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Special kids will soon find help at their door …..Malathy Iyer I TNN
Six-year-old Nitin and his mother unfailingly reach Currey Road from Nashik once every fortnight. He then sits through back-to-back sessions on speech, occupational and behaviour therapies at the Ummeed Child Development Centre before heading back home a few hours later.
Nitin (name changed) has autism, a developmental disorder that mainly affects social interaction skills. His mother gets him to Mumbai because of the poor availability of rehabilitation services in Nashik. Nitin is not the only one, there are many children suffering from various developmental disorders (such as cerebral palsy, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, etc) who come to Mumbai from various parts of the state and country for both diagnosis and treatment.
However, a pilot project scheduled to start in March can help change the situation. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a pilot project along with Ummeed, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works with children with developmental disorders, to train community health workers as therapy aides. The idea of the ‘Child Development Aide Training Programme’ is to create an army of aides who can spot developmental disorders at the earliest, direct affected children to the right specialists and implement suggested rehabilitation programmes.
It is not only outstation but even city children who can benefit from this programme. “The World Health Organisation states that 10% of all children under 18 years of age suffer from some form of developmental disorder. If one extrapolates this number to Mumbai, then we have over 6.5 lakh children in the city itself who need help,’’ said Dr Vibha Krishnamurthi, developmental paediatrician who heads Ummeed. As centres like Ummeed in Mumbai have limited resources in terms of specialists and space, many children are turned down.
The therapy-aide programme can help in such situations. “The idea is to train people from NGOs, schools serving lowincome populations and doing community-based rehabilitation in slums, orphanages, thereby creating a new cadre of therapy aides,’’ said Dr Anjali Joshi who will lead the programme.
NGOs can sponsor candidates for the six-month programme which will include details on normal child development, recognition of various disabilities, various teaching methods and monitoring. “Even parents of children coming from distant areas in the city and state who are willing to help other parents in similar situations can also apply,’’ said the doctors.
A RAY OF HOPE Developmental disabilities are birth defects related to a problem with how a body part or body system works. In other words, it is a child who is not able to attain developmental milestones such as sitting, walking, talking at the appropriate time.
The programme would target training meant to help children affected by cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder, learning difficulties and mental retardation
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