Children younger than 5 years, with mental handicaps or at risk for developmental delay, are identified and assessed by professionals. Trained women from the target area provide intervention.
Beneficiaries are poor families and their mentally handicapped offspring. As daily wage workers they forgo opportunities for their child’s development. Superstition leading to nonacceptance, discrimination and problems caused by poverty, denies the children timely intervention that prevents avoidable secondary handicaps. Women, particularly mothers of the disabled, need support to confront problems caused by poverty and its impact on the disability of their child.
Detection of mothers and children "at risk" for developmental delays; intervention for a target group of children; training of midwives, health workers, teachers of special education and other professionals in the target community.
Direct intervention lessens impact of disability and prevents onset of secondary handicaps. Training women to become partners in our work provides an income which leads to greater self worth, improves their status and changes community perceptions.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
