The Department of Special Education of the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), Mysore, has recommended to the State government that a component of special education be included in the syllabus for B.Ed. courses in Mysore University.
This will ensure that teachers would also be equipped with skills to teach special-needs students, said institute head Prema Rao on Saturday.
Speaking at a workshop, Developmental Disabilities, organised by Spastics Society of Karnataka, Ms. Rao, a clinical psychologist, said: “There is an urgent need to revamp teachers’ training programmes with variations in content, process and duration.”
Inclusive education
Pointing out that there weren’t enough skilled teachers in the country for special-needs students, Ms. Rao said: “Only if the government takes up this issue seriously, we can be ahead in inclusive education.”
Highlighting the role that doctors can play in this field, C.N. Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, said: “An ordinary doctor is one who treats the disease. A good doctor treats the patient.”
Yesheswini Kamaraju, a psychiatrist with the Spastics Society of Karnataka, said people have a misconception that all disabilities were similar. “The distinctive difference between disabilities needs to be understood. Since the difference is subtle, people may not know there is a difference.”
Talking about complementary and alternative mode of treatment, Dr. Kamaraju said: “All these treatments are experimental mode and not evidence-based.”
Treatment
Underscoring the need for treatment to be individualised, she offered some tips that would help calm down kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorders (ADHD). “Monitoring sleep routine, reducing television viewing time, engaging the person in physical activity is advisable.”
To channelise the energy of such children, she said: “It is best if the child is not involved in team sports as they find it hard to follow rules. Individual sports like cycling would be ideal.”
Dr. Kamaraju also told the doctors, therapists, parents, social workers, and teachers from special schools that treatments need to be modified to suit the Indian context. Acknowledging that the job may be too taxing on teachers, she said: “It is important for teachers to take breaks so that they can continue working with passion.”
Rukmini Krishnaswamy, Director of Spastics Society of Karnataka, said: “Inclusion needs to start at the family. They need to be catalysts of change.”
