Presented at ISEC 2000

Joyful Inclusion and Portage to Every Village

Indumathi Rao - India CBR Network, South Asia

Purpose of the study

Abstract

Early identification and intervention with children with disabilities is intrinsically important not only to use optimal use of the residual potential but also to assist families in play a meaningful role in the three course of fundamental development. The families in rural /tribal areas and urban impoverished slums in South Asia have no access to early intervention services. They often go from one medical man to another for a miracle cure. They also go to faith healers seeking quick solutions. It is always late in the day when they realize they have been taken for a ride. This leads to unnecessary spending of families resources and families feel frustrated and disappointed in the process.

Portage is an international package it is precise and simple to use. Portage is successfully integrated into CBR projects. Anganawadi workers of Integrated child development scheme are trained to use Portage in Raichur district most back ward district of Karnatka state and Chandhigarh. Portage helps to prepare an integrate children into pre schools and primary school.

CBR NETWORK in collaboration with International Portage Association, has undertaken a research project to explore the possibilities of expansion of early intervention services to 3000 villages in south Asia before the end of 1999. The project has already trained fifty master/trainers resource person from a number of state and India and Nepal. Portage package was made suitable for south Assign rural situations. The package is available in Nepal, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Oriya Marati languages.

The paper will also present profile Karntaka CBR plan developed by government of Karnataka in collaboration with CBR Network in which Early intervention services is integrated into the plan. The paper analyses the effectiveness of the project in scaling up of E.I. services as a part fulfilment Disability Act 1995 impact of E.I. on the rural families and the communities and E.I. as an entry point for starting a holistic CBR in all the communities and Inclusion in every school.

To scale up early intervention / pre school education and primary education to differently abled children in CBR projects in south Asian countries.

Portage to every village

Portage is a well known package used in early intervention programs in many countries. Many NGO's have tried to expand portage services in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Portage has gained popularity because it is easy to understand and easy to use even by grassroots workers in CBR projects

Portage and Joyful Inclusion

Similarly UNESCO resource pack developed by UNESCO gives specific guidelines on developing inclusive classrooms. These approaches were combined and strengthened to develop joyful inclusive package

Needs

These packages were prepared to train anganwadi workers of ICDS (integrated education development scheme) and primary school teachers

Goals

These packages will help teachers to improve the quality of teaching and meet the educational needs of ALL children

Portage

• CBR NETWORK has developed Indian Portage pack in 7 languages. These materials are in local languages and based on local cultural practices.
• Joyful inclusion pack, which is based on curricular view to meet the special needs in general schools, consists of 6 types of materials.

They are:

• Curriculum based criterion referenced checklist (CCRD)
• Teacher cards
• Child cards
• Criterion referenced progress report that can be used in rural and urban impoverished areas by illiterate parents
• 10 questions screening forms
• Functional assessment forms

CBR Network Projects

Portage to every village and joyful inclusion are two pilot projects implemented by CBR NETWORK
(1998-2000)

Design of the projects

Project A: Portage to every village

• A training program was designed to train 3000 grassroots level workers involved CBR programmes in South Asia

Portage

Three level trainers were trained by network:

• Level - 1 master trainer (15 days workshop)
• Level - 2 middle level trainers (10 days workshop)
• Level - 3 grassroots workers (5 days workshop)

Joyful Inclusion

Training of general teachers to use joyful inclusion pack 1st level

• Five days workshop: To enable teachers to understand and use CCRD /teacher cards/child cards/criterion referenced evaluation report, small group learning , classroom management skills, and to establish individual child base lines.

Joyful Inclusion

• Focus: enrollment of all children in the village community in both ICDS and primary schools

Joyful Inclusion: Training

• After 2 months of first level training 2nd level
• Seven days workshop- to review the implementation of joyful inclusion- identify hurdles -develop solutions using local experiences
• To measure the progress against the baselines

Joyful Inclusion: Training

> To learn to use plus curriculum pack - sign language/lip reading skills/speech therapy/ Braille/ orientation mobility/ABC analysis/TALC pack/ counseling /use of materials for low vision children / CRD/teacher cards /child cards/ evaluation reports to establish baselines/ plan/ implement and evaluate/use and maintenance of mobility/hearing aids

• After six months 3rd level - Three days workshop

Joyful Inclusion: Review & Follow Up

• Review of use of above packs
• Identifying problems
• Finding solutions based on local practices

Joyful Inclusion: Review & Follow Up

• Follow up workshop
  3 days +
  2 days

• Level 3: 5 days workshop

Portage to Every Village

@ How many are trained so far

India

• 35 master trainers
• 350 middle level trainers
• 4000 grassroots workers

Duration of the total project - six months

Portage to Every Village

Evaluation

> External evaluation Tools :

• individual behavior log
• Family attitude questionnaire
• Community participation measurement

Joyful inclusions pack

• Number of teachers trained-30
• Number of schools-29

Joyful Inclusion

• Child friendly ungraded materials
• Project is not yet evaluated Population covered -3 village pancahyaths (local grassroots governments)

Lessons learnt:

• Both Portage and Joyful Inclusion packs are simple and easy to understand
• Both packs are based on ability levels and avoid labeling of children

Joyful Inclusion and Portage to Every Village

• Socio- cultural economic diversity in south Asia needs material with appropriate local relevance
• Commitment of staff in government school system and ICDS system:
• At present in the project areas is good …….But needs additional inputs to sustain

Joyful Inclusion and Portage to Every Village

• Educational policies, ICDS policies, health polices still do not include concerns of children with special needs as their responsibility
• Future trends in South Asia
• Massive mainstreaming of children into existing educational system
• Quality of services is the main area of concern

Index