The necessity of Policy/legislation for implementation of Early intervention for children with a disability: A case/context for Nigeria.

Joy Igoni*, Brenna Farrow

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The enactment of early intervention legislation ensures that all children with disabilities from birth to the age of three receive appropriate early intervention services. This policy or legislation is the rules and regulations for a country guiding the practice of early intervention, as well as stipulating the rights of children with disabilities. It acts as a guideline to Local, State, Federal government and other allied agencies in providing and establishing the necessary system of early intervention services. With regards to special education and early intervention for children or adults with disabilities in Nigeria, the only mandate comes from Section 8 of the National Policy on Education. However, there is no legal mandate from the government to carry out the objectives enumerated in Section 8 of the National Policy on Education with regards to children or adults with disabilities. For early intervention to be implemented effectively in Nigeria there must be an enacted Federal law, which will aid children with disabilities and their families. The aim of this paper is to describe the status of policies or legislation/law, with regards to implementation of early intervention for children with disabilities in Nigeria. Methodology: the study employed the use of simple descriptive statistics, and used questionnaires, unstructured interviews and literature reviews. The participants (57 females and 36 males) included mostly professionals involved in early intervention for children with disabilities, and parents of children with disabilities in Nigeria. The study found that Government budgetary plan to implement a legal support or pass a bill in line with the enumerated objectives in Section 8 of the National Policy on education is minimal or non-existent. In addition, Government’s support in terms of needed resources/facilities is substituted for edible items for moral boosting. Lastly, government has a nonchalant attitude towards early intervention policy and support to parents and children with disabilities. Thus, it was deduced that Nigeria lacks a policy or law/legislation on early intervention practice.
Original languageEnglish
Article number14
Pages (from-to)171-182
Number of pages12
JournalPaidagogos
Volume1
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2015

Keywords

  • Government policy
  • early intervention
  • children with disabilities
  • legislation
  • Nigeria

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