Editorial - October 2010

Celebrating 'World Sight Day' world wide this 14th October

Every month we focus on a particular issue/cause which is being observed or celebrated during that month.Thus all year around, different disabilities are covered. In October we will be focusing on Visual Impairment & Learning Disability.

This year 14th October (Second Thursday) is observed as 'World Sight Day'.

World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired held on the second Thursday in October.In 2010 it falls on 14th.

World Sight Day is observed around the world by all partners involved in preventing visual impairment or restoring sight. It is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness and for "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", a global effort to prevent blindness created by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.' (Source-WHO) & October 15th is ' White Cane Safety Day'.This day is a national observance in the United States, celebrated on October 15 of each year since 1964. The date is set aside to celebrate the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the important symbol of blindness and tool of independence, the white cane. October is also earmarked as ' Learning Disability Awareness Month'. I am very happy to share that KEM hospital has recently started a full fledged LD Assessment & Certification Centre, thus being the third one besides Sion & Nair hosp which are State run. I am also very happy that KEM hosp. has posted a very detailed information regarding the assessment & certification procedure, which I am reproducing for the benefit of parents. Also reproducing LD related articles, news items.

Instructions for Learning Disability (LD) Certification 

The following will help you to understand the procedure for obtaining LD Certification. Please read the instructions completely. At least one parent or, a guardian who knows the child well, should accompany the student.

1) How to get an appointment for a student's assessment in LD Clinic? 

• On Wednesday or Saturday, meet Dr. Sunil Karande, Professor of Pediatrics & In-Charge, Learning Disability Clinic, in the Pediatric Clinic No. 26, Room No 1, First Floor Multi-Storey (New) Building between 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm. If you enter the hospital through the main gate (no.2) ask for the " New Building " and you will be guided properly. While meeting Dr. Karande, you need to have the referral note from the school (see below); you need NOT make any "case paper/OPD paper" for the pediatric OPD. This will be issued to you during consultation with Dr. Karande.
• The parent should have a referral letter (on school letter head) from the Principal of the school - describing the reasons for the referral. The letter should describe the academic difficulties observed in the child when he/she is reading and writing; his/her problems with spellings, performing mathematical calculations and the behavior of the child in the classroom (normal, hyperactive, inattentive, withdrawn). This information is very important and helpful in diagnosing the cause of the child's poor school performance.
• The parent should bring along - notebooks of any one subject and also of mathematics . This is essential to see the child's handwriting and school work. Please also get along with you - photocopies of the last two report cards. This will help us get an idea of the child's scholastic performance.
• After being assessed by Dr. Sunil Karande in the Pediatric Clinic the child will be given an appointment for assessment in the LD Clinic. The parent will be referred to the LD clinic for taking an appointment for child's assessment. Please do not seek appointment directly from the LD clinic without the student having been evaluated by Dr. Karande.

2) What are the assessments done in the LD clinic? 

The child has to be brought at least three times to the LD Clinic for various assessments as per appointments given.These cannot be combined into a single session as this gets very taxing for the child. The dates of appointments for these testing are given by the Secretary in the LD Clinic and the entire procedure to be followed will be clearly explained by her to each parent. 

• The first appointment is given for child's detailed clinical and neurological examination. (which takes about 30 minutes to be completed).
• The second appointment is for testing the child's intellectual capacity (IQ testing). (which takes about 60-90 minutes to be completed).
• The third appointment is for the educational testing of the child. (which takes about 60-90 minutes to be completed).

In general the accompanying parent would have to take a half-day off from work / other family responsibilities for each of the three appointments.
None of these examinations are painful or inconvenient to the child. The child need not be starving for any of these 'tests'.

3) What other tests are required to be done before certification? 

• Vision testing to be done by an Ophthalmologist (Eye Specialist)
• Hearing testing (Audiometry) to be done from an ENT Specialist

These two tests can be done at KEM Hospital or at any public hospital near the child's residence. They can also be done from a private Ophthalmologist or ENT Specialist - if so desired by parent. Both the vision and hearing testing reports should be recent (done in the past 3 months) to be considered valid.
Any questions you may have about these will be answered at the LD Clinic. 

4) How long does it take for the entire assessment procedure to be completed? 

Generally it takes about three weeks; beginning from the time of the first assessment done in the LD clinic (namely, the child's detailed clinical and neurological examination). The certificate will be issued to the parent(s) after a meeting with the Counselor in the LD Clinic who will explain the child's diagnosis and how to help the child achieve his/her maximum potential.

Contact Information
The Secretary can be contacted for any enquiry from 10 am to 2 pm (Monday to Friday; excluding public holidays) at: telephone number 022-65182624. In case you wish to contact Dr Sunil Karande send an email to sunilkarande@kem.edu . We especially welcome feedback on your experience at the LD clinic. This will help us make the clinic more student and parent friendly. 

Learning Disability Clinic address: 
Pediatric Research Laboratory ( PRL ), 2nd Floor, 
Above Ward 17/18, (Near Ward 1, Department of Pediatrics, KEM Hospital Main building)

Source - Times of India
07 July 2010
Mumbai, India

Tending To The Special Ones 

Students with Learning Disabilities (LD) now have yet another option. The Rajhans Vidyalaya in Andheri (west) opened its LD centre on Tuesday.

Named Samanvaya, meaning integration, the centre was inaugurated by psychologist Anjali Chhabria. Principals from various schools in the city were present at the inauguration ceremony.

"This is our endeavour to reach out to children who need help. The great challenge that schools face today is meeting individual and unique needs of each child," said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal of the school."Samanvaya will take a holistic approach to children with LD and try to bolster the self-esteem of these kids by emphasising their strengths," Srivastava added.

Sudeshna Chatterjee, principal of Jamnabai Narsee School, shared with the audience her experience with LD children."The centre would be a stepping stone towards a better future for kids with LD," said Chatterjee.

"This is not a centre for students with disability, but for those who are differently abled," added Srivastava.

Source - Times of India
09 April 2010
By Anahita Mukherji
Mumbai, India

Booster shot: KEM will be the third civic hospital in city to have a learning disability testing centre

Here's a shot in the arm for kids with Learning Disability (LD), who have for long had to run from pillar to post in search of an LD certificate. KEM Hospital, one of Mumbai's premier institutions, is working towards creating a testing centre for learning disability.

At present, there are only two hospitals with LD testing centres that are recognised by the SSC board—Sion and Nair. Once the KEM centre is in place, the hospital will approach the SSC board for permission to certify LD kids, making it the third such testing centre in Mumbai. KEM, Sion and Nair hospital are all run by the BMC.

"The BMC has taken a policy decision to start an LD centre at KEM, as well as a school for autistic children like the one at Nair Hospital," said Dr Sanjay Oak, dean of KEM hospital.

While welcoming the move, Dr Harish Shetty, president of the Counsellor's Association of India, who has been at the forefront of the country's LD movement, said that over a decade after activism on learning disability began, the number of testing centres for children with LD is abysmally low. "Why only three, there should be 20 LD centres by now in a city like Mumbai. I know of countless cases where students have lost out on a year of studies because of a delay in getting their LD certificates. This has also greatly affected their self esteem. The government needs to take up the matter on a war footing, as proper diagnosis of LD students will greatly improve their mental health," said Shetty.

"An LD testing centre in KEM Hospital is an excellent idea, but we need many more such centres," said advocate Rajeev Kumar, one of the lawyers whose legal battle resulted in Bombay high court's landmark judgment on learning disability. "I feel that certain clinical psychologists should be authorised to test and certify students with LD. This would be better than taking a child to the hospital for LD testing. Entering a hospital convinces LD kids that there is something wrong with them. The scars are difficult to heal," said Kumar.

Source - Indian Express
13 April 2010
By Inal Shah

Though there is an increasing awareness about learning disability in private schools, many civic schools teachers are unable to identify such students. We are trying to screen class X students at the beginning of the year.

IN A first–of–its–kind, doctors from the B Y L Nair Hospital are surveying 10 civic schools to identify class 10 students with learning disability. The idea is to screen students ahead of their board exams. So far, the doctors from the Life Centre for Learning Disability have identified 190 students with learning problems. The project includes BMC schools in Matunga, Dadar, Parabhadevi, Worli and Parel.

"Though there is an increasing awareness about learning disability (LD) in private schools, many civic schools teachers are unable to identify such students. Under this project, we are trying to screen class 10 students at the beginning of the year. The schools have provided lists of academically weaker students to the doctors for screening. Doctors conduct certain tests on the students to identify the ones with the learning disabilities," said Poonam Lalwani, managing trustee of Life Trust, NGO working with BMC schools.

"Psychologists and social workers made teachers aware of the symptoms of learning disability and other related problems. Students once identified will be referred to Nair Hospital LD centre for further assessment," said Dr Henal Shah, associate professor, department of psychiatry at Nair Hospital.

According to Dr Shah, poor awareness among teachers and parents pose a major problem in identifying children with learning disability.

"Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, doctors at LD centre have trained over 1,500 teachers in the last two years to identify such students. However, this has not helped much. Among the BMC schools, government–aided schools and private run, civic schools are least participating," said Dr Shah.

Since 2007, the Life Centre for Learning Disability at Nair Hospital has issued certificates to 950 children in city schools, both public and private. With only two LD centers in the city – at Sion Hospital and Nair Hospita to certify students, educationalists say there is a need for more centers to reduce the waiting period.

Learning disability (LD) is a lifelong disorder which affects the manner in which individuals with normal or above average intelligence select, retain and express information.

Some of the prominent forms of LD include dyslexia (difficulty in reading and comprehension), dysgraphia (Difficulty in writing) and dyscalculia (difficulty in arithmetic). According to the data, there are over 6,00,000 students appearing for SSC exams every year in India, out of which 5 to 15 percent are dyslexics.

V Volunteer - Pratima Jamalabad- A great homemaker, an animal activist, nature lover wished to do some more with her time. . She is sharing her experiences of Volunteering at our ChildRaise Centre. We urge people to come forward & join /sign up for our V Volunteer Initiative.

Kavita has been both a dear friend and neighbour for the past 20 years. I have always been witness to her involvement in issues relating to epilepsy and aiding children with autism, learning disabilities, in other words with differently abled people. So when I got a chance to volunteer at her Child Raise centre, I decided to give it a try.

So far my teaching abilities were confined to my son and his friends. Nobody in my close circle had an child with autism so I didn't really know what to expect. Would the parents of her students object to my presence there? As it is, I didn't have any qualification that would justify my being there.

However, all apprehensions were laid to rest. On my first visit to the centre I was welcomed by the mothers present there. I was introduced to the students-Michelle, Mukul ..... The first day was spent just in observing the pattern of activities- exercises, reading, vocational training etc. I decided to start reading out to the children and then at a later stage helping them with activities like solving simple arithmetics and English vocabulary.

Initially, I found the going tough. A child with autism does not meet your gaze nor do all of them like to be touched. It was difficult to know if they were listening to my reading out to them as getting an expected response is not possible. By expected response I mean a response a normal child would give like a nod of the head or a smile or an answer.

Kavita & other teacher -Alka was always there to guide me and give me the confidence I so lacked. Little by little, I learned to judge and appreciate their response. I learned to be patient which was a big thing for me as by nature I am an impatient person expecting quick results. I learned to wait until I got an answer, understood their body language and realised that these children have a short attention span.

Since children with autism do not let you know if they have enjoyed an activity or not, it sometimes seemed a hopeless task and I wondered if I was wasting their time as well as mine. But I could soon tell what interested them and what bored them as well as different methods of getting through to them.

My biggest reward was when one day Michelle after our reading session reached out and put her hand over mine. Today, I realise that instead of just me teaching them, I have learned a lot.