Proactive CBSE

hello readers,
the following article was publised in The Times of India (Mumbai) on 4th Feb 2010.

Take special kids or face action: CBSE Anahita Mukherji, TNN, 4 February 2010, 02:52am IST

MUMBAI: The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has taken a huge step towards offering equal opportunity to all children seeking an
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education, including those with ``special needs''. The board has reminded its schools that admission cannot be denied on the grounds that students were differently abled. A recent Board circular says, ``It is being reiterated that any school which fails to provide attention to a child with special needs or makes a pretext of denying admission to any category of differently abled children will be liable to stringent action even to the extent of disaffiliation. '' The statement in the circular is attributed to Vineet Joshi, chairperson of the CBSE. The circular makes it mandatory for schools to have a special educator and to create an ``individual evaluation programme'' for special children based on their abilities and skill sets.
Special children include a range of kids, including those who are physically challenged, visually impaired, hearing impaired, spastics, and those who have Down Syndrome, Learning Disability (LD) and autism. LD can include dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and other conditions. Since special children may not be able to focus on the teacher during classroom interactions, and their pace of learning may be at variance with the rest of the class, schools have been told to allow a parent or aide to sit with the child in class and motivate him to ``move along with the rest of the class''. A senior CBSE official said the new policy would be easier to implement now that the board is set to make the Class X board exam optional and replace it with a system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation. ``Earlier, schools were obsessed with the marks their children scored in Class X and would even include these marks in the advertisements for their school. This also led to schools excluding children with special needs as they felt these kids would spoil their record at the board exams. The fact that board exams are losing their significance will help our new policy work,'' said the official. The CBSE board also wants to start grading schools, a system that would help the board pull up schools that do not offer inclusive education. ``Thank God for this decision,'' said Sheetal Kumar, the lawyer whose battle against an apathetic system led to the Bombay High Court's landmark ruling on LD three years ago. ``I feel this is a very proactive step on the part of the CBSE board, which is one of the most child-friendly boards in the country,'' said Avnita Bir, principal of R N Podar School, Santa Cruz. Cherian George, principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Powai, also gave the policy a thumbs-up. ``This is a very positive step and will definitely give special kids a leg up. I think the new move will do a lot to spread awareness about kids with special needs,'' said Usha Bhatia, principal of the Shapurji Billimoria Trusts's teacher training course, the first in Maharashtra to train teachers in integrated education.
There are, however, sceptics who wonder how the policy will take off. ``Are teachers equipped to deal with special kids? Do we have the infrastucture and training to implement such a policy?'' asked the mother of a boy with Down Syndrome. Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, a pioneer in the LD movement in the country, said India has way too many excuses for not implementing inclusive education. He said inclusive education does not need massive funds, just a change in mindset. ``We can't wait for schools across the country to be ready for integration before we pass a policy,'' said Shetty, adding that the CBSE's latest missive was a landmark for inclusive education.

i take this stance to congratulate the parents on the success of their long fought battle. This is the first step towards inclusive education. I thoroughly advocate mainstreaming children with special needs (in the educable category). The specially abled also need opportunities which can help them adjust to the society. In my experiense i have seen some children actually flourish when given opportunities and the school staff dint have to make any special provisions for them. they followed up therapies regularly outside and hollistic development was simply wonderful.
However as a caution i recommend parents to follow-up with the school regularly regarding the progress of the child. There have been instances where schools have hidden facts from parents and later have used the child's underperformance as a tool to expel him from school. And please co-operate with the school teachers on all issues.

This is indeed a pro-active step by the CBSE and i hope it will be taken by schools in a positive spirit.

Occupational therapy blues.

Dear readers,

First of all i apologize for not writing for long. Actually have been busy with work. In fact it was one of the reasons i got back to writing.
As most of us know, Occupational therapy (sensory integration) is one of the most important parts of rehabilitation for a child in the Autistic Spectrum. However most therapists i know have been taking undue advantage of unsuspecting parents. I put forth a few pointers which can help already harries parents confront erring therapists and coax them to do thier Job!!... this in the benefit of the child.

1. Sessions ahould be conducted individually, atleast till the child settles, on a one - to -one basis.
2. home programme should be provided to the parents at regular intervals and the goal behind each activity should be explained so that parents can work effectively.
3. there should be regular discussions (atleast once a month) with other professionals working with the child so that the holistic progress can be attained.
4. therapy schedules and timings should not be frequently changed as this hampers the routine of the child. I know of cases where the parents have to call everytime before the sessions to confirm timings and there is no progress in the children.

Hope these points are useful. Good luck and Take care!