Inclusive Children's Carnival
Project : This year, the final year students undertook a community project including access to children with and without disabilities.
Aim : The aim of the community project was to organise an inclusive 'Children's carnival' for children.
Theoretical underpinnings :In the recent past, our work has moved from an impairment-focus to looking at activity restriction and participation aided by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, WHO, 2011). There has also been a move towards mainstreaming disability by supporting the 'inclusion' of children and adults with disabilities into all aspects of community life. This has been a focus of our 'Communication + Project' this year. When thinking about our work on communication, particularly with children with cerebral palsy, we have thought about Total Communication approaches and on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. In this community project, the students were invited to consider these theoretical positions and approaches to support equal participation for all.
Date : Tuesday, 11th August 2015.
Venue : Garden of the Pegasus Reef Hotel, Ja-ela.
Guests of Honour : Prof. Lilly Cheng (School of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and Director of the Chinese Studies Institute at San Diego State University, USA) and Prof. Sumalai Maroonrage ( College of Education at the Texas A&M International University, USA).
