Mission statement of Aadhi Special School: 1.To organize, federate, sensitize the less privileged, under privileged, oppressed, women, children and the disabled through training and motivation 2.To involve the target groups for participatory learning in order to empower them face challenges, deal with issues, find solutions, raise voices, bargain, advocate, and combat against atrocities, abuses and all forms of exploitation. 3.To empower the target group through socio-economic, educational, environment and health programmes based on traditional and sustainable methods through appropriate interventions. The ongoing Aadhi special school for Mentally Retarded in Kallakurichi Taluk,at No.62B/6,... read more Mission statement of Aadhi Special School: 1.To organize, federate, sensitize the less privileged, under privileged, oppressed, women, children and the disabled through training and motivation 2.To involve the target groups for participatory learning in order to empower them face challenges, deal with issues, find solutions, raise voices, bargain, advocate, and combat against atrocities, abuses and all forms of exploitation. 3.To empower the target group through socio-economic, educational, environment and health programmes based on traditional and sustainable methods through appropriate interventions. The ongoing Aadhi special school for Mentally Retarded in Kallakurichi Taluk,at No.62B/6,Kachirapalayam Road,Villupuram District will be shifted to the capacity building centre. The Centre will also provide residential facilities for children with special needs from the Villupuram area. We propose to accommodate 50children in this new building during the first year and the number would increase every year approximately 8-10 children per year. All types of mentally challenged children, children with cerebral palsy and autism will benefit from the school. Children will be classified according to the age group and mental age. The educable children between the age of 5 and 18 years shall be admitted into the school and other aged group persons will be taken care through home based support services and/or vocational training centre. The operation cost for the school would be shared between Community fund raising events and parent's contributions and government support schemes. Since it is a Government recognized school, it is eligible to claim a Maintenance Grant (MG) from Government on showing full students' strength. Community fund Raising Team supports this program at present and has promised to continue supporting the school for at least 5 years. No tuition fee and boarding fee will be collected from children with parents who can afford the charges. In Mother, two special educators, one attendant and a cook are currently employed and two additional special educators will be added if fund needed by the state Government of Tamilnadu and recognised by the State commissioner for the welfare of the Differently abled,at Beach Road, Near by Vivekanandhar Illam,chepak,chennai. 4.3 Preparatory school for the speech and hearing impaired children 4.3.1 Status of speech and hearing impaired In our working area 626 persons have been identified as speech and hearing impaired and this particular disability represents 24 percentage of the total disabled population. Among them 71 % are illiterate, since many didn't have opportunity to build speech and auditory skills during pre-school age. Since there are no specialised organisations in the area, hundreds of school going children do not get basic support and stimulation to cope with normal school education. 4.3.2 Proposed plan We propose to have a specialised classroom with in-built auditory equipment to support the children in the early age to build their language and communication skills. Since auditory and speech training should be given in the early age, the children below 5 years will be given priority in the proposed centre. Infant stimulation and language development will be done through organising contact training programs for the family members. Children between 3-5 years will be attending the pre-school on a daily basis. Besides, the centre would also cater the special needs of the school going children and adults to build their language, communication and sign language development aspects as well. 4.3.3 Target /beneficiaries In the first year, the centre would accommodate 8 children on a regular basis and would support the infant's through early stimulation training that would be held on part-time basis. Besides, the centre would also extent support to around 25 school going and adult speech and hearing impaired persons. 4.3.4 Personnel In the first year, one special teacher will be appointed exclusively to take care of this centre. In the subsequent years, additional staff will be placed based on the student teacher ratio (8:1). 4.3.5 Strategies and implementation plan Initially a screening and assessment programme will be conducted in all villages with the support of local self-help groups and professionals. Based on the assessment reports and recommendations the rehabilitation plans will be worked out. As a first implementation strategy, we would organise a parents meeting to explain the condition of their children and importance of rehabilitation training, pre-school education etc. The children, who are under three years, will be specially trained with their parents periodically both at the centre and at home. The children between the age of 3-5 years will attend the pre-school on daily basis with or without parents. However, the parents will be insisted to attend weekly meetings in the centre with the instructors. The children who learnt the required communication skills will be referred to local schools and their education carrier will be followed up with SSA - Special teachers. During school vacations, the school children and adult persons with speech and hearing impaired will be supported with communication and sign language training. A Parent/Teachers Association will be promoted to monitor the progress of the school in 6 months time. Parents will receive additional training on a regular basis to help them understand the needs of their children and to extend follow-up support services at home 4.5 Physiotherapy and Health unit: 4.5.1 Background We have been experiencing difficulties in providing adequate medical care and physiotherapy services to needy people since there is no one providing such support in the region. Professionals prefer not to work in rural areas and moreover, the disabled people generally cannot afford their services. Consequently, setting up a unit would be a definite blessing for the needy people in our project area. 4.5.2 Purpose This physiotherapy unit would provide intensive physiotherapy care to severely disabled people and extend post-operative care to surgical patients. Disabled persons who require daily therapy and residential care could also be supported here for a limited period. In addition, it would also support satellite physiotherapy units that we are proposing to set up in 10 villages to strengthen the home based support services. This centre would provide physiotherapy equipment, specialised care and would accommodate the cases referred for intensive therapy and medical care. The physiotherapy unit will also have a medical kit to treat minor ailments and provide first aid for residents and local people. Implementation Strategies The centre would have basic physiotherapy equipment and trained personnel to provide required therapeutic support for the persons affected with neurological and orthopaedic impairments. In special schools, the children with cerebral palsy need constant therapy support and they would be assisted by physiotherapy unit. The persons who would require intensive physiotherapy such as postoperative cases, paralysis, muscular dystrophy etc will be supported on a daily basis. Others who cannot visit the centre will be taught to do the self assisted therapy at home and they will make frequent follow-up visits to assess and plan the future programme. The cases referred by the self-help groups, satellite centres and local doctors will also be considered on priority basis. 4.6 Resource Centre The resource Centre will cater to the multidimensional needs of the persons with disabilities and other target communities with whom we work. This centre will have a training hall that accommodates approximately 100 people, two dormitories for the trainees and a resource cell for carrier guidance and job placement. The detailed services that the proposed resource centre would cater will be; 1. Leaders training: Capacity building training will be organised monthly for approximately 100 self-help group leaders. Approximately four trainings will be organised for two days continuously during which the disabled people would board at the dormitories in the night. 2. Parents training: We estimate that around 200 parents and their young children would undergo periodic training in the centre on rehabilitation measures over several years. 3. Other target stakeholders: Other than disability, the training centre will also be made available for other target communities such as women self-help groups, HIV/AIDS target people, Speed Trust staff and representatives of other networks. The women self-helps would utilise the centre for entrepreneurship development programme, TOT and leadership development initiative. The HIV/AIDS project stakeholders such as people living with HIV/AIDS, parents, peer-group educators, network organisations etc would also use the training hall for their training programs, to conduct periodical planning and review meetings and to celebrate special occasions. Besides, the organisation would also conduct regular staff meeting and training programs. We estimate that around 2500 people would utilise the training centre in a year. 4. Educational and career development activities are an integral service of the Speed Trust Resource Centre. We offer training and guidance to the needy on a regular basis. Workshops and career guidance courses will be organised for students who would like to pursue higher studies (100/ year); 5. Value added services: The Centre will have necessary information and publications, directories, prospectuses and guides, books and periodicals on disability and other social issues. Moreover, Internet services will also be offered to students and unemployed people for access and communication. We estimate that around 600 people would use such services in a year.
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