Mitr is a vibrant community centre in Chennai for parents who have children with special needs, where you can bond with like-minded families, sit back and relax at the Special Needs Mitr Cafe, or engage in an exciting range of vocational classes and activities held for both parents and kids.
Parents of children with special needs may feel isolated and disheartened coping with medical, financial, educational and emotional issues. Mitr is a centre in Chennai for serving parents of children who…
Autism
Mrs Neera Chawla, Director of Muskaan, an NGO which strives to empower adults with disabilities, talks about their employment programmes and how they try to make inclusion a reality. What categories of disabilities does Muskaan work with? What are the programmes you offer? We primarily work with adults who have intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities. We have a few cases of Autism also. We mostly have adult training programmes, which are ascertained according to the different…
The Independent Living Program, an offshoot of Arunima, one of India’s first assisted living centres for teenagers and adults with autism, provides services and support to people with higher functioning autism to independence and dignity. In conversation with Aparna Das, founder director of Arunima. A few years ago, you set up Arunima, one of India’s first assisted living centres for teenagers and adults with autism. And now recently, you extended its vision to launch a new initiative, The…
The world of medicine is beginning to increasingly acknowledge the potential of expressive arts therapies such as art, music, drama, dance/movement, poetry/creative writing and play in the context of healing, treatment, psychotherapy, counselling and rehabilitation. Activities such as drawing, drumming, creative movement and play acting allow individuals of all ages to express deep-seated thoughts and feelings, improve physical, mental and emotional well-being and boost self-esteem and…
The parents and families of children with special needs go through a lot of stress and anxiety in bringing up their children. Dr Roma Kumar, a Senior Consultant in Clinical Psychology, discusses various issues that these parents have to tackle on an almost everyday basis and possible solutions. Q1. Different research and surveys across the world show that more than 50% of the parents of children with disabilities suffer from anxiety, stress and depression. In your experience in India what are…
Jellow Communicator, a free app compatible with Android tablets and mobiles has been developed by an interdisciplinary team of therapists, graphic designers, software programmers and animators at the IDC School of Design in IIT Bombay. This app aids communication and learning in children on the autism spectrum and speech impairments. An interview with Sudha Srinivasan, post-doctoral fellow, IDC, and paediatric speech therapist, who provided clinical content for the app. You and your team…
Without a proper plan, your child with autism may face an uncertain future after you are gone. Chitra Iyer, Treasurer and Trustee, Forum for Autism, spells out reasons why it is absolutely necessary for parents to prepare a Will. While this may apply to various disabilities, the focus for this article is mainly on children with autism and keeps in mind the legal requirements in India. What if something were to happen to me tomorrow, how can I ensure that my child with Autism who is now an…
Tamahar not only tries to develop the children with various activities, it also brings the family, the primary caregivers, into its fold to help them grow and learn with the children. Vaishali Pai is a visionary and an experienced occupational therapist who set up the Tamahar Trust in 2009 to help children with special needs find their own little spaces in this world. She shares how she would like Tamahar to reach out to more children in future. Tell us briefly the thoughts behind forming…
Indrajeet Patil's research shows people with autism also have their share of empathy for others’ well being, contrary to common beliefs. In fact, they are believed to go through a lot of personal distress at the prospect of anyone being harmed. PatientsEngage with inputs from Akila Vaidyanathan interviewed SISSA researcher Indrajeet Patil on his research: Can you tell us about the study in brief. Traditionally, there have been two common myths about autism that have flourished in the…
