‘Social recognition and equal opportunities for the mentally challenged’ by SEVAI.

SEVAI Daycare Centre has been established to look after dyslexic, autistic, mentally challenged, and other special-needs children so that their parents could be free to pursue their livelihoods Mental retardation; autism and cerebral palsy are developmental disabilities. They are neurological impairments. There is no medical cure but many things are possible through training, opportunities and community support. The condition is permanent but can be managed better with the help of trained professionals and early intervention. Focus needs to be on making individuals more independents in activities and becoming contributing member of the society.SEVAI, a Trichy based NGO and Arivu Sudar, Trichy (www.sevai.in) had come together to run outreach daycare programme for children of special needs at Trichy. The programme is providing support to Mentally Retarded Children.SEVAI supported outreach daycare programme for mentally challenged children are being run in two locations of Trichy namely Allur and Prof.Thomas Nagar.SEVAI centre is Respite Home and Day Care facility for mentally challenged children. The children are divided into groups according to the level of their disability as well as on the basis of their Intelligence Quotient. These groups follow different schedule with activities designed to suit their individual skills and abilities. Services at SEVAI Centres for Beneficiaries are Physiotherapy/ Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Music Therapy/ Play therapy, Special Education, Vocational Training, Psychological Evaluation, Parents meeting and Counseling, Home Training programme, Midday Meal and Supplementary Nutrition, milk booth, traffic signal, bus stop and a fruit and vegetable vending booth, to expose the children to the activities and features of the life as well as to nature. Every year many children are integrated into mainstream schools and institutes for regular schooling as well as advanced vocational training. Special educators monitor their progress and remains in touch with the teacher and parents of the children. A total of 50 children, in the age group (0-8 year) reside at SEVAI and around 5 staff members and three associates are dedicated to the care of these needy inmates. SEVAI has been fostering the rehabilitation of mentally challenged children since July 2000. To educate and rehabilitate these children various activities are conducted under two different programs - the Day Care Center and the Community Based Rehabilitation Program (CBR). The Day Care Center provides education and training to mentally challenged children and assists them in performing day-to-day activities independently. Over the years, the enrollment at the Day Care Center has gone up from 7 to 50. The CBR program provides home based intervention facility for those mentally challenged children whose status prevents them from attending the day care center. These children are visited by a specially trained teacher at their homes every fortnight. There are currently 165 children in the CBR program. The CBR workers identify a trainer within the child's home, and train them in rehabilitation methods. The parents are counseled if needed and the child's progress is monitored. Kris