Innovative event to share about the challenging journeys of the persons with intellectual disabilities through presentations, artwork, music and dance.
Organised by:
SAMADHAN, New Delhi
Sponsored by:
MINISTRY OF CULTURE, Govt. of India
Venue:
CONSTANTIA HALL, YWCA, NEW DELHI
Date:
9th March 2019
An innovative event - “Challenges to Celebrations” was organised by SAMADHAN, NGO working with children with intellectual disabilities and their families, in collaboration with India International Centre on February 28, 2018 at the auditorium of IIC, New Delhi, India.
The program was inaugurated with a prayer song, (“Hum ko mann ki shakti”) by the staff of SAMADHAN and Jan Madhyam, an NGO working for the Inclusion of challenged and economically disadvantaged children.
Ms. Pramila Balasundaram, Founder of SAMADHAN welcomed the gathering, followed by sharing of experiences by Ms. Ranjana Pandey, Founder of Jan Madhyam. She shared how her life`s journey with her daughter led to the birth of Jan Madhyam.
Hello Kids - DEEKSHA a preschool in Bangalore invited Ms. Pramila Balasundaram, Founder– Mentor of SAMADHAN, to conduct a workshop on parenting using the drama therapy techniques on 6th January 2018. Since the group consisted of both teachers in the preschool and parents the session was devised to address issues commonly faced by both groups. The session was shared with Mrs. Smitha Warrier a Psychologist who gave a talk on early childhood development; it was interesting, how when the session moved on to the use of drama in childhood development the two presentations came together in beautiful cohesion. A basic introduction to drama, childhood development using drama and the parents or care givers role in providing the needed environment and understanding the development of the child and its importance was followed by role play by four groups of participants who were given separate themes. The selected themes varied from a birthday party to a Tsunami. The enthusiasm and creativity with which these were enacted was proof of how meaningful the sessions were. The participants were encouraged to ask questions and make suggestions. Ms. Pramila’s presentation was enjoyable with the role play exercise in the end. Teachers and other participants received it well as they were new to the topic. They were keen to include drama therapy in their lessons.
SAMADHAN conducts periodic surveys to identify children with intellectualdisability, public awarenesscampaigns through health camps, puppetshows andstreetplays.
On 12.09.2017, SAMADHAN conducted a health camp at SAMADHAN Centre in Dwarka, which catered to 35 children with intellectual disabilities, along with their parents from, in & around Dwarka, in the age group of 0-15 years.
Multidisciplinary professionals consisting of a Pediatrician, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Psychologist and Special educator provided assessment services, therapeutic intervention to the intellectually disabled children during this camp. Counselling services on obtaining disability certificate & Legal guardianship was also provided to all the parents who attended the camp. Being a registered organisation and a member of Local Level Committee, New Delhi District, of National Trust,statutory body of Government of India, SAMADHAN will assist parents to fill in online applications for Legal Guardianship and Nirmaya schemes of National Trust.
SAMADHAN collaborated with Edgeware Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a company working with documentation of medical records (for more info - https://demo.vista-edge.com). which helped to streamline the documentation process by customizing a software VistA- Edge for this Health camp. The staff of Edgeware and some volunteers were involved in entering the data of the registration and assessment reports in the software.
Registration &entering of data of Medical assessment report by staff of Edgeware Technologies & volunteers
Team SAMADHAN would like to appreciate the staff of Edgeware, volunteers and the professionals for giving their time and support to reach out to children with intellectual disabilities.
Assessment by Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist & Special Educator
For more details visit: http://afid23.org/
Samadhan is a full member representing India at the Asian Federation on Intellectual Disabilities. At a Conference -- "Hope for the Retarded in Asia" - held from 19-22 November 1973 in Manila, Philippines, under the auspices of UNESCO, the 420 delegates from 21 countries present unanimously recommended for the establishment of the Asian Federation for the Mentally Retarded (AFMR). Thus the Federation was inaugurated.
Since then an Asian Conference on Mental Retardation (ACMR) had been held once every two years in each of the full member countries, as given in Conferences section. At the 18th ACMR held in Taipei, the name of the Federation was officially changed to the ASIAN FEDERATION ON INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES (AFID), and the Conference henceforth will be known as the AFID Conference. AFID Secretariat is managed by the Korean Association on Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (KAIDD).
Expressive Art Therapy workshop was conducted for the children of Special Education Unit at SAMADHAN, Dakshinpuri Centre on 12th July 2017 by Atreyu Samuel Balasundaram along with Ms. Aparna Samuel Balasundaram. Atreyu is a science student of grade 12th and Volunteer at SAMADHAN. He is the grandson of Mrs. Pramila Balasundaram (Founder of SAMADHAN). Atreyu with his interaction from early years with SAMADHAN, has developed a keen personal and professional interest in the Special Needs/Intellectual Disability space and a mission is to learn, grow and work in this field, from a neuroscience perspective.
Ms. Aparna Samuel Balasundaram is a Psychotherapist and Chief Service Officer, Light house organisation, New Delhi.
Art therapy has been used as an effective therapeutic tool with special need children. Expressing through art, involves different motor, somatosensory, visual, emotional, and cognitive aspects of information processing with the activation of the corresponding neurophysiological processes and brain structures.[Lusebrink,,2004]. Using art allows for an alternate means of communication and self-expression and also provides us with another avenue into the inner world, emotions, thought patterns and workings of a special needs person that might be inhibited in the ways they can assimilate, share and communicate.
The session was on ART and my FEELINGS. It focussed on - “what makes me angry and what makes me happy”. The resource persons used visual aids (on the computer) to show the children faces that depicted anger and happiness. Then asked them about what made them feel angry/happy. With the help of the teachers, the resource persons attempted to communicate with the children.With the use of visual aids and demonstrating [role modelling] of facial expression, the children drew on the paper using colours of their choice. It has been observed that three of the children could comprehend and express through art in the workshop. The children had great fun with colours and enjoyed the session.
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