EARLY INTERVENTION - PROGRAM DETAILS
Currently this program serves well over 5000 children across India. This program is sustained mainly by Handi-Care Intl., Your donation to this project will be applied towards running this project successfully.
Background
What is Early Intervention for Childhood Disabilities?
Early Intervention (EI) is a very important and the most significant step in early childhood development. Many disabling conditions and delayed developments go unnoticed or un-addressed until it is too late.
Identifying and intervening at the right stage is crucial to the child’s development and this program focuses on identifying children (as young as possible after birth), with developmental delays, getting the right diagnosis, doing an extensive assessment, enrolling them in the right rehabilitation program.
The rehab programs have various approaches such as Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Speech therapy, Special education, Training in activities of daily living etc. The therapy modules are tailored according to the needs of the child. Our program is very unique, cost effective and can be universally adapted since it is technology driven thru an app, called ‘Enabling Inclusion‘.
The goal of this program is to achieve the maximum potential for each child and empowering them to be more mobile and more functional.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)
“If children with developmental delays are not provided with appropriate early intervention, their difficulties can lead to lifetime consequences, increased poverty and profound exclusion.”
To facilitate this, we created a technology platform called the Enabling Inclusion app, which is a comprehensive digital solution for provision of rehab services, that is globally recognized and now being adopted by NGO’s and governments around the world.
Currently close to 5000 children are enrolled in this program and HCI has committed itself to run, sustain and develop this program successfully. HCI is entirely funded by individual donors and each of you are a part of this vision and every dollar of donation you make, brings new life to a child.
Early Intervention therapy which address physical, social, emotional, language, and cognitive development through physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy and special education is proven to improve child development and integration.
In rural India, this is due to a lack of rehab therapists, large travel distances to urban rehab centers and high costs. UNESCO states that 72% of children with disabilities in India are unable to attend school because of a lack of EI therapy services.
This project has been recognized by 4 continents: Asia, Australia, Europe and North America!
World Cerebral Palsy Day winner in Australia, MIT Solve Challenge in USA, United Nations, Vodafone foundation, Azim Premji Foundation, MDRT Foundation, and Grand Challenges Canada.
Research
We have partnered with University of Toronto, McGill University, MIT, Harvard Centre for the Developing Child and Saving Brains to help create the best program and conduct research that has proven our model has lead to the best child and family outcomes.
- Our community worker training program has excellent outcomes
- Our Early Intervention program has led to decreased caregiver strain and improved family empowerment
- Program engagement improved from 60 to 95%
- Age adjusted school enrollment increased from 70 to 85% for children with disabilities
- Rehab worker job satisfaction improved.
- Child Development Improved
Funding
- The EI program was initially launched in 2014 with funding from Handi-Care Intl. and Grand Challenges Canada. Subsequently, matched funding from Handi-Care Intl. and Grand Challenges Canada until 2020 allowed us to expand the program to cover 1325 children to cover the entire Tenkasi District of Tamil Nadu.
- The Tamil Nadu Government and Grand Challenges Canada have provided funding in late 2020 to expand to 2 new districts – Tirunelveli and Tuticorin to enroll 2000 additional children.
- In order to cover the existing >1000 children in the program in the Tenkasi District and add children on the wait-list, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative has agreed to co-sponsor the EI program in Tenkasi District along with Handi-Care Intl., for the next 3 years, so that the early intervention services can continue seamlessly.
- Therefore, all your donations will be matched dollar for dollar by Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative.
- We have more than 400 children on our wait list, that can be enrolled once sponsorship is secured for them.