Educating Children with Disabilities in Hungary

Having spent over a week now in Hungary discussing the education of children with disabilities, I wanted to put together a few thoughts for interested persons.

As we in the US know, the evolution of inclusive education in public schools has been a very long path. Families live with the immediate problem of developing the skills and inclusion of the child. They also live with the reality of schools that know how to develop a plan, but that often still find ways to be exclusive of the child. There are therapists, school liaisons, psychologists and more. Suburban schools do better in this area than urban or rural schools, but there is at least some sort of functioning network that places kids in inclusive settings where possible, and provides some options when not.

In Hungary, the education of children with disabilities is concerned with a lot of the same basic needs, but the system is incredibly under-resourced. There are literally no real programs for the inclusion of kids with disabilities in mainstream schools. Anett and her group are working on some pilot projects, but part of the legacy of the Hungarian Communist era is an emphasis on standardization for everything, including in the classroom. This gives very little flexibility for inclusion.

Essentially, if you are a kid with a disability in Hungary, either you can handle the regular curriculum, or you are sent to a "special school." If you are a rural kid with a disability, either you get sent away to board at the "special school" (usually in Budapest) or you just stay home and get no education/training. The curriculum at the "special school" does not match that in the regular school for content or maturity level.

There are about ten "special schools" in Budapest, each focusing on a different area of disability need. One school is for kids with autism. Another is for kids who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Yet another is for kids with intellectual disabilities. This morning, Anett took me to visit the school for kids with multiple disabilities who are nonverbal. This is the only school of its kind in Hungary.

An office/therapy room

About twelve children attend this school, and they range in age from 6 to 16. All have severe (and multiple) disabilities and all are nonverbal. The primary goal of this school is therapy that provides ways to communicate, whether that is through pictures, colors, music or other ways. The curriculum is not at all a standard curriculum that includes, for example, math. The main goal of the school is simply to foster the children in learning to communicate.

The school is run by the Bliss Foundation. There is some state funding for program costs like staff salary, but the foundation must raise funds for items like adaptive equipment and therapy items. Referrals to the school are made by specialists.  Parent involvement is often high, but it depends on the family. The director, Paul, and a staffer named Noemi gave me the grand tour of the school.  At the point where I visited, all the students were in music therapy, several accompanied by one-on-one aides.

Anett pointed out that the staff work very hard, the facility is nice, and the staff are committed to supporting the students, but resources and time are limited. Since the school is separate from regular students, I sensed that it would be a huge shift to get people to think in terms of inclusion...when you educate children separately like this, expectations can fall. Paul and Noemi did say there are events where non-disabled kids visit the school or interact with the students, but my personal instincts were that as long as these children are kept apart from their peers, it will be very difficult for them to build relationships towards real adult inclusion.

These issues are why Anett is making the effort to school her son Eric at the new therapy school, Csodacsigahaz.  Eric is ten, has severe CP, and is nonverbal, but he can read and recently he tried out a new communication system that relies on tracking his eyes. He also engages with all the people around him and is clearly a lively kid with lots of potential. Because Anett has a vision for inclusion, her expectations for Eric are high, and the hard work she and Zoli have done to support him really shows.

In the end, inclusion is not just about hard work, but also about an attitude of high expectations. A boy who is ten and has a disability is not a baby or a thing. He is a ten year old boy who is a person, who can grow and learn.  The question of course for all children with disabilities in Hungary is whether they will be able to access the gift of high expectations and inclusion, or continue to be segregated and shut away.