Awareness-cum-Training Programme for Parents

As a smallest segment of the society, the parent and the family members have a crucial role to play. To fulfill this, parents and family members need to be equipped with information regarding the nature, early identification and prevention of disabilities strategies and methods of stimulating social language, mental, physical and motor development, teaching principles and methodologies aids and appliances and the variety of educational and economic options available so that persons with disabilities can be an integral part of community life.

Keeping in view, "Awareness-cum-Training Package for Parents" through distance mode is a nation wide programme, is being launched very shortly on a massive scale by RCI in collaboration with IGNOU. The objective of the programme is as follows:

• To develop an understanding about disability and an attitude of sensitivity and empathy towards the disabled.
• To be able to identify children with mental, visual, locomotor, hearing and speech disability and those with cerebral palsy.
• To know how to prevent disabilities.
• To bring about an attitudinal change regarding the disabled that despite the disability, the disabled person is like other non-disabled people in most areas.
• To instill the conviction that the disabled child/person can learn and benefit from instruction and training.
• To provide orientation to the basics of assessment with respect to various disability areas.
• To suggest strategies and methods for early stimulation, training and education of the disabled child/person at home/ community so as to foster development in all areas - physical, motor, cognitive, social and language.
• To help the child develop basic self-help skills with respect to activities of daily living and mobility.
• To suggest strategies for managing difficult behaviours in children.
• To help the parents identify the best possible and feasible educational setting for the child and to help them prepare the child for the same.
• To suggest methods of integrating the child in the pre-school and primary school through individualized educational programme, adaptation of teaching learning material.
• To suggest leisure time and co-curricular activities.
• To suggest strategies for developing pre-vocational skills in the child and identify suitable avenues for economic rehabilitation.
• To address concerns related to issues of sexuality.