Equal Opportunities How to entail more opportunities for

Equal Opportunities How to entail more opportunities for disabled children in relationship & contact with other kids Els Vanoverberghe, Stephanie Stans, Annelies Vandenberghe, Joke Vervaeke

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Stephanie Annelies We are. . Els Joke

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland We live. . in Belgium Our school. . KHBO, situated in Bruges

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Introduction Discussion: How to integrate children with a disability? more equal opportunities & ways of integration Target group: Playground in Roeselare Experience: Youth club

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Overview • Project equal chances – What? – Integration inclusion – Why? – Aims? – Methods? – Organisations? – Why OT’s? – Risks? – Visions for the future? • Case-studie • Conclusion

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances What? Main aim of our project: Let children with a disability & ones without a disability play together in a fixed setting: the playground

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances What: Two activities 1) Seatickles

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances What: Two activities Decorate wooden frames with all kinds of materials. rope, paints & mosaic stones Watching the other children they delivered beautiful pieces of art. . .

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances What: Two activities 2) Not for softies

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances What: Two activities How to use make-up to make it look like real-life wounds. One to one monitoring was needed to keep things in control, but mostly the children helped each other. . .

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances integration inclusion • Integration. . adapt to the given circumstances, the norms & values applied on the playground. . • Inclusion. . including others into your given situation & adapting certain things to their ways. .

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances integration inclusion Our situation: “one-on-one support” In a context of inclusion the children’s actions also involved taking control, making choices, initiative & real participation. . Involving brothers, sisters & other relatives in our activities became an inevitable & constructive part of our project. .

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Why? • provide an environment in which disabled people can preserve & form their own identity extra opportunities • play & have fun with people who respect their needs & can cope with their behaviour • No person is identical: it is important that each child be taught how to deal with several personalities • both groups can learn from each other

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Aims? • make friends & new contacts based on trust & reliability • insight on how disabled kids interact with others • create a firm base: more chances for the future • a more positive self-esteem & -awareness • emancipation & responsibility • Quality Of Life • Decreasing the gap between handicapped persons & others

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Methods? Two vacation care programs: Babbeloe: a specially designed playground for disabled kids & their siblings doubts about the safety precautions Grabbelpas: an ordinary playground make adjustments & changes + create more suitable & safe surroundings for both groups

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances More about the playgrounds: Babbeloe: – What? Disabled children generally feel better & safer in a small care centre where the infrastructure is adapted to their needs & where they can play at their own pace with a fixed team of monitors – Target group? disability + age: 5 -12 + Roeselare-Izegem-Tielt

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances More about the playgrounds: Grabbelpas: - a vacation care program for children without limitations - some days they take trips to places like amusement parks & movie theatres, other days they stay at the playground & play games

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Why OT’s? It is important because: • As an occupational therapist you have to be able to handle conform a person’s wishes, doing so by taking a combination of each individual separately & environmental & performance components into consideration • Correct results: kids with & without a handicap

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Risks? • Lack of monitors for the one-on-one support • Small scale project the beginning of a bigger plan • Do all monitors have enough experience & knowledge to support our project? if not, give them information • The complete ignorance people have towards these children • Not enough means or grants from the government • Conflicts & raws

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Project equal chances Visions for the future? Belgium does not have many of these joined playgrounds. carry out the results of our small scale project & warm people’s hearts to the idea of such playgrounds.

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Case-studie • Extra information on some of the children This will give you an idea of how we experienced this “joined venture” & what we think are the positive effects of such an experiment • The children: (fictive names) – Amy: Type 2 (moderate mental handicap) + hyperkinetic – Nick: Dyspraxie (minimal brain dysfunction) + dyslexie + dyscalculie + ADHD

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Case-studie Case 1: Amy

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Case studie Case 2: Nick

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Conclusion • Our experiment was successfully conducted integration & inclusion of all children • We saw some changes of behaviour in the children with a disability accept these people with their limitations • It is remarkable how much the disabled children picked up from other children “ Through our project we created more equal opportunities for both groups! ”

ENOTHE STUDENT GROUP, 13 th Annual meeting, Cork, Ireland Literature - Gielen, G. (2003) Leidt inclusie tot uitsluiting? Opinie inclusie. Sociaal 2003 7 -10 - Hendriks, R. (2000) Autistisch gezelschap: Een empirisch-filosofisch onderzoek naar het gezamelijk bestaan van autistische en niet-autistische personen. Swets&Zeitlinger: Lisse - Sorée, V. (1999) Van een geïntegreerde naar een inclusieve speelpleinwerking. . . een utopie: Verschillende maatjes, beste maatjes. Sociaal 1999 13 -15 -Wuyts, B. (1996) Anders maar niet minder, leven met een handicap. Davidsfonds: Leuven - Information from Babbeloe Roeselare & Grabbelpas Tielt - interview with parents & monies at the Grabbelpas playground