Georgia

Real lives

Enabled not disabled: Welcoming schools in Georgia

Lali and Natia, like all young children, like nothing better than rolling, crawling, walking, jumping, riding a bicycle and climbing in Kindergarten 19's indoor playground. For their parents it is a joy to see them move and interact with others because the two seven-year-olds are not like other children. Lali and Natia are children with disabilities.

Lali and Natia go to the kindergarten five days a week accompanied by their parents. There they join in pre-school activities organized for both disabled and able-bodied children. The youngsters are fortunate in escaping the fate of other children with disabilities who have spent their entire lives isolated in special boarding institutions offering little stimulation. Providing them with skills to help them integrate into society was not on the agenda of these institutions.

With UNICEF support, a group of Georgian professionals – a special education teacher, a speech therapist, a physiotherapist, a psychologist and a neurologist – helped set up the centre in an old two-storey building to provide early childhood care for children with and without disabilities. Working together, the team prepared individual and group work plans aimed at developing cognitive and social abilities as well as skills related to speech and emotional development through play. Special attention is given to improve the children's ability to write and read and also to develop their mathematical skills. UNICEF has facilitated the training of over 300 professionals in applied psychology and social work.

Lali and Natia have both been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Since Natia and her parents have been at the centre, she has made significant progress and now speaks simple sentences. Her hand movements are smoother and more controlled – she can actually hold her toys now.

As well as supplying the children's play equipment and educational materials, UNICEF also organizes special training sessions for the children's caregivers. These sessions enable parents to mainstream the learning activities with those of able-bodied pre-school children aged up to three. In this way the children with disabilities, aged between three and seven, are prepared for inclusion in primary and, eventually, secondary school.

Lali and Natia's parents play an active role in the daily life of the kindergarten and meet the teachers once a month to plan learning activities for them and other children with disabilities. Involving the parents is innovative and also helps them overcome the shame usually felt by parents who traditionally hide their children from society. At the centre, parents learn that their children have innate skills and abilities which, with care and stimulation, are worthy of development.

The team works with 20 children with disabilities. For some children, the focus is on enhancing their sensory and motor development and speech while others are assisted in developing the fine motor skills needed to function in daily life. A number of children are given special help to improve their movement and develop a healthier posture.

"The children are so much more happy now that they are here. This educational initiative is doing wonders in terms of stimulating the children and developing their abilities," says Nana Iashvili, project manager. "The idea of enabling the children, not disabling them, is key," she adds.

Less than a year since it was set up, the project has not only demonstrated major progress in improving the situation of children with disabilities but has also shown how able-bodied children can support their less able classmates.

"Each afternoon, a child with limited physical movement is taken by the hand by another child and together they sing and dance. It develops their social skills as well as their psycho-motor ability. The able-bodied children applaud the efforts of their classmates and nobody feels left out," the project manager says.

Thus children with disabilities build their self-esteem, enhance their independence and self-reliance and also form friendships with their able-bodied peers in the kindergarten.

The team at Kindergarten 19 is proud of the fact that other 'welcoming schools' are opening in Tbilisi. But it is when Natia says, "I can now hold my toy," that the team almost burst with pride.