Article written by the mother of a student at The Village. 

The Village International Education Centre – A Haven for Special Needs 

If you have a child with any kind of special need, it is always difficult to find the right school for him or her. In Asia it seems to be particularly difficult.  Although there is a wide choice of very good international schools, very few of these schools are able to provide the right support for children with moderate to severe learning difficulties. 

Placing a child with special needs in a mainstream school is the only option for many families.  When we arrived in Bangkok we went down the same route with our son who has complex learning difficulties.  Although the school we chose was very supportive and had some provision for special needs children, it soon became clear that our son was not going to be able to progress in this setting.  He was teased by the other children who could not understand why he was different from them.  His self-esteem was very low and he lost motivation to learn.  

At this point we were considering moving back to the UK, but, just in time, we discovered The Village on Sukhumvit Soi 42 (Ekkamai).  This is a Centre for children with any kind of learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, emotional/ behavioural problems, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, Asperger’s syndrome and autism.  The Centre is run by Harshi Sehmar, who himself had a negative experience of school in the UK, having struggled all the way through with undiagnosed dyslexia.  It was only once Harshi went into further education and started training as a teacher in special needs that he was able to find the right support for his own learning difficulty. 

The Village started off as one room with one student and Harshi.  It has grown into a Centre with 28 students, an educational psychologist, a clinical psychologist, a speech therapist, a family counsellor, 7 qualified teachers (all with special needs training and 3 with Masters in special needs), and 13 teaching assistants.  The Centre also has 2 school buses, an ICT unit and fresh food is cooked on the premises every day. 

Since our son has been attending The Village the change in him has been remarkable.  He has made a lot of progress with his reading and writing and his self-esteem has improved no end.  He is so much happier and he even complains at the weekend when he can’t go to school.  Next week he is going on a school Residential trip to Khao Yai, where he will be taking part in all kinds of adventurous activities with his friends.   

One of the great things about The Village is that everyone there understands each others problems and they all respect and support each other.  There is no element of teasing or bullying. The students are made to feel proud of their achievements. They are given the opportunity to focus on their strengths, whilst getting the right help for their individual weaknesses.  The stress-free happy environment, the quality of the teaching and the dedication of the staff all go together to ensure that each child develops to his or her full potential.   

If you would like more information about The Village you can contact Harshi Sehmar on 02 391 4453 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it