Early Intervention Centre set up in Karnataka government school to help identify kids with special needs

Children with disabilities benefit from early intervention. Establishing intervention centres in schools and in the community can go a long way in ensuring that such children get the attention they need soon.

In a critical step in this direction CBM India, which works to promote community-based disability inclusive development, across India has started an Early Intervention Centre (EIC) in a government school in Mugalur.

CBM India supports the establishment of early intervention and community-based resource centres in schools. This is to identify children with disabilities at the earliest stage and offer developmental and rehabilitative services.

It is rare for a child with a disability to have access to quality education in a mainstream school system, given the lack of accessible infrastructures and awareness among school staff.

To enable this, CBM India has come up with various methods to make it possible for children with disabilities to attend schools along with children without disabilities.

The EIC at Mugalur village, in the outskirts of Bengaluru, is a step in this direction. The centre has been set up in partnership with St. John’s Medial College in Bengaluru.

The Mugalur EIC is equipped with toys that help in the overall development of children with multiple disabilities. The children here will also be occupational, physiotherapy, speech, and mirror therapies to improve motor, self-help, and language skills.

The centre will also hold sensitization workshops for teachers to make them aware about issues related to disabilities. This is to enable them to effectively address the needs of children with and without disabilities in the same classroom.

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