Kerala - Kochi   

Giving children the right support

KOCHI: Does your child, who appears normal to your eyes, perform badly in studies? Do not take it to be arrogance or reluctance to study. For, the child might well be a victim of learning disability.

Ever since it started functioning in 1994, the Child Care Centre in Kochi has been rendering invaluable service in detecting and treating learning disability in children.

A joint venture of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Cochin, and the Ernakulam District Council for Child Welfare, the centre has many firsts to its credit.

It is the first centre in the State with a multi-disciplinary team for evaluation of learning disability. Apart from paediatricians, psychologists and psychiatrists also render voluntary service at the centre, S.S. Kamath, medical director of the Child Care Centre, said at a press conference convened here recently to inform about the new initiatives of the Centre.

District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, who is also the chairman of the centre, said the centre had come a long way ever since its modest beginnings. “It has now become the nucleus which attracts children even from other States,” he said. Treatment is given at a very low cost while the underprivileged children are treated free of cost, he said.

The centre has so far evaluated 9,000 children with poor school performance and identified learning disabilities in about 4000 of them. Those children were given necessary help and guidance.

The centre conducts sensitisation programmes on learning disability for NGOs and schools throughout the State on a regular basis. Also, summer workshops on study skills are held regularly.

Another pioneering programme undertaken by the centre was the newborn hearing screening programme started in 2003. The Centre had identified hearing loss in 20 newborns below the age of six months and remedied the disability effectively by supporting them with hearing aids. “If unidentified at a very early age and not supported with hearing aids, such children could end up speechless,” Dr. Kamath said.

Launching a new initiative, the centre has joined hands with Medivista to offer stuttering (stammering) and voice clinic. The clinic is being designed as a one-stop point for all speech and language problems in children and will function on all Tuesdays. Call 0484-220 3254 for appointments.

The Centre has also launched a parent support programme.

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