Workshop held for mothers of children with special needs
The number of children with special needs is growing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh and parents of such children are in the dark about the proper ways of identification and treatment of disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) etc. Let alone uneducated parents in the rural areas, highly educated parents in the capital very often fail to address mental disorder of their children properly or hit the issue when it is very late. In absence of adequate government initiatives to combat neuro-disorders, private organisations are mushrooming in the city, but to utter disappointment of the parents, many of these high-tuitioned institutions rather increase woes and after a few years leave special children at a crossroad where parents find no path for recovery. A very important approach to deal with these disorders that most of these ‘so called special schools’ do not maintain is training parents (specially mothers) of these children.
Therapy plus, a private therapy and rehabilitation organisation, realised the need of training mothers. They arranged a workshop for the mothers of children with special needs on 19 August 2017 at AKM Giasuddin Milky auditorium in Dhaka. Therapists, physicians and the parents attended the event. The free workshop trained mothers of special children by providing both theoretical and hands-on tips.
Speech and Language Therapist and Therapy Plus Managing Director Himica Anjuman explained the strategies from HANEN program in developing speech and communication.
Masuma Surayea, Coordinator of Therapy Plus, discussed the importance of speech and language therapy in developing speech and communication of the children with special needs. Starting with the differences between speech and communication, she discussed several kinds of language problem, aspects of social communication and behavioral traits of children with special needs. She also focused on the typical developmental milestone of a child and the places it deviates for some children. Chief Occupational Therapist of the institution, Asma Akter detailed the possible ways of bringing autism and other neuro-developmentally disordered children to main stream by providing with them sensory integration.
Himica Arjuman, Speech & Language Therapist and Managing Director of Therapy Plus, offered an effective presentation for the parents. She focused on the methods of identifying communication disorders of children with special needs. She also explained the treatment procedures of managing such disorder. Himica exhibited a number of therapy modules through hands-on procedures as well as recorded videos. She explained shadow training, HANEN program, OWL, 4 I’s, ROCK , PROMPT therapy and many other approaches to healing speech communication disorder.
Participants gave attention to captivating presentations
The workshop was followed by a question-answer session and a panel discussion. In the question-answer session, mothers openly asked questions about causes as well as remedies of the mental and sensory disorders their children go through. Long carried depression, sheer pain and insecurity for their children’s future were clear in the mothers’ voice. Issues like home care management, daily living activities, toilet training, managing hyper active children came up. Therapy Plus therapists listened to them with patience, tried to soothe pain of the mothers and explained issues with their expertise. They also consoled mothers that if such children are guided properly, they have chances to lead manageable, near- normal life or even normal life.
The workshop ended by a panel discussion which was chaired by Fida Al- Shams, Founder and Chairman of Therapy plus. The chairman emphasized on the need of more government patronisation to help children with special needs. He presented their plan of establishing a sophisticated therapy center and an inclusive school by 2018 at the latest that will widen the opportunities for special children to mingle with mentally sound children and grow fast. They are planning to start the school from 1st week of October.
After the workshop the parents expressed their satisfaction about the workshop. They said that they had been looking for such effective, hands-on workshop for a long time. They were happy with the ways the therapists answered the questions with expertise and clear as well as effective suggestions. The parents believe they have been encouraged to dream for positive future of their children.
(The author is a parent of a child with special needs)