INCLUSIVE PLAY

INCLUSIVE PLAY

I am attached to MANAV KALYAN TRUST, NAVSARI. Here we take care of 700 special need children, amongst them 200 children are mentally challenged and we have Balaji school for them.

Truly speaking children and adults with special needs are normal, usual and unsaid part of our society. In a healthy society we need not talk about inclusion, they are included without a say.

"Individuals with special needs are people first, with the same rights and needs as everyone else. Their development is influenced by the quality of care, education and social experiences offered to them, just like all other people.” (Professor Sue Buckley said this for Down's syndrome individuals but it applies to all with special needs)

But here comes the irony, we need to fight for their inclusion in the society. Our mentally challenged children of Balaji School can grow best if inclusive education is offered to them. But because of some reasons they are not getting inclusive education as needed. Then emerged the idea of INCLUSIVE PLAY.

We kept a meeting with the principals of few schools and they readily agreed to send their students from class 5th-7th once a week to play with our children. To start with there were 12 schools who agreed. We made a time table and on every Wednesday between 2-4pm about 70 students from regular school along with their 2 teachers started coming to play with our special children. It went on very well throughout the year.

THE TYPE OF GAMES WE SELECTED

INDOOR:

·        Snakes and Ladders

·        Carom

·        Ludo

·        Twisters

·        Matching

Ø Pictures

Ø Shapes

Ø Colours

·        Playing Cards

·        Number Games

·        Captain Game

·        Picnic Game

·        Finger Football

·        Balancing the Monkey

·        Specially Made Scrabble

·        Chinese Checker

OUTDOOR:

·        King

·        Run to catch

·        A bone between two Dogs

·        Making Chain

·        Jump on Trampoline

·        River and Mountain
Below is the link for actual INCLUSIVE PLAY sessions at our school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oklVynyznw8&feature=youtu.be

HOW IT HELPED SPECIAL CHILDREN?

1.     As peer influences more, learning became faster

2.     Copying is predominantly seen in special children. They learnt a lot by copying the typical children

3.     Lots of learning through Games;

Ø Concept of serial numbers

Ø Concept of counting

Ø Concept of turn

Ø Concept of loss and win

Ø Concept of team work

Ø Concept of work distribution

Ø Concept of responsibility

4.     Hyper and distracted children naturally developed patience by waiting for their turn.

5.     Ground games added to the physical exercises they needed to do.

6.      The self-help, self-care, hygiene, mannerism, speech and behaviour of the typical children got transferred automatically to special children.

7.     While playing children need to be aware & alert about their turns, how many numbers, team's position etc...This improved the ability to concentrate in special children.

8.     Our special children stay in hostel so they have their own world.  They feel secured and happy in their comfort zone. But this is not the reality; they will have to face the outer world one day. Inclusive play might help them to form a bridge between them and the outer world.

9.     Most importantly the joy of being noticed and included was boundless....

HOW IT HELPED TYPICAL CHILDREN?

1.     Usually typical children make fun of these special children and even at times the adults support such deeds of their children. Inclusive play actually made the typical children spent time with the special children. They came to realize the difficulties our children were facing. The typical children developed real concern for these special children.

2.     Typical children became empathetic, helping and friendly.

3.     They were sincerely trying to facilitate the special children's learning.

4.     Typical children became aware about their abilities; they became more confident about their own strengths.

5.     They could realize that THE GOD has favoured them and could pass their gratitude towards HIM.

6.     The sense of inclusion and feeling of brotherhood developed in them.

7.     The feeling of encouraging the weak enhanced.

8.     During the year more than 1200 children played with our children and all of them were sensitized towards the children with special needs. There by we could reach 1200 families.

In some schools, children who played with our children presented a project. Few children collected their pocket money and presented some gifts to our children. So many children made friendship cards, small writings etc... for our Balaji school children. Few students sent their intense desire to help these children by writing letters to us. One boy wanted to become an automobile engineer so that he can design a special car for these special children, many of them wanted to become a special educator. The mother of one girl is running a centre for art and craft, that girl compelled her mother to visit our school with all her students and have picnic with them. 
During one of my seminar when I was concluding the session one lady raised her hand. She wanted to tell something to the audience. She was one of the teachers of a school that joined us for INCLUSIVE PLAY. Her words, " We have noticed full presence in the class on the day of INCLUSIVE PLAY. Our children just wait for their turn."

The idea of INCLUSIVE PLAY worked so well that this year many schools have sent their readiness to be a party to it. This year we have started INCLUSIVE PLAY twice a week, every Tuesdays and Fridays with few more learning agendas.

Special children need love and care...you just need to do a little and that can change their lives to a great extent.

INCLUSIVE PLAY IS OUR FIRST STEP TOWARDS HAVING AN INCLUSIVE SOCIETY.....