Author Archives: Teachers' Resource Centre

The HumQadam Foundation (HQF) endeavours to promote inclusion of children with disabilities, by providing one-on-one resource teachers to accompany them into mainstream classrooms.
A 6 – part series of workshops was led and successfully completed at HQF by Nida Alavi from TRC between December 2008 and May 2009. The workshop series focused on assisting HQF’s resource teachers with issues identified by them during an informal needs’ assessment discussion. These areas of concern then became the focus areas for the 6 sessions held at HQF. Focus areas included the state of special education in Pakistan, collaboration between classroom teachers and resource teachers, designing assessment and instruction, managing behaviour, supporting social skills as well as promoting joint attention in children with disabilities.
Early in the series, in the spirit of affecting more sustainable change, an additional dialogue was planned and facilitated on 5 January 2009 between HQF’s resource teachers and the pre-primary/primary teachers of The Learning Tree school where several children with disabilities are enrolled through HQF. Being the first conversation of its kind, after some initial hesitation, the teachers opened up and shared their views and concerns. Mutual issues as highlighted by HQF and the administration of The Learning Tree were addressed too. As a result, change has already come with honest follow-through from all the teachers on the troubleshooting strategies shared during the dialogue. We applaud them for their efforts and hope such dialogue continues to improve the educational experiences of children with disabilities in their care.
Throughout the series at HQF, its teachers were interactive in sharing their experiences and also receptive to recommendations for enhancing the support their students with disabilities are receiving. Being the first step in HQF’s partnership with TRC, we hope that this promising collaboration is extended further in even more directions towards enhancing the quality of special education in Pakistan.

On Saturday May 9, 2009, TRC’s Nida Alavi attended a workshop held at Ziauddin Hospital in collaboration with AKU-IED. Ziauddin College of Speech Language Therapy (ZCSLT)’s Dr. Amina Siddiqui spoke to participants about how teachers in a mainstream classroom environment can support children with auditory disabilities.

Issues with hearing are extremely common among children and yet often go unnoticed. Furthermore, even with a diagnosis, children with auditory disabilities (who are completely capable of functioning effectively in a typical classroom) often do not have the benefit of teachers who understand their needs and can therefore facilitate their learning.

The workshop was interactive, both in contributions from the audience as well as the use of media like video clips. Furthermore, it was useful in comprehending how auditory disabilities can impact children within the classroom and therefore, how they can be supported in becoming independent learners.

04 June, 2009
Bushra Khan and Dr. Bilal Iqbal Avan from the Department of Psychology, University of Karachi and Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, U.K. respectively, are conducting a study about the behaviour challenges of children aged 11 to 12.

The purpose of this research is to identify the link between environmental factors, physical growth and children’s behaviour challenges. Behaviour challenges have been broadly defined as persistent maladaptive patterns of behaviour that interfere with a child’s daily life: socially, emotionally and academically.

Bushra Khan requested Mahenaz Mahmud of TRC, to be part of a small working group tasked with reviewing the Urdu translation of the data collection questionnaire. The working group met twice at TRC on May 15 and 20, 2009. TRC was also requested to facilitate the data collection from member schools. Saba Siddiq from TRC liaised with schools and Bushra Khan. The last data collection visit was made on June 03. A HUGE Thank You from TRC to all the schools, teachers, students and parents who participated in the study.

It is hoped that the findings of the study will help government authorities, community health workers, community service providers, schools and parents to understand the factors responsible for children’s behavioural problems and design programmes/strategies to enhance positive child development.

Bushra says: “Through the forum of TRC we will be happy to share the school level study findings and are also willing to provide support on the issue of child behaviour challenges.”

After several postponements due to the law and order situation in the country, the Annual TRC Fundraising event finally took place on Thursday, 30 April 2009, at the DHA Golf Club. The fashion show was presented by ‘Ensemble’, followed by dinner and a musical concert by Atif Aslam. The event was a great success in terms of arrangements and ambiance, as can be judged by the guests’ enjoyment and feedback. It is hoped that the proceeds of the event will provide some financial relief to TRC.