Focus on rights of disabled child

Education however does not begin on entering formal school, it begins from birth and takes place naturally as the child grows and develops. This development, however does not happen for children with visual impairment.

Vision is what motivates infants to move and to interact with and manipulate objects to gather information. These hands-on experiences provide the basis for language development. For the baby who is blind, information for higher cognitive tasks is gathered through the auditory and tactile channels. If these and other problem solving skills are not developed the infant will not have the foundation for higher level cognitive skills.

Research also shows that if skills are not taught at the appropriate time, it is lost. Often infants and children who are blind have developmental lags of three to eight years. This result in a lack of readiness for school, misdiagnosis of their mental capacities, inappropriate programmes and disregard for the development of their true potential.

Many of these children enter school late (7+) and the effort is spent on teaching them pre-school and developmental skills which they lack rather than academic education. Lack of education and rehabilitation skills deprive them of the opportunities for self development and independence in later years.

In most instances, parents in addition to having to cope with the emotional burden of having a "handicapped" child do not have the knowledge and skills to help their babies learn and develop skills. There is no school programme until age five that is available and these schools often require children to have some independent skills (toilet training and language). This creates a cycle of further delays of developing skills and education leading to frustrated parents and retarded children.

In addition some of these babies have other physical and sensory challenges, which debar them from many of the schools and institutions that exist in this country. These children become physical, emotional and financial burdens to their families who at times are forced to abandon them which often times lead to their being abused.

Research and experience have established that early intervention and parent support fosters normal development and prevention of the negative impact of blindness at birth.

Given an appropriate environment of stimulation and training, through early intervention, visually impaired children are enabled to achieve their fullest potential and helps to alleviate the emotional and physical burden of families.

In keeping with the philosophy of the organisation, that all persons with visual impairment are entitled to equal opportunities PAVI has been committed to achieve this for all children born with visual impairment, through provision of an early intervention programme targetting children with visual impairment 0-7 years and their families and care- givers.

This community outreach programme for children and their families is a home based intervention programme and aims to provide training, counselling and support of parents; assess the special needs and abilities of the visually impaired child; evaluate visual functioning and developmental levels and plan activities that focus on developmental areas of: Gross Motor and Body Awareness; Fine Motor Skills; Sensory Stimulation and Cognitive Development.

This programme also provide consultation and in-service training to Pre-school teachers, other professionals and service providers, preparing them to meet the needs of these students as they integrate into new programmes.

Those diagnosed with severe vision impairment must be exposed to an early intervention programme as proposed by PAVI so that all children could be ready for inclusion in schools and society.