Education is concerned with everything that actively helps an individual to learn and to develop. Hence, means must be found to provide educational experiences to children with MR from the first weeks of life. Helping the family to adopt an educated approach and to be active in fostering the development of the child can do this. Some children may well benefit from certain exercises and activities, but many others will need little more than the ordinary games, activities and experience that help normal infants to learn and develop.
Mothers often assume that babies with disability are different and expert advice is required before anything new can be attempted. They fear that the child will be subject to fits if too much stimulation is provided or if demands are made from a child to do something new. Although very little is known about the needs of the infants with disabilities and their families, particularly about the long term benefits, early intervention and early help is at least called for by the parents who often feel isolated and uninformed at this early stage and who may not in normal course of events gain access to help and service for years. Systematic early help is likely to give parents confidence so that they can achieve results with their child and dispel the feeling that they are coping entirely without support and understanding from professionals.
Parents observe, assess and record the skills and behaviour of their child to set realistic goals that their child can achieve in a short time and to develop methods that they can use in their own home to help him reach those targets.
A variety of approaches have been developed to help the parents to work in depth and detail with their child. Some involve highly perspective programmes of behaviour modification, while others merely help parents to set objectives and leave it to them to decide the means by which these objectives will be attained. Some also involve group of parents, meeting in regular workshop sessions, others involve direct work with home visitors. However services are organised to suit the local needs and conditions. It is essential that skilled help is available to families from the very beginning, so that they can work in partnership with professional staff in fostering the development of their child.
Children who are under school age are increasingly being helped to use the ordinary resources available to the non-disabled children of the same age. For example, pre-school play groups, nursery classes & schools and day nurseries; many also go to special schools from the age of two and seem to derive great benefit by doing so. If they go to schools and centres designed primarily for the non-disabled children, it is essential that staff should be able to gain access to people with expertise in working with children with mentally challenged. It is not enough simply to place a challenged child in 'normal' environment in the hope that he will benefit simply by being exposed to conditions that help other children; more active and systematic methods may be needed to help him to learn.
