TN
Governor Banwarilal Purohit Inaugurates Amar Seva’s Early Intervention
International Conference, Sanctions Rs 51 lakh for compound wall
Mr
Banwarilal Purohit, Governor
of Tamil Nadu, today, inaugurated the two-day Early Intervention International
Conference organized by the Amar Seva Sangam, Ayikudi, Tamil Nadu, (ASSA), a
premier non-profit organization in the field of disability management in
Chennai. Mr. Nagarajan, IAS, Project
Director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project & Tamil Nadu Urban Healthcare
Project, delivered the keynote address on ‘Early Intervention in Government’s
Perspective’.
The international conference attended by an impressive
500 experts in this field from India and abroad, had witnessed the launch of
mVBR-EI, a mobile application developed by ASSA for managing early intervention
of children with special needs as well as a theme song about the Amar Seva
Sangam.
The Governor in his inaugural address appreciated the
works undertaken by Amar Seva Sangam and said, “ASSA, has envisioned a value
for the disabled and are doing a commendable job of reaching down and lifting
people. It has been found that in early childhood, the developing brain of
children is far more sensitive to stimulation and rehabilitation and therefore
it is the ideal time for rehabilitation.”
“ASSA had requested funds to build a compound wall and
were falling short of Rs. 50 lakhs. A sum of Rs. 51 lakhs have been sanctioned
and will be disbursed in a fortnight. The courage and efforts of these people
heralds a new era on the development of the country in area of service,” the
Governor added.
ASSA had also organized two pre-conference workshops
on the 13th February that was inaugurated by Ms. V. Saroja, Minister for Social Welfare and Nutritious Noon Meal
Programme, Government of Tamil Nadu. The workshops were on focused on
‘Designing, implementing, monitoring and scaling-up early intervention programs
for children with disabilities’, and ‘Home-based early intervention for
children with developmental disabilities and cerebral palsy: A family-centered
interdisciplinary approach’.
Padma
Shri S. Ramakrishnan, Founder
President, Amar Seva Sangam, appreciated the gesture made by the Governor of
Tamil Nadu.
“Disability is a major barrier to access to education
in India. According to a 2016 study published in the Lancet, there are more
than 52.9 million children under the age of 5 in the world living with a
disability, with 12 million in India and 100,000 in Tamil Nadu alone,” he said.
Mr
Sankara Raman, Secretary,
ASSA, said, “There is an urgent need to address this issue with quality early
intervention to support children in the development of physical, cognitive,
emotional, sensory, behavioral, social and communication capabilities and
skills. This would increase inclusion and participation of those children in
schools and society.”
“The research findings and the significant positive
outcome of our flagship programme has initiated the State Government of Tamil
Nadu to fund ASSA and scale up the village-based programme to cover the
districts of Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin, starting from April 2020.
The Government also aims to make the programme
available state-wide which will benefit 100,000 children with childhood disabilities,”
he added.
The conference saw 15 experts make presentations on
various aspects of early intervention such as parent-based early intervention
for children with developmental delay, stroke in children - current diagnostic
and management challenges, and early identification of risk for developmental
delay.
The participants included the executives of
non-governmental organizations, physiotherapists, occupational therapists,
special educators, pediatricians, doctors including neurologists and orthopedic
surgeons, research scholars, students, professors, early childhood educators,
psychologists, speech trainers, speech pathologists, family counsellors,
funders and senior government officials from different parts of the country and
the world.
The conference offered a platform for the exchange and
adoption of a significant number of diverse experiences, and best practices in
the field of early intervention that would maximize children's potential
towards inclusion.
Key Highlights of the Programme:
- A presentation was also made at the conference on the outcomes of ASSA’s Village-Based Early Intervention & Rehabilitation Programme. The programme began in 2014 and has benefited 1152 children with special needs in the district of Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.
- The programme trained 2771 Anganwadi workers, village health nurses and community rehabilitation workers in screening for delayed development. It screened 52,036 children under the age of 6 in this district and found a 2.1% prevalence rate of developmental disabilities.
- This village-based programme uses a digital application to connect community rehabilitation workers with rehabilitation specialists in order to provide early intervention therapy to children with delayed development. This tech-adoption has improved the children’s development and participation in schools and society. The programme showed improved engagement over time with rates of therapy attendance by children improving from 60% in 2017 to 95% in 2019.
- Additionally, more than 35,000 people in the surrounding community showed improved knowledge about child development, early intervention therapy. Thanks to the awareness camps, the initiative also reduced stigma around developmental disabilities.
Funded and supported by Grand Challenges Canada,
Handi-Care Intl., Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative and the Harvard Centre
for the Developing Child, the programme has been awarded the prestigious MIT
Solver Award, Vodafone Mobile for Goods Award, World Cerebral Palsy Day Major
Award in Medical / Therapeutics.
In addition, the programme is going to be awarded the
Zero Project Inclusive Education Award at the United Nations in Vienna in Feb
2020.
A study based on the programme found that the school
enrolment rate of children with special needs improved from 69% to 85% when
they received early intervention therapy. The study was conducted in
association with the University of Toronto and McGill University. ASSA’s study
found that the severity of disability and the lack of early intervention were
the two primary reasons that prevent the children with special needs from
attending schools. The lowest enrolment was seen with children with cerebral
palsy (CP), particularly those with more motor severity and cognitive
impairment. Children with higher early intervention program attendance levels
had higher rates of achieving school enrolment.
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