Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

working with families
The process of including a child with a disability in 
society as a whole begins with access to everyday 
experiences in the home setting, with parents and 
caregivers playing a central role.
74
For children with 
disabilities, early intervention involving stimulation 
and interaction with parents soon after birth is es-
sential to development. Like every other child, a child 
with disabilities has his or her own evolving capaci-
ties. At each stage of the life cycle – starting with 
early detection and family-based early intervention 
through different levels of educational and recrea-
tional development to the specific requirements that 
come with adolescence – there are different critical 
moments, challenges and opportunities in every 
child’s development. Inclusive practices are relevant 
for children with disabilities at all ages. However, the 
earlier these children are given the opportunity to 
6 foundations for 
inClusion
interact with their peers and to participate in society, 
the greater the benefit is likely to be for all children.
Early identification and assessment, combined with 
appropriate interventions, mean that potential difficul-
ties can be identified in time to limit the consequenc-
es of an impairment on a child’s life and development 
and to maximize participation in all the activities usual 
for the child’s age group. Primary health care work-
ers, along with other community workers, have a key 
role to play in identifying infants and young children 
with developmental delays and impairments, and in 
supporting families to help their child to learn and 
develop. Early identification can also be promoted 
through the preparation of all family members, espe-
cially parents, to monitor their child’s developmental 
progress through the use of simple instruments, 
strengthened with a basic understanding of children’s 
capacities at different stages. The participation of the 
wider family, especially grandparents, is of great im-
portance in ensuring parents feel supported and val-
ued in this process. Health and community workers 
need to encourage the involvement of the extended 
family wherever possible. 
© UNICEF/HQ06-0223/Gulshan

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23
Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
Innocenti Digest No. 13
In South Africa, where significant progress is being 
made to promote the rights of children with disabili-
ties, the Law Commission Review of the Child Care 
Act 1983 recognizes the importance of empowering 
parents to care for their children at home. It suggests 
that this requires improved health care services, ac-
cessible schools, free or affordable assistive devices 
and support programmes for parents. It also stresses 
the need for a more integrated approach to the deliv-
ery of services in order to help parents navigate their 
way through the system more efficiently and receive 
more coherent and effective provision.
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A pioneering example of an influential home-based 
approach is the Portage Model for Early Intervention 
(see box 6.1).
An early intervention programme with some similar-
ity to Portage has been run by the Samadhan NGO 
in the poorest areas of Delhi, India for some years. 
Samadhan trains local community workers, the ma-
jority of whom are women, to identify children with 
impairments – particularly intellectual impairments – 
in their community. Under the early intervention pro-
gramme, which caters for children up to six years of 
age, community workers collaborate with mothers in 
a one-to-one situation in the family home. This helps 
to increase the mother’s confidence and also encour-
ages other family members to become involved in 
the child’s development. Families are supported by 
neighbourhood community centres established by 
Samadhan, where assessment, screening, diagnosis 
and programme planning is done. Apart from provid-
ing support for early childhood development, the 
community workers create simple toys and teaching 
aids from locally found and low-cost materials.
76
The 
early intervention service has been a great success,