Swayam, an NGO which was established by some parents in Thane for the rehabilitation of the children suffering from multiple disabilities due to cerebral palsy, has completed 10 years. On the completion of its 10 years a special programme was organised on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 4.30pm at Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane.
During the last 10 years, Swayam has helped the children with multi-disability and their parents, visiting the centre by trying to reduce the physical, mental and financial burden on them as much as it can. It is always not possible to bring the children with multi disability to the centre frequently for their rehabilitation due to various reasons. Many times, it becomes difficult to travel to the far away centres in public transport by lifting the child when he/she grows up with age and size and it becomes economically infeasible for the parents. When a child with such a disability is born in a family, firstly the family needs firm family support and a proper guidance. Therefore, Swayam decided to take an important leap at this stage of the completion of its ten years.
For the rehabilitation of children with multi disability at their homes a project named Home based Rehabilitation for children with Cerebral Palsy was launched by Swayam institute in its tenth anniversary. The whole project is designed on the basis of the research paper by Swayam’s founder Mrs Neeta Devlankar( Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) and it is based on the guidelines of WHO. As a first step of this project a book named Guide to Home based Rehabilitation for children with Cerebral Palsy and five different DVD’s of training (with practical) on the same topic were released by the Guardian Minister of Thane and Public Works Department(Undertakings) minister Mr. Eknathji Shinde.
Comprehensive guidance is available in these books and DVDs for the parents of the children with multiple disabilities who can use them at their homes. This includes the guidance about proper handling of the children with multiple disabilities, understanding their problems, easy exercises for their rehabilitation, making simple instruments for these exercises with the help of the material easily available in the house itself, proper changes in the interior of the house according to the requirement of these children, counselling of the parents to make them realize the importance of the help of the other members in the family, stress management of the parents with the help of Yoga and community counselling, health issues of the children, speech and hearing problems, communication skills, educational development of the children and different useful therapies for the children among others. Many experts including Neeta Devlalkar, Shrikrishna Vyavahare(Anna), Psychiatrist Dr. Anand Nadkarni, Dr. Shubha Thatte, Paediatrician Dr. Sandip Kelkar, Physician Dr. Suparna Nirgudkar, Dr. Srilata Jubba, Deepshikha Mathur, A. R. Kamat, Dr. Swarupa Kulkarni, Dr. Shriharsha Jahagirdar, Alpana Pagare and many other experts in these subjects gave guidance on relevant topics in these books and DVDs. On this occasion, DVDs of Dr. Anand Nadkarni’s “Stress Management”, Dr. Ajit Oak’s “Freedom from Mental Stress and Yoga” Professor Alpana Pagare’s “Guidance and Training on Speaking ability and Speech Problems", Dr. Sriharsh Jahagirdar’s “My baby, It's senses and How should I handle my baby.” were released. This is an endeavour of the institute to help the parents through useful books and DVDs imparting useful guidance, especially for the parents who are unable to bring their children to the centre.
The implementation process of the aforesaid project in the upcoming year and detailed information was also given during this event. The main aim of the project is to improve the socio-mental condition of the parents by improving the standard of the life of children with multiple disability in Thane with the help of Home based Rehabilitation. To achieve this goal various initiatives have been included in this project like personal and group training of the parents and children, counselling and teaching them various easy exercises and treatment through home visits, changing the interior of their houses properly according to the need of the student, making easy exercise instruments with easily available resources and if required creating a supporting environment for the rehabilitation of the children with family counselling. These initiatives and other similar initiatives are included in the project.
The children from ‘Swayam’ performed various group dances in the function. Famous actress and anchor and director Sampada Kulkarni also performed and presented her art skills during the function. Famous poet Ashok Bagwe’s poetry recitation was also organised as part of the celebrations.
