Application of the ICF on students with disabilities at school in India

Abstract

ICF serve as the basis for both the assessment and measurement of disability in many scientific, clinical, administrative and social policy contexts. However, few studies have used the application of ICF on students with disabilities in scientific and clinical context in India. The objective of this study is to identify the problems and record information by implementing the ICF as the basis for both the assessment and measurement of barriers/facilitator in students with disability in educational setting on clinical and social policy contexts. Method & procedure - A focus group of participants selected as to represent each level of school and each type of disability service provider working in rehabilitation institute. The group for the Identification Card included only teachers; that for the Functional Diagnosis was constituted only by multi-disciplinary health professionals from Disability Services; that for the Achievable Functional Goal Setting Profile and the Individual Educational Action Plan were mixed, including both teachers and operators from Disability Services. Results- In the school year 2021-23, the school sent 206 identification cards to disability services using the ICF model; the disability services issued 118 new disability certifications (57.3% of the received 206 identification cards). The school received 220 Functional Diagnosis from the disability services. The number of achievable functional goal setting profile stands at 132 and reached 54 number of Individual Educational Action Plan. Conclusion- In summary, the study suggested that to make any treatment effective for students with disabilities the medical, allied health expert like occupational therapist and the skilled teacher need to work hand in hand.