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CHAPTER 2
Ideas for Sharing Information from This Book
Most of the information in this book will
be useful to health workers and village rehabilitation workers who see
many disabled children. Some of the
information will also be useful for the family of a disabled child.
However, a family with one disabled child will usually not need, or be
able to afford this whole book. It has information about so many
different disabilities, that parents may have difficulty finding the
information that applies to their child.
Also, learning from a book is often not the best way to learn
something. A lot of methods, aids, and exercises can be learned more
easily from other persons, through watching and through guided practice.
But after a village worker has taught parents how to do certain
exercises, or shown them an example of a homemade aid, printed
instruction sheets with clear drawings can be a big help.
Sometimes they can make the difference between whether the
recommendations are followed at home, or not.
There are certain pages or parts of this book that you may want to
give to families after you explain and teach to them selected exercises
or activities. For example, to the family of a girl with arthritis, you
may want to give some of the "Exercise Instruction Sheets" at the end of
Chapter 42, and the "Information
Sheet on Aspirin" on Page 134. You may also
want to give them pages from Chapter 16
on arthritis, and to mark the exercises and activities that are
important to their child.
To the family of a young child who is slow to develop, you may want
to give pages from the chapters on child development and early
stimulation activities (Chapters 34
and 35). For a more advanced child
you could give the family material from the chapters on self-care (Chapters
36 to 39). |
| Depending on the interest and reading ability of the
family, you may want to give them a whole chapter (or chapters) about
their child's disability. For example, the chapters on cerebral palsy (Chapter
9) or deafness (Chapter 31). An
older child who is paralyzed from a broken back might appreciate having
a copy of the chapter on spinal cord injury. Letting him and his family
take home the chapters on pressure sores and urine and bowel control
could even save his life! His family may also want to take home plans
for making a low-cost wheelchair, to see if the carpenter and blacksmith
in their village could make one. In Project PROJIMO in Mexico, the
village rehabilitation team keeps a big file box with copies of the
different pages and chapters that they have found most useful for giving
to families. (In fact, the exercise sheets at the end of
Chapter 42 were originally prepared
separately to give to families. Later, we decided to include them in
this book.) |
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Marking the information that applies to the child
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| On any page or chapter that you give to parents, some
of the information or suggestions will apply more than others to their
child.
We suggest that you circle the activities or suggestions that
would be most helpful to the child in his present condition or level of
development. You could also put an "X" through anything that
should not be done or might be harmful for that child.
Here is an example.
If the child is spastic and beginning to sit, the first 3 activities on
Page 307 can help her to improve balance
and to develop controlled body movement. So circle these.
The next 3 activities will still be too difficult and could increase
spasticity. Put an "X" through these so the
family does not do them.
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| Making copies of pages can be costly.
Or you may have to go a long way for them. Also, there will be times
when you want to give a family written suggestions or drawings that you
have not copied in advance. Perhaps some of the children or young
people who are at the village center, either for rehabilitation or as
learners-and-workers, can help trace drawings from the book. If they
have some artistic skill, they can make the drawings larger, or make the
child in the drawing look like the child that they are to be used with.*
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| Note: Ideas
for drawing and for copying drawings at larger size are in
Helping Health Workers Learn, Page 12-1 to 12-21. (See
Page 637.) |
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| If someone prepares a set of
large drawings in advance, perhaps a disabled child who visits the
village center can trace the drawings of exercises he needs to do at
home. Giving the child this responsibility from the start makes it more
likely that he will do the exercises at home. If you make your own
'hand out' sheets (instead of just copying pages of this book) you can
use the local language and villagers' way of saying things. You can also
adapt the drawings to the hair style and dress that people feel 'at
home' with.
Whatever you do, try to keep both your language and drawings
simple and clear. Avoid unfamiliar words.
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Also, try to think of
ways of adapting exercises or activities to the local situation.
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For example, suppose you live in a fishing village,
and want to make copies of a drawing showing an aid for
strengthening the wrist.
Instead of just copying a method like this from a book, |
you might add a drawing like this one. This will encourage parents
to think of ways to do exercises that involve their child in the
life and action of their community.
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Remember: Written pages and drawings
can be a big help, but they should not be a substitute for teaching and
showing. To help a family understand activities or exercises that are
needed:
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First show and explain.
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Guide them in doing it until they do it right and
understand why.
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Then, give them the instruction sheet and explain the
main points.
These steps are explained with examples and drawings on
Page 382.
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| As much as you can, try not
to use this book for giving exact instructions on how to do
things. Instead, encourage everyone to use it as a source of
ideas, in order to figure out better ways to help their
children lead fuller lives and manage better in
their communities. |
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| REMEMBER . . .
One of the best ways to share information from this book is to:
1. SHOW other people how to do things. |
| Village rehabilitation workers and family members learn
in an outdoor class. Here they practice a hip-stretching exercise.
Behind them, drawings on the blackboard show which muscles are
stretched. |
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| 2. Then help them LEARN BY DOING
it themselves-under your guidance. |
Teaching a village health worker how to stretch a tight
heel cord
(see Page 83.) |
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| 3. And to help them remember, give them a
DRAWING or INSTRUCTION SHEET. |
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IMPORTANT:
 | Try to help people to understand not only what
to do, but also why.
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| Perhaps you can hold classes using information from this book.
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| Try to combine hands-on practice with
discussion of principles and reasons.
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