Fr Thomas C.T.

Director

Special Schools

The activities in the special schools are directed towards providing special education and training to the mentally challenged individuals for competence enhancement and to develop skills in activities of daily living, academics, sports and recreation and also to improve their social skills. Special education through intervention of innovative teaching techniques, class room management and maintenance of proper parent-school relationship. Apart from education, therapies for physical independence, pre-vocational and vocational inputs are also provided. The children are grouped in near homogeneous groups based on educational and functional assessments. In order to provide quality training to the mentally challenged children, the samiti has started 3 special schools operating in Ujjain, Shajapur and Rajgarh district. Name Of District Name of the school No. of Students Ujjain Manovikas 110 Shajapur Navjyoti 30 Rajgarh Prempragati 45 Total 185

Special Class room In Normal School

There is a growing need to create a conducive environment in all society where the disabled are accepted as normal human beings. One way to achieve this is integrated education of disabled in the normal school environment. To realise this aim the samiti has started 5 integrated special schools operating in urban and rural areas of Ujjain Shajapur and Rajgarh districts. The programme is more oriented towards rural and remote areas where such services are not available. A total number of 121 students are benefited through this scheme. These integrated centres provides services in special training, academics, sports and cultural programmes. In this scheme, the children are partially integrated in the sense that they come and go, play and eat with the regular school children, where as they are given special training in special class rooms. District Centre Name of the School No. of Benificiaries Ujjain Nagda Barnagar Pratiksha Navdipti 30 14 Shajapur Shujalpur Agar Navjeevan Udaan 12 25 Rajgarh Sarangapur Biaora Pachore Ashakiran Jyoti 18 12 10

Residential Care Centre

The samiti also have a residential care and special training centre for the mentally handicapped individuals- Prem Pragati at Rajgarh. The residential centre is meant for the poor children from the interior villages of Rajgarh district, where these children have no other facility. Along with residential facility all kind of special education and recreational facilities are provided. At present services are provided to 30 children with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and autism. Another residential centre for the physically disabled children also is started by the Samiti at Chandessary in Ujjain where at present 20 children are being educated. .

Community Centres

The samiti is trying to bring those mentally disabled children that are not able to attend the special schools due to many reasons to certain centres near to their homes. In our efforts we tried to establish community centres near to their home so as to rehabilitate them within the community with community participation. To achieve this target community rehabilitation centres are opened in different places. In these places the children attend the daily training sessions with minimum facility. Mothers of the disabled children are trained and empowered as far as possible to work in these centres. The target is to entrust these community centres to the parents for effective running after a few years.The community is providing good support in our efforts. Community centre No of beneficiaries Kotmohallah 20 Piplinaka 20 Harsidhi 20 Nagda 15 Zeerapur 10

Home Based Rehabilitation (Out Reach Programmes)

In our out reach programmes home based services are provided to the unreached disabled population. Our special teachers and volunteers make weekly home visits to the mentally challenged individuals and provide necessary counselling and guidance to the parents, siblings and other family members. Around 480 children with mental retardation, cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities are trained through regular field work and home visit programmes.

Awareness and Animation Programmes

• Community awareness programmes Since inception the samiti is making regular attempts in spreading awareness about various disabilities. The objective is to sensitise community regarding disabilities, its causes and to communicate the role of family and the society for the development and rehabilitation of the disabled individuals. In our attempt we had conducted awareness campaigns at several major higher secondary schools, NGO's, villages etc. through seminars, print and audio visual media.
• Parents Awareness Programme Parents play the most vital role in the overall development of the disabled child and their participation in the institution efforts is necessary. With this view regular parents' awareness programs are organized. The basic idea is to provide necessary information regarding mental retardation its causes and consequences. Apart form this, parents are also informed about the benefits, concessions and rehabilitation schemes offered by the government. In this work we also incorporate specialists from various fields of disabilities. A sizeable number of parents regularly participate in such programmes and are benefited.

Counselling and Guidance

This is also oriented towards providing necessary help to the families of the disabled. In this regard, individual and group counselling and guidance are provided to the parents and siblings of the disabled individuals to help them to understand and accept the child's problem and also to deal with it. A multidisciplinary team of special educators, professional social workers, and therapist do the work.

Pre-Vocational Training

At all our centres prevocational training is being provided for the mentally retarded adults to prepare them for vocational rehabilitation. A good number of young adults are ready to start some production centre after their training. The trades in which our students excell are: - Screen printing, carpentry workshop, art and craft, candle making, woollen materials and home management.

Parents Self -Help Groups

The inter-parental relationships are being strengthened through parents self-help groups. In this scheme the parents are motivated to have small savings as a group so as to plan some productive activity for their disabled children. Such parent groups are established at all our main centres. The main objective of this programme is to bring together the parents of the mentally challenged individuals so that they stand together to achieve a common goal. At present there are 5 such groups operating at our centres in Ujjain Shajapur and Rajgarh districts.

Manpower Development

• In House Training Programmes In order to equip the faculty with latest innovations and researches in the field of special education regular training and refresher programmes are organized by the samiti. In such programmes experts are called from various government and non- government organisations. Training programmes of different duration are arranged for volunteers, parent groups and siblings.
• Extension Training Programmes MPVSS faculty has served as the resource team at various training programmes held by government and non-government institutions.
• Care Givers Training Programme MPVSS has started a six months care-givers training programme. The course is funded by National Trust, Delhi and is recognised by The Rehabilitation Council of India. This programme will be the pilot project for the state of madhya pradesh. The course is meant to prepare professional caregivers for persons with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, and multiple disabilities. After successful completion of course these trained professionals would be entitled to work with these people in their homes or in institutions as professional care givers.

Respite Care Home

MPVSS has also been selected to conduct a pilot project in Madhya Pradesh, a Respite Care home or short-term care (residential) home in Ujjain for the physically and mentally challenged under the Project of National Trust Delhi. The project will commence by the end of February.

Sports And Cultural Activities

Sports and games are the integral part for the overall development of the mentally handicapped children. Keeping this point in mind special emphasis is been given on providing regular opportunities for sports and games. The disabled children are motivated to participate in various sports competitions that are organized by the samiti. Similarly the students are also trained in the areas of dance and music. From time to time the children are regularly sent to other sports and cultural events organized by government and non-government organizations in different parts of the country.

Medical camps

Regular medical check-up camps are also organized to identify the affected individuals and to provide professional help to the identified. Apart form treatment, counselling and guidance are provided to the parents.

Publication

Jagruti is one our publication- a news bulletin- that highlights various activities, training programmes, new projects, sports and cultural events organized by the samiti. It also states various new and innovative rehabilitation techniques initiated by the samiti in the field of disabilities. This is meant for the parents and well wishers of the mentally challenged individuals.