Resources search

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to understand the academic outcomes of children using cochlear implants in mainstream schools in Kerala, India and to explore the compensatory strategies used by them to overcome the difficultiesfaced in classrooms.

Method: Thirty-one children using cochlear implants who were attending first and second grades in mainstream schools, and their parents and teachers participated in the study. Teachers were asked to rate a questionnaire, “Teachers’ Perceptions of Academic Outcomes”, which consisted of five sections – oral comprehension, oral expression, reading, writing and mathematics. The performance of the children using cochlear implants was compared with the performance of typically hearing children in the class. The grades obtained in the previous examination were also used for the comparison. Information was collected regarding difficulties faced by the children inside the classroom and their strategies to overcome the challenges.

Results: The class teachers rated the performance of 71 % of these children as ‘above average’. Though the academic outcomes were found to be good on the questionnaire and classroom tests, most of the children with cochlear implantsfaced various difficulties and had used different compensatory strategies to give their optimum performance in the classroom.

Conclusion: The study emphasizes the importance of having mid- and long-term follow-ups with children using cochlear implants, even after mainstreaming. It is necessary to orient and train teachers about the needs of these children and to implement support strategies in mainstream schools.

The 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The Report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.

The Report also explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success. These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.

The Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) is a structured observation instrument. It has been developed to support high-quality early childhood inclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The aim of this study is to examine the cultural validity of the instrument in Swedish preschools and to investigate its perceived usefulness in a Swedish preschool context. Ten special educators, who conducted professional dialogues with preschool teachers and other preschool staff members in a Swedish municipality, were enrolled. The instrument was compared with the Swedish national curriculum for the preschool, and the perceptions of special educators were collected by way of dialogue seminar method. Thematic analyses were conducted. The results of the study show that the instrument, with few exceptions, is valid in Sweden, and that the instrument can be useful for special educators conducting professional dialogues about early childhood inclusion with preschool teachers and other preschool staff members. The study has relevance for those who work with early childhood inclusion in Sweden as well as elsewhere, and for those who plan to validate the instrument and investigate its perceived usefulness in a context pertinent to them. High-quality inclusion is on the agenda in many nations, and a Sustainable Development Goal.

Purpose: Since families are perceived to be active agents in the early intervention programmes of young children with disabilities, professionals ought to treat parents as equal partners and keep them informed and involved in various aspects of the intervention.  This study aimed to explore the areas in which parent empowerment is currently being facilitated in the early intervention centres for children with hearing loss.

Method: A qualitative research with conversational analysis was the approach used. Focus group discussions with the two primary stakeholders, namely parents and special educators, were held separately at five sites in Mumbai, to gather their views on the existing areas of empowerment. It was also decided to explore the felt needs of parents in this regard. Person triangulation was used to ascertain the credibility of the data.

Results: Conversational analysis yielded 4 themes with respect to parents: Parental knowledge, involvement, support and needs. 

Conclusion and Implications: The study highlighted the gaps in parent empowerment in the programmes undertaken by early intervention centres.  A recommendation is made to develop a common framework for empowering parents. It is envisaged that such a framework will bridge the gap between what currently exists for parents, their felt needs, and current global practices.  This framework could also assist in measuring family empowerment outcomes.

Background: Epidemiological information on childhood disability provides the basis for a country to plan, implement and manage the provision of health, educational and social services for these vulnerable children. There is, however, currently no population-based surveillance instrument that is compatible with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), internationally comparable, methodologically sound and comprehensively researched, to identify children under 5 years of age who are living with disability in South Africa and internationally. We conducted a descriptive pilot study to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of translated versions of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Third Edition (ASQ-III) and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics/UNICEF module on child functioning (WG/UNICEF module) as parent-reported measures. The aim of our study was to identify early childhood disabilities in children aged 24–48 months in a rural area of South Africa, to determine the appropriateness of these instruments for population-based surveillance in similar contexts internationally.

Methods: This study was conducted in the Xhariep District of the Free State Province in central South Africa, with 50 carers whose children were registered on the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) database as recipients of a grant for one of the following: Care Dependency, Child Support or Foster Care. The researchers, assisted by community healthcare workers and SASSA staff members, conducted structured interviews using forward–backward translated versions of the ASQ-III and the WG/UNICEF module.

Results: Both measurement instruments had a clinically meaningful sensitivity of 60.0%, high specificity of 95.6% for the ASQ-III and 84.4% for the WG/UNICEF module, and the two instruments agreed moderately (Kappa = 0.6).

Conclusion: Since the WG/UNICEF module is quicker to administer, easier to understand and based on the ICF, it can be considered as an appropriate parent-reported measure for large-scale, population-based as well as smaller, community-specific contexts. It is, however, recommended that future research and development continues with the WG/UNICEF module to enhance its conceptual equivalence for larger-scale, population-based studies in South Africa and internationally.

Background: This paper elucidates a methodological approach to interview text that tries to acknowledge the psychosocial nature of disability and thereby ensuring that empirical work in disability studies complements theoretical arguments already developed.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to outline a psychosocial conceptualisation of maternal subjectivity in relation to childhood disability and to apply this conceptualisation as an analytic tool to segments of an interview with a mother of a child with physical and developmental disabilities.

Method: Drawing on psychoanalysis and attachment literature alongside critical social psychology we take readers through the analysis of an interview extract with a particular mother. Through a fine grained analysis, we demonstrate the value of attending to the affective processes in and around the text rooted in the particular intersubjective exchange (‘here and how’) of the interview and the particular socio-historical context (‘there and then’) in which the mother, child and researcher are located.

Findings: The reading draws attention to discourses that position this particular mother and her children in particular ways while also pointing to investments in these discourses such that these discourses are not purely social but play affective functions.

Conclusion: This paper demonstrates the value of using multiple lenses to read the text, seeking to understand what is going on from within each lens (discursive/social, interpersonal, intrapsychic), while also seeking to disrupt this understanding as we take up the position of a different lens. This approach enables us to hold onto the complexity and locatedness of maternal subjectivity for mothers of children with disabilities.

Early detection and intervention for any degree of hearing loss is critical to the linguistic, social and educational development of children with auditory deficit. Since parents and family members are in a position to identify hearing loss at an early stage, they can play a vital role in achieving the goals of early identification and intervention for their children.

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the age at which parents and significant others begin to suspect hearing impairmentin their children, and to advocate for using them as resource persons in the early detection of hearing loss.

Method: Parents of children with hearing impairment were retrospectively surveyed and interviewed to determine the age at which suspicion, diagnosis, fitting of amplification and initiation of interventions occurred.

Results: Interviews revealed the average age to be 16.5, 24.3, 31.7 and 33.4 months, for suspicion, diagnosis, fitting of amplification and initiation of early intervention for hearing loss respectively. The obtained age of suspicion is lower than the age of identification of hearing loss reported in Indian literature. The current study found delays in diagnosis and fitting of amplification, both of which are essential to initiate early remedial programmes which facilitate development of speech and language skills in children with hearing impairment. Surprisingly, it was found that these delays were caused by professional failures.

Conclusion: It is emphasised that parents are in the best position to detect hearing problems in their children, and can be effectively utilised as manpower/ equal partners in achieving the goal of early identification of hearing loss. The study outlines appropriate ways and means to facilitate early identification and provide effective intervention for children with hearing impairment.

Purpose: This study explores the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of LHWs towards children with disabilities in Pakistan. It considers the feasibility of utilising the LHWs for prevention, early identification and management of disabilities for these children in the community.

Methods: Two Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 15 Lady Health Workers (LHWs), and two In Depth Interviews (IDIs) with LHWs of both a semi-urban and a rural community of Pakistan.

Results: LHWs were found to have major concerns and strong emotions regarding children with disabilities. They also revealed the insensitive attitude of community members towards these children. While they understood the major types and magnitude of disabilities better than lay persons, they lacked the knowledge to manage these disabilities. Consanguineous marriages were identified as the main cause of disabilities. LHWs reported that education and health facilities were lacking in semi-urban and rural areas, and demanded that the government provide these facilities for the children. They also expressed their willingness to work for these children, provided they had the approval of higher authorities and were given proper training.

Conclusions: This qualitative exploratory study recommends that the existing primary health system be reviewed, and the possibility of introducing community based rehabilitation services, utilising LHWs’ services for children with disabilities, be examined. In this regard, it is imperative to assess the existing training modules of LHWs and to introduce modules on prevention, early identification, and management of children with disabilities. It is also necessary to employ mass media to spread awareness about persons with disabilities.