Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
INCLUSION Coordinators’ Notebook, Issue 22<br />
These can be created locally. For a good example of<br />
the range of things that can be d<strong>on</strong>e, see “Nothing<br />
About us Without Us: Developing Innovative<br />
Technologies for, by <strong>and</strong> with Disabled Pers<strong>on</strong>s”<br />
(Werner 1998), reviewed <strong>on</strong> page 24.<br />
For children with other Established Risks, including<br />
mental retardati<strong>on</strong>, more needs to be d<strong>on</strong>e to examine<br />
programme structures <strong>and</strong> opportunities, <strong>and</strong><br />
to include children with these special needs as much<br />
as is possible within peer <strong>and</strong> community settings.<br />
The task is not easy, but it is possible to move forward<br />
if there is closer collaborati<strong>on</strong> between the early<br />
childhood community <strong>and</strong> those whose work<br />
focuses <strong>on</strong> children with special needs.<br />
N<strong>on</strong>etheless, there are a few points that need to<br />
be kept in mind. First, it is important to recognise<br />
that <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> itself is still a young field in terms of coverage<br />
<strong>and</strong> the distributi<strong>on</strong> of services. (<str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> programmes<br />
reach <strong>on</strong>ly about 30% of children 3–5<br />
years of age internati<strong>on</strong>ally, with nearly 100% coverage<br />
in some countries <strong>and</strong> closer to 5% in others.)<br />
Thus the task is not simply to upgrade the quality of<br />
existing programmes, but also to create more services<br />
for young children <strong>and</strong> their families.<br />
Sec<strong>on</strong>d, recognising the value of early interventi<strong>on</strong><br />
would suggest that services need to be developed for<br />
children with special needs at the youngest possible<br />
age. Currently, the percentage of children 0–3 years<br />
of age being provided with some form of <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> service<br />
is much less than the percentage for pre-school<br />
age children. Thus, there is a critical need to develop<br />
appropriate services for the youngest age group.<br />
Third, it is important to recognise the tremendous<br />
variati<strong>on</strong> by country in terms of who (what sector) is<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sible for providing services to children with<br />
special needs. While the educati<strong>on</strong> sector is critical in<br />
all settings, the Ministry of Educati<strong>on</strong> seldom provides<br />
services before age three, <strong>and</strong> the extent to which<br />
there are linkages between educati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> the other<br />
sectors (primarily health <strong>and</strong> social services) differs<br />
widely across countries.<br />
Fourth, there are some children with severe h<strong>and</strong>icaps<br />
for whom it would be extremely difficult to create<br />
a truly inclusive educati<strong>on</strong>al envir<strong>on</strong>ment; it<br />
would neither benefit the child nor others in the setting.<br />
However, this does not mean the child should<br />
be segregated <strong>and</strong> isolated from all life in the community.<br />
There should be a range of settings where<br />
the child can feel included <strong>and</strong> have opportunities<br />
for social interacti<strong>on</strong>—within the religious setting, at<br />
community gatherings, at sports events, etc.<br />
Fifth, while an inclusive <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme <strong>and</strong> a<br />
quality <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme have many of the same<br />
characteristics, that does not mean that any good<br />
early childhood provider can necessarily operate an<br />
inclusive <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme. It takes special training<br />
(<strong>and</strong> support) for a child care provider to meet the<br />
range of needs that some children exhibit.<br />
Sixth, the reality of some settings makes it extremely<br />
difficult to actually create an inclusive envir<strong>on</strong>ment.<br />
When there are more than 30 children in a classroom<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>on</strong>e or more of them have special needs, the<br />
teacher/caregiver is going to have difficulty. If older<br />
children or other adults can be a part of the care provisi<strong>on</strong>,<br />
this helps. In Ug<strong>and</strong>a, where primary educati<strong>on</strong><br />
was made compulsory <strong>and</strong> free to up to four children<br />
in the family, this has meant that class size<br />
jumped from forty to between three <strong>and</strong> four hundred<br />
students. That same policy gave priority to children<br />
with special needs. One can <strong>on</strong>ly imagine what children<br />
learn in such a setting! This is a l<strong>on</strong>g way from<br />
creating a policy for inclusi<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> creating an envir<strong>on</strong>ment<br />
that supports any child’s learning, let al<strong>on</strong>e<br />
meeting the needs of ALL children!<br />
We end the article the way we began it, with<br />
vignettes of young children. Holdsworth (1997) tells<br />
us the story of S<strong>on</strong>th<strong>on</strong>g, Pousey, <strong>and</strong> Vilayvanh, all<br />
of whom were involved in an inclusive <str<strong>on</strong>g>ECCD</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme<br />
in Lao PDR which featured active learning.<br />
S<strong>on</strong>th<strong>on</strong>g has Down’s syndrome <strong>and</strong> <strong>on</strong> admissi<strong>on</strong> to the kindergarten in October<br />
1995, aged 5, he spent much of the day <strong>on</strong> the floor. He took no part in any activities<br />
<strong>and</strong> seemed to have little awareness of what was going <strong>on</strong>. He could not feed himself or go<br />
to the toilet by himself al<strong>on</strong>e. By June he was fully integrated in the class <strong>and</strong> took part<br />
with his classmates in the dem<strong>on</strong>strati<strong>on</strong> of morning exercises for parents <strong>on</strong> ‘Children’s<br />
day.’ This entailed a l<strong>on</strong>g series of quite complicated movements <strong>and</strong> the singing of the<br />
nati<strong>on</strong>al anthem, in which he joined with enthusiasm. Of all the people there, perhaps<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly his mother <strong>and</strong> his teachers were really aware of what they had accomplished.<br />
21