The Handimachal team conducted a workshop for the teachers of the government schools of Manali and Naggar block on 17 August, with a primary aim of spreading a word about the prevalence and impact of disability on the children of the Kullu valley and Handimachal’s various initiatives to support the special needs children.

The content of the workshop was primarily divided into three parts.  

The first part consisted of a brief description of the history of Handimachal foundation, its vision and goals for the future.  This was followed by a very informative lecture on disability. Its causes, types and various rehabilitation therapy options were discussed by our Physiotherapist, Dr. Mayur Sharma. The teachers actively participated by wanting to know more about the clinical signs to look for when identifying developmental delays in children and happily volunteered for a demo session on muscle testing too.

The next session consisted of a discussion on Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and Adapted Sports. It has been generally noticed that there is a lack of awareness about these therapy interventions. Our Occupational Therapist, Shruti More, conducted a very interesting session explaining these therapy interventions with the help of some famous Bollywood movies. The teachers enjoyed the session and seemed to make better sense of the usefulness of OT/ST/APA interventions.

The last session was facilitated by our Project Co-coordinator and Special Educator, Mr. Benoni. A thought provoking talk about the core values of Education and its changing nature was discussed. A way of inclusion of special needs children in main stream schools was very convincingly talked about.

Kirna’s skillful management and organization was helpful for the smooth run of the workshop.

In spite of the last minute changes of venue from Govt. school Naggar to Govt. school Manali to finally Day Star School Manali, the workshop was successfully conducted and produced the intended impact.

The Handimachal team & volunteers,
Kullu, 19 August 2013

On a quiet day this week, the team of the Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit had a brain storming session, followed by a body building session, in order to reorganise space in the therapy rooms.

See the result here...!

This is a summary on the activity of the Handimachal programme over the last months, translated from the newsletter published by our head association “La maison des Himalayas” one month ago, and adapted to recent developments in Kullu.

Since the beginning of 2012, the team of the Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit was able both to improve the quality of services to disabled children and to gain its credentials with families and local medical actors.  The team also continued its home-based programme and its awareness mission towards the local population, both in villages and in schools and colleges, although since several months “searching” for children with special needs is no longer in the agenda:  families now directly refer their children to the Unit or are being directed by general practitioners or other physiotherapists of the district.  It took three years to achieve this, and at the end of our fourth full year of activity, it was not rare to welcome more than 15 children in one day:  a new organisation became obviously necessary.

The Handimachal team in Kullu comprises four permanent members as of today:  Mayur Sharma (physiotherapist), Shruti More (occupational therapist), Ramneek Bodh (office assistant and our “network” agent) and of course Kirna Devi, very much essential as OT assistant and of course for her numerous cups of tchai throughout the day! 

At the end of April 2013, Ajay Kayshap, speech therapist, suddenly left the team to pursue a different carrier in a big private school in Manali – quite an unfortunate situation for the numerous children in need of speech and language therapy.  Fortunately, we could approach an experienced speech and language pathologist from another Indian state and he should be able to join at the end of June (hopefully).

Foreign volunteers still do answer our invitations and we were so lucky to receive the help this year of several occupational therapist volunteers:  Alycia Walker (UK), Samantha Goodwin (UK) who did an excellent work in structuring and developing the team’s good practices, Karen Stelter (Australia), Romain Smagghe (France) who will leave Kullu before mid-July after welcoming Tori North, the next OT volunteer (until beginning of November).

Christelle Pettazzi and Clarisse Capiez, both from France, have been supplementing the work of OTs with APA (adapted physical activity) programmes which are very popular with children.  Chloé Cornier, French APA volunteer) has been conducting her mission since March and will leave Kullu around 20 June, followed by two other APA volunteers from France (Gaëlle Leclerc and Marine Asselin) who will continue this programme until end of December.

From Canada, Denise McVicar, a very experienced speech and language pathologist, gave two months of her life to improve Ajay’s professional capabilities and give valuable guidance in terms of patient inflow management, considering the high but still fluctuant attendance of children.

Over the last 12 months, the Handimachal team had been providing rehabilitation services to disabled children of Manali within the premises of the Day Star School and with the support of Mr Benoni Molgeri, special educator in charge of the Day Star School Learning Centre. Over the last few months, the complementarity of initiatives developed by Handimachal and by the Day Star School Learning Centre became obvious, both on clinical and on social aspects.  At the same time, after completing its fourth year of operation, it was time for the Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit to redefine its strategy and model.

During my stay in Kullu-Manali in March-April this year, I have finally decided to approach the management of Lady Willington Hospital (LWH) and Day Star School (DSS) with the proposal to officially link and develop a comprehensive structure under their management. 

At the same time, as the MoU signed with HPVHA Shimla was coming to an end on 31 March 2013, and considering their difficulties to get involved practically in the programme, the termination of our cooperation was notified to them.  The transfer of assets acquired through French funds and of unused funds (Rs 49,774), in accordance with FCRA provisions, has been officially requested to HPVHA.

The new MoU (cooperation agreement) has now been signed for two years with the Lady Willington Hospital and Day Star School Society, and the whole Handimachal team was officially introduced to the hospital and school staff and administration a few days ago.

From left to right, on 2nd June 2013 in Manali: 
Kirna Devi, Shruti More, Chloé Cornier,
Ramneek Bodh, Mayur Sharma, Vijay Kumar (Principal of DSS)
and Benoni Molgeri (Ben), now Programme Coordinator for Handimachal

One of the advantages for our association is that the operation of the Handimachal programme in Kullu can now be geographically closely controlled and that a dynamic impact can be given locally, with good clinical and social support. 

With disability now in the focus and agenda of LWH and DSS, Handimachal can develop new perspectives and new strategies for children with disabilities in Kullu district.

Dominique Dufau,

President, Handimachal (France)

8 June 2013

The Ball Pool is a therapeutic product, which provides a multi-sensory environment that will awaken the senses or calm them down, depending on the child. How cool is that… two opposite effects in one product.

Inside a ball pit, the 800 balls create a rainbow of fun, enticing people of all ages into the therapy environment. The brightly colored balls provide sensory stimulus (visual, auditory, tactile), massage the entire body, offering buoyant support, deep pressure sensation and propriceptive feedback. They also encourage relaxation, strengthen sensorimotor skills, and help to build confidence and social skills with the various ball pool therapeutic plays.

Installing the ball pool at Handimachal was a labor of love, with many helping hands and feet coming together. A Flash mob was organized by class 7 students of Sainte-Marie secondary school in Montpellier to fund raise for Handimachal, the funds were utilized for the making of the Ball Pool.

A friend from Delhi, Tobby, went out of his way to go shopping for the 800 balls from the famous Old Delhi wholesale markets. The balls were then transported by the bus to Kullu. The driver’s reaction on seeing the 800 balls was more of suspicion than surprise. But it did not take much time for that to convert into amazement and good will, on knowing about Handimachal and the special children of the Kullu Valley. He generously exempted from paying any extra luggage charges for the balls. Repeated visits to the local carpenters always busy workshop to get the Ball Pool ready, was the OT agenda for a month. Finally after a month of waiting, the Ball Pool was ready to be used by the children.

Children and parents alike cannot contain their joy on the first look of this new wonder toy installed at the blue house. It has become the new favorite corner for children and therapists too. While giving Shambhavi the much needed motivation to move and explore, providing Swarit and Milan the extra proproception they crave for, providing Deepak the just perfect positioning support for weight bearing, Karan’s and Himanshu’s multi sensory needs are all taken care of in the Ball Pool.

The Ball Pool is a valuable resource for intervention in therapy. A perfect example of a fun and scientific OT tool.

Shruti More, permanent OT,

6 May 2013

Thank you, Shruti, and sorry I did not have time to post this article much sooner!

Dominique

Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit, a pediatric rehabilitation centre at work in the Himalayas is seeking a motivated Speech Therapist to work full-time at its Kullu-Manali Centre.

Essentials for the Job – Bachelors in Speech pathology and Audiology.

Job Description – The Speech therapist will be required to work in a multidisciplinary team of OT/PT/Special Educator. The Speech Therapist will have to work closely with infants, pre-school and school children and is required to have knowledge in the areas of early childhood intervention, Oro-motor and feeding, alternative and Augmentative Communication, evaluation of vestibular/auditory function, handling children with communication disorders with special emphasis on children with pragmatic language disorders along with ample knowledge in handling aids and appliances followed by appropriate documentation and needed referral to other professionals. The major case load consisting of cerebral Palsy and Global Developmental Delay.

For more information interested candidates may contact us during weekdays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on:

Phones:

Office: 01902-222847

Mobile: 08894527949

Email:

handimachal@gmail.com

mvbenoni@gmail.com