The Curriculum Guidelines for students with Multiple Disabilities: Physical and Neurological, have been developed at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP), Calcutta, India. The need for culturally relevant, well-formulated and formally stated curriculum guidelines was long felt by this institute which pioneered special educational facilities for people withl multiple disabilities and which is now the national centre for cerebral palsy. In order to realise the intensity of the need for such a special curriculum, it is essential to take a brief look at the present Indian scenario. India is a vast developing agricultural country with 75% of its over 1 billion people living in the villages. Many of these rural and tribal areas are often inaccessible. Furthermore, special schools exist mainly in the cities. As a result, there are large areas in the country where the provision of special educational services for people with disabilities are non-existent (Paranjpe, 1994). According to UNICEF, out of the 300 million children between 0 to 14 years, 30 million have one or more disability. The current educational status, as reported by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is that not more than 3 - 4 % of children with special educational needs have access to education with or without support services (RCI, 2000). Till 1999, only 5649 professionals and personnel registered with RCI. Since it is not feasible for any central agency to extend their expertise and special services to every corner of India, a viable solution would be to organise services with locally available resources.
In 1990, the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy undertook the task of developing a culturally relevant curriculum. The need to provide basic knowledge and guidance to trained and untrained people working in the field of disability was kept in mind. It was also important to take into consideration the wide-ranging and divergent needs of children with multiple disabilities. This project was funded by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India and the Department for International Development, U.K.
The Curriculum Guidelines were developed over a period of 8 years of extensive research with 2 years of field-testing involving 10 organisations and 80 students with special needs. The project started with a survey of curriculum areas in other special schools in India with the aim to identify and select major core curriculum areas. A questionnaire was sent to 50 organisations of which 12 responded. Based on the feedback obtained from this survey, the 6 core areas of these Curriculum Guidelines were decided upon. Once developed, it was essential to pilot the curriculum in order to achieve the objective of creating high standard, good quality teaching material. The piloting was done through a series of workshops attended by principals and senior teachers. The objectives of the workshops were initially to train the participants to use the guidelines for planning teaching programmes for students in their organisations and later, to obtain feedback on their views regarding different aspects of the curriculum guidelines e.g. the format, language, location of objectives etc. Questionnaires, interviews and reports submitted by the participants provided important information based on which relevant modifications were made before the curriculum guidelines were printed and ready for dissemination.
The curriculum guidelines have a strong functional bias, highlighting and giving priority to the functional features of skills. The emphasis is on teaching children with mild to severe learning difficulties who may have associated physical and communication problems. This is what makes it different from other curricula in use in India, which are mainly for children with learning difficulties. Inclusion of components like suggestions for physical management and alternative augmentative communication indicates the range and complexity of the problems covered in this curriculum.
The Curriculum Guidelines are a set of 7 books, which includes a Manual and the following 6 Core Areas:
1. Early Learning Skills
2. Language and Communication
3. Self
Care
4. Physical Ability Training
5. Functional Academics and
6. Life
Skill Education
These areas attempt to cover the entire range of skills and sub-skills needed by an individual to lead as independent a life as possible within the constraints of his or her disabilities.
The basic design of the Curriculum Guidelines is as follows:
The Curriculum Guidelines have been structured to make it easy for the user to locate teaching areas and objectives. Each Core Area is divided into a number of Sub-core Areas that are further sub-divided into Content Areas. These Content Areas consist of Ultimate Goals that are broken down into a list of teaching objectives. The objectives are followed by relevant suggestions on how to teach those skills. An Assessment Chart is given at the end of each book pertaining to that Core Area. The teaching objectives have been coded to facilitate location and are classified into 3 groups keeping levels of learning and cognitive difficulties as the basis. There are also 3 main groups of suggestions:
1. Suggestions for physical management - which take into account specific problems that students with physical disabilities may face
2. Suggestions for non-speaking students - which describe different methods of AAC
3. General teaching suggestions - which are further sub-divided into the 3 groups corresponding to the 3 levels of learning difficulties.
The assessment charts provided at the end of each core area are in the form of bar graphs. When maintained, the chart will give a clear picture of a student's baseline skills and his or her rate of learning in that particular area.
The Curriculum advocates a holistic approach in teaching skills to children with special needs. For example, while teaching a child to eat independently, apart from the actual skill of learning to eat by himself /herself, the following skills can be incorporated into his /her feeding programme to make the approach a holistic one:
· Eating in a socially acceptable manner - A Social Skill · Indicating his /her needs and making choices - A Communication Skill · Identifying different utensils and food items - A Cognitive Skill · Sitting as comfortably as his /her physical disability permits so as to maximise participation in the activity - Physical Management.
The Curriculum Guidelines have been designed to provide basic knowledge and guidance to teachers, parents and community educators to help them choose goals that are both functional and realistic and for formulating effective Individual Educational Programmes (IEPs). They have been developed to be used with children of different ages - ranging from 2 years to 18 years; different levels of learning difficulties - ranging from mild to severe; and different levels of associated physical and communication problems. Being broad-based and open-ended, the user has the freedom to reorganise the curriculum guidelines by adding to them or adapting them to suit individual needs. The following chart gives an idea as to one of the ways that the Curriculum Guidelines can be used.
HOW TO USE THE IICP CURRICULUM GUIDELINES
| STEP 1: | USE IICP ASSESSMENT CHARTS, DEVELOPMENTAL CHECKLISTS, OBSERVATIONS AND INTERVIEWS TO BUILD UP THE STUDENT'S PROFILE (USE IICP CURRICULUM) |
| STEP 2: | USE THE PROFILE TO MAKE A LIST OF THE STUDENT'S STRENGTHS AND NEEDS |
| STEP 3: | IDENTIFY THE ULTIMATE GOALS FROM THE RELEVANT CORE AREAS TO HELP IN SELECTING THE OBJECTIVES TO MEET THE STUDENT'S NEEDS (USE IICP CURRICULUM - ULTIMATE GOALS) |
| STEP 4: | PRIORITISE 2 or 3 ULTIMATE GOALS THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE STUDENT TO ACHIEVE |
| STEP 5: | IDENTIFY OBJECTIVES UNDER THE PRIORITISED ULTIMATE GOALS TO HELP IN MEETING THE STUDENT'S NEEDS (USE IICP CURRICULUM - OBJECTIVES) |
| STEP 6: | TASK ANALYSE THESE OBJECTIVES |
| STEP 7: | PREPARE A TEACHING PROGRAMME (USE IICP CURRICULUM - SUGGESTIONS) |
| STEP 8: | TEACH AND EVALUATE. |
| STEP 9: | IF THE OBJECTIVE HAS BEEN ACHIEVED, FILL IN THE ASSESSMENT CHART (USE IICP CURRICULUM - ASSESSMENT CHARTS) |
| RETURN TO STEP 4 |
The guidelines have been disseminated to special schools not only in Calcutta but also in other parts of India and Bangladesh. The following maps give a general idea of the extent of this dissemination.
Impact of the Curriculum Guidelines:
In order to determine the impact of the Curriculum Guidelines, a questionnaire was sent in April 2000 to 20 organisations, of which 15 responded. In a nutshell, the impact was mainly in the following areas:
TEACHING: All the organisations reported that the curriculum helped teachers select appropriate teaching areas and goals while writing IEPs. Some organisations restructured their educational programmes using these guidelines, resulting in more focused, well balanced and innovative teaching methods.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: 10 of the organisations said that using the Curriculum Guidelines resulted in better classroom management. Teachers saved time and could plan their day more efficiently by consulting the guidelines while writing IEPs. The curriculum also helped in assessing students and determining their cognitive levels. Thus, placement of students in different units, according to their abilities and needs, was more accurate. The curriculum also helped in developing a uniform, structured teaching programme throughout the organisation so that in the event of teacher changes, the new teacher had no difficulty in taking over.
ASSESSING & RECORDING: The organisations found the Curriculum Guidelines helpful in assessing and evaluating students. Maintaining the assessment charts given in the curriculum resulted in systematic record keeping, making it easier to monitor each student's rate of progress.
TRANSPARENCY OF THE TEACHING PROGRAMME: All the organisations felt that using these guidelines helped in formulating effective lesson plans and reviews. The assessment charts, when maintained, gave a clear picture of the student's strengths, needs and rate of progress in each area. As a result, teachers found it easier to explain and convey this information to all the people involved with the student (for example, his parents, other family members, social worker, physiotherapist etc.). This ensured transparency of the teaching programmes.
USER FRIENDLINESS: It has been reported that the curriculum guidelines have been successfully used by people with different qualifications, ranging from untrained community workers to parents to professional special educators. The simple language and the format make the Curriculum Guidelines easy to understand and user friendly. The community workers use the curriculum for guidance while working at the grass root levels in the districts and rural areas where IICP has set up community based services. In the IICP outreach clinic, where parents are guided by teachers to teach their children in a school situation, the Curriculum Guidelines have facilitated the teaching-learning process.
The curriculum is a dynamic one, encouraging users to be more reflective and innovative, giving them the freedom to adapt and modify the guidelines to meet individual needs. In all the organisations where they were used the IICP Curriculum Guidelines have had a very positive impact.
REFERENCES:
Paranjpe, S. (1994). A Community-based Model of Integration for Primary Education in India: A Focus on SLD. European Journal of Special Needs Education. Vol. 9, No. 2. Pp. 155 - 167.
RCI (2000). Status of Disability in India 2000. Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi.
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