United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Babies (also known as Fueang Fa Home) is a governmental agency which was established on 14 November 1978. It serves children with all types of disabilities, aged 0-7 years old by providing rehabilitation and developmental programs to enhance their ability in order that they can live independently and develop themselves into their full potential.

Rehabilitation for blind children provided by the Home is divided into 2 groups categorized by age, ability, and development and level of impairment. Each group comprises of 10 children and one child development stimulating teacher. Training has been provided in three ways which are (1) developmental stimulation, (2) behavior management, and (3) academic preparation before getting into education system. Child development stimulating teacher has designed weekly training schedule which is divided into two sessions: morning session from 9.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and afternoon session from 1.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Children will be trained according to the schedule by using materials and organizing activities.

Although Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Babies has provided services for children with all types of disability, the Home has generally provided them with materials and equipments that suit their disabilities. However, blind children need more to use all sensations in their body to participate in activities in the class. Some materials and activities are not suitable for blind children, for example a restroom used for daily life activity training is located in a 3.5 x 4 meters dormitory. It has no privacy for blind children during training of bathing and body cleaning. There are no specific spaces for the training of blind children. The training is organized in general rooms also used for training of children with other types of disability. Not only there are no safe paths for blind children to walk by using their sensation but also there are only roads with many cars passed by to be used for walking training. This environment has a very high risk of accident and caused the blind children to be fearful and unable to participate in activities confidently. Because of this situation, during lunch breaks, child development stimulating teacher is required to lead the blind children to the dormitory and return to the class in the afternoon. The continued change of environment makes a serious negative impact on the quality of training: the children cannot gain appropriate skills or take more time due to the decreased opportunities to repeat and continue their practice. Other related factors include the background of the blind children as most of them came from families at high risk, economic problems, family problems, and other social problems. They, therefore, feel that it is difficult to trust others and often lack a sense of emotional security because they do not receive love and appropriate supports from their family. These factors cause a delay of their development and the success of training also.

The desire to improve these circumstances inspired us to initiate this Day Care Project for Blind Children in Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Babies to help this group of children to build a firm foundation for their future growth by assisting them to fully develop themselves physically, mentally and emotionally in their early childhood.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The key benefits resulting from the initiative included: 1.1 Positive feedback from a public hearing on 9 September 2008; 1.2 The increase of the number of study visit from education sector, practitioners in the field of disability, and Thai and international visitors from various organizations such as the Royal Police Cadet Academy; student interns from the Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University; the Foundation for Children’s Future, Japan; the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP); etc.; 1.3 Disseminate in the social innovation and welfare book; 1.4 Disseminate in ‘Modern Mom’ Television Show on air on 30 December 2007; 1.5 Second Best Award of the Service Innovation from Department of Social Development and Welfare; 1.6 Honorable Mention Award in the category of service quality for people from the Office of the Civil Service Commission in 2009.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
This project is a result of collaboration between administrators and practitioners of the Home who are the Superintendent, the Head of Welfare Division, psychologist and child development stimulating teachers who contribute their knowledge and expertise together. Administrators managed facilities, human resources and plan with the Head of Welfare Division while stimulating teachers were responsible for child development. This collaboration fostered the effectiveness of the work of day care staff. It is very helpful for working as a team because all team members understand their roles and responsibilities clearly. When the improvement of child disability is successful, it will bring great joy to all staff who works hard.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
(1) Thinking Strategy is a holistically integration of knowledge management regarding blind children together with utilizing technical knowledge to create effective ways to promote child development. (2) Environmental strategy is developed to set up a warm learning and development environment in the Day Care Center by dividing rooms and space properly for child development stimulation. Materials and equipments are organized by work purposes, for instance hearing skill training room, touching skill training room, fine motor training zone, academic preparation zone, gross motor training zone, canteen, bathroom, toilet, and bedroom. As for the outdoor activities, the concept of natural therapy can be applied by utilizing natural public parks and playgrounds as learning resources suitable for sensation training. (3) Procedural strategy utilizes knowledge to develop the ability of children to their full potential which include daily living activity training, sensory stimulation, sensory integration and six skills development, namely gross motor skill, fine motor skill, self care and social skill, speaking and language skill, thinking skill and academic preparation. It also covers the use of modern technology to improve quality of services e.g. Snoezelen technique, listening program, and hydro activity.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The value of Day Care Center lies in the combination of methods that stimulate development of children and promotes their emotional security in 2 dimensions as follows: Physical dimension – the Day Care Center plays its role to be: -A learning center for the stimulation of child development, rehabilitation, and promotion of learning process of children. -A center for behavior management and problem solving for children. -A center for relaxation by providing a warm and relaxed atmosphere. Emotional dimension Naturally, children aged 0-7 years require more intensive care. However, all children do not live with their families leading to the lack of socialization guided from family. As a result, it tends to make them having emotional and behavioral problems. The Day Care Center for Blind Children should be a place providing a warm touch and bringing a lively feeling to children through the gentle and kind services that help the children to feel accompanied and to build up their emotional and mental security.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Blind children have a delay of development in some areas because visual impairment affected other developmental areas, for example social, intellectual and motor development. Most of children in the Home usually have multiple disabilities, such as Down syndrome, mental problem, short attention, etc. Rehabilitation provided for blind children with multiple disabilities is, therefore, even more of a challenge. The staff of the Day Care Center is playing a very important role. The Home selected two staff rich in knowledge and experience to work as child development stimulating teachers and hired two more assistant teachers. This staff is truly qualified for training children in the Day Care Center as they are very willing to sacrifice, kind, gentle, careful, merciful and have faith in this work. They also have good morals and possess a positive attitude towards children with disabilities. All of these factors resulted in good quality of service provided to blind children since the beginning.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
- Building: The first floor of a useless building was renovated to be used for the location of the Day Care Center for Blind Children while the second floor was used as a residence of the teacher. Services providing started from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. The building was maintained to respond the children’s need in order that they could walk back to their dormitory at lunch time. The construction was funded by Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Babies in the fiscal year of 2007. -Personnel: Staff of Day Care Center was trained and attended field visits before starting their work, for example the study visits to Bangkok School for the Blind, Special Education Center, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Training on Daily Living of the Blind and Orientation and Mobility Training. After the opening of the Day Care Center, the staff continues attending additional training which enable them working effectively all the time. - Materials and equipments: The existing materials and equipments were adapted to suite the need of blind children. New materials were created by teachers and some were received from donors. The Thai-Japanese Association School provided funding support to redecorate the environment outside in the total amount of 100,000 baht. Apart from that, other donations were difficult to assess. Some people contributed their valuable free time to work as a volunteer, such as a decoration of garden, materials making, etc.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
There is only one developmental stimulation center for blind children operating in the form of day care model. Since it was formally opened on 30 August 2007, 78 blind children were served with acceptable standards evaluated by the increase of study visit. The model was studied and applied broadly stimulated many new government services for other types of disabilities.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Factors contributing to the successful project outcomes are an increase of service quality and the maintenance of service standard resulting from: -Personnel development through the following training as follows: Therapy for persons with autism based on psychological principle during 10-12 October 2007 Understanding our Children during 15-19 October 2007 Thai Massage for Children with Disabilities during 15-19 June 2008 Music for Health and Therapy during 23-25 June 2008 Baby Massage during 26-28 November 2008 Rhythmic Movement during 12-14 May 2009 -Promoting positive thinking and awareness – Although the Day Care Center for Blind Children has succeeded, it cannot compare with the attempt of the blind children themselves who practice everything that they were taught to improve their disability. Even sometimes they were willing to provide cooperation and sometimes not just as other children in general. These children have inspired, empowered and encouraged all staff who works with them. The most important part of day care service system that strengthens the Day Care Center is the children under the care of Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Children.


Institution Name:		Pak Kret Home for Mentally Disabled Babies
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Mrs.Pongrajanee Orachon
Title:		Superintendent
Telephone/ Fax:		+(66)2 582 3978
Institution's / Project's Website:		+(66)2 583 4000
E-mail:		fuengfah@fuengfah.com
Address:		78/9 Moo1 Tiwanon Road, Pak kret District
Postal Code:		11120
City:		-
State/Province:		Nonthaburi province
Country:		Thailand

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information