Helping Children With Special Needs Trough Family Workshop

By Ignatius Dharta Ranu Wijaya, 2011

Children with Special Needs in Indonesia

Education for children with special needs is a dynamic and constantly changing issue for
many developing countries including Indonesia. UNESCO (2006) and WHO (2007) says
there are nearly 600 million individuals with various developmental disorders (disability) that
experienced various physical and social barriers in their cultural life. UNESCO and WHO
then stated that 80% of them exist and live in developing countries and only 25% of them
(150 million) receive education or rehabilitation. Developing countries are then considered to
face various challenges in implementing education for children with special needs, such as:
providing facilities to accommodate the needs and giving social access to them consistently.
There are 317,016 children with special needs in Indonesia and only 66,610 or approximately
21% children with special needs has received education services in Special School, Integrated
School, and Inclusion (Ministry of National Education, 2007). This means about 79% or
250,442 children with special needs in Indonesia have not received education services.
National policy states that all students are entitled to education in Indonesia, although they
showed the characteristics of a particular obstacle or difficulty. This attitude clearly through
the public schools the obligation to provide free public education and appropriate for all
children (the 1945 amendment of Article 31 paragraph 1 and 2; Law no. 4 of 1997 on Persons
with Disabilities, Article 6, paragraph 1; Law no. 23 on Protection of Children Article 48 and
49; and the National Education No. 20 of 2006). The Government continued to commit
numerous educational programs for teachers to encourage more teachers who have the ability
and understanding of teaching in an inclusive environment. Although the policy and funding
of education has been provided by the government and the state, but the information and
instructions relating to the implementation of inclusion for the crew assessed the idea is still
lacking. Other problems also arise from the resistance of teachers and the challenges given by
the parents of children with special needs. The teachers perceived lack of support and training
relating to issues children with special needs while parents often complain about lack of
support and school participation. Experts in special education in Indonesia and then convey
the need for various training and capacity building not only for general teachers, special
education teachers, and also parents. Implementation of the idea of inclusion for children

with special needs in Indonesia often have to deal with culture, attitudes, and behaviours that
are inconsistent with the paradigm of inclusion it self. The educational system need to be
reform as a requirement in implementing the principles and practices of inclusive education
for all children in Indonesia.

Why Parents?
Having children with special needs is not the hope of every parent, so there will always be an
adjustment period. Parents have a myriad of expectations for their children to be 'modified'
then, when found the fact that their child have developmental disorder. Some parents may be
easier to rebuild hope and a future for their children but other parents may require a long and
hard time. All this will be strongly influenced by parents personality and characteristics and
also experiences in dealing with stressful life events.
The quality of the relationship between the parents has proved important. Emotional support
for mothers, fathers' involvement in care giving and decision-making regarding the child are
important factors. Family functioning is also determined by the quality of father-motherchild, even a partnership between father and mother are very important in reducing the stress
experienced by the presence of children with special needs in the family. The quality of
relationships within the family, emotional warmth, attention and ability to communicate
effectively from all family members will affect the welfare of the family. Family relations
generally indicate a happy atmosphere, everyone is valued and respected, celebrated
achievements of each person and family to enjoy activities together and being together. The
children with special needs in a family relations definitely will not experience prolonged
stress, both perceived by the father, mother and all family members.
Some parents may not be easy to feel unconditional love for their children who have
developmental disorders. They may struggle with conflicting feelings about their children
over the years so that it develops into a negative feeling. It is difficult for parents to build
positive perceptions about the future of their children. They generally tend to focus on the
child's disability and not on potential, talent, and their child's progress. Children with special
needs, in a situation like this will feel the negative feelings and emotionally insecure. In
response to conditions that can be experienced by the children and in spearheading the family
functioning optimally, then SOS Childrens Villages Indonesia with Home PBS held a
Family Workshop to improve the family member involvements in education for children with
special needs. SOS Children Village Indonesia has obligation to advocate for and promote

deinstitutionalisation of children with special needs by supporting their families in order to

prevent the abandonment of children with special needs,
Activities in The Family Workshop
Parents are directed to perform tasks in being with children so that they experience a wide
range of learning opportunities each day during the workshops. Each activity in the workshop
requires families involving children in various settings; both internally children with special
needs alone or together with their family and other families who attend the workshop. All
children with special needs together with their family get a chance to learn about:
routines with family (cooking, eating together, etc.)
routines care (child's bath time, bedtime, etc.)
child's routines (eating, bathing, dressing, etc.)
literacy activities (talking, story telling, reading, etc.)
physical activities with the whole family (exercises, games, etc.).
play activities (games)
joint activities and entertainment (listening to music, watching television, etc.).
family rituals (prayer, daily prayer, greeting, chatting habits, etc.).
social activities (visiting other, make friends, gathering, etc.).
hobby (planting and watering, painting, music, etc.)
A variety of learning opportunities are also obtained in the community with family. These
activities, for example: play activities, recreation, interests of children, art and craft activities,
religious activities, and sports activities.

This Family Workshop based on practical application for parents with children with special
needs. The main purposes that must be done by all family after the workshop are:
1. develop activities schedule that inform parents to involve with their children
2. develop matrix that describes the behaviours of children in various learning activities
3. develop learning methods as a response from parents to the childs expected
behaviour
4. develop Individual Development Plan (IDP) for children and develop their own
Family Development Plan (FDP)
The workshop also require cultural reciprocal for the effectiveness of all four of the above.
Families can be assisted to deal with stress by engaging them early in the provision of
information, services, and other educational services.

Participating parents say:

It was fun and moved along quickly.
I liked listening to what has worked for children from other families.
Outstanding! Has been very helpful to us as a family unit.
I wish all my kids could attended.
We learned that we have to follow through with what we say and not back down on the rules
we have set.
I learned that Im not alone with my fears of raising my special children. I have the same
questions and fears that all the other parents have.

Participating sibling of children with special needs say:

I didnt realize how much my parent cared about us.
I learned that my brother are fun to be with.
I learned to respect and help my brother for the best that he can
I learned what to say if someone is trying to get you in trouble.
I liked to hear about what my dad feelings about my brother.
I liked the activities in the family session.
I found out how to handle the situation when Im all frustrated with my brother.

The end of the activity, parents also build an original and positive reaction when learning
with their children with special needs. Parents then simply formulated what behaviours and
activities they should build to help all the children to succeed. All parents than committed to
do the following behaviours:

kiss and hug the kids more often

more often praise the child for showing good behaviours

checking and praised for all the work (homework, drawing, writing, crafts, etc.) done
by children more frequently

read books or tell stories to children more often

remind all the children about family rules

always give clear orders with a firm tone

reduce yelling and screaming at the children

avoid to punish or hitting the children

more often talk with other parents, teacher, and profesional for the best ways in
educating children with special needs

learning the ideas about parenting and child development trough various media
(books, television, movies, etc.)

participate in parenting and other community activities

spent time to exercise, relax, rest and pray

Positive attitudes and actions which are then manifested through various combinations of
parenting and opportunities for children with special needs will generate positive change for
all children with special needs. End of this paper then suggests the need for clear policy
regarding the role of family and training opportunities and other essential services that are
relevant to address the issues children with special needs in Indonesia.

References
Bullock, L.M., & Gable, R.A. (Eds.) (1997). Making collaboration work for children, youth,
families, schools, and communities. Reston, VA: Council for Children with Behavioural
Disorders & Chesapeake Institute.
Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006), General Comment No. 9. Rights of Children
with Disabilities
Save the Children (2001), Disabled Childrens Rights a Practical Guide
Save the Children UK (2006), Disability Facts
Lansdown, G. (2001), It is our world too! A report on the lives of disabled children for the
UN General Assembly Special Session on Children
SOS-Kinderdorf International (2007a), Children with Disabilities. Global Internal Analysis
SOS-Kinderdorf International (2007b), Children with Disabilities. Global External Analysis
United Nations (2006), United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities