Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Rationale: The mainstream approach to early intervention rehabilitation services for children with developmental delay in the Western world assumes that children who do not achieve age-linked skill norms require therapy to help them catch up. However, this doesn't resonate in the cultural views of every population around the world. Further, therapy is most effective when it matches the cultural values and socioeconomic situations of the people it is provided to. Acting with humility and thinking critically about practice approaches have been proposed as ways to improve rehabilitation practices in non-Western contexts. Objectives: By examining research projects exploring experiences with early intervention in India and Nunavut, this paper will identify assumptions in Western rehabilitation norms that do not work in all contexts. Approach: By using critical theory and critical reflections, this presentation examines mainstream rehabilitation norms in terms of their application in two culturally contexts: India and Nunavut, Canada. This is done through examination of research results from projects interviewing parents of children receiving rehabilitation services in each of the two locations. Results: Interviews with parents in Nunavut and India show very different experiences with developmental rehabilitation services. However, they share a theme of Western rehabilitation norms not always being a good fit. This lack of fit is attributed to assumptions that rehabilitation norms make with regards to culture, values and economic class. Social norms and understandings of how people are integrated into society differed between the two contexts, as did thoughts about the power inherent in the services they had been exposed to. Conclusions: Therapists should think critically before integrating Western research evidence or practice guidelines in non-Western contexts. Practicing with humility shows potential to improve practice.