Inclusion is critical in raising children with special needs
Parenting may sound simple, but it is a tough job and a never-ending responsibility. My journey as a parent of a child with special needs started in 1999, with several difficulties, but it has been a fruitful one. Today, as an educationist as well as a parent, my focus is to open better horizons in education for children with special needs, so that they lead a life of “inclusion”.
All special needs parents want their children to grow in a healthy environment with the rest. Unfortunately, this is still a challenge. When we talk of autism or Down's Syndrome or any learning difficulties, many people have little knowledge about it. I have encountered many such people who treat any learning difficulty as mental retardation and label such children as incapable.
I will not deny that my own child had many behavioural issues when he was six years old, due to which he was not accepted socially and people would stare or laugh at him. It was impossible to take him out in public. Like all parents, it was my dream to enrol him in a regular school. But, like others, I was unaware of the reality of the situation.
Here is what special needs parents and others need to understand - while undoubtedly inclusion is an important goal, but we have to ensure the child has acceptable behaviour, social skills and communication habits. It took me a few years to understand this. I lost crucial growing years of my child listening to one therapist or the other, instead of teaching him more skills than he has today.
Sending a child with difficulties to a "regular" school does not solve the issue of inclusion. In fact, the child gets lost in the crowd, which does very little to boost his/her confidence and development. Eventually, I decided to get him a structured intervention outside and sent him to school only for two hours to adapt to his social environment.
The lack of correct guidance and infrastructure is a major obstacle. Professionals have their own theories for engaging with children with difficulties. Consequently, parents tend to go in circles following one advice and then another. A programme that can be completed in six months takes two years to accomplish. My child is still learning to write while he should have accomplished it at the age of six. Not that he did not go for occupational therapy or special education; he did for many years. Luckily, his communication skills are good, thanks to the speech therapist who did a wonderful job and the language therapist who worked hard on his communication ability.
I must admit that we took him out of the country every summer for language therapy. There are centres offering special education, speech therapy or any other therapy, in every nook and corner of the country. These centres are still not the solution to the problem of inclusion. The issue can be managed when we all come together to ensure systems first focus on how the child can learn, before getting into the larger issue of inclusion.
Parents need to understand this even more. Mothers play the most important role for which they must learn and accept the situation first. Being bitter and lost does not solve anything. Focus on your own child believing him/her to be like the rest with just a need to learn differently. This requires appropriate infrastructure, which offers an educational plan along with inclusion.
We also need to work on spreading awareness about the issue of inclusion for special children. Learning difficulty does not imply that the child is incapable. Structured intervention and a comprehensive education plan can be quite effective. We must explore other creative avenues so that special children are included in our education system.
Dos and don’ts - general guidelines for parents preparing for inclusion.
1) You are the best therapist for your child.
2) Diagnosis and assessments are important, but more important is the correct programme for early intervention. Do not use medication unless needed.
3) First six years are most crucial. Focus on development milestone. Do not waste time.
4) Work on a timeline.
5) Structure, routine, space and environment matters. Do not follow things blindly, understand first.
6) Follow discipline at home. Do not compromise on your child’s behaviour.
7) Good sleep and bed-time routine are as important as any other therapy.
8) Children have significant difficulty processing oral language, they are visual processors (indulge in activity-based and practical learning)
9) Creative group sessions work, not academic.
10) Provide early intervention at one place. Do not go to different places.
11) Learning happens when a child has good listening and sitting ability. Focus on that, not on what others are doing.
12) Provide inclusion through creative activities. Do not worry to get through mainstream schools.