Deepam- Children with Special needs
Deepam offers a daycare with educational activities for children and youth from the surrounding
Occupational therapy for children and youth, from the local villages, who are affected by various disabilities. Outpatients from villages and from Auroville receive physiotherapy, speech therapy & occupational therapy. If required the children also receive health care, nutrition, and appliances. Deepam is located between the Auroville Health Centre and Last School.
That we have a good atmosphere at Deepam and that we continuously improve our work with the children. Also that we approach each child as an individual being with different needs and abilities to be nourished.
Our children are of all ages. We prefer to work with babies and small children as early intervention is the most successful. A few of the patients receiving treatment we know since the beginning of our project have since grown into adults and need vocational training.
The disabilities we see are varied: birth disorders, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, muscular dystrophy, polio, mental retardation, and hearing and speech impairment.
Most of our children come from poor families. The social circumstances in the local villages are difficult. There is unemployment, misuse of alcohol, and a high percentage of illiteracy. There is no social security system for old age, accidents, or sickness. It is a big burden for a family to take care of a child who is affected by a disability.
While some of the physically challenged children attend local schools, for the mentally challenged there is no help. Many of them are neglected. We are the only project providing education to the mentally disabled in the surrounding area.
Since 2003 we have a minibus available to pick up more children and youth from far out villages. For about 25 of them who cannot follow mainstream schooling, we offer a daycare programme where they receive basic education according to their abilities. All of them learn to distinguish colours and counting. If possible they learn reading and writing and math. Physical activities, games, and play and handicrafts are essential parts. Outings and celebrations are the highlights of the year and contribute to form a group which is a strong social entity and support to each other.
Donations are welcome.
Number of Beneficiaries of your work: Presently 33 children and youth in our daycare/school and 15 babies or small children as regular outpatients for different therapies.
Hundreds of children and their families have benefited over the years from our work.
Size of our team: 4 Aurovilians, 1 Newcomer, 9 employees, volunteers
Date of foundation: 1992
Our project, small in the beginning, started out at an open space in Kuilapalayam village in 1992 as a playground for children affected by disability.
Thanks to donations we could gradually build up a centre where children with special needs receive physio-, occupational-, and speech therapy. We have been able to expand our service to more than 20 of the surrounding villages.
The smiles, the happiness and the progress of our children reflects what we have reached. One example would be that most of our children were undernourished and had very low hemoglobin levels in their blood when they come first to us. The ones who are under our day-care and receive healthy snacks and lunch at Deepam became obviously more stable in their health.
Health care and nutrition are very important. Many of our children are undernourished and have poor health. We help with the necessary treatment, medication, and supplements, and if required for appliances and surgery. The two healthy snacks and the midday meal which are offered at Deepam are essential for many of our children.
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