Barriers in Optimizing Home Training Programs for Children with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Given the contemporary emphasis on promoting “barrier-free” and “disability-friendly” social living conditions for persons with disabilities as ordained in the PWD Act (1995) and UNCPRD; the present study was undertaken to elicit information on the perceived “barriers” by caregivers/parents on a home training program for their kids with developmental disabilities. A 25-item “Family Barriers Identification Scale” exclusively developed for this study was used to determine perceived/reported impediments either as their own “self”, “in others” and/or in their “environment” that came in the way of optimizing the intervention programs for these children. The results show reported “barriers” for caregivers originate from their unfriendly “environments” rather than from “themselves” and/or “others”. Among the reported “environmental” barriers are “shortage of reading materials on child training/care”, followed by “lack of institutional facilities”, “inadequate teaching materials”, “lack of professional advice/guidance”, etc. The reported barrier from within “themselves” include defeatist attitudes that there are “no felt returns on their investment of efforts or energies” or that they “do not have the knowledge, skill or felt competence” to handle their own kids with developmental disabilities in their home settings. The “other” sources of barrier are “presence of problem behaviors in the child”, “ill health of the child”, “demands for child care from other kids”, “inadequate supports from spouse”, “inadequate supports from neighborhood”, etc. The results are discussed on the basis of available literature and their implications for further refinement/application with part three of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001). The results are also discussed in relation to counseling caregivers on home based training programs for their kids with developmental disabilities.