TEDI resources for parents of children with disabilities during COVID- 19
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our usual ways of doing things and has had a huge impact upon schooling as a place where children, teachers and families congregate. Parents and teachers now have to scramble to make plans to care for these children and to ensure the least disruption to their schooling through online teaching in both structured and less formal ways.
Children with disabilities and special needs are especially affected in this context. Whereas at school these children might get individualized attention from specially trained professionals including therapists, parents may feel at a loss to work with their children at home when they potentially lack the specific teaching and therapeutic skills. While the professional provision might vary across countries and be minimal in countries of the global south, parents and family members of children with disabilities find themselves in a similar position across the world. They need to continue with the care and education of their family member with a disability as well as attend to the needs of others in the family. Since children with disabilities often require specialised adaptations to their curriculum it is a matter of concern as to whether the multitude of resources that are available online would meet the needs of these families.
In line with a family centred approach to disability we believe that the place to start with addressing learning needs is by supporting the family. The Teacher Education for Disability Inclusion (TEDI) project has thus developed a resource for parents which acts as a guide to supporting parents on how to teach and support children with disabilities at home. The resource aims to create an empowering teaching environment that is human rights based, promotes resilience, is holistic in approach and fosters on inclusivity.
About TEDI
The core aim of the Teacher Education for Disability Inclusion (TEDI) project is to empower teachers to provide quality education for learners with severe to profound disabilities through training that is focused on inclusivity, diversity and addressing learners’ impairment-specific needs. The TEDI project is a partnership between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Christoffel-Blinden Mission (CBM) and is co-funded by the European Union and CBM.
Link to website: http://www.dhrs.uct.ac.za/dhrs/divisions/disability/tedi