NEWSLETTER QE: DECEMBER 2009- VOLUME: 7


“A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU AND THE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILIES FROM THE ENTIRE ADARSH FAMILY HERE.”


I. This newsletter, the 7th in the series of electronic newsletters, comes to you at the end of the year 2009, in fact at the ends of the decade 2000-2009. Whether it has been a good year or decade for the country, or for the world, it is perhaps too early to conclude, but for Adarsh, it has definitely been a good decade, one of progress, very significant and perceptible in some areas, though there were others where we feel it should have been and could have been more. Whatever progress was achieved was the result of the cumulative efforts of the whole Adarsh team and the continuous, whole hearted and unstinted support from all of you. Here is wishing you all and the members of your families the very best in the year which has just started. We in Adarsh are confident that the good will and support we have enjoyed all these years will continue to flow in in equal, if not greater measure, in the years ahead.

Website: www.adarshrehab.org Email: adarshrehab@yahoo.com

The decade just completed.

At this time, it may be appropriate to look at the events of the last decade:

 

i.            Our Own building

              

We were able to move into our own building, at Kureekad in Chottanikkara Panchayat, approximately 13000 sq ft, in 3 floors. The building was designed by an eminent architect of the state Shri PKR Menon and has attracted the uniform appreciation of all visitors. Spacious, well ventilated and disabled friendly, the building was commissioned in the august presence of Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, President of India on 17th December 2005. Children and teachers feel much more comfortable here. But we have already started experiencing shortage of space. Hence, when we commissioned the Child Developmental Evaluation, Intervention & Research Centre (CDEIRC- Email: adarshcderc@yahoo.com ), in December 2007, we had to hire another building in the city. In addition, work has been started to recently to add a wing of about 2000 sq ft to the existing building, to provide 5 additional class  rooms, a proper kitchen and a canteen. We do not anticipate any significant increase in the number of children seeking admission, because of the obvious problems of traversing a long distance by a child with problems to attend school, but additional space will, nevertheless, be required for newer and more specialized activities. The foundation has been provided for 3 floors, to take care of even future requirements.

 

Funding for the new wing has been arranged by Think India Foundation, Dallas, Texas (Rs. 10 lakhs) and the rest Rs.20 lakhs by Shri CK Menon, our ever dependable and biggest benefactor.   

 

ii.            Impressive increase in the number of trainees

 

The number of children getting trained in Adarsh  has seen  a phenomenal increase- we would like to believe , due to increased level of confidence in the efficacy of our training. When the training centre was started in June 1998, it had only 7 children, all affected by Cerebral Palsy. More disabilities started getting covered from July 2003, when a section for children with Autism was started, again with 7 children. Sections for children with Down syndrome & Learning Disorders were added in February 2008 & July 2008 respectively. The growth since 2000 was as follows:

 

           

End of April           

NUMBER OF

 

Children  

    Teachers    

Therapists

consultants/doctor consultants

2000

29

4

2

-

2003

57

8

2

1

2006

85

23

9

3

2009

184

39

7

6

End of December 2009

181

39

7

6

  

 

Perhaps, a more meaningful testimony to the usefulness of our training is the fact, that in the last 8 years or so, over 40 children left Adarsh to pursue studies in mainstream schools. At the end of this academic year too, another 2are expected to leave. Even after they leave us, they are encouraged to make use of our facilities like therapy, remedial educational training, and counseling. The parents of these children meet in our premises at regular intervals, meetings arranged by the Association of Parents of Old Students of Adarsh (APOSA).

                                   

To improve and sustain the improved quality of training, not only has the number of teachers been increased, still maintaining a student -teacher ratio of 5:1, but more qualified teachers and therapists are now available. Apart from physiotherapists (4 full time & 2 consultants), we have a clinical psychologist, an occupational therapist, 2 speech therapists and a Speech & Language Therapist to look after the children in the 4 sections, namely CP, Autism , Downs & LD. A very recent addition to the number of disabilities covered is the starting  of the Neuro Visual Development Centre, formally inaugurated on 03/12/09 for children with Cerebral Palsy who have also associated visual problems. These children are in the unfortunate situation now, of not getting proper training in special schools like Adarsh nor even in blind schools. The fact is that there are a number of such children. So, to provide for simultaneous rehabilitation of such children in both areas, this early intervention centre has been started. The centre will give both developmental therapy and visual training. We hope to introduce mobility and orientation training and Braille training at later stages. The unit is being run with full support from Drs. NSDRaju, Biju Raju & Anju Raju of Renjini Eye Hospital Vyttila.

 

iii.            FINANCE.

 

For any organisation, not merely NGOs, finding funds for its projects is always a vexed and tricky problem. Adarsh is today the owner of a building valued at Rs. 1 crore or so and therapy and teaching equipments worth about Rs.20 lakhs. Some of the equipments available are very advanced and sophisticated- EMG Biofeedback, hippotherapy, tread mill, Static Cycle, Electronic Muscle Stimulator, Ultrasound etc. These enable our therapists to assess the problem of a child accurately and thereby decide the right type of treatment. The Govt. of Kerala helped us with a grant of Rs. 10 lakhs for this purpose. The other major contributors were TCS, Cognisant Technologies, Rotary Clubs of Cochin Mid Town, Cochin West and ,Tripunithura. Apart from projects, the running of the special schools itself needs funds to the tune of Rs 18 Lakhs per year as, at Adarsh fees are collected on the basis of the parents' ability to pay . Kerala Govt.'s order authorising Local Self Govt. bodies to reimburse special schools for the major part of tuition fees and transportation fees fully is   being honored by these bodies only partially(the heartening feature is the gradual increase in such amounts year to year).Unfortunately, the Govt. of India has not yet given any assistance. Therefore, Adarsh is still dependent on individuals & corporates to bridge the gap. It is a matter of pride and satisfaction , that we have not only been able to bridge this gap, month after month for the last few years, but also to put by Rs 30 lakhs in a corpus fund, for a rainy day. Many people have helped us in this effort but the most notable are:

Shri CK Menon a business magnate based in Qatar but with business interests all over the world. With his contribution so far of Rs. 75 lakhs, no other benefactor is anywhere near him.

Give India Foundation, Mumbai, a funding NGO listed us in August 2005. Since then, they have been a source of continuous flow of funds, every month and often for large funds like the one of Rs. 10 lakhs from Think India Foundation Texas. Their guidance for getting access to funds has also been very useful.

http://www.giveindia.org/m-150-adarsh-charitable-trust.aspx

N. Krishnan of CLSA Mumbai with a contribution of over Rs.25 Lakhs and Shri. Unni Bhaskar of Countach Dubai & Vestas India, Chennai were the other major donors with contributions of Rs 15-20 lakhs donations each.

We are beholden to all of them for their munificence. We cannot express our gratitude to them adequately in words.

 

iv.            Therapy & Education

At Adarsh, the emphasis on therapy in various forms-

Physio, Psycho, Occupational and Speech . In addition, to identify and develop latent skills, music and hydro therapy are also attempted. There is a computer lab with 6 computers with key boards and mouse suitably modified, with about 50 children getting trained there.

  

v.            Open Basic Education.

Many children cannot go to a "normal" school because of the severity of their disability.(Experts who swear by "inclusive education " will not agree but they seem to ignore 2 major factors in their calculations, namely ,the degree of severity of disability and lack of  preparedness or infrastructural facilities available in these "normal schools"). So, to help them Adarsh introduced academic education under the National Open Schooling System (NIOS).Some of the main advantages of this system are:

i.all children need not study all subjects and can replace some with elective subjects, a wide range of which is available in the syllabus

ii.scribes are provided for those who cannot write

iii. the time to complete a paper is extended to suit the needs of a child etc.

At the end of this academic year 2009-2010, 7 children of Adarsh will appear at the 10th standard examination of the Board along with about 90 others, of other special schools, who will also appear along with our children through Adarsh ,as we are the only accredited agency for holding these examinations. A certificate of passing the 10th standard , by itself , may not help a challenged child, except that it helps to boost the confidence level of the child.

 

vi.            Community Based Rehabilitation ProjectS

The area of operation of Adarsh has been specified in the bye-laws as the whole of the country, perhaps, a bit too ambitious for an organisation like Adarsh. However, our activities are not confined to the special school at Kureekad or even Vennala (CDEIRC) but spread over into the whole of the state or at least large parts of it. To look after this aspect, a Community Based Rehabilitation Unit has been working right from the beginning but actively from 2004. Through its efforts, it has been possible to motivate and render all technical help for setting up 14 special schools, across the state, in 7 districts. These together  look after over 350 children today. 

 

(1). Risk Baby Unit

                            

 Advances in the peri-natal care and the establishment of neonatal nurseries have improved the survival chance of many newborns that would otherwise have succumbed. This, however, tends to increase childhood developmental delays, speech problems, behavioral problems, attention deficit and hyper-kinetic disorders and scholastic backwardness. A "Risk baby Unit", where a trained Clinical Child Developmental Therapist adopts early detection practices for developmental delay, subsequently leading on to early intervention therapy was set up in August 2005 in association with Child Developmental Centre, Trivandrum at 3 Hospitals in Ernakulam District, namely Ernakulam Medical Centre (2 days), Lakshmi Hospital (2 days), Sunrise Hospital (1 day). In these hospitals, this unit works under the close supervision of Neonatology and Pediatric departments. The unit examines about 40-50 such infants per month. 80% reporting for follow up check up and intervention therapy

 

(2)Newborn Hearing Screening Unit

A New Born Hearing Screening Unit was set up as a joint project of Adarsh and Indian Academy of Pediatrics Childhood Disability Group. This unit checks the hearing ability of newborn children and referring for further corrective action when needed. The initial check is done through a sophisticated portable machine called "Echo Check Auditory Screener, which helps to screen the hearing ability of newborn babies, even before they get discharged form the hospital. A trained person visits the selected hospital on a particular day. Arrangements are also made for follow up action in case it is needed. The technician examines on an average 50-60 cases every month in 6 hospitals.

 

(3)Home Based Rehabilitation Unit 

                                 

In spite of special schools being setup, there is a section of society which is unable to utilize these benefits, due to lack of awareness, financial difficulties etc. For such sections, adarsh has set up a "Home Based Rehabilitation programme" to visit 13 such children at their home.Each home is visited by a team of experts comprising a Special Educator and a Therapist of Adarsh  on 2 days in the week and they  attend to a programme of therapy and academic /skill training according to the needs of the children. This unit now works only in some selected Panchayats in and around our special school at Kureekad.

 

 It is proposed to enlarge the scope of the present HOME BASED REHABILITATION UNIT increasing the number of children from 13 now to about 30 and place at the disposal of this unit an exclusive van fully equipped with therapy and educational material and exclusive teachers and therapists for this purpose. This project will be implemented under the guidance of Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Childhood Disability Group and may become operational by April-May this year.

 

vii.            FRIENDS OF ADARSH

 

Friends of Adarsh- a social network forum of Adarsh Charitable Trust has recently  launched a Resource Mobilization wing to strengthen its activities and its network under the leadership of Shri.A.S Shenoy, Governing Council Member .

 

For the last few years, an idea had been floated among our friends of setting apart  every month a sum of Rs. 150/- rounded off  to Rs.2000/- per year. During the last round of reminders to these friends, we have received over Rs. 2,00,000/- Perhaps, this may be an idea some of you may like to adopt and commend to your friends.