Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...

INCLUSION Coordinators’ Notebook, Issue 22
– when mothers are able to provide caregiving in harmony
with the baby’s rhythms; and
– when mothers regulate the baby’s environment so that
she/he can understand the consequences of her/his own
actions.
The study results have been replicated in other
cultures, and later studies indicate that a variety of
caregivers can provide these dimensions in their relationship
with the child (i.e., it is not only the mother
with whom the child can form an attachment).
Many of the concepts identified by Ainsworth
have been given academic-sounding labels, which
distances the activities from the lives of people in
communities. It is important to ground interventions
for children and parents in daily life. The basic message
that needs to be conveyed is that it is important
for parents to see the child as a whole person and to
see the child’s potential.
In Scandinavian countries there is a move to encourage
mothers to take more time to be at home
with the child, and for more attention to be paid to
the mother’s early interaction with the child. A programme
in Denmark was developed through the application
of the principles defined by Ainsworth and
others in the field who have contributed to an understanding
of what children require across all cultural
settings. In the Danish programme, the caring principles
noted above are used in helping parents establish
a relationship with severely premature infants
with multiple disabilities. Before the inception of the
programme, parents began interaction with their infants
when the child was 6–8 months old, at the
point when the child was released from medical care.
Parents said this was too long to wait. In the new
programme parents can come in from day one and
are involved in the care of their child in the hospital.
This has proven to be very beneficial for parents and
children. (Dyssegaard 1997)
■ Recognise that there is no one single delivery
system option.
There is no one ideal service. The services provided
for children are the result of choices that are
made through parent/professional partnerships,
based on local resources. <strong>Inclusive</strong> early childhood
activities can be offered in a variety of settings and
include a range of activities. They can include, for
example:
– advocacy/consciousness- raising to make the community
aware of the value and rights of all children;
– outreach to those with resources (human and financial);
– parent education and empowerment;
– home-based services;
– development of parent-to-parent programmes;
– development of preschool programmes/play groups;
– development of home-to-care and/or to-school transition
plans;
– use and promotion of schools as centres of lifelong learning,
health, and well-being;
– training for health care, social services, and education
workers on issues in early childhood, health, development,
and inclusion;
– training on specific topics for specific audiences (assessment,
intervention, curriculum, advocacy, empowerment,
evaluation);
– community mapping (identification of formal and informal
structures, resources, and services).
■ Staff the programme appropriately.
Well-trained staff who support one another and
have complementary skills are critical to the implementation
of a successful inclusive programme. In
beginning a new programme it is particularly important
to be able to recruit appropriate staff; they
should be selected from among those who are committed
to the concept of inclusion and interested in
being involved in the effort. A particularly effective
cadre of staff can be drawn from parents who themselves
have a child with special needs. New parents
can quickly identify with these seasoned parents and
together they can share experiences and develop
strategies to meet the child’s needs.
■ Provide appropriate training.
Training is an essential element in the implementation
of quality inclusive early childhood programmes.
Historically training systems have been
put into place in many countries to create specialists
to work with children with special needs. As has
been noted, in some countries these systems are
more developed than in others. However, the development
of inclusionary programmes requires a different
type of professional training. It is important to
create a training programme that reinforces the competencies/skills
of various caregivers and existing
professionals rather than to create a new specialised
set of professionals.
Different training is required for different populations.
Within the medical profession, for example,
practitioners need more information on normal child
growth and development, and training in how to
work in partnership with parents. For professionals
who provide services, there is a need for a balance
between general knowledge about child development
and knowledge related to special needs. Parents
should have this information as well, and they
require training in terms of how to work in partnership
with professionals. Professionals require training
in how to work with people from other disciplines.
All those working with families could benefit from
training in communication, negotiation, collaboration
and partnership, advocacy, values and attitudes,
and respect for local community and families.
Furthermore, it cannot be assumed that caretakers/teachers
are equipped to open their homes or
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