Warm Touch!!!

Disabled persons are not freaks

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:42:00 +0000

When a differently-able child comes into this world, parents go through traumatic experience. There are lots of blame games played by close family members and friends, most of the time, mother is blamed for conceiving not-so-normal child. Because of such pressures from society, guilt sets in and mother goes through bouts of depression. She may be forced to give up her social life, personal commitments, her job and other activities to give full time attention to her child.

Lucky are those who get family support and help her pass through the first hurdle of shock and put her on route to acceptance, to help her to accept her child as he is and to think about how best to adjust to such disability, and move on.

Because disabled children are not freaks to be pitied, accommodated or ignored while planning a difficult task, they are also humans who are simply differently able

Some parents are too clingy and protective to their child. They won’t allow their child to grow and be independent. When Harpeet Kaur was admitted to our school SBP-School for Mentally challenged, her mother carried this 11-year-old child to school and we believed that she could not walk. But after month, I was surprised to see her strolling in the school compound. She had overcome her fear of falling and was inspired to follow her class mates.

The differently able person can do wonderful things if given an opportunity. All they need is understanding and compassion, we just need to stand close enough to offer help but far enough to allow the child to spread its wings.

At only five years old, Shayaan Qureshi has come up the perfect response to the many people who stare at him - a big, toothy smile.

"I just look straight at people and smile," said the little Bahraini resident, who was born without arms. "I tell them I don't have hands but I can do everything."

Shayaan has dysmelia, a rare,congenital upper-limb disorder. His family was recently in Dubai to meet a support group for people with special needs and their relatives.

I had met Malini at Oxford Book Stall few years ago when I had attended Caferati Read-meet. She communicated with me through typing in her machine and I was amused by her sense of humor. I admired the way she has conquered Cerebral Palsy and is the crusader for rights of disabled persons. She has been awarded the national Award as a role model by the Ministry of Social Justice.

Did I have my own personality? Was I just another disabled girl who needed things done for her? I knew that I was different and trapped in a dysfunctional body, but did others realize I had a spirit and a mind separate from this body? My body did not work like others, but did they realize that my mind was normal? Did they consider thinking that my desires were just the same as theirs? Writes Mailni in her book titled ‘One Little finger’

Live life to the fullest” says Malini Chib, author of “One little Finger’.

And how can we ignore Stefen Hawkins?

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Stephen Hawking in the Blue Room of the White House before a ceremony presenting him and fifteen others the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 12 August2009. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honour.

Neither can we ever forget our famous singer Steve Wonders who sang “I just called to say I love you, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart…”

Wonder is presented the Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement by United States president Barack Obama

Once the differently abled people who are gifted with special talent are integrated into the mainstream, they are able to compete in the society and show their worth. It’s just the question of acceptance and will power.

Self Advocates Training Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:11:00 +0000

When Pranita Madkaikar invited me to experience' the self-advocate training workshop' that she was conducting, I was only too happy to accept. I had heard about this 5 weeks workshop that she and Charu Shah were organizing for special students/ mentors and was curious to know how the children had benefited from this program.

I reached the SBP, Centre for mentally challenged school at CBD and the session was on. The children were introducing themselves and the theme was ‘Voting and Elections’.

A group of about eight children (in the mock elections) sat together facing the audience. Each child was given a chance to make a speech; they tried to make promises like leaders, trying to express their will to bring about change when they were elected.

This exercise might be very easy for a normal child who is creative and spontaneous, but with special child it was an effort, it is tough when the thought process and the speech are not synchronized togather. Each child struggled to get his idea across, for a Cerebral Palsy child, the speech was slow and slurred and it was difficult to understand as she struggled with every word. Some just spoke few sentences and some just made few sounds, then there were some who were able to give a speech in 5-6 sentences but the remarkable point was that all children willingly took the mike to say something. Nobody was conscious about speaking on the mike.

That was followed by all children standing in queue, registering for the election, staining the finger, taking the printed paper with the picture of the contestants, standing behind the booth, stamping on the desired picture and dropping their vote in the ballot box.

The whole process was done so efficiently that one could never guess that how much effort and training was involved for them to be able to perform such an act with so much confidence and discipline.

When the children registered for this training, most of the children had no confidence to speak freely.

Hands-on corporate style training was imparted on important self advocacy skills like

1. Developing self esteem
2. Identifying ones strengths and limitations.
3. Listening
4. Getting to know each other
5. Making choices
6. Working together
7. Problem solving
8. Leadership
9. Public speaking
10. Reporting abuse
11. Health & Hygiene

Different games were played during the sessions to help children interact with each other. Different teaching aids like colored beads, musical instruments, kitchen utensils, picture postcards, fresh fruits and vegetables, and things used in daily life activities were used during the program.

The trainer would explain the activity, the members would be divided into groups, the trainer would pose a problem, children would be encouraged to find a solution, they would later have discussion and interaction in understanding the problem.

The member were encouraged to recollect activities held during the day and were encouraged to relate the learning from the activities

Remarkable positive changes were observed in the confidence levels and expressive abilities of all the self advocates.

The Navi Mumbai & Raigad Chapter of the SASI was officially launched on 21st October, 2011.

23 Adults with Intellectual disabilities from 7 Organizations from Navi Mumbai and Raigad took part in this program. These self advocates underwent a formal 5 week training for this purpose.

These weekly full day training programs conducted at Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan Special School, Belapur and Skills & Ability Special School, Nerul from 17th September to 15th October, 2011, were planned and conducted by Ms. Charu Shah and Ms. Pranita Madkaikar. 7 mentors (one from each of the participating Organizations) and three Volunteers were also an integral part of this training.

Formal elections were conducted and 6 Office Bearers and 2 members elected by the self advocates from amongst themselves took charge of the Navi Mumbai & Raigad Chapter of SASI from 21st October, 2011. The Mentors will continue to be with the team as facilitators, with the self advocates deciding the roadmap for the future. The volunteers too will help the team by maintaining liaison with external agencies.

Funding for operational expenses of this project is being provided by the Maharashtra Chapter of PARIVAAR (PARIVAAR SAHYADRI) and the Parents association of Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan Special School, Belapur. PARIVAAR is a National level Federation of associations of parents of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

SASI (Self-Advocates Society of India) is an NGO that pledges to open up a world of opportunity for people with developmental disabilities by educating its members, families and supporters, and the general public on the abilities of people with developmental/intellectual disabilities.

- Communities will profit from the contributions of hard working citizens.
- Families will benefit from the inclusion of their loved ones into their communities.
- People with developmental disabilities will grow, building their self-respect and confidence in their ability to succeed.

All the children who took part in this program were given the certificate of participation

Trapped in a Body that refuses to Obey- Cerebral Palsy

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:37:00 +0000

Prachi looked at me from the corner of her eye and smiled as I entered the classroom. All other children were distracted too. One child got up and limped towards me, stretching his trembling hand towards me. I held his hand tight and guided him to his seat.

“Sit and do your work” I said giving him a soft pat on his head and then walked away towards the seat where Prachi was seated.

Prachi moved her stiff muscles, holding the pencil box under one arm while she struggled to extract the pencil with her tightly stretched fingers. Repeatedly she tried grasping the pencil to slide it out from plastic clasp of the box. Her movements were jerky and abrupt, it appeared to be uncontrolled and without purpose. Her body moved and suddenly she fell off the seat, with her legs in scissor-like position and her hands stiff, up in the air. Her classmates startled, all rushed and stood around her as she lay stiff on the floor, staring at children around her.
“Move back, go back to your seats” I said while I held her under her arms, lifted her heavy body and helped her sit on her seat again.

“You okay? Be careful” I said as I removed the pencil from her box and placed it between her fingers.

Being careful is not easy for Prachi, especially if she lives in a body that refuses to obey her.

Ten-year old Prachi suffers from Cerebral palsy, a condition caused by abnormal development of brain and nervous system due to which there is stiffness in the muscles and constriction of motor activity. She has problems with posture, balance, walking, speech, swallowing and other functional coordination.

“When Prachi was born, she did not cry” says her mother, Anita Chavan, “there was not enough oxygen to reach her brain as the result her brain was damaged.”

All her milestones were delayed; she could not control her head, roll over or sit without support. Over the years, she has shown little progress but she needs help in most of her activities.

Cerebral palsy can result from the damage to certain part of the brain which can be due to prenatal, natal or postnatal factors.

Risk factors linked with cerebral palsy can include Rh factor incompatibility where there is difference in blood between mother and fetus; however this is almost detected and treated in women who receive proper prenatal medical care, sometimes it can be genetic or hereditary condition, There is a bigger risk if there is complication during labor and delivery due to which the brain does not receive enough oxygen.

“She is quite normal in other ways,” says her mother, “She understands everything and is intelligent too. She is quite independent and does most of her thing on her own; I help her only with brushing her teeth and combing her hand.”

During the lunch time at school, her classmate brought for her a bowl of water and helped her wash her hands. She unlocked her lunch box independently and clapped her hands when she saw the Aloo Paratha in her lunch-box. Her classmate rolled out the Paratha into a small cone and placed it in her hands. She started to chew, masticating each bite slowly, with her saliva dripping from the side of her mouth.

The problems and disabilities related to Cerebral Palsy range from very mild to very severe. Their severity is related to the severity of the brain damage.

At the age of 7 months, Prachi suffered from minor fits. Her mom took her for many tests, visiting various doctors and hospitals. At Nanavati, Mumbai, she underwent EEG (Electroencephalography) for the diagnosis of seizure disorder. Physiotherapy was then suggested for relief. Once a year, her mom, Anita Chavan, regularly visits a hospital in Nagpur where parents of CP are given training in physiotherapy to help their child. To help her child further, Anita Chavan has even completed the special education Teacher’s course from NIMH at Navi Mumbai.

While special treatments are given to the child to develop specific skills, the overall goal of treatment is to help the individual to live the life as normal as possible. This can be accomplished by variety of different approaches managed by team of professionals like physical, occupational, psychological, medical, speech therapies, etc.

Physical therapy involves stretching, bending, yoga, and other physical exercises to strengthen the muscular reflexes. The focus is on developing specific skills such as holding the head straight, sitting without support and walking independently. Occupational therapy involves development of fine motor movements like feeding, grooming and personal care. Speech therapy is used to overcome communication problems. Many children with Cerebral Palsy have limited and slurred speech because of the poor muscle coordination of tongue and lips. Medical therapy comprises of all the medical problems like seizures, breathing, feeding and digestive problems and their treatment.

Prachi is mentally alert child and was admitted in a normal playschool in Bangalore at the age of 3 years. When her family shifted to Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, she could not locate any special schools for spastic in her area. “I want to integrate her into a normal school” says her mom, “the only special school for Spastic is in Bandra which is very far. I wish there were more school for such children in my area.” She was admitted to Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan, Centre for mentally challenged in 2010 where she is presently attending regularly. She is able to read and write alphabets and numbers, also knows to read and write her name and postal address and is learning many other activities.

Its play time and Prachi walks slowly down the stair, balancing her weight with both her hands on rails. She is social and follows children to the playroom. While other children run and jump, she squats on the floor, looking around for some Montessori equipment to pass her time.

Ps: National Cerebral Palsy Day is celebrated on 3rd October 2011. This is celebrated in memory of Late Dr. Dr.P. K. Mullaferoze

“Cerebral palsy is a multifaceted problem with many systems of the human body which are affected. This requires a team approach and infrastructure in its management. Sadly this is lacking. As a result of lack of awareness, patients present late, much beyond the golden period when a definite impact can be made by treatment. Hence the need to create social awareness and to sensitize our population and government to the problems of cerebral palsy patients is acute.”- Durga Mallikarjuna

Joys and Challenges of Teaching Mentally Challenged

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:17:00 +0000

It is time for games. Each person is given one chit containing the name of the animal. At the sound of the whistle, the participants unfold the chit and make a sound of the animal searching for similar sounds. Whole room is filled with different sounds, some baying, some mooing, some quacking and some barking, within 2 minutes one group has found the family of four meowing cats and is the winner. The winners are the staff of a special school and the game organisers are the parents of special children. Celebration of teacher’s day is in progress and special children are having fun watching their teachers running around making strange sounds.

Teachers around the world celebrate 5th September as teacher’s day. The birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan came to be celebrated as Teacher's Day when, one day, some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday. In reply, Dr. Radhakrishnan said, "instead of celebrating my birthday separately, it would be my proud privilege if September 5th is observed as Teacher's day". From then onwards, Dr. Radhakrishnan's birthday is observed as Teacher's Day all across India.

The greatest joy is when children show their appreciation to their teachers by singing their favorite song, reciting a poem or giving a rose. But teaching a special child has a joy of its own.

“You experience the purest form of love when working with the special children”, says Sukanya Venkatraman, the Principal of Swami Brahmamnand Pratishthan, Centre for Special children. “They are the most innocent beings that I have come across in my life. They are totally selfless and I have had the opportunity of learning the concept ‘Love without any expectation’ while teaching them. Their genuine appreciation, their thoughtful gestures fill me with wonder.”

In the early years, during her training period, Sukanya was scared to teach the children with severe behavior problems and had no idea how she would handle that, but experience over the years have helped her overcome her initial fear and apprehensions. “More than handling the behavior problems of the children, handling their parents is more challenging.” She says. “Helping them accept their child’s handicap and making them believe in themselves and in their child took the utmost effort. Most challenging is finding the job placement for our well-trained students.”

Swami Brahamanand Pratishthan was founded in June 1990 by Shirish Poojari with just two children. Over the period of twenty years, the school has progressed considerably and has 150 students on its roll. “I am happy to see the development in the children, and see their progress in daily life activities”, says Shirish Poojari, “In our institution, children are trained according to their ability and our goal is make them economically independent but our biggest challenge is funding and keeping the school afloat. When the children are older we are not able to keep them in school for long and there is need for some residential home where they could be looked after and work in the sheltered workshops.”

“My greatest joy is when they bring home the certificate of appreciation, I love working with special children, when I reach home at the end of the day, I am refreshed and active” says Madhuben Shah, the drawing teacher. “I want them to bring out their artistic expression through their painting. My biggest challenge is making them focus to attain near perfection by drawing and painting.” Madhuben teaches drawing starting with basic strokes, graduating to more complex designs. One of their paintings was appreciated by my friend from US and she bought it on line. The children also make beautiful greeting cards and colorful posters.

“Being in their company and working with them is a joy itself” says Sunit Marwah, who is in charge of the vocation unit since last five years. There are various activities in the vocational unit such as making paper-bags, Rakhis, lamps, toran, pillow covers, duster, hand-bags, beaded jewelry, chocolates, ground masalas, etc which are later sold during exhibitions and children are given little stipend for their work. “I like to see the joy on their face on completing a certain articles and this gives me the greater joy. My biggest challenge is taming an aggressive child.” She talks about one particular child, Rohini, who was so aggressive when she came to school, she would throw temper tantrum, fling things and create commotion in school, but with little understanding and love, she has been able to discipline the girl.

“When I came to teach the special children I didn’t know what was expected of me” says 43-old Anita, who has been teaching computers to the special children since last 11 years. “Now-a-days there is wealth of information on internet and it has become easy to plan a proper lesson program and follow the particular format but during those days there were no proper reference books and I had to adopt trial and error methods to understand what works and what doesn’t. My biggest challenge is when the children are not in the mood of doing a particular activity and I am forced to steer my activity to their liking, sometimes I am not sure if the child is hearing and understanding me at all. But my greatest joy is when they are able to follow my instructions and produce good results.” She proudly talks about her student who had won the competition at state level on art work produced on computer.

While teaching a normal child is a challenge, teaching a special child is double challenge. Teaching special children involves parents, social workers, society members and other professionals. It is the continuous process. The children tend to forget easily and they have to be taught again and again till the child is able to understand the concept and use it to his daily life. The simple adding and subtraction is taught in different ways to suit his level of understanding.

It is not easy for parents too.

“I always worried how my child would manage when she starts menstruating, but I am glad that she has managed quite well” says Madhu Verma, mother of 17-years-old Sneha. Sneha is Down’s Syndrome child who surprises her mother by watching ants walking in line, of running after soap bubbles and gracefully shaking her hips to the rhythm of the music. “I have learnt to appreciate her and see the world through her eyes” says she with a smile.

The biggest challenge the parents of the special child face is to plan their future. “My son is 22 years old and the extreme pressure is ‘What next?’. I worry about the guardianship after our existence, of financial investment and how these investments will guarantee their future, about the family life of my son, whether he will be able to nurture a family of his own” says Davis Ipe, father of Neil who is learning some vocation skills at school. “Most challenging is the fact that we are growing older and weaker everyday and to find the perfect substitute to replace parents is our deepest concern.”

The special child unaware of the challenges that are lined up by society, lives each day as it comes, enjoying the present moment. He is unhappy when in pain, aggressive when things go wrong and claps his hand with joy on seeing his smallest achievement. His teacher and his parents try their best to block his pain.Happy teacher’s day to his teachers and his parents!!

excerpts from this article can also be found on Women's Web Magazine

The joys of working for no salary

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:52:00 +0000

by Raamesh Gowri Raghavan

The list of joys gained when working at a job with a salary can be detailed as follows:

1.Receipt of salary in bank account

2.Payment of dues, bills etc without late charges

3.Relied at timely payment

These are all I could envision. I have a distinct feeling that nagging bosses, unreal deadlines, conflicting ethics, family pressures, unfulfilled aspirations and suffocating compromises have a tendency to more than cancelling out these joys. Yet, the bills get paid, and that is {insert swear-word here} important.

Then comes the list of joys gained for working without a salary. It could be a bold step into entrepreneurship, or volunteering for charity. I have neither the money, nor the boldness to throw away my job (however I may itch to fling my resignation at my bosses’ faces) and start a business venture of my own. Nor do I have a great idea yet that a venture capitalist will throw money at, though I can dream of unsecured loans by a deluded investor into some grand chicken-egg-chicken-egg-chicken scheme I will think of. So all I can do is select a charity and volunteer for it.

And that, trust me, has been one of the best decisions I ever made in life. (In fact, I think it ranks second only in my decision not to marry or have kids). Five days a week I slog for an ungrateful, underpaying company (as every hard-working employee thinks s/he does), keeping the rational and calculating part of my brain active, while placing the emotional and aesthetic parts of it in a coma. On Saturdays, I switch the rational calculator off, and the emotional aesthete comes alive. I pack my bag in the morning, to catch a local train to Belapur.

For the last couple of years, I have been volunteering every Saturday at Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, a school for the mentally retarded. Despite its religious-sounding name, it is not affiliated to any math or peetham or trust. It was founded by a gutsy special education teacher, Shirish Poojary, on 7th July 1990 (Guru Poornima that year), and named after her mentor, Swami Brahmanand*. I like this particular Swami for he made no effort to set up a multi-crore religious trust operating several lucrative colleges, lived in modest circumstances in Ratnagiri district, and died as unknown as he lived. His only legacy to the world is this school set up in his memory.

[A note on the phrase ‘mentally retarded’. Some of us try to be politically corrected and say ‘mentally challenged’ or ‘special children’ or ‘differentially abled’ instead. It makes no difference to the children themselves; they will never understand. Besides, it is misleading. Many have suffered, because of genetic defects or because their mother contracted some unfortunate disease while pregnant, or because there was an accident during delivery. It leaves their mental development retarded; often they remain stuck at the mental age of seven or eight for the rest of their lives. They cannot do anything special, or different, nor can they rise to the ‘challenge’. ‘Mentally retarded’ is to me the right phrase, for it immediately alerts the ‘normal’ people around them that there is a problem, and that it needs sensitivity and empathy, not political correctness.]

So what do I do in this school? I’m not qualified to teach the students anything (since I have nothing I can teach them, nor anyone else), so I do whatever is assigned to me. Some bit of blogging the school’s activities (http://sbp-pushpa.blogspot.com/), acting as photographer during school activities, and generally doing paperwork. This includes writing letters to sponsors, updating records of sponsorships, drafting other letters, and a whole lot of similar things. Which I would have considered immensely infuriating had it come with a salary attached. But since it doesn’t, it is very interesting, and gives me a great deal of happiness.

The minus side is that it is a drain on my finances. I have to spend money travelling to and fro every Saturday (and because this is me, snacking on the way). And I have taken up sponsoring half the expenses for one child’s education, which comes to Rs. 12,000 a year. But if I grudge even this, then deep inside, something within me is not human at all. And since I have no wife to be nagged by or no children whose complaints irate neighbours bring home everyday, what am I to do with my salary? After all my insurance premia and home loan EMIs, helping a child along seems like a good idea for the money. My only wish is that I could do more. Which would mean finding a job with a nastier boss, outrageous clients, meaner deadlines and tearfully boring work, because that seems to bring in higher salaries.

The plus side is that I get invited to all school dos, the teachers treat me as a friend, and the founder (Mrs. Poojary, still going strong these 21 years) is quite fond of me. That means I can get free chai and snacks at school (which over-compensates the overall effort I put in). The school dos are a real treat, for while these children cannot cheat, trick, get angry, run for election, lie, plot, complain, deceive, crib, steal or willfully inflict violence (like normal, intelligent people do all the time), they can really sing, dance and remain cheerful through thick and thin. Most Saturdays I don’t get to meet them, because they get that day off, while teachers are doing up reports, holding parent-teacher meetings etc. But the days I do get to meet them, I manage to win a smile from one or a few. That can keep my spirits going for days on end.

And then I can talk to the parents. Dealt a cruel black swan by life, knowing their child will remain a child for the rest of its life. They manage, they cope, they even redesign their lives around their child. While their normal children grow old, find jobs and get married, there is one that retains its innocence forever. One that laughs at the littlest thing, complains about nothing, and accepts its lot with the stoicism that the greatest philosophers cannot achieve. Who will live and die without knowing the evil in the world. After that, who am I to complain about a cribbaceous boss, or cryaceous juniors?

I’ve managed to recruit my parents to the cause. Which means that they do not crib when I’m off on Saturdays, do not crib about how the money could be better used (which means it be spent mostly on them, or saved up for spending on my future children), and gladly agree to do my share of the housework. Not that Saturdays are an excuse to escape the housework (since their agreeing to do housework does not mean they actually do it; it jumps on me the moment I enter the house). Lately they’ve even been willing to buy some of the things the children make.

My sister is still a great critic. That’s because she is in the line of dealing with mentally retarded children herself, and she disagrees with the vocational approach taken by the school. Though I am sure she will come around, as she knows the school better. For who will take care of a child who is abjectly poor, is too mentally retarded to do even simple things like eat its food or go to the bathroom, and to make it weven worse, is a Dalit from a roadless hamlet? It takes a great amount of effort to get them to learn even a simple skill like stringing beads.

But they have an incredible sense of beauty. I’ve seen them struggle to paste bits of paper and thread while making rakhees (which are on sale now). But the choice of colours, the patterns they make, their sense of combination and contrast is unbelievable. They seem to me the very paradigm of the ‘idiot savant’. Incredibly stupid, and yet incredibly aesthetic. A genius buried irretrievably deep by an accident of birth.

I used to think I was sensitive and could understand people. Till I started volunteering at my school. Now I know there is a lot, a great lot I have to learn. To learn to be happy knowing full well I have nothing that is truly mine. To be truly sensitive to the needs and requirements of people who are vastly different from me. To understand that there is nothing superior about me, to not patronize, to not do anything I would hate done to me.

One day I will in fact fling my resignation on my bosses’ faces and work at my school full time. But there is such a thing as a grumbling stomach. Till then, joy is confined to Saturdays. The joy of enriching work at no salary.

cross-posted at Raamesh's FB notes

Parent – teacher relationship

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:04:00 +0000

Devang ties his shoelaces, looks for last time in the mirror, takes his school bag and walks down the stairs. His mom watches him from her balcony and waves good bye as she watches him disappear into the crowd. He walks down the narrow lane that is populated. There are shops on either side of the street. He stops at sweets shop and smiles at the shop keeper. He does not speak but the shop keeper understands his gestures and has known him for many years. He hands him one sweet without charging him for the same. Nibbling on the sweet he reaches the school bus stop and waits for the bus.

But he is five minutes too late. Not finding Devang at the bus stop, the bus driver had assumed that he won’t be coming to school.

Devang does not know that he has missed his school bus. He has no concept of time and he waits at the bus stop for five hours till the bus comes back after school hours and bus driver spot him at the bus stop and asks him to go back home. He is a special child. He suffers from Microcephaly, which is a medical condition in which the circumference of the head is smaller than normal because the brain has not developed properly or has stopped growing.

Both teacher and the mother did not worry about Devang because they were not aware that he was at the bus stop for five hours. Both did not know that he had missed his school bus.

This problem can be avoided if there is proper interaction between the parents and the class teacher. The teacher of a special child should be aware of the child’s problem and should find out why the child is absent from school before the school prayer assembly, preferably by making a phone call to the parents to ask the reason of his absence on that particular day.

Keeping and maintaining parent-teacher relationship is the first step towards progress of the child. Parents of the special child should be involved in child’s activities. All the activities that are carried out in school should be continued at home. A proper record of the child’s activities could be maintained by both, parents and the teacher, so that there is a follow-up. If the child is doing certain activity at school but is sitting idle at home, then the progress is slow. Most of the confrontations between parents and teachers result from lack of communication from school to home.

The parents can be informed about the classroom expectations for student’s behavior and work product. They can be informed about the daily schedules at school, what the management and discipline strategies used on each child and what progress has been shown by the child. It is important to keep the parent informed about the upcoming events, units and due dates. They can also be informed about the skills taught and the learning strategies used in the classrooms. This kind of information involves parents and keeps them updated about the child’s activities at school. If the parents have an email, teachers could regularly post information and keep them updated. If the child shows some unusual behavior at school, parents should be informed immediately so that problem can be detected and immediate attention could be given to child.

Interaction is very important between parents and teachers. Sometimes parents have one point of view while teacher have a different approach but to maintain a common harmony is what that determines the progress of the interaction. To create a positive interaction with the parents, it is important that teacher does not wait for the call but makes call regularly to build up the relationship. Talking in positive way, they can get the information from parents about the behavior of the child at home and his relationship with other family members, his likes and dislike, his preferences in his food habits, his relations with neighbors and all other details. The parents should also be given the liberty of communicating with the teacher when the need arises. When the parents know that the teacher has interest in their child she is likely to be more co-operative in positive discussions.

Knowing the child closely helps the teacher understand him better and this in the long run helps her in organizing the lesson plan for teaching him in the creative manner.

Autism’s First Child - Magazine - The Atlantic

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 19:09:00 +0000

As new cases of autism have exploded in recent years—some form of the condition affects about one in 110 children today—efforts have multiplied to understand and accommodate the condition in childhood. But children with autism will become adults with autism, some 500,000 of them in this decade alone. What then? Meet Donald Gray Triplett, 77, of Forest, Mississippi. He was the first person ever diagnosed with autism. And his long, happy, surprising life may hold some answers.
"How we respond to those needs will be shaped in great measure by how we choose to view adults with autism. We can dissociate from them, regarding them as tragically broken persons, and hope we are humane enough to shoulder the burden of meeting their basic needs. This is the view that sees the disabled in general as wards of the community, morally and perhaps legally, and that, in the relatively recent past, often “solved” the “problem” of these disabled adults by warehousing them for life—literally in wards.

Alternatively, we can dispense with the layers of sorrow, and interpret autism as but one more wrinkle in the fabric of humanity. Practically speaking, this does not mean pretending that adults with autism do not need help. But it does mean replacing pity toward them with ambition for them. The key to this view is a recognition that “they” are part of “us,” so that those who don’t have autism are actively rooting for those who do."

Management Development Program in NGO Sector

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:25:00 +0000

Recently I attended the Management Training Workshop for NGO’s and it was difficult to open my eyes as early as 6am, actually torture…..Must they have sessions as early as 8:30 am and make me set my alarm so early in the morning? Me, who is a late riser? Sigh!

Reached the venue at S.P.Jain Institute of Management and Research, Andheri on the dot of 8:30 and after quick registration and a cup of coffee I was ushered into the auditorium for the first session in the morning. There were about one hundred attendees from different parts of India all with the common goal of getting a better insight on management skills in the NGO sector.

After the inauguration lighting of the lamp, Prof. Rukaiya Joshi spoke about how we can work more professionally as an NGO and how to implement what we learn into our daily day to day work activities. That no sector can work in isolation and learning from each other becomes the important factor for progress.

Dr Sesha Iyer spoke about the value based growth of an organization. There should be proper attitude for serving and one must believe in a notion to be able to send in their idea across to other people that they should be able to take a proper decision and that influence plays an important role. While there is need on one side to do the social work there are people willing to help from the other end, all we need to manage is the networking and communication.

During the morning session Prof. Rukaiya discussed the topic on ‘Accelerating socio-economic rural development’.

There are three factors that characterize the Indian Rural development scene:

Firstly, we need to recognize and address the vast diversity that exists in India due to socio-cultural and religious forces.
Secondly, the relationship between manager and the beneficiary is both rich and complex and this can be done best on friendly terms.
Third, there are four diverse types of organizations who are involved in rural development efforts in this country, such as voluntary agencies, co-operatives, corporate sectors and the government and each of these have their own strengths and weaknesses.

In accelerating the rate of development we have to understand as to how we can contribute more than what we are already doing. During the research it has been observed that 60% of them have grown and 10% have become mega projects while some of them have ceased to exist.

Rural development is a process of facilitating empowerment of the people, leading them to self reliant and self sustaining activities, which is initiated through the interventions of external agencies.

Mainly there are four categories of action plans.

1. Networking among agencies: It is important to have partnership with other agencies of similar goals to accelerate the growth. Make a list of other NGO’s in your area and network with them, know their struggles and challenges so that you don’t waste time by trial and error method, when you can easily learn from each other and facilitate growth. Appoint the person who excels in that field to take up that particular task.
2. Using administrative tools: It is important to make reports of the project undertaken to know your strength and shortcomings which can help in future projects. It is important to find time to make proper formats and the reports so that task can be made more meaningful. The untapped sources of specialist and committed people are able to contribute to the rural development more effectively
3. Energizing the agencies: Motivation is required to create conducive atmosphere for development, five ‘M’ of management add to the organization value, (Machine, men, money, market and material). If the funds are managed well then 20% of the useless expenses can be eliminated. Translating good intentions and high investment into rapid rural progress requires concern at the highest levels with outputs, and also with managerial intervention necessary to achieve them. Effective implementation is important for success. Just making a formula is not enough, implementation is also important. There should be margin for change. Thinking in same way hampers the creativity, sometimes it is necessary to adopt completely different situation, change the system and implement it.
4. Involving the Beneficiaries: Efficiency (doing the right things), effectiveness (doing the right way) and accountability) taking the responsibility) is the root core of management. Social development is linked to economic development. If there is no growth that means something is wrong. If it does not work then you should know when to exit and that can happen only when you empower the beneficiaries. If the beneficiaries are always protected then they will never grow. Collective thinking has to happen. As long as you are clear in your ideas, you should be ready to take the blame. There should be no excuses for failure.

An Inspirational story of Hydrocephalic Survivor

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:20:00 +0000

"I changed from a guy who hoped he was dead one day to a guy who wanted to live every moment of his life as if he had never lived before. By the time I left college, I had a set of friends who were as close to me as family and I was a person, who completely believed in himself. One thing I learnt from all this, it was never the way others looked at me that changed, it was the way I looked at the world that made all the difference"

Says Tavish Chadha. He suffered from Hydrocephalic problem at the age of two months and has been operated seven times for his hydrocephalic problem, But that is all past, now he leads a very normal life in the corporate world and is a active blogger too.

He is happy to share his success story with the parents who have children suffering from the same disease.

1985 to 1989 – Early childhood

3rd July 1985, a new member was added into the Chadha family. We were a joint family back then. I wasn’t the first grandson born in the family, but as far I know, I was the most pampered. 2 months into this world and I developed a problem called Hydrocephalous. As soon as it was confirmed that something was wrong, we quickly drove down from Chandigarh to Delhi. Delhi at that time was simmering thanks to the anti-Sikh riots. Dad tells me that he stood at the gates of AIIMS holding me in his arms and the guard wouldn’t allow him inside accusing him of being a terrorist. After he pleaded and begged him, we were allowed in, but only till the kitchen and that’s where my check up was done. Anyways, the problem was soon diagnosed and I was rushed to the operation theatre. After the operation, the doctor came and told my dad that there are high chances that I may be a mentally retard and the best he could hope for is that I have an IQ of 80. After this dad went and visited ever single gurudwara in Punjab and asked god for just one thing, “Just make sure my son gets to study.” Contrary to all expectations, I turned out to be quite a bright little kid. At the age of three, I could actually talk to people about every tennis player of those times. At an age when kids couldn’t pronounce Czechoslovakia, I could tell people what the capital of that country was. My dad tells me this story every time I curse life or god. He just says, “If it wasn’t for that god, you wouldn’t have been what you are today. Out of all the people on this planet, you can’t afford be a non-believer. ” If it wasn’t for this incident, I would have never believed in the concept of god at all. I still don’t believe in the concept of multiple religions, but I do believe that there is a divine power up there who is running the whole show on this planet. Anyways, I had a couple of surgeries in Delhi in the next couple of years and then five more in Hyderabad, where we shifted after dad got a job in Asian Paints.

1989 to 1996 – growing up years phase 1

We moved to Hyderabad in early 1989. After staying in a rented house for two months, we moved into a flat given to us by the company. The society in which we moved into, had people from all over the country. I was a very touchy kid who was always over protected by my parents. To top it all, I was a complete tube light (although, some would say I still am). This proved to be a very dangerous combination. This made me very vulnerable and the other kids would find it very easy to manipulate me. I always found it difficult to learn when others taught me something, but would end up learning that very same thing all by myself in no time. My dad toiled unsuccessfully for over a month to teach me how to ride a bicycle and how to skate, but finally lost all hope one day. From the middle of nowhere, I started riding the bicycle and started skating all by myself. The problem wasn’t that I had a problem with his teaching; it was just that I couldn’t follow a standard step by step procedure of learning something. Even today, I find it difficult to follow a standard procedure in doing something. If I find a better way of doing something, I’ll go for it regardless of what people have to say. I am not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s just the way I am.

1996-2003 – growing up years phase 2

I shifted from an all boys school to a co-education school. I had hardly any interaction with girls before this, except for my childhood friend, who I always treated like another guy. Now, here I was, all of a sudden found myself surrounded by aliens. My sister had a heart problem and my parents had to start concentrating on her and with the result I had to take complete control of my life. This proved a little too much for me and everything started falling apart. I soon started to lag behind in my academics, fellow students and teachers started to look down on me and as a result I had no friends. Things went from bad to worse over the next two years. My teachers used to humiliate me and beat me up every single day. I soon went into a state of depression and developed an inferiority complex. I lost all the confidence that I had and began to hope everyday that, that day was my last. Then one day, somewhere in the year 2000, when things had become way too much for me to handle, I went back home and burst out crying in front of my mother and I told her everything that was actually going on with me. Since then mom and dad helped me get out of my mess slowly and steadily. By the time I had passed my 10 th grade, the kid who had stopped seeing more than 50% on his mark-sheet, passed out in first division and by the time I passed out of my twelfth I could actually boast of a percentage in the eighties. It took a few more years to come out of my inferiority complex and depression. Those years weren’t easy, but today, as I look back, those days are an asset. Whenever am low or the chips are down, I just close my eyes for a few minutes and recollect those memories and say to myself, “if I could get through those days, I can get through anything.” People who have known about this feel sorry for me, but I kind of feel proud that all that happened. You may find it strange, but I kind of feel gifted.

2004-2007 – College life

My dad always wanted me to be an engineer but left the decision on me. However, one of my dad’s friends advised him not to make me take up engineering because he felt I wouldn’t be able to cope with it. Instead, he felt I should be doing a course like arts. My dad just replied saying “it’s completely up to him. I am not going to force him into anything.” But that very day I sub-consciously decided that I am going to be an engineer and show this guy that I CAN. So here I was, in March 2004, admitted into one of the best Engineering Collge in Hyderabad. My inferiority complex hadn’t completely gone away from me. The next three years passed by pretty fine. Not too many friends but I was leading a decent life. The turning point for me came in my final year, when I got through Accenture. It was no great interview that required me to know rocket science, but, it was the first time I had achieved something all by myself. Things changed all of a sudden, I was full of confidence and could now start looking at people eye to eye. Even my class mates were shocked on seeing the new me. I was a changed person. I changed from a guy who couldn’t speak to anybody to a guy who proposed a girl in front of a hundred people knowing she wouldn’t accept it because she like someone else. I changed from a guy who hoped he was dead one day to a guy who wanted to live every moment of his life as if he had never lived before. By the time I left college, I had a set of friends who were as close to me as family and I was a person, who completely believed in himself. One thing I learnt from all this, it was never the way others looked at me that changed, it was the way I looked at the world that made all the difference.

2007 to present – Life in the corporate world.

Although I had done my electrical engineering, I was always fond of software. I could sit for hours and code something. Joining Accenture was a dream come true. I entered this organization with a picture in my head, where all I would be doing is coding software, something I loved doing. However, I soon realized corporate world had many more dynamics attached to it. The past three years have gone from excitement of finally getting to earn your own money to frustration on seeing no future in what I was doing to realization that however pathetic things are, in the end of the day you have to face them. The question I had to ask myself again was, “are things that bad or is it the way I am looking at them?” The answer didn’t really surprise me. The minute I changed my perception about things, things at work changed automatically.

So that’s how my life has been for the past twenty five years. I won’t say it’s been a great life, neither will I say it’s been a bad life. It’s just been a journey of crests and troughs and with each crest and each trough, I have grown as a person.

Special Education Careers

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:33:00 +0000

Opportunities are growing in the field of special education
By Jerry Webster

The career field of Special Education is made up of more than teachers, though they make up the largest group of professionals. Special Education professionals provide a whole range of services and support to children with disabilities, from mobility, feeding and hand over hand support to physical therapy. Preparation for these jobs can be on the job training for high school graduates to specific certification programs that require Master's or Doctoral degrees.

Job opportunities in special education:

Therapeutic Support Staff: Not all people who work directly with special education need to have a degree or certification in the field. Support staff, who work as "wrap arounds" or classroom aides, work directly with children but are not required to have college degrees or certification in special education. Some college can be helpful, and because support staff do not "take their work home"--ie. plan or write reports, it is often rewarding work with little stress. Some training may be required, but the district, school or agency who employs you will provide it.

The responsibilities of the classroom aides revolve around that single student. That child may have been identified as needing "wrap around" support because of emotional, behavioral or physical needs that require individual attention. They will see that the student stays on task, and that besides supporting the student in participating appropriately in class, they also sees that the student does not disrupt the educational progress of other students. They are often provided in order to help a student stay in their neighborhood school in a general education classroom.

Classroom Aides: Most school districts provide "para-professionals" who assist special education teachers by providing instructional support to individuals or small groups of students. Hired by school districts, they may require some college education. School district will hire classroom aides to assist special education teachers, occupation therapists or in full inclusion classrooms to provide support to students with disabilities. Classroom aides may be expected to provide toileting, hygiene or hand over hand support to children with more severe disabilities. Learning support children need less direct support: they need help completing assignments, checking homework, playing drill games, or working on spelling assignments.

Special Education Teachers: Teachers are required to have at least a special education degree from a college or university. Some states provide alternate routes to certification through post baccalaureate Masters Degree programs. Some states require Masters degrees. Another requirement since passage of the latest reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is that teachers are "Highly Qualified" which requires certification in another curricular field
Occupational Therapists provide services to children and adults with disabilities, or who have suffered from brain injury, stroke, severe injury or any other injury or life event that takes away a person's ability to perform everyday tasks. They help disabled individuals acquire skills they need to cope with everyday life or find employment. They teach dressing, feeding, shoe tying and help build fine motor skills needed for handwriting, typing and other tasks needed for school. In educational settings they also help with the sensory needs of children with autistic spectrum disorders.

Occupational therapists also support students and teachers with adaptive technologies, such as adapted spoons, weighted vests (for sensory integration.) adapted pencils, computer keyboards, and on and on.

Speech Pathologists/Therapists: Speech-language pathologists or speech therapists work with special education students to assess, diagnose and treat disorders related to speech, language, cognitive communication and fluency. Many years ago, speech therapists focused on speech articulation problems such as lisps, stuttering and difficulty with r's and t's. Speech-language pathologists now focus on language disorders that effect a child's academic and life-skill functioning. They focus on pragmatics (understanding language as communication,) receptive language, augmented communication, fluency and language production. As well as working specifically with children with language difficulties, they also work with children with developmental delays and other cognitive disabilities who have difficulty producing language, understanding language or communicating.

Physical Therapists: Physical therapists (PTs) help patients, including accident victims and individuals with disabling conditions such as low-back pain, arthritis, heart disease, fractures, head injuries, and cerebral palsy, by providing services that restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain, and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities. They restore, maintain, and promote overall fitness and health. PT's also provide support for children with physical disabilities to help them with ambulation (walking or getting around in a wheel chair) and the other physical requirements of daily living.

Source :http://specialed.about.com/od/specialedcareers/a/careerspreparation.htm

A reliable 'Downs Syndrome' worker

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:04:00 +0000

This is the true story of a mongol sent to me and it touched my heart: .....

I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy.

But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my customers would react to Stevie.

He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Downs Syndrome. I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade.

The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded 'truck stop germ' the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who think
every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.

I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot.

After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old kid in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses onto his cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.

Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their social worker, who stopped to check on him every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home. That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed
work.

He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or something put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often have heart problems at an early age so this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.

A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine.

Frannie, the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news.

Marvin Ringers, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of this 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table

Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Marvin a withering look.

He grinned. 'OK, Frannie, what was that all about?' he asked.

'We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay.'

'I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?'

Frannie quickly told Marvin and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: ' Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK,'she said. 'But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is.'Marvin nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him, the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided what to do.

After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her face.

'What's up?' I asked.

'I didn't get that table where Marvin and his friends were sitting cleared off after they left, and Pete and Tony were sitting there when I got back to clean it off,' she said. 'This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup'

She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed 'Something For Stevie.'

'Pete asked me what that was all about,' she said, 'so I told him about Stevie and his Mom and everything , and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this.' She handed me another paper napkin that had 'Something For Stevie' scrawled on its outside. Two $50
bills were tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and said simply: 'truckers.'

That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work.

His placement worker said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I then met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back.

Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.

'Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast,' I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. 'Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate your coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!' I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room.

I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper n napkins. 'First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess,' I said. I tried to sound stern.

Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had 'Something for Stevie' printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table.

Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. 'There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. 'Happy
Thanksgiving. '

Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well.

But you know what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.

Best worker I ever hired.

Hydrocephalus~ Neha Dhedia

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) a clear liquid which is very similar to the liquid portion of blood(plasma) and contains various salts and products such as sodium, calcium, bicarbonate, chloride, magnesium and glucose.The purpose of the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) is as a medium for the transport of the chemicals to and from the brain, and also to provide buoyancy and protection for the brain. When there is excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the ventricles of the brain, there is a neurological disorder called Hydrocephalus.

Neha Dhedia is 24 year old hydrocephalic patient. She can be recognized with her enlarged head. Neha is very hyperactive and is most of the time tied to a chair. She has tendency to be destructive and will fling objects randomly if left unsupervised. She is not able to perform any activities because of her poor eye-hand coordination but she does not like to sit alone. She likes to come to school everyday and sit in the company of other children, watching them play, smiling at times. On the days, when there is holiday, she is very hyperactive and restless at home and insists that she needs to go to school, many times displaying temper tantrums.

Normally, in infancy (usually before 3 years of age) in the case of Hydrocephalus, the head size grows too rapidly and the head becomes too large. The baby's soft spot at the top of the head may be full or tense, and the veins distended.

There are a number of causes of hydrocephalus; these are either developmental or genetic. Genes are not passed from generation to generation unchanged. They go through a process called meiosis when they divide to form gametes; this process mixes the genetic material between the genes. Genes can also be changed by external forces; some substances can cause alterations of the genes, as can radiation. These genetic changes can lead to developmental changes, which were not passed from their parents. Most cases of genetically caused hydrocephalus lead to several malformations, one, or more, of these will affect the nervous system.

In Hydrocephalic adults whom the skull bones have fused, the head size usually doesn't grow abnormally. The increased intracranial pressure can cause headaches, irritability, sleepiness, nausea or vomiting, visual problems, neck pain, seizures (rarely), or a change in behavior, personality or school performance. An inability to concentrate or remember things may also develop. Lethargy, drowsiness, balance problems, and double vision are common symptoms.

Detail information on Hydrocephalus, causes, treatment, history and surgical procedures can be found here

Need for Residential Home for Mentally Challenged in Mumbai City.

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:51:00 +0000

It is of deep concern for parents of mentally challenged to provide care for their children, specially when their children are adults and they are not there to take care of them. In the present scenario, the living is quite expensive, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to take care of their handicap-siblings. It would be of great help if some residential facilities could be made available to ease their living. Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, centre for mentally challenged are willing to take up the project of building a residential home as soon as they are able to overcome the obstacles of collecting the funds.

Need for the project:

A need is felt at present for a spacious building which will accommodate more number of adult mentally challenged persons and for providing residential facilities with other support services.

At our present premises we are able to house only 50 adults that too without providing residential facilities which is a dire need of the Parents of Children with special needs. Such services are lacking in our area

We have successfully managed our projects in spite of various financial hurdles with the support of our parents, community and professionals.

We are hopeful of fulfilling the dream of providing and improving the quality of life to persons and their families with special needs.

Back Ground:

Mentally challenged children have little integration into our present society. Small initiatives for these children include, day schools specially catering to the challenged, when young, and in their school going years. But, as they grow older little opportunities remain in our society for any concrete measures for rehabilitation. The Trust is presently running a Vocational Training Unit (Falguni Vocational Centre) at Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, Sector 8A, CBD.
The vocational center caters to persons with special needs who attend the Centre irrespective of their age. These mentally challenged adults find solace in coming to the center for special programs designed towards their rehabilitation into society.

Vision: (Goal)

An integrated family approach for rehabilitation of the mentally challenged adults in society using an enabling environment, advocacy, and rights based approach towards educational, social, financial, vocational and economic empowerment for those mentally challenged and their families under the umbrella of Swami Bramanand Prathistahan Society.

Mission: (Objectives)

1. Rehabilitation; for the mentally challenged, using an extended family approach. (Even after death of immediate parents and guardians)

2. Social, economic and vocational empowerment for those affected families.

3. Capacity building; for the mentally challenged to lead a normal integrated life in society.

4. Enabling environment through reduction of stigma and discrimination, early interventions, rights based approach and essential advocacy with the stake holders and gate keepers of society to include Government, Non government and private agencies.

Brief detailed Project report about the proposed project in Navi Mumbai.
Point 12 a/b: How the area of plot and admissible FSI will be utilized:
Major Activities and utilization of the land acquired by the society would be the following:

Residential Facilities for adult mentally challenged

• Sheltered Workshop

At the residential Unit there will be separate accommodation for male as well as female. Besides common facilities of Dining, Recreation and Health will be provided. The Residential staff will be provided with the required facilities.

At the Sheltered Workshop the inmates along with the non residential adult mentally- Challenged will be kept engaged in activities such as

• Handicraft
• Home science
• Grinding
• Stitching & embroidery
• Pottery
• Job Work on orders received
• Any Other job available at the Centre

This will also help them in becoming economically independent to some extent.

This facility will be made available to the adult mentally challenged above the age of 21. It will also benefit the general public as jobs will be made available at the Centre. The items produced at the centre would be sold to the public. People wanting to spend their free time can offer their voluntary services.

The inmates will be charged for the services on the cost incurred. A Subsidy will be given to deserving inmates. Expenses will also be met by way of donations, sponsorship etc

Financial Projections – capital and recurring cost.

The approximate cost on the Project would be as follows

PARTICULARS COST
Purchase of land – Rs. 40,00,000/- approx.
Other Expenses on acquisition - Rs. 5,00,000/-
Cost on Construction - Rs. 2,00,00,000/-
Furniture & equipments - Rs. 10,00,000/-
Miscellaneous -Rs. 5,00,000/-

Recurring cost on salaries, maintenance and other activities approximately amount to Rs. 12,00,000/- per annum.

The Trust and the Parent’s Association will raise funds for the plot while the cost on construction will be by way of funding agency.

Human resources to manage the project

Human Resources

Professionals will be appointed to take care of both the units and the parents will be actively involved in the supervision of the project.

The Falguni Vocational Centre presently has staff as follows
1 Vocational Coordinator
1 Vocational Instructor
1 Special Educator cum Craft Teacher
2 Class Assistant
3 Attendants

The recurring cost incurred on salaries and other expenses amount to Rs. 4,50,000/- annually.

History:

The Trust started its first Centre in the Shahabaz Village on 7th July 1990 with three students identified during the Survey. The classes were conducted in the Shahabaz vyam Mandir. This premise was allotted to the Trust on the recommendation of Sri. Ramesh Kumar the Social Welfare Officer of CIDCO. In spite of financial constraints the Trust was allotted a plot by CIDCO. Today Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan has a well equipped set up for the mentally challenged children in Navi Mumbai.

The Trust also started its second centre in the year 2000 at Uran. At present the activities are carried out at rental premises and catering to 30 mentally challenged children and a few young adults. This is the only Centre in the entire area of Uran. We also have plans to develop this centre in to a full fledged unit catering to the needs of the mentally challenged children/ adults and their families.

Achievements:

Our Institution and our students have won various awards and prizes. To mention a few in the year 1993 our student Mst. Sujit Phadnis represented India in the International Special Olympics held at Salzburg, Austria and won a gold medal for the country.

Ms. Disha Maru was the youngest participant in the National Music and dance festival held at Hyderabad organized by National Institute of the Mentally Handicapped (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment). She is also a National Swimmer and was selected as a standby for the Aquatic Event (Swimming) in the World Games 2003 organized by International Special Olympics to be held in Dublin, Ireland.

Ms. Lakshmi Shetty is also a National Table Tennis gold medalist and was selected to represent India as a standby in the World Summer Games in the International special Olympics to be held at Shanghai, China in the year 2007.

The School has won the Mayors Trophy in the sports organized by NMMC for special Children for three consecutive years. It has also received the Special Jury Award from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in the year 2008 for a cultural program presented by the students.

The School has also received Seva Bhushan Puraskar for the services rendered in Navi Mumbai by the Congress Seva Dal of Navi Mumbai. Many students have excelled in sports, drawing, dance and music at district, state and National Level.

The Principal Mrs. Sukanya Venkataraman was awarded the ‘Adarsh Shikshak Puraskar’ by Thane Jilla Parishad, Thane.

The Founder Mrs. Shirish Poojary has also many awards and felicitations to her credit. To name a few the Vocational excellence award by Rotary Club of New Bombay Hillside given twice and Excellence Professional award on the occasion of the International women’s Day at the hands of Smt. Manda Mhatre.

The Organization it is able to provide quality education, training and all essential services to the Special children and their families of Navi Mumbai. This has been possible on account of the blessings of P.P. Swami Brahmanand along with the support and cooperation it has been receiving from the parents, well wishers and Community at large.

A plot measuring 881.20 square meters at Aaroli (Navi Mumbai) is available for residential home, if only……..

Using Behavioral Approaches in Autism (And on Anyone)

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:48:00 +0000

by Shannon Des Roches Rosa (Guest Post, Thank you- Shannon)

Behavioral methods are usually associated with autism and early intervention, or orca training.

But guess what? You can use them to change the behavior of almost anyone: your children, your partner, your co-workers, even icky blog or Twitter trolls.

I am a huge fan of behavioral methods because they have helped my son gain so many skills, but I also confess that I use the methods to mold behaviors whenever I can.

Let me tell you how you can play puppeteer, too.

All you have to do is ignore undesired behavior, and instead seek out, role model, and reinforce desired behavior. If your subject doesn't respond, then analyze their motivations, and appeal to those motivations instead using reinforcers (okay, bribes) if necessary, which you can taper off once the behavior becomes routine.

That's pretty much it. I know.

Behavioral methods are straightforward, but they're not instinctive unless you're the kind of naturally empathetic and kind person I tend to avoid because you make me feel like a jerk.

And implementing behavioral approaches systematically and consistently, especially in parenting, takes more effort than asking children to talk about what they were feeling when they hit their brother over the head with a lunchbox (though understanding that motivation is important, too).

It takes a lot more analysis and upfront effort to be proactively positive instead of impulsively negative, but the results are generally worth it because you're not reacting and reprimanding, you're planning and conditioning -- and conditioning sticks.

Behavioral methods aren't foolproof, but they usually work. Here are some examples:

• Instead of yelling at a kid who picks her nose, hand her a tissue, and tell her how proud you are when she blows her nose instead of excavating. Actively watch for opportunities to catch her doing the right thing, and praise her with gusto when it happens. If this approach doesn't work, up the ante with a sticker or other reward chart. If you still can't find any motivation strong enough to stop the nose-picking, then you need to decide if it's a critical battle, or if you should change your focus to "I'm proud of you when you don't pick your nose in public," and start reinforcing that behavior instead.

• Instead of chastising a co-worker who takes the last cup of coffee and leaves the carafe empty, ask them if they wouldn't mind refilling it, and be emphatic but not patronizing in thanking them when they do so. Repeat repeat repeat. (You might want to wait until after they've had their first sip of coffee.)

Behavioral methods form the cornerstone of ABA therapy, which is one of the most commonly used approaches to help children with autism and other special needs learn. it is a 1:1 -- one child, one therapist instructor -- intensive, data- and evidence- driven educational program for addressing a child's learning deficits. Whether it takes place at home, at school, or across both places, all the learning is tracked, and the resulting data scored and analyzed to see what kind of progress the child is making.

Many autistic children have difficulty learning from their environment or in traditional educational settings, because there are so many assumptions involved in each lesson.

How can a child learn to write the letter A if they don't understand how to hold a crayon, that you need to hold the paper with the other hand, or even that you're supposed to remain seated? These kids need their learning broken down into small steps, and bolstered by repetition. This is what ABA therapy does.

It is not the only way to help our kids with autism and other special needs learn, and it doesn't don't work for all kids with autism because there is no one type of kid with autism, just as there is no one type of gifted child or one type of Deaf child.

But ABA is worth trying, to see if your child responds. ABA therapy methods taught my son Leo to dress himself, play with other kids, ask for help, and occupy himself independently. He simply did not respond to other ways of learning when he was little.

Some critics protest that ABA therapy is too rigid, too intense, and uses aversives or negative consequences to shape behavior. While these practices were used in the early days of researchers like Ivar Lovaas, an ideal modern ABA program is customized for each child's skills sets and learning needs, and is flexible not only in what it teaches but in where the teaching takes place.

There should be no forty hours per week of sitting at a table doing boring drills. There should be no punishments, only praise and reinforcements. ABA therapy, like most credible learning systems, continues to evolve through evidence regarding best practices.

ABA therapy is also frequently downplayed by a media that prefers to sensationalize autism "cures" achieved through dietary supplements or questionable medical protocols or Martian rocks, but I guarantee you: most "cured" or "recovered" children, including Jenny McCarthy's, Karyn Seroussi's, and Age of Autism's had ABA therapy as well, and likely made much of their progress in that environment.

Many of Rethink Autism's learning tips are simple but not necessarily something I'd come up with on my own, an example being color-outlining the inside edges of separate color areas to encourage children to use more than one color per picture

Using a one-inch-thick boundary around the coloring area, and then gradually increasing the size and complexity of the white space while reducing the thickness of the outline. Coloring inside the lines is an ongoing challenge for Leo, but the Rethink Autism approach seems to be helping so far:

We are currently in a situation that is testing our and Leo's long-time ABA program supervisor Emma's behavioral chops: Leo has decided that he would prefer not to have a little sister. My son may have many challenges, but his memory is tremendous, and he remembers his years as Mommy's baby quite clearly. He has tolerated his sister for almost five years, and now feels it's time for the usurper to go. He has spent the last few months trying to hit, pushing, and terrorize her non-stop.

My husband and I have been trying to ignore Leo's behavior (when safe to do so), or keep the two of them separated and supervised. But Supervisor Emma pointed out that this is not a long-term approach; we are not addressing Leo's motivation, which is to make his sister miserable enough to leave. So we need to take his motivation away. We need to create as many safe positive interactions between Leo and his sister as possible, so that Leo starts to like his little sister, sees that there many benefits to having her around, and stops trying to remove her from the picture.
Cross your fingers for us; if Emma's approach works, it'll be one more victory for behavioral techniques.

Source: http://www.blogher.com/using-behavioral-approaches-autism-and-anyone

Microcephaly ~ Devang Chavan

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:14:00 +0000

When I went to his class, he was cleaning coriander leaves, slowly and carefully, observing each leaf as he cut off the edges and placed the leaves aside with the bunch of other leaves.

Devang Chavan is ten year old shy kid, who is very active and independent in all his personal skills. He can read and write simple text, good in functional mathematics and can perform simple task independently. He helps his mom at home by running few errands like buying grocery from a store, or helping at home.

He suffers from Microcephaly, which is a medical condition in which the circumference of the head is smaller than normal because the brain has not developed properly or has stopped growing.

Microcephaly can be present at birth or it may develop in the first few years of life. It is most often caused by genetic abnormalities that interfere with the growth of the cerebral cortex during the early months of fetal development. It is associated with Down’s syndrome, chromosomal syndromes, and neurometabolic syndromes.

Babies may also be born with microcephaly if, during pregnancy, their mother abused drugs or alcohol, became infected with German measles, or chicken pox virus, was exposed to certain toxic chemicals, or had untreated phenylketonuria (PKU).

Babies born with microcephaly will have a smaller than normal head that will fail to grow as they progress through infancy. Depending on the severity of the accompanying syndrome, children with microcephaly may have mental retardation, delayed motor functions and speech, facial distortions, dwarfism or short stature, hyperactivity, seizures, difficulties with coordination and balance, and other brain or neurological abnormalities. Some children with microcephaly will have normal intelligence and a head that will grow bigger, but they will track below the normal growth curves for head circumference.

Devang was five years old when he was admitted to Swami Brahamanand School, centre for Mentally challenged. He was very restless and hyperactive. His speech was limited to few words. He had the history of prolong illness and had to be hospitalized several times for diarrhea, respiratory track infection and convulsions. His development milestones were delayed from birth.

Over the period of six years, he has shown marked improvement in behavior and is quite obedient and well mannered. He is shy and does not interact freely in the company of strangers. He takes active part in sports and extra curriculum activities and is being trained in pre-vocational skills.

Children, like Devang, will only have mild disability, especially if they are otherwise growing and developing normally, will have normal intelligence and continue to develop and meet regular age-appropriate milestones.

There is no treatment for microcephaly that can return a child’s head to a normal size or shape. Treatment focuses on ways to decrease the impact of the associated deformities and neurological disabilities. Children with microcephaly and developmental delays are usually evaluated by a pediatric neurologist and followed by a medical management team.

Early childhood intervention programs that involve physical, speech, and occupational therapists help to maximize abilities and minimize dysfunction. Medications are often used to control seizures, hyperactivity, and neuromuscular symptoms. Genetic counseling may help families understand the risk for microcephaly in subsequent pregnancies.

However, ‘The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’ (NINDS) conducts research relating to microcephaly in its laboratories at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and supports additional research through grants to major medical institutions across the country. A small group of researchers studying a rare neurometabolic syndrome (3-PGDH), which causes microcephaly, have successfully used amino acid replacement therapy to reduce and prevent seizures.

Source: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/

We grieve the death of ‘Eunice Kennedy Shriver’, the founder of Special Olympic. May the torch of love move on…..

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 07:46:00 +0000

“The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community” wrote Eunice Kennedy Shriver in a hotel meeting room nearly 40 years ago..

Hundreds of mourners descended on Massachusetts on Friday (14Aug09) to pay their respects to ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER's mother-in-law EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER, who died earlier this week on 11th of August 2009.

Celebrities including Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder and TV titan Oprah Winfrey turned out for the funeral of the mental disability campaigner, as well as the actor-turned-California governor and his wife Maria Shriver,

The sister of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy passed away aged 88 after a short stint in hospital. Her health had dramatically deteriorated in recent years after a series of strokes.

To commemorate Shriver's role as the founder of the Special Olympics, disabled athletes lined the streets of Hyannis, Massachusetts with torches as her four sons carried the coffin to the Saint Francis Xavier Catholic church - the building where the Terminator star married Shriver's daughter Maria in 1986

Eunice Shriver, whose older sister Rosemary was mentally disabled, wanted every special needs child to have the best possible life, to live without fear. She wanted to change people's perceptions, wanted the world to understand the gifts and capabilities of this group she called "her special friends."

Coming from a family, the Kennedys, for whom sports were so important, she had a vision of the good that competition could bring to special needs kids. She took on a task that was Olympian and she turned it into something as grand as the Games in Athens, or Beijing, or Lillehammer.

She traveled the world to spread the word. She dived into pools, slapped mustard on sandwiches, hugged and hustled around the planet, showing the way for millions of families who were looking for a better quality of life for their challenged children.

One thousand athletes competed in the first Special Olympics World Games in Chicago in 1968. In Shanghai in 2007, there were 7,500. There now also is a World Winter Games.

From its modest beginnings, Special Olympics is in more than 180 countries and serves 3.1 million athletes. Special Olympics of Washington, incorporated in 1975, after a visit to the state from Shriver, serves 7,000 athletes.

"At a time when people were being told to put their special needs kids in a home," said Shelby's sister Lexie, a student at Western Washington, "Eunice Shriver was more than willing to say that, 'Yes, I have a sibling with special needs and I want to make her life better, rather than ignore the problem and pretend it isn't there.' I find that very, very inspiring."

Her son Timothy Shiver writes “My mother has always been about hope, love and opportunity. Love being the most important. For what do we have, if we do not have love? Hope for helping us through each day when life challenges us. And, opportunity that each one of us is empowered to create to make the world a better place. My mother believed in these things so strongly and they have played a major role in her life, especially, her work with people with intellectual disabilities.”

Shriver de-stigmatized disabilities. She gave Special Olympics athletes a transformative sense of accomplishment. She changed the world view of mental retardation.

“To this day, the mission of Special Olympics is rooted in the values of hope, love and opportunity. To create an opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities where they can compete, experience success and showcase their talents to the world. To create a community of hope and welcome for the athletes and their families where they can experience joy and acceptance. And, to let others share in the love and joy that comes from the athletes so openly and unencumbered. That is the essence of my mother's vision” says her son, Timothy Shiver.

May the torch of love move on and brighten the lives of differently abled children.

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/, http://www.contactmusic.com/, http://www.google.com

Down Syndrome Child~ Kareena Rajput

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:45:00 +0000

She is stubborn but she is smart, she knows how to get her things done, even if she has to boss over her friends (specially when her teacher is not looking.) She likes to be the centre of attraction and is a quick learner. On festive days, she will wear her frilly dress, fancy clips in her hair and even carry a matching purse. When she is in mood, she will help with cleaning the class, and tiding up the room and then give her sweetest smile. Kareena Rajput is 10 year old Down syndrome child, so very cute that you just cannot resist hugging her.

Kids with Down syndrome tend to share certain physical features such as a flat facial profile, an upward slant to the eyes, small ears, and a protruding tongue.

Other characteristics of people who have Down syndrome are that the sinuses are not developed properly and this can cause the tear ducts to block and make them look like they are crying all the time.

Kids with Down syndrome have a wide range of abilities, and there's no way to tell at birth what they will be capable of as they grow up

Approximately half of all kids with Down syndrome also have problems with hearing and vision. Hearing loss can be related to fluid buildup in the inner ear or to structural problems of the ear itself.

Vision problems commonly include amblyopia (lazy eye), near- or farsightedness, and an increased risk of cataracts.Regular evaluations by an audiologist and an ophthalmologist are necessary to detect and correct any problems before they affect language and learning skills

Low muscle tone (called hypotonia) is also characteristic of children with Down syndrome, and babies in particular may seem especially "floppy." Though this can and often does improve over time, most children with Down syndrome typically reach developmental milestones — like sitting up, crawling, and walking — later than other kids.

At birth, kids with Down syndrome are usually of average size, but they tend to grow at a slower rate and remain smaller than their peers.

For infants, low muscle tone may contribute to sucking and feeding problems, as well as constipation and other digestive issues. Toddlers and older kids may have delays in speech and self-care skills like feeding, dressing, and toilet teaching.

Other medical conditions that may occur more frequently in kids with Down syndrome include thyroid problems, intestinal abnormalities, seizure disorders, respiratory problems, obesity, an increased susceptibility to infection, and a higher risk of childhood leukemia.

Upper neck abnormalities are sometimes found and should be evaluated by a physician (these can be detected by cervical spine X-rays). Fortunately, many of these conditions are treatable.

(Kareena with her class mates, she loves painting)

Down syndrome (DS), also called Trisomy 21, is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delays in the way a child develops, both mentally and physically.

Normally, at the time of conception a baby inherits genetic information from its parents in the form of 46 chromosomes: 23 from the mother and 23 from the father. In most cases of Down syndrome, a child gets an extra chromosome 21 — for a total of 47 chromosomes instead of 46. It's this extra genetic material that causes the physical features and developmental delays associated with Down syndrome

Although no one knows for sure why Down syndrome occurs and there's no way to prevent the chromosomal error that causes it, scientists do know that women age 35 and older have a significantly higher risk of having a child with the condition.

Down syndrome affects kids' ability to learn in different ways, but most have mild to moderate intellectual impairment.

Kids with Down syndrome can and do learn, and are capable of developing skills throughout their lives. They simply reach goals at a different pace — which is why it's important not to compare a child with Down syndrome against typically developing siblings or even other children with the condition.

While some kids with Down syndrome have no significant health problems, others may experience a host of medical issues that require extra care. For example, almost half of all children born with Down syndrome will have a congenital heart defect.

Kids with Down syndrome are also at an increased risk of developing pulmonary hypertension, a serious condition that can lead to irreversible damage to the lungs. All infants with Down syndrome should be evaluated by a pediatric cardiologist.

Breast feeding is very important for all babies especially for children with Down's syndrome because Mother's milk offers better protection for the immune system than formula milk. and the immune system of children who has Downs syndrome is almost always suppressed.

A simple, risk-free blood test can detect Down syndrome from the blood of pregnant women

Researchers in Hong Kong have developed a way of identifying genetic markers, which show whether an unborn child has the chromosomal disorder, without relying on risky amniocentesis techniques. The most common prenatal test for Down syndrome involves amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) in which a sample of the fluid surrounding the foetus is collected and analyzed.

The procedure might carry one per cent risk of miscarriage. As a result, it is only usually carried out if there is a high enough risk of a disorder - in older mothers, for example.

Source:http://kidshealth.org/

Case study of an autistic child ~ Vinesh Nair

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:15:00 +0000

Vinesh Nair lives in his own world, playing with his fingers and shaking involuntarily, sometimes throwing temper tantrums and other times destroying what ever comes in his hand. I see him pull out cane-threads from the mat under him, joining it to make a long string and then stretching and pulling and rolling it over and over. His teacher asks him to stop fidgeting and he folds the string and stuffs it into his pocket, but only momentarily and then, he is again, unrolling the string and playing with it over and over again. He shows no interest in the class activities and will respond only when his instructor gives him a personal attention. His teacher says that he is very cooperative only when given 'one-to-one' attention and he is quite independent in his self care activities. He can paint, draw and perform pre-vocational skills. He is able to follow instructions and is able to ape the actions if given individual help, but for most part of the day, he is hyperactive and lives in a world of his own.

Vinesh Nair is a case of an autistic child.

Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.

Autism is a complex lifelong developmental disorder, and has no cure, medical or therapeutic. However, through early intervention, many children have been able to lead productive and meaningful lives with support from their family, friends and professionals

Research indicates that giving early intervention in the form of specific and appropriate training methods that are tailored to your child's needs and learning style is the one way to help your child reach his/her maximum potential. Prior to this, it is important that a special educator take a detailed assessment of your child's strengths and difficulties to develop an individual education plan for your child. There are a number of intervention styles/methods, and you would want to choose that would benefit your child most.

Autism primarily affects the areas of communication, social skills, and thought and behaviour.

About a third to a half of individuals with autism do not develop enough natural speech to meet their daily communication needs. Differences in communication may be present from the first year of life, and may include delayed onset of babbling, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness, and vocal patterns that are not synchronized with the caregiver. for example, they may look at a pointing hand instead of the pointed-at object and they consistently fail to point at objects in order to comment on or share an experience. Autistic children may have difficulty with imaginative play and with developing symbols into language.

Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior, such as:

Stereotypy is repetitive movement, such as hand flapping, making sounds, head rolling, or body rocking.

Compulsive behavior is intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in a certain way.

Sameness is resistance to change; for example, insisting that the furniture not be moved or refusing to be interrupted.

Ritualistic behavior involves the performance of daily activities the same way each time, such as an unvarying menu or dressing ritual. This is closely associated with sameness and an independent validation has suggested combining the two factors.

Restricted behavior is limited in focus, interest, or activity, such as preoccupation with a single television program or toy.

Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as eye poking, skin picking, hand biting, and head banging.

For many children, autism symptoms improve with treatment and with age. Some children with autism grow up to lead normal or near-normal lives. Children, whose language skills regress early in life, usually before the age of 3, appear to be at risk of developing epilepsy or seizure-like brain activity. During adolescence, some children with autism may become depressed or experience behavioral problems. Parents of these children should be ready to adjust treatment for their child as needed.

For further support and help in managing autistic child, read the answer as many questions about autism, dealing with behaviors, and other issues raised by families in India HERE
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Case Study of Fragile X Syndrome ~ Nikhil Salvi

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Nikhil Salvi is 22 years old, Fragile X Syndrome child. He is placed in the vocational group at Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan, Centre for Mentally Challenged.

When he first came to school in 1997, he was very aggressive and hyperactive. At home he was very restless and would roam around the house aimlessly for the greater part of the day. He was very stubborn and would throw temper tantrums if compelled to do some work. During the years of training in the school, he has shown marked improvement, he is more co-operative and shows more concentration in manual work. He cannot read and write and has severe speech problem but he is quite independent and is able to most of his personal jobs on his own.

Fragile X syndrome is the most common form of inherited intellectual impairment. Nearly one third of patients diagnosed with fragile X syndrome also have some degree of autism, and the mutation underlying fragile X syndrome is the most commonly known single gene cause of autism.

A change or mutation in a gene on the X chromosome causes the fragile X syndrome. Chromosomes are packages of genes that are passed from generation to generation. Most individuals have 46 chromosomes, two of which are sex chromosomes. In females, these are two X's; in males they are and X and Y. Genes are given names to identify them and the gene responsible for fragile X syndrome is called the FMR1 (fragile X mental retardation 1) gene. The mutation is in the DNA (the chemical that makes up genes), of the X chromosome. The gene appears in three forms that are defined by the number of repeats of a pattern of DNA called CGG repeats. Individuals with less than 60 CGG repeats have a normal gene. Individuals with 60-200 CGG repeats have a permutation which means they carry an unstable mutation which can expand in future generations. Individuals with over 200 repeats have a full mutation which causes fragile X syndrome. The full mutation causes the gene to shut down or methylate a region of the FMR -1 gene. Normally, the FMR-1 gene produces an important protein called FMRP. When the gene is turned off, the individual does not make fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP).

The lack of this specific protein causes fragile X syndrome.

Children with Fragile X syndrome can be recognized by their typical physical features such as enlarged ears, long face with prominent chin, and large testicles (in post pubertal males). Connective tissue problems may include ear infections, mitral valve prolapsed, flat feet, double-jointed fingers, hyper flexible joints and a variety of skeletal problems.

Behavioral characteristics in males include attention deficit disorders, speech disturbances, hand biting, hand flapping, autistic behaviors, poor eye contact, and unusual responses to various touch, auditory or visual stimuli.

At this time, there is no cure for fragile X syndrome. However, special education, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and behavioral therapies are helpful in addressing many of the behavioral, and cognitive issues in fragile X syndrome. In addition, medical intervention including medications can be helpful for aggression, anxiety, hyperactivity and poor attention span. Because the impact of fragile X is so varied, it is important to do a careful evaluation of the individuals' abilities and difficulties to tailor a treatment plan to address specific needs.

All persons with fragile X can make progress, given the proper education, therapy, and support.

Speech and language, behavior, cognitive development, sensory integration, gross motor development, and daily living are areas that often need to be addressed for someone with fragile X syndrome. While many of these areas require physical and behavioral intervention, medication is often an important component of the treatment.
Children with fragile X often have a variety of behavioral challenges. Behavioral challenges are one of the main areas listed on checklists for the identification of persons with fragile X syndrome. Intervention for difficulties with attention, anxiety, and interpersonal relations requires careful planning for both medication and behavior modification.

Parents and educators may need to devise behavioral plans to help children with fragile X to cope with everyday demands of home, school, and community. Poor eye contact, hand flapping, and lack of awareness of social cues may cause difficulties in peer interactions, making inclusive educational placements more of a challenge. ADHD may also impede academic progress.

Behavioral interventions, including calming techniques and modified environments, are important components of the IEP for children with fragile X. Clear, concrete plans, with appropriate cues (e.g. visual signals for quiet mouths) and appealing rewards (e.g. stickers which lead to prizes) are essential for early childhood and school age children. Older adolescents and adults may need specific behavioral plans in vocational training, so that they can function in the work setting in the most appropriate manner.

Many of the strategies used for children with ADHD who do not have fragile X syndrome are appropriate for those with fragile X. These include seating near the teacher and away from distractions, use of a private carrel at times, short tasks with the opportunity to move around often, visual cues for sequences of events, and interactive lessons, that do not always involve sitting and listening.

Transitions and changes in schedule are especially difficult for many persons with fragile X and require careful planning by teachers and parents. Pictured schedules on the board or on Velcro cards can be used to lay out the sequence of the day. Changes, such as an assembly, can be written out or pictured and inserted in the proper sequence. Some unusual circumstances (such as a loud assembly) may call for time in a quiet room, with calming items such as a beanbag chair and a videotape, rather than the scheduled event.

Intervention for inappropriate behavior should always be planned with awareness of issues relating to sensory processing. Strategies designed to help achieve behavioral goals should include attention to the environment (lights, noise levels, activity level, etc.) and awareness of the sensory overload levels of each particular child. See Intervention for Sensory Integration Disorders for more information in this area.

Social intervention may help decrease the risk of later social, educational, and psychological dysfunction. In the school setting, social stories can be used describe a behavior that needs to be changed, with appropriate solutions for the child or adult to try. Some children with fragile X may see the school social worker or counselor in order to set social or behavioral goals.
Activities in the community, such as going to restaurants and movies, and attending other crowded, unfamiliar places may pose challenges for families. Careful planning, beginning with descriptions at home of the activities and sequences that will happen can help the child or adult with fragile X to anticipate the situation. Visual cues, such as menus or church bulletins, can also help a parent explain what will happen in an upcoming event.

Medications may be necessary for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or for anxiety or depression. Aggressive behaviors and violent outbursts, seen in some adolescents and adults with fragile X, can often be inhibited with the use of medication. Pediatric neurologists and therapists who are familiar with fragile X syndrome can evaluate and treat these symptoms with appropriate medication. Counseling and behavioral therapies often need to accompany medical intervention. For more information, see the Medication section.

Nikhil has shown marked improvement in our school. Over the years of training, Nikhil is now helpful to his mother in running of simple errands. At school, he is placed in vocational group and perform well in fine motor activities. He helps in making different articles for sale. During the month of July, he is the active student in making of beautiful friendship bands for the festival of ‘Rakhi’ - an Indian celebration of ‘Brother’s day’. He can be placed in a sheltered workshop.

Source: http://www.fragilex.org/

Case history of Dandy-Walker Syndrome Child~ Jaisal Bakshi

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:37:00 +0000

Jaisal Bakshi is ten year old Dandy-Walker Syndrome child. He was admitted in Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, Centre for Mentally Challenged two years ago. During that time, his condition was quite severe. But, he has very loving family, who work very hard on his progress and they co-operate with the teachers at school in helping him cope with his problems. He has shown marked improvement during these two years, he has better coordination of muscle movements, is able to recognize and respond to insructions and loves Bollywood music.

Dandy-Walker syndrome (DWS) is a congenital (present at birth) brain malformation typically involving the fourth ventricle and the cerebellum. The disorder was first described in 1914 by W. Dandy and K. Blackfan and was designated as Dandy-Walker syndrome in 1954 by C. Benda, who also reported familial occurrence. DWS occurs in one out of every 25,000 live births.

The following characteristics have been seen in children with Dandy-Walker syndrome:

• Enlargement of the fourth ventricle
• Absence (partial or complete) of the cerebellar vermis (area between the two cerebral hemispheres)
• Cyst formation in the posterior fossa (internal base of the skull)
• Slow motor development in early infancy
• Progressive macrocrania (abnormally enlarged skull)
• Hydrocephalus
• Seizures
• Intracranial pressure in older children, causing irritability, vomiting, and convulsions
• Cerebellar dysfunction causing ataxia and nystagmus
• Bulging occiput (back of head)
• Cranial nerve dysfunction
• Abnormal breathing patterns
• Agenesis of the corpus callosum
• Malformations of the face, limbs, digits, and heart
• Cleft lip and palate
• Urinary structural abnormalities

The majority of individuals with DWS are diagnosed their first year of life as a result of the commonly associated hydrocephalus. However, the definitive diagnosis can be made by ultrasound, CT-scan, or MRI.

Treatment consists of treating the associated symptoms (i.e., anticonvulsants for those with seizures and the insertion of a shunt for those with hydrocephalus). Balance problems and spasticity may occur and warrant physical therapy. Occupational therapy may be helpful for those with poor fine motor control.

The syndrome can appear dramatically, or be totally asymptomatic. Therefore, the prognosis for normal intellectual development varies depending on the severity of the syndrome and associated malformations. Difficulties in learning occur in 35-70% of children with DWS. Statistics in the literature citing a high rate of mental retardation most likely reflect injury due to inadequate management of the associated hydrocephalus, something which is less likely to occur today than in the past. Many children with DWS can be mainstreamed at school. Pediatricians, pediatric neurologists, pediatric neurosurgeons, geneticists, physical therapists, and educational specialists may be required to systematically follow these children and work towards ensuring that the child is given the best opportunities to reach his or her full potential.

Source: http://www.specialchild.com/

A must-have hand book for parents

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:46:00 +0000

Wanting the ‘best’ and doing one’s utmost to facilitate that ‘best’ in our children, comes naturally to most parents. We stretch beyond the available resources-time, energy, finances, efforts etc. to provide an environment which would enable optimal growth in them. Our dreams for them are noble-we want them to be responsible, confident, intelligent, independent, creative, ethical and good.

The right dreams, passion for those dreams, sustained efforts commensurate to that passion is there in us parents, yet the results that we should have, are not. Despite all our industry we see our children struggling with- low self–esteem, anxiety, packed-schedules leading to burn-outs, stress, loneliness, boredom, obesity, depression, to name a few. We often find ourselves lost, exhausted and uncertain on the righteousness and efficacy of our parental efforts. Our parenting style comes from what we value; what we see around us; what influences us; how we were raised ourselves; others' opinions. Often we struggle, as new parents, with our own values versus the values of others. Consciously/unconsciously we get into the measurable achievement trap (grades, trophies, variety of extra-curricular etc.) where the ‘child’ becomes the product that we are developing rather than thinking, intelligent, whole with his/her unique desires talents and individuality.

Our instincts tell us that something is not right, yet what is, we do not know. Kids do not come with a manual and the jargon of work on parenting is often conflicting and polarized. We have all felt and still feel this lack- lack of proper understanding, knowledge and information on:

The child vis-à-vis himself/herself (child’s native interests, strengths and level)
The child vis-à-vis us (our expectations of/from him/her)
The child vis-à-vis the world

This book essentially addresses these three issues.

Some questions which I struggled with during the course of writing this book are:

►The Child

Is parenting about my child or about ME?

Unconsciously, our parenting is so loaded with our expectations of what we want from our children and what we think is right for them, that we disregard their native endowments, interests and strengths. Our knowledge of the child is also clouded with the overwhelming anxiety of the child vis-à-vis the world. The omnipresent fear, ‘will my child carve a successful and happy life in this fast-paced over-competitive global world’ influences and shapes most of our parenting strategies.
We forget that each child is endowed with unique qualities and the fundamental need to discover his/her place in "the world." But before he discovers his place, he has to discover himself. Each child has the inner desire to learn, grow, and become independent. And most importantly he has the right to his own bent. We need to trust that our children are following their individual timetable for development. Can we trust in the bigger picture even when we don't see it?

►Growth and learning

Is learning the result of teaching, or the logical outcome of curiosity, observation, experiments, mistakes and understanding of the learner?

We must provide a congenial environment for that learning to occur. Children are like sponges - absorbing all that surrounds them. We can provide them with the tools-materials, exposure, space, guidance, security and freedom in a loving, supportive and encouraging environment and hope that they reach their potential; we can’t reach it for them. A certain sense of humility and faith is required-humility that I can provide him the tools for success but not the success itself and faith that my child has his unique endowments which he will actualize at his own pace. My focus should be to help my child transform his/her natural curiosity and interest into a strong inner discipline and motivation. A question that I have often asked myself in this context is, ‘Am I going to let my child find his own level?’ Winston Churchill said, “Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or I could not learn.”

As a conscious parent I must always strive to understand afresh:
How do I draw a line between:-

Freedom and guidance
Discipline and permissiveness
Space and control
Structured time and unstructured time
Independence and scrutiny
Being a guide and being a friend
Challenging and supporting

►Children as witnesses to our path

I am my child’s living example. What am I modeling?

If we do not model what we teach, then we are teaching something else.
I want my child to be persevering, am I so?
I want my child to be a good human, am I so?
I want my child to grow, am I growing-as a parent, individual, human?
My children are watching me make my way. Not about what I do, but how I do it. Not about my parenting style, but my personal style.
Says Joyce Maynard, “As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.”

This book is a compilation of:

►My experiences

I am a mother of two girls and we often had open discussions and debates; question/answer sessions; introspection sessions; experiments in handling issues such as anger, fear, failure, relationships, education, learning, absorbing, etc. My children struggle with me almost as much as I struggle with them.

►Research

Research- from books, journals, magazines, Universities, Institutions, etc. dealing in child psychology, philosophy, behavioural sciences, pedagogy, strategies, attitudes which work etc.

►Interviews

Of childhoods which have worked-I interviewed people we look upon to, from all walks of life. I went behind their passions and challenges, their everyday life experiences and influences which have shaped and chiseled them to what they are. Some names are Kumar Mangalam Birla, Jaya Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Jogen Chowdhary, Mrinal Sen, Hemant Trivedi, Kiran Bedi, Javed Akhtar, Shreya Ghoshal, Jonny Lever, Pandit Jasraj, Harsh Neotia, Anup Jalota, Jatin Das, Darshana Zhaveri, Tanuja Chandra and Sanjeev Kapoor.

I interviewed ordinary parents-neighbours, friends, colleagues for their experiences which made for insightful learning.

I interviewed about 500 children aged between 5 and 12 to know what really goes on in their thinking minds and their magical world.

This book deals with:

Attitudes that we want to develop in our children
Love of learning
An open mind
Optimism
Diligence
Perseverance
Responsibility
Courage
Confidence
Sensitivity
Sense of humour

Ethical values that we want to inculcate in our children

Honesty
Empathy
Humility
Respectfulness
Kindness
Generosity

Gifts that we need to give them

Freedom
Imagination
Creativity
Personal expression
Security
Love

There is no one right way, but there is a right direction-which is to keep in tandem with the child’s natural self, if we can do this in a loving and respectful manner, we will have done enough. As Osho said, “Everybody is trying to make you somebody else, whom you cannot become. You can only become yourself, or you can miss becoming.”

Lastly as parents the healthiest thing we can do both for ourselves and our children is to grant ourselves the freedom of a few mistakes which we will inevitably make along the way. For a planned parenting strategy however detailed, falls short in many real situations. Besides children are resilient – we will not lose them through a few mistakes.

Panel Discussion On "Working With Parents"

noreply@blogger.com (sukanya) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:45:00 +0000

National Institute for the mentally handicapped (NIMH) RC (Regional Centre), Navi Mumbai is involved in the human resource development. As a part of their activity they conduct CRE- (continuing rehabilitation education) for professionals working in the field of disability.

‘Capacity Building’ in NGO’s was the subject for the CRE that was organized from 2nd Feb to 6th Feb.2009 One of the topics discussed in the CRE was ‘Working with parents’.

A Panel Discussion was held on the 4th Feb at NIMH. Mrs. Dipti Bakshi, Mrs. Nirmala Mohandoss, Mrs. Anika Gurung and Mrs. Laveena Birani and all the parents of special students of Swami Brahmnand Pratishthan were the panel members.

The panel discussion began with a formal round of introduction of the panel members and the participants. The main objective of the discussion was to project parent’s perspectives towards the grievances expressed by the professionals working with the special children.

The participants were asked to write down about the challenges faced by them while working with parents. These queries were then handed over to Mrs. Sukanya Venkataraman who was the moderator at the panel discussion.

The panelists answered all the queries of the participants. Following are the questions asked:

· Why parents don’t send students to School?
· Do parents give more attention to their normal kids? Do they differentiate between their special kids and normal kids?
· Can special children learn?
· Parents do not follow up the program planned by the special educator and give little attention to their home work.
· Parents don’t attend meetings and even if they do attend only mothers attend and Fathers never attend meetings .Why?
· Why do parents lay more stress on Academics and show little interest towards extra curricular activities?
· How do parents handle the behavioral problems of their children?
· Do they expect guidance form professionals with respect to sexual problems of their children?
· What effect does the birth of a special child have on the family members? How does the society, neighbors and relatives interact with the special child?
· How do you involve the siblings in the development of your special child?
· When both parents are working they are not able to carry out certain activities and this hampers the child’s development. Teachers feel that they too have 12 children in their class and hence are not able to attend to the child individually. What is the responsibility of the parents here?
· Do the parent pressurize the teachers because they are worried about their children or is there any other reason?
· Even though the child has reached the age of 18 parents still feel that their child should learn academics. What is their opinion about vocational training? What assistance do they expect from the Institution? How will they contribute towards this?
· What do parents think about the future of their child?
· What do you think of special schools in a rural set up?
· Are parents aware of the Govt. facilities and do they avail of these benefits?
· Sometimes parents use their special child for their own benefit.
· Why do parents give more importance to speech therapy rather than to the special education?
· Is it true that parents do not want to spend more time or money on their special child?
· What do parents think about the money they spend on their ward even when they know that their child will always be dependent on them?
· How should parents ensure the financial security of their child?
· Can parents freely suggest any changes in the program or the activities to the teachers?
· Are the parent’s suggestions accepted by the teachers?
· Are you able to discuss your child’s problems and achievements with the teachers?
· How can parents be motivated to participate in the school activities and functions?
· What are your expectations from the teacher and the Institution?

Parents Feedback received during discussion

Home is the first school and parents become the first teachers. Both home and the school should work together. Parents and teachers can work together as both possess skills and knowledge. Both have certain insights in to the child. Sharing of information about the child could solve many problems. This sends a message to the child that we are all in it together.

Parents being parents are very attached and affectionate towards their child hence they worry about their child.

Both parents and teachers want what is best for the child but somewhere the message gets lost due to lack of time, lack of transparency and due to lack of communication. Once these barriers are broken this gap between the two can bridged.

We need to work as a team. Both parents and teachers should appreciate each other’s efforts.
Many problems arise due various problems like lack of proper guidance from doctors, paucity of knowledge regarding disabilities, poor awareness on the part of parents and many other reasons. If the child’s program and the activities are explained to the parents before starting the program they become the effective partners who work along with the teacher.
Parents need to have more knowledge about their children. Sharing of knowledge through workshops and seminars will help parents gain knowledge and awareness.

Parents involvement is very important – this indirectly helps the child. Their involvement results in improved achievement, improved behavior and improved confidence of the child. The child also will start coming regularly to the school.

Meetings are held by teachers but most often mothers only attend the meetings. Fathers also want to attend meetings . They may not be able to attend for many reasons – their job commitments could be one of the reasons. In the Indian setup it is always the mother who takes care of the children so naturally it is the mother who also does all the interaction with the teacher. But mothers negligence will affect the child’s development.
Fathers can be motivated to participate in the school activities by giving them specific responsibilities.
Parents become good volunteers – the schools can make use of the expertise of parents and get them involved in the school activities. Once they get involved they start enjoying it .
Good parent teacher communication is required for the child’s progress. The relationship between the two is dynamic. What one does affects the other and in between it is the child who gets affected.
The attitude of the teacher is also of utmost importance as sometimes their way of talking may hurt parents. Often we focus on wrong things and so fail to take advantage of the influence they have together.
When parents and teachers make a mutual commitment to the best interest of the child the child feels supported and feels motivated to learn.
We need to form a strong and healthy foundation for the child.
Siblings can be encouraged to participate in the school activities . this helps in helping the sibling to accept the special child and also helps the child to adjust well with the situation.

Teachers need to be understanding towards the emotional state of the parents. Parents should be made comfortable in the initial stage to help them overcome their grievance and accept their child’s condition. Only then a good rapport can be built between the teacher and the parents.
Parents can also support other parents. Teachers should identify parents who have accepted and adjusted well with their child and school activities and take their help in working with other parents.
Parents suggestions should be accepted and respected by teachers and they must not take this as interference by parents.
Parents do need the help of the professionals in handling certain behavior problems, and sexual problems of the children.
Group counseling will also help the parents in overcoming their problems. Parents also need to be trained so training programs for the parents should be arranged by the school.
Many parents are not aware of the Govt. facilities, so awareness programs by professionals will the parents understand the rights of their child.
Teachers should consider parents as partners not as opponents .

Disability awareness posters that were displayed at various nodes by Aarushi

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:23:00 +0000

During the world disability week, many posters were displayed at various nodes to spread the awareness of mental retardation

If you have a mentally challenged child you can prevent the mental retardation of your second child by seeking the medical opinion before planning the second child.

The child learns better with his friends, it is important to encourage your special child to play with normal children.

Any one can get a mentally challenged child, it has nothing to do with caste, creed or religion

Getting a mentally challenged man married will not cure his illness

It is important to ensure a proper care of the mother during her pregnancy to prevent the birth of mental chllenged child.

You can contact school and hospitals for guidance and help.

Help them with early intervention by detecting deveopment delays

They can perform better if they are given right training

If there is delay in normal development, suspect mental retardation and get early medical help.

Step by step training the child is the key to the success and improvement.

New Horizon Child Development Centre (NHCDC)

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:37:00 +0000

NHCDC is a Centre dedicated to the optimal development of all children. NHCDC was founded by Dr. Samir Dalwai, Pediatrician with special interest in Child Development, child Psychology and Child Law, in 2003 with the vision that ‘Every child can do better”.

Testimony of a parent

“My son took treatment in NHCDC for one year and in this one year I got to know my son’s diagnosis properly. NHCDC team helped me in understanding my son’s health problem and most important their positive attitude helped me accept my son as he is. All my questions were answered here and all the doubts were patiently cleared by team and they also helped me in gaining knowledge. My son is not taking treatment from NHCDC now but still whenever I have problem I always go back to Deepti or Dr Dalwai and get my problem solved and they work as my support and as a friend., showing me that they are not working for money but they believe that every child is special and can show progress.

NHCDC for me is a remedial centre which is systematic, organized, working for the overall development of the child, very professional and at the same time has a personal touch for every child which makes the child and his parents feel at ease. It is working for every child’s treatment and is also doing the difficult task of spreading awareness about children’s problems and the right of a child to receive treatment.”

NHCDC believe and practice working together in an integrated manner with the child as focus of intervention.

NHCDC believe that

*It allows them to understand and help the child and the family in the manner most suited to them.

*It brings about regular coordination between Consultants and Therapists; thus the child gets individualized and personalized therapy.

*The therapy focuses on special needs of every child

*Child adapts faster to such an environment and cooperated better.

Services offered by NHCDC

Psychological testing and counseling
-Intelligence testing(IQ/DQ/SQ)
-Personality testing
-Parent counseling
-Behavior modification
-Aptitude test and vocational guidance.

Occupational Therapy

Physiotherapy

Speech therapy

Special education/Remediation

Pediatric Neurology

Pediatric orthopedic surgery

Diet consultation

Development enhancement programs for children

Understanding child development and child psychology (awareness program, workshops and courses for doctors, teachers, parents and school management.)

Visiting Consultants at NHCDC

Dr Atul Bhaskar
MS(Orth) FRCS (Orth) M.Ch.(Orth)
Pediatric orthopedic Surgeon and Scientific Director

Dr. Anaita Udwadia-Hegde
MD, MRCPCH. Fellow in Pediatric Neurology(London)
Pedritric Neurologist, NHCDC

Panel of Advisors at NHCDC

Dr. Y.K. Amdekar
M.D, D.C.H. Senior Pediatrician, JJ group of hospitals
Ex-president, Indian Academy of Pediatrics

Dr Anuradha Savani
Ph.D Clinical psychology, Clinical Psychologist and Reader
Department of Applied Psychology, Mumbai University

Dr Anjali Joshi
Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, Certified Sensory Integration Therapist freom University of Southern California, Lecturer and Associate professor at K.E.M hospital, Mumbai.

Dr. Mamta Manglani
M.D.D.C.H. Professor and Head of department-Pediatrics
LTMG hospital (Sion)

Sharan- A Centre for Recuperation

noreply@blogger.com (pushpee) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:54:00 +0000

The society for the Rehabilitation of Paraplegics established in 1968, endeavors to rehabilitates a person, who, due to injury or disease of the spinal cord, is paralyzed from the waist downwards. Its beneficiaries, many of whom are young adults, come from the low socio-economic strata and when faced with such a tragedy they have neither the economic resources nor the support system to live a meaningful life. In the initial stage under the guidance of its founder president late Dr. K.S. Masalwala, the Orthopedic department of J.J. Hospitals.

As there was a crying need for a rehabilitation centre for the poor paralyzed patients from the government and municipal hospitals, Sharan, Smt Kamla Raheja Rehabilitation Centre was established in 1987 at Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

The paraplegics stay at the Centre on an average for 18 months. During this time they are given medical care, nutritious diet, clean living conditions, mobility aids and appliances, intensive physiotherapy, psychological counseling, sports training, occupational therapy and vocational training courses, totally free of cost.

This unique and complete approach towards rehabilitation has enabled over 753(since 1968) paraplegics to date to emerge from Sharan as strong, independent, self-sufficient members of our society. Even today it is the only Centre in India for civilian patients who have tragically become paraplegics. The design of the centre is noted for the barrier free environment which is of International standards.