Special lessons

Vol 18. Number 01, January/February 2009

By Rebecca Perry

At 81, there is a quiet, old school aura about Geoffrey Swan, but it's nothing to do with his age.

His vowels are rounded, he refers to 'one's self', and listening to him speak, each word enunciated clearly, makes you want to learn more about what he is saying.

Dr Swan has had plenty of practice, after a teaching career spanning more than 40 years.

But it wasn't always his crisp and gentle voice, or engaging presence in front of the class, that most helped students - because many of them couldn't hear or see him.

An expert in special education, Dr Swan describes his field, which is constantly in need of teaching recruits, as 'challenging but tremendously rewarding'.

As a young Redcliffe boy, he left teachers' college in 1946, 'totally unprepared academically, personally or professionally' to work in primary and one-teacher schools around Queensland.

But before long he was looking for something more.

'The first workshop for visually impaired men was held in 1883 with the Blind, Deaf and Dumb School opening in Annerley in 1893, but during the 1950s there weren't many special schools and children were getting lost in the system,' Dr Swan said.

'I had read a lot about how teaching children with disabilities allows you to discover much about the learning process, such as how youngsters learn, why they can't, and how hearing, visual or speech impairments can impact on subjects like reading.'

Inspired by Sir Fred and Dr Eleanor Schonell, education icons at the University of Queensland who recently became subjects of historical articles written by their former student, Dr Swan embarked on a life-changing career direction.

It included a ten-year posting as principal at the now-closed State School for Spastic Children at New Farm, where students travelled by bus from as far away as Ipswich - and country children boarded - to experience a range of holistic educational and physical treatments.

'It was a very fine school and the children were glad to go there,' he said.

'It opened in 1956 when there was nowhere else for children with cerebral palsy to go, and if it hadn't been for that place, they simply wouldn't have gone to school.

'They received physiotherapy, assistance with speech and really developed their independence.'

Made inspector of special education schools in 1973, Dr Swan saw first-hand many changes and improvements to special education in Queensland.

'Around the state there were many innovative programs developed by intelligent teachers who were committed to giving students skills so they could get jobs and that still remains a strong focus,' he said.

'I will never forget seeing the children at Darling Point Special School, on Brisbane's bayside, building their own boats and learning to sail, because they had teachers who embraced the environment in which they lived.'

But Dr Swan believes ensuring access to education has been one of the biggest struggles.

'In the early days, parents had to pay and many just couldn't afford it,' he said.

'I also used to get very angry about bullying, especially towards children with behavioural problems, because people didn't understand why they couldn't learn.'

Dr Swan concedes this lack of understanding - on the part of both the community and the medical profession, who couldn't comprehend the causes or impacts of impairments - was a frustrating side-effect for those working in the disability sector.

'Names like "spastic" and "subnormal" were terms of derision, and those names were changed in the hope that the attitudes would change with them.

'Now people are much more understanding, and very conscious of discrimination.'

Medical advances have supported much of the changes, helping many children before they are even conceived.

'There is a much greater knowledge now about the causes and prevention of disabilities, such as fewer children getting spina bifida because mothers take folic acid during pregnancy,' he said.

'I have seen many discoveries, such as the vaccine to prevent rubella, which caused epidemics of deafness, and polio, which at one time was one of the greatest cripplers of children.

'Early diagnosis means children get better intervention, and interactive technologies along with tools like hearing aids and cochlear implants have boosted opportunities for learning.

'Even in the last few years, there have been great changes in areas such as Down syndrome, from theories about what caused it to actual evidence.

'There has been an increase in children with autism spectrum disorder, but I wonder whether they were not diagnosed in the past.

'We still have a long way to go to fully understanding behavioural conditions.'

For his part, raising awareness - for his own knowledge as much as others - has been significant, including gaining a Churchill Fellowship in 1968 to study the education of youngsters with cerebral palsy in Europe, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Dr Swan hasn't stopped working since retiring in 1987 - the same year he won the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to children with special needs.

He keeps busy training teachers at university, presenting papers for international journals and conferences, and writing a host of articles, including his doctoral thesis on the integration of children into mainstream schools from early segregated institutions.

'They were centres of excellence, where teachers were trained in specific disorders,' he said.

'Children went from these places into regular schools, long before it became an official practice.

'Now schools are more integrated, it is critical that specially trained teachers work with these children, and have aides to support them.'

Though he and wife Doris never had children of their own, his compassion, concern and interest has helped countless other families, and he hopes such a legacy can last long into the future.

'Studying exceptional children teaches you to employ skills in other areas, so when children can't learn, you understand why and you can use different teaching techniques to get through to them,' he said.

'In many ways, special education isn't all that different to other teaching because the most important thing is the between the teacher and those being taught.

'If you get that right, it works.'