TWC suggestions included in Kerala's Draft Child Policy !

#KOCHI_Together_We_Can

Points 34 & 35 of the Draft Child Policy by The Kerala Social Justice Department incorporated what we asked for through Petition. Now waiting for the implementation! 

The Draft is #Open_to_Public for feedback @ http://www.swd.kerala.gov.in/

34. Almost all differently-abled children require Speech Therapy (ST),Occupational Therapy (OT) and Behaviour Therapy (BT) while many require Physiotherapy too. Today, the facilities available for providing these services through Government agencies are very few, and mainly in the urban area; hence,there is a mushrooming of agencies in the private sector offering therapy at exorbitant costs which very few can afford and whose quality of services is, on occasion, suspect. There are no prescribed standards by which parents can make an assessment regarding the quality of services offered by these service providers, which, besides the lack of transparency, sometimes results in disastrous consequences for the child. 

35. Hence, there is an urgent need to regulate this sector and provide proper guidance and support to parents to manage the training and mainstreaming of these children with intellectual disabilities, whose numbers in percentage terms vis-a-vis the total number of children has increased. Since socializing is an important aspect of their training, there has to be a clear policy about how children with different categories of disabilities ought to be handled; the manner and extent of their integration with regular schooling (taking into account the varying nature and intensity of their disabilities); the syllabus to be prescribed in such cases; examine how children with exceptional capabilities can be nurtured within the education system; how to involve parents, who are important stake holders, in their education; and above all, to teach life skills to these children with special needs so that they become as self- reliant as their disabilities will permit them to be. It is also essential to make access to affordable and quality therapy services available to all children in need of these services.