Papers Presented at the 2nd National NADEOSA Conference
Held 21-22 August 2000

Author:
Ekin Kench and Chris Molteno

Title:
A distance learning course in developmental disabilities

There is an overwhelming need for upgrading of the knowledge and skills relating to disability of those people rendering primary health care to children with disabilities. Day care facilities for people with profound disabilities are inadequate and require expansion. This requires training for community health nurses front-line community rehabilitation workers and those employed in day care facilities. There is also a need for training for people who wish to set up and run day care facilities.

Currently education is being rationalized with drastic cutbacks in funding to bring about equity between the provinces and in education as a whole. Schools which cater for children with disabilities are mainly situated in the metropolitan areas. Despite the commitment of the present government to inclusive education, most children with disabilities and learning problems are not in special schools, many do not attend school at all or receive little attention in regular schools. As it is not envisaged to create many more special schools teachers in the mainstream schools will need to gain knowledge and skills in order to meet the needs of the children in their classes with disabilities and special learning needs.

Children with developmental disabilities are found in the many diverse sections of society, not only in the group diagnosed as disabled.
There are children with disabilities in mainstream schools, in special schools, in special day care centres, in residential facilities, in pre-schools and at home. Additionally, there are the following children who are or will be in need of special educational provision and care: children who have entered the criminal justice system, children involved in labour, refugee children, street children, girl children, abused and neglected children, children who are sexually exploited commercially and children who experience violence in their lives.

The impact of this distance learning course was measured by an impact evaluation instrument, which CDRA (Community Development Resource Agency) helped us to develop. Visits were made to the following groups of students at Elim, Bredasdorp, Worcester, Beaufort West, and Cape Town. The evaluation questionnaire was posted to George. These visits took place between May and October 1999.

Valuable input was received on strategic planning, course material and presentation.

The impact evaluation seminars of the students of 1998 were all completed and the data has been recorded and analyzed by an independent processor. It is envisaged to do further impact evaluation seminars this year to follow up on the students of 1999. The instrument has been developed to give the students the greatest opportunity to feedback on the value and implementation the course. It is also simple and easy to administer and is completed in a one-day seminar.

Since 1998 three-day seminars have been held at the following centres where groups of students have come together and the topics most relevant to their work were presented by the "Learning for Life" team.
Elim, Bredasdorp, Cape Town, Worcester, Beaufort West, George, Oudtshoorn, Grahamstown and East London. Seminars are presently being planned for Port Elizabeth, East London, Kingwilliamstown and Cape Town.
New students for the 2000/2001 course have been registered. The students have received their manuals and their assignment instructions for the year.

METHODS

Three instruction manuals are provided, training seminars (major student support is given here) and impact evaluation workshops are held to assess the value of the course. The students complete assignments and contact between the students in neighbouring areas is encouraged.

The rural Eastern Cape demands a different style of training from that which we have adopted so far. We are training two Xhosa facilitators to present seminars, as it is appropriate that Xhosa speakers do this work and suitable materials are being devised according to the needs of the participants. A start was made in this direction with the seminars in the Eastern Cape that took place at the beginning of this year.

Two videotapes are planned with which to present and enlarge on the module covering psychological and medical aspects of intellectual disability. Prof. Molteno is going to supervise the production of these videos in Xhosa and English and they will then be used as training tools, in the rural areas particularly

PARTNERSHIPS

A partnership with ELRU (Early Learning Resource Unit) has been made and collaborative work has been done on the impact evaluation of the Distance Learning Course. ELRU facilitators accompanied Prof. Molteno and Ekin Kench and valuable sharing of skills and knowledge took place. ELRU facilitators (Xhosa and English speaking) accompanied the " Learning for Life" presenters to the Eastern Cape at the beginning of this year.

The Masifunde project – a community based training venture under the auspices of the Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability was launched in March 2000. 10 Weekly session were held at Harare Khayelitsha.

Chris Molteno and Ekin Kench also presented sessions on evaluation and planning a daily programme, conditions and syndromes associated with intellectual disability, basic assessment procedures in the community and staff and pupil issues.

Around 40 delegates from the least structured and most needy of the CapeTown centres for children with intellectual and physical disability were present and the collaboration with the Health Department was seen as an important move in the direction of partnerships in the field of disability.

Basic knowledge and skills in disability for people working in primary health or educational settings. Identification of the children with disabilities, assessment of their needs and planning for their development, extension of organisational capacity, improved interaction with parents, staff and community groups – these are all seen as the outcomes of this training course. Quality of the materials should be first class, in no way be a watered down version of the important issues and educational and medical aspects of this field. We aim to present a transformed curriculum, which is appropriate to the people with whom we work and to whom we are responsible, when we enter into a training agreement with them.

9. SUBSEQUENT ADJUSTMENTS TO THE COURSE

There are several factors that are affecting the structure, and functioning of our course. We see them as the challenges facing the course as it develops. We were prepared to meet the needs of people working in this field and flexible modules have been an integral part of the work.

The Eastern Cape area is very widespread and the numbers of children and young adults with disabilities are high. Many people are working in informal groups and desperately need training and guidance. We are therefore working on seminar structures and training materials which would be appropriate and meaningful for this group of workers.

The "train the trainers " project on which we have embarked this year is in response to the situation in the Eastern Cape as outlined above. The training of two Xhosa speaking facilitators has started and will continue until they leave for their first seminar in Kingwilliamstown in October.

Our response to many teachers in the mainstream who have been asking for assistance with an applied and transformed curriculum for children with disabilities in the mainstream has been positive. We started using some materials in 1999 and this year we will do further research in this vital area. The policy of the education department, which is to include such children in the mainstream, has not been implemented very well so far. Many people are looking elsewhere for guidance and support. We see this as another important facet of our work. The " Learning for Life "project has become a member of the "Forum for Inclusive Education" and in particular the task group dealing with early intervention. It is here that we think we can make a contribution to the successful inclusion of the very young child in the education system.

Many people are asking for more specific material to be used in a functional academic program in the mainstream. We made a start with this last year and will produce the first stage of such a manual this year.

Students who have taken our course have expressed the wish to do future more advanced courses and to be part of study groups. We are planning to respond to this.

The " Learning for Life project had been in a loose partnership with Cape Mental health Society and was never a constituted body. It had become imperative to clarify the status of the project. This has been prompted by the legislation around the structures of non profit organisations and by the requirement of funders. The best option was seen as absorption into the CMHS. From the point of view of financial sustainability and fundraising this was advisable.

The capacity of the project has been greatly enhanced by this move by the accessibility of office equipment such as a photocopier, supportive financial services, transport, and safe and suitable premises. The project coordinator is also to available to extend and enrich training in the agency and other related projects such as Masifunde.

The course fee has been increased to R250 this year and most of the students have made payment although we have a subsidised fee of R125 applicable to people who are struggling financially. The merging of the project with CMHS has had far-reaching implications for "Learning for Life" as the distance learning course in now known. The fundraising department of the society will now take on the work of raising funds for the project. The aim is to acquire several more funders and not to be dependent on the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund as sole supporter. Our connections with the Health Department through Masifunde will, we hope lead to some form of partnership in the future. There are also plans to formalize partnerships with other non-governmental bodies over the next few years.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

The "Learning for Life" Course is going to be involved in an extended community training venture coordinated by the Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability. The impact evaluation, which was held after the Masifunde course, has led to a changed strategy for this training. The feeling is that the centres that need the training will form smaller regional groups in the larger Khayelitsha area and that the training will be organised regularly for smaller groups of people. There is also the possibility that the established special care centres of the Cape Mental Health Society will be able to act as training centres for less experienced workers. This partnership was envisaged as a mutually enriching project with far reaching effects for the community.

We have gathered from the people with whom we worked that the communities they serve have been implemented the distance learning course in many ways. Many people have been able to implement the assessment and training schedules for the children they are handing. There have also been effects on the establishment of committees and the staff development programmes of the various centres. Communities have been made much more aware of the children with disabilities in their communities and their place as rightful members of society

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The World Federation for Mental Health has expressed an interest our work and feels that our material should be made more widely known and used. A relationship with this in mind is being established with them at present.

We have until now been able to manage a student body of approximately 150 students per year. We have no full time staff members. Ekin Kench is employed by the Cape Mental Health Society as project coordinator of three-day care centres for children with disabilities and does the "Learning for Life" work on three mornings per week and there is a part time project administrator. Prof Molteno is a consultant to the course and has made his contribution as part of his own duties as Professor of Mental Handicap in the department of psychiatry at UCT.

We are poised on the brink of expansion and this will be part of the strategic planning exercise which the "Learning for Life" advisory group and other partner organisations will enter into in the near future. We are excited by the prospects for development and enrichment of the field of disability in which we could play a part.

Ekin Kench and Chris Molteno
Learning For Life
Cape Mental Health Society and University of Cape Town
August 2000

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