FIELD VISIT AT Ummeed Child Development Centre

In ummeed child development centre, after giving us a warm welcome we were given various

ideas and knowledge about work ideology and programme run by the institute Eye opening

lecture was given by their staff I would like to put forward some of the interesting points.

The idea of Ummeed was born while Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy was working at Children’s

Hospital in Boston as a Developmental Pediatrician. The resources available at the hospital and

community there brought home to her the paucity of facilities available for children with

developmental disabilities in India. Upon her relocation to India in 1998, she worked with a

number of nonprofit organizations as well as Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai, while she reflected on

how best to provide the range of specialized services required for children with special needs.

She maintains that identifying and treating disabilities in children makes for a healthier society at

large in the long run. On November 5, 2001, with the help of her husband, Ashish

Karamchandani, a partner of the Monitor Group, she founded Ummeed with an initial staff of

three. Today Ummeed provides specialized care for most developmental disabilities and has

moved into areas of training, research and advocacy. It is now one of the country’s leading

NGOs, much respected for its work in the field of children with disabilities

Ummeed’s Clinical Services are designed to help children and families address these challenges

by fostering children’s independence and creativity, while helping them climb the developmental

ladder. Children learn by interacting with the world around them. By speaking with others,

playing with toys and engaging in fun activities, children develop skills that help them learn and

grow.
When a child finds it difficult to engage with others due to challenges such as poor

communication skills, poor coordination skills, low attention span, or behavioral issues, their

ability to learn and acquire important skills may be compromised During the first visit, the

pediatrician will ask the family about how the child is developing overall. They will also

consider mental and physical factors in the child, family and environment that affect his or her

development.

Ummeed’s Training Center is envisioned as a Center-of-Influence in the space of child

development and developmental disabilities. Through its training programs, Ummeed hopes to

create resources in the wider community that children experiencing developmental disabilities

and their families can leverage. They have a dedicated 3000 sq foot premises in Parel and a

dedicated training team to reach these goals. They are grateful to the Cipla Foundation for their

belief in their vision and for being their partners in that endeavor. Their courses cater to a wide

range of audiences from doctors, professionals, community workers, parents, teachers and

schools.

They gave us detail information about various courses available at their centre

Autism Intervention Training Program (AITP)- AITP is a certificate course, spread over 6

months, for professionals working in clinics, rehabilitation centers, schools and other

organizations working with children with Autism. Professionals will be able to provide

specialized intervention in this field, as well as become resource persons in their respective work

places and the community at large. Through AITP, Through this course they hope to build a

database of professionals to ensure adequate availability of services to families affected by

Autism.
Basic Strategies to Work with Children with Autism=This workshop explores participant

understanding of Autism as they experience it in their daily lives and links it to the DSM-5

(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5) criteria for Autism. In addition, it aims to create awareness

about Autism and provide basic strategies to work with children.

Behavior Management Workshop for Parents of Children with Autism=Parents of children with

Autism often struggle to manage their children’s behaviors. These behaviors may get in the way

of the child’s progress and learning, and may confuse parents about the right way to deal with

them. As parents, not understanding the reason for a particular problem behavior, and how to

handle it, can be extremely frustrating.

This workshop intends to help parents understand why children with Autism behave the way

they do. Most importantly, parents will learn simple ways to handle these behaviors. The

workshop is held is English or Hindi.

It is scheduled about 2-3 times in a year (two sessions of 4 hours each at a week’s interval).goal

for this program is Help parents understand why behaviors happen with children with Autism,

Analyze children’s behaviors, Learn simple strategies to deal with challenging behaviors

Fellowship in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics-- Ummeed awards two fellowships each

year in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Of the two seats, one is IAP accredited and the

other is an institutional fellowship.

The structured one year long training program involves getting a detailed understanding of

typical child development and common developmental difficulties in children across different

age groups like Autism Spectrum Disorder, Learning Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder, Intellectual Disability, Genetic syndromes, etc. The program involves lectures, group
discussions and hands on clinical training with graded supervision. The fellows will be trained to

understand patterns of developmental difficulties and conduct comprehensive developmental

assessments (through detailed history and formal assessment tools) to arrive at a diagnosis. The

management plan is then made along with the family to help the child reach his maximum

potential. During the training, there are many opportunities to work with and learn from a

multidisciplinary team comprising occupational therapists, autism intervention therapists, speech

therapists, mental health professionals and remedial educators.

Early Childhood Development and Disability Programs-- Ummeed’s ECDD program offers

Training for community health workers (CHWs) and their supervisors, Mentorship and periodic

support with supervisors for problem solving and creating a system of supervision to facilitate

project implementation Facilitation and support for organization’s management to better

integrate child, development initiatives and goals with their current initiatives and goals

Child Development Aide Training Program-- The CDA program provides training to workers in

the community so they may assist with the pre-emption of disabilities, promotion of typical

development, help families with early identification of disability, monitor children at risk, and

empower communities that do not typically have access to professional health care. The Child

Developmental Aide (CDA) can help parents promote their child’s development to prevent at-

risk children from developing full-blown disabilities. This program aims to serve as a model that

may be replicated in communities in India to ensure adequate availability of child care resources

to less-than-privileged children and their families. The training encompasses theory and practical

fieldwork under supervision, with more emphasis on the later. This six month intense training is

followed by another six months of mentorship at the parent organization of the respective

candidates.
Ummeed’s Early Childhood Development and Disability Programs is designed to train and

support Community Based Organizations working in the space of maternal and child health on

early childhood development. Ummeed aims to maximize the developmental potential of

children aged 0-3 years in low resource areas. The first few years in a child’s life are particularly

important because vital brain development occurs in all domains. Research shows that synaptic

connections in the brain form and mature in the “critical period” between birth to six years of age

with the most rapid development occurring between 0-3 years. Children require a responsive

caregiver along with a secure, stimulating and safe environment in those vital first years for

optimal development. Most children seem to manage it all without apparent effort – because the

human brain is hard-wired to do so. But for some children, it’s not so easy There is thus a greater

need to monitor and promote development in children and families from low resource

backgrounds to support optimal development and work towards early mitigation of delays and

risk factors that may impact development.

We learned many new things about Autism, Learning Disability, and about other developmental

disorders ended up with little more knowledge in our field of psychology