|
|
Project Participate promotes participation by children and adolescents in their school programs. Participation denotes the individual's level of involvement in various life areas (ICIDH-2 Beta-2 Draft, July 1999), including play, social and educational activities. Each child's level of participation is the result of a complex relationship between the child's condition, personal characteristics, and the circumstances in which the child lives. Schools can facilitate or hinder participation by students who have disabilities. Different environments may have very different impacts on the same individual with impairments or activity limitations. An environment with barriers, or without facilitators, will restrict participation, while environments that are more facilitating may increase participation. Barriers to participation might include inaccessible buildings or the lack of such facilitators as assistive devices. To maximize each pupil's participation we need to evaluate the child's ability to take part in school activities and to identify conditions that impede participation. The standard against which a child's participation is compared is that of a child of similar age without disability in school. Participation is considered to be restricted when there is a discrepancy between the observed participation by a student with a disability and the expected participation of another youngster without a similar disability. When participation is low, interventions are designed to remove barriers or provide facilitators to increase participation (Rosenberg & Robinson, 1989; Rosenberg et al, 1992). Strategies used to increase participation are very diverse, ranging from high and low tech assistive devices, adaptation of activities, to changing society attitudes that limit participation.
Contact Us for more information.
|