Children with Special Needs: An Exploration of Child Care from the Perspective of their Guardians and Service Providers

Being a child is a gift. It does not matter what differences exist between them individually. Each one of them has a potential to become something important in this world, if they are given proper care and support. Children, who fall prey to hardships like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism and other related disabilities, are no different. They also have the right to care and support that other children enjoy and cherish. Rather, they need different and more extensive supportive care to realize their potentials. But they are often neglected, most often because of the lack of understanding in the society as a whole and several misconceptions pertaining to their disabilities. This study aims to understand the various aspects of care of children with special needs. Sources for effective child care, knowledge and understanding of child care measures and programs, expectations of guardians and service-providers and awareness about Government policies were explored. A Semi-Structured Questionnaire was developed by the investigators to conduct interviews with 25 guardians and 25 service providers of children with special needs who currently attend a Special School in Pondicherry. The data was then analyzed qualitatively following content analysis method. Some of the major issues that emerged from the study pertain to lack of implementation of Government policies, prevalence of negative perception in community and importance of effective communication between different people participating in taking care of children with special needs. The results throw light on different aspects like need for more training and resources, support from community, conduction of awareness programs and the need for effective communication between different departments of an organization as well as between guardians and service providers.