UK PORTAGE CONFERENCE 1999

Strange things were happening in a quiet corner of England during the last weekend of September.

In a highly respectable business hotel where people in pinstripes are normally found putting the finishing touches to their ingenious plans, a noisy revolution was taking place. Cots and high chairs were flying down the corridors, rooms were being denuded of furniture and toys arrived by the sack load. For a time it looked as if the Stakis Hotel in Northampton, in the English Midlands had suddenly been designated Santa’s main warehouse!

Early on the Friday afternoon, slightly apprehensive parents with their young (and often noisy) broods, together with confident (and unusually relaxed) professionals from a multiplicity of disciplines started to converge on the hotel from all over the UK to take part in the 1999 National Portage Association Conference. Everyone had something to look forward to. The adults anticipated a highly concentrated weekend of discussions on the latest developments in teaching children with special needs, hearing from experts in education, health and social welfare, and having fun in the evening get togethers. Hard pressed parents looked forward to relaxing for a while, knowing that their offspring would be having the time of their lives in expertly run creches, with activities to suit all the different age groups.

The 1999 conference was opened by Mollie White, a pioneer of Portage in Britain. Her warmth and enthusiasm for Portage set the tone for the whole event and quickly put the three hundred or so delegates in the right mood for the first keynote speaker, Helen Norris, whose topic was From Portage To Post School, An Educational Journey. Helen’s son Philip has Down’s Syndrome and received Portage. In her talk she traced the history of his education and described the many difficulties and achievements which played a part in Philip’s development from a young child to an independent young man with good social relationships and a steady girlfriend.

Since she works in education Helen has been able to use the skills and knowledge she acquired at home to improve the education of all children and has made a major contribution to the development of language and reading skills for children with Down’s Syndrome. As a result she is well known among Portage workers and also within the teaching profession.

Helen Norris felt that throughout the years there had been many changes in education until the mid 90s with very few exceptions children with special needs in the UK were taught in special schools. More recent had been the introduction of league tables, the setting up of the Office for Standards in Education an increase in the number of more autonomous, grant-maintained schools and the growth of parent power. In the case of the later development, especially Portage had contributed much to this change. Through Portage people had started to look for the positive to seek out possibilities for change. Portage had given many parents hope and a future through a model which was completely different to the old medical model.

"The future presents us with great challenge" she said. "But challenges can be stepping stones or stumbling blocks-it is just a matter how you view them!"
On leaving school youngsters need independence, communication skills, and to be able to establish close relationships with their peers. Those skills have to be introduced and fostered, starting very early in life, even before children start school or playgroup. Acquiring such skills might not do much for a mainstream school’s place in the academic league tables, but they can help young people with or without special needs to survive and succeed in life. "It would be a very sad and unfair world if the only achievements we recognized were the academic ones", she said.

"What about the future?" Helen Norris asked. "We hear a lot about inclusion, but for many children and their parents, it is only a very fashionable word. To achieve its aim it has to become a process which can accommodate enormous differences in ability. A good education system must accommodate everyone!"
Nowadays all UK schools have Special Educational Needs Coordinators and there are also extensive programs of training for Special Needs Assistants. Such developments must enable more positive and efficient planning for children with special needs to take place so that as adults they can play an active and rewarding part in society.

Inclusion, Early Years and Human Rights

Everyone accepted that people with special needs had a right to education but the type of education to which they were entitled was perceived very differently. For some it extended no further than caring and protecting them from the big, wide world.

In July 1994 the Salamanca Statement was adopted by UNESCO and many countries signed up to this statement on the rights of children. Apart from saying that every child had a fundamental right to education, the agreement also advocated their opportunity to achieve and maintain acceptable levels of learning.
 

The Salamanca Statement did not exclude children with special needs, indeed, it advocated the right of children with special needs ‘to have access to mainstream schools, which should accommodate them within a child centered pedagogy, capable of meeting their needs’.

Schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building inclusive societies and achieving education for all.

The present UK government supports the concept of inclusion and has promoted inclusion in mainstream schools where parents want it, and where appropriate support can be provided. ‘This remains the cornerstone of our strategy, but in reality it does not happen very often’. There are many barriers to inclusion, especially among medical people and staff working in special schools. Even the definition of inclusion is not clear cut. Inclusion is a process and integration os often a matter of location.

Research on the development of twins had shown that after genetic potential, peer relationships were the most important forces in shaping both achievements and self image.

How society views disabled people varies and is generally based on preconceptions. Early civilizations believed that physical perfection was paramount. Later, Christianity offered a more charitable approach, but even then disabled people were not accepted or welcome in society. The medical profession was seen as the only source of hope with cure, therapy treatments. The medical model is still the dominant one, even today it often focuses on the problem to be cured, often advocating institutions which segregate and exclude.
The social model focuses on the barriers in the environment, the attitudes of others and the policies and practices and practices and procedures of organizations. It recognizes that while often little can be done to change impairment, great deal can be done to get rid of barriers and create a more equal society in all aspects of live. 

In the battle for inclusion parents and professionals should be the allies of young disabled people.

Working Together

However, Portage home visitors also belonged to other teams outside their Portage service, such as multi agency child development teams. Their level of involvement in these groups varied, but they shared common goals. Professionals tend to have similar training an agreed and defined role and a sense of identity associated with shared values, a common technical language and strong service orientation. Because of these multi-disciplinary teams also have their own particular problems. The professionals can be highly territorial and object to people encroaching on their patch. ‘They also have and use their own language, put great value on their independence and their own ideas and often fail to acknowledge that others can have a say in assessing or planning. However, if we can overcome our differences, multi disciplinary team work can make a big contribution to the delivery of services by widening perspectives, overcoming blind spots, sharpening the focus and developing a common language.

To work efficiently, multi disciplinary teams must first acknowledge that the work is difficult. Everyone involved must be prepared to try and understand the problems of others, to recognize their own limitations and to allow plenty of time. Mark Fox concluded his lecture with the promise that ‘if we can overcome the difficulties the benefits to our clients of multi disciplinary team work can be enormous’, he said. 

Workshops at the ‘99' Conference

One of the conference’s greatest strengths is that the program allows for ample opportunities to catch up with friends and colleagues and to meet new Portage people. While each conference buzzes with people exchanging ideas, comparing notes and finding solutions to their problems, it also has many light moments which include jokes shared over a drink (or two) or simply letting your hair down in the disco.

Nearly everyone leaves tired, but also bursting with new ideas and looking forward to the next one.