughout Ghana and other countries.

“This summer, my goal is to have a group of individuals who will be able to distribute the ideas outside of the campus to different countries where citizens are studying,” he said.

The high cost of freight prohibits Denkyirah from bringing many materials with him. For now, his knowledge of transition planning is what he will bring back to his native country, and that may prove more impactful for individuals with special needs than any book or physical material.

According to the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, its goal is to facilitate equitable, effective and mutually beneficial international higher education engagements between scholars in Africa and African Diaspora academics in Canada and the United States.

Photo: Dr. Anthony Denkyirah, associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders