ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A sensitive and socially inclined project of this nature not only demands for dedication towards the work at hand and love for humanity but also calls for encouragement, support and thoughtful help and insights from various quarters. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor J. Philip, President of XIME, with a special note of thanks to Dr. Stephan Mathews, for showing me the value and meaning in undertaking this project. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Professor S.D. Tyagaraj, Dean of XIME for his support and guidance. I would also like to thank Dr.Bijaya Pati, for giving me the opportunity to work as a volunteer at Chetana Institute For The Mentally Handicapped. In particular I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and profusely thank Ms.Savita for her invaluable insights, constant support and guidance which really helped in understanding the nuances of dealing with mentally handicapped children and without whose help the successful completion of this project wouldnt have been possible. Last, but not the least I wish to extend my special thanks to all the children at the institute who have shaped my understanding of the mentally handicapped person and my experience with them will be cherished by me forever.

PREFACE
Socially Useful Productive Activity or SUPA is not only a value addition to the curriculum at Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore, but is also a platform that allows the students studying here to contribute their bit towards making a better future for the world we live in. The programme allows students to venture out in the real world, with the aim of developing an attitude of social responsibility and an unflinching commitment to the purpose of development of social causes. Being stakeholders in the society, our role goes beyond being mute spectators of the problems and challenges that engulf it and SUPA is a novel channel for us to implement our managerial skills and humane facet for the betterment of our society. The work done under the SUPA programme encompasses a plethora of activities and it could be anything from helping the impoverished or underprivileged sections of the society to helping stray animals and saving paper and hence preventing deforestation. The bottom line is that we are expected to help make a better future for all of us. We are expected to work with an organization committed towards a social cause and in doing so we should be able to add value to that noble cause. Being future managers we are also expected to develop a holistic outlook on growth of an entity, which goes beyond profits and encompasses social welfare too. The programme is one of a kind in contemporary B-schools and surely is the best foot forward in the development of humanizing management education.

INDEX

Sr. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 6.

Topic Executive Summary Introduction to Chetana Institute for the Mentally Handicapped Organization Structure Areas of Work A brief introduction to Mental Retardation and its importance in the Indian context A day at CIMH My Body of Work Skill Training Case of Somnath Barik (PAR format-Problem, action, result) Conclusion References

Page No.

7. 8. 9. 10 11. 12.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SUPA was a great opportunity for me to contribute my bit to the society in both ways tangible and intangible. I realized the importance of helping the society I claim to be an integral part of, and experienced the joy of giving. Being future managers not only calls for sharp business acumen but also requires that we as managers are humane. SUPA acted like the perfect tool that took me away from my comfort zone and provided me the chance to learn to unlearn and contribute my two cents to the society. We all know that everybody has a gift and that few are more gifted than others. Mentally handicapped children are just those who fall in the latter category. Mentally retarded children are not mad, they are differently able. Unable to comprehend the vagaries of these children or simply disappointed because of unfulfilled expectations the society proclaims them as outcasts and it is here that each and every one of us has a moral responsibility in changing that outlook and supporting these children. How does one contribute to improve the quality of life of these gems is a question that pops up in the minds of people with noble intentions and the answer is provided when people with a scientific outlook and altruism in their hearts set up an organization dedicated to answer that critical question. Chetana Institute For The Mentally Handicapped is just one such organization. As a part of my SUPA, I worked with Chetana Institute For The Mentally Handicapped, also known as CIMH. Its an NGO, and comes under the parent organization - Jewels International. I worked with CIMH from the 27th of Dec2010 to the 15th of Jan2011 and was involved in skill training of the mentally handicapped children and behavioral assessment a single child apart from helping them in domestic activities and participating in their little joys. One of the most important lessons for me during this entire course was how differently these kids view the world around them from what we see it as and after my experience at CIMH I have come to believe that the world we live in is a world of perceptions and the beauty of it is that it always holds something unique for everybody. Spending time with these children, teaching and playing with them, understanding them and participating with them in their joys and sorrows has given me a clearer perspective of my role in the society and a higher sense of appreciation for all creation.

INTRODUCTION TO CHETANA INSTITUTE FOR THE MENTALLY HANDICAPPED

A Voluntary Organization named as Jewels International was established at Bhubaneswar in the year 1977 to perform Social Service and conduct Mass Education Programmes. The Organization was registered under the Societies Registration Act. No. XXI of 1860, by the Registrar of Societies, Cuttack, on 27th July, 1977. In the year 1985, the Organization decided to work for the welfare of the Mentally Handicapped Children. The same resulted in the establishment of an Institution named Chetana Institute For The Mentally Handicapped (CIMH) in June, 1986. CIMH pursues the principle of inclusivity. Children who are looked upon as outcasts by the society to parents who view them as a burden, CIMH satisfies not only their basic physiological needs but also groom them to be employable and independent as far as possible. The calm and serene atmosphere of the campus is perfect for fostering an environment of care and nurturing the idea of creating something for everyone. The institute has a dedicated team of

teachers, doctors, psychiatrists, trainees and associated staff who are committed to the single minded cause of making tomorrow a better day for these little stars. The Bhubaneswar Branch of CIMH provides Day Care facility and Hostel facility to Mentally Retarded Children. There are 98 students who are enrolled in the Residential Programme. For the purpose of education and training, the students are grouped into five classes based on their age, functional ability and the level of Mental Retardation. The following Table shows the breakup of the students in different classes. Class wise Distribution of Students, Bhubaneswar Branch Class Pre-Primary Primary Secondary Pre-Vocational Day care Male Female Male 08 20 23 30 81 Hosteller Female 02 06 05 04 17 Total 10 26 28 34 98

Total The institute has the following objectives:-

1) To promote the establishment of institutions for the education, training and rehabilitation of the mentally handicapped and other categories of disabled persons. 2) To conduct health programmes for the disabled people of the State. 3) To promote research on mental handicap and allied subjects. 4) To establish collaboration with other Voluntary Organizations having similar objectives. 5) To conduct developmental programmes for the all round development of rural, tribal and slum population; women and children. Mission Statement To establish and support establishment of Special Schools, Vocational Training Centres and Sheltered Workshops for the Mentally Handicapped in the State of Orissa

Legal Status Jewels International is registered under: 1. Society Registration Act No. XXI of 1860, Registration No. 11634/480 of 1977-78. 2. Section 12-A of Income Tax Act. 1961 Registration No. Adm. (GL) 27/12-A/85-86 3. U/s.80G (5) (vi) of Income Tax Act. 1961, Registration No. ITO(Tech.)/ 80G-93/ 05-06/2006-07/1781, dated 12th July, 2006. 4. Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. 1976 Registration No. 105020046 of 1987 5. Persons with Disability Act., 1995 Registration No. 18/Women & Child Development Department, Govt. of Orissa, 2004 6. National Trust Act., 1999 Registration No. 1812/CP-MR/2002 7. Certificate of Importer Exporter Code (IEC) - 2301000389/2001 8. District Industries Registration No. 1917 / 05/04/2003

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
CIMH was the brain child of Dr. Narayan Chandra Pati, a psychiatrist and a reputed professor of psychology at Utkal University. The institute is governed by an executive committee in accordance with the provisions of the Bye-Law of Jewels International. The executive body is elected by the General Body once in every three years.

LIST OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Sl No.

Name

Position

Qualification & Occupation M.S. (Surgery) Retd. Govt. servant M.A., Ph.D. Retd. Govt. servant M.A., Ph.D. University service M.Com. Service M.A., Ph.D. University service

01.

Dr. Ajay Kumar Mishra

President

02.

Dr. Basant Kumar Das

VicePresident

03.

Dr. N.C. Pati

General Secretary Joint Secretary

04.

Sri Mrityunjaya Pani

05.

Dr. Chintamani Mishra

Treasurer

Principal 06. Dr. Bijaya Pati (CIMH) 07. Dr. Tarapad Ray Member M.D.(Psychiatry) M.D.(Psychiatry)

08.

Er. Bhabani Sankar Mohanty

Member

B.E. (Electrical) Govt. service M.A., Ph.D. Govt. service M.A., L.L.B. Advocate I.A. CESCO Service B.Com (Hons.), L.L.B. Bank Service

09.

Dr. Prasanta Kr. Mishra

Member

10.

Sri Lalatendu Patnaik

Member

11.

Sri Kailash Ch. Mishra

Member

12.

Sri D.S. Appa Rao

Member

AREAS OF WORK
The following services are being offered by CIMH:1) Special education and skill training 2) Vocational training programme 3) Community based rehabilitation programme 4) Self-help programme 5) Early intervention programme

Special education and skill training

As mentally handicapped children have needs which are different from the others, these needs have to be addressed in different ways too. The need could be quite basic like buttoning up a shirt or even pouring water in a glass or complicated like listening, recognizing and acting on a particular external stimulus. These children could be challenged in any sphere that could range from communicating efficiently to behaving as per social norms or even

10

performing domestic activities. CIMH has a comprehensive and structured curriculum to address these needs and this is what constitutes its special education and skill training services. Basically, the children are put in different classes based on their age and ability-the two most important criteria for this classification. The following descriptions of various levels of training will give us a better idea on the structure of training. 1) Pre-primary Children aged between 3 and 6 years are kept in these classes. It is evident that these children require basic needs to be fulfilled than going up the ladder on higher needs like being able to communicate or participate in group activities. Children in this category require more personal attention. 2) Primary-1 At each level there are few tests conducted at regular time intervals, to see how the child is responding to what he has been taught and gauge his overall development. Children getting a minimum of 80% at the pre-primary level and approximately 7 years of age are promoted to this level. i.e. Primary-1. The focus here is more on developing their mental faculties as they have already proved that they are capable of performing basic activities like drinking water without spilling, not swallowing solids and the like. Children at this level are taught basic numbering concepts and alphabets. 3) Primary-2 Those who arent able to achieve the 80% target at the pre-primary level even after 8 years are put in primary-2 classes. Since these children have shown low functional abilities they are trained from scratch and are given more time in assimilating information and responding to them. Children are kept in this class till a maximum age of 14 years before they enter the secondary level.

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4) Secondary This is a mixed group, having children from both primary-1 and primary-2 levels. Children at this level are taught more advance concepts of money and time and various reinforcement techniques are used to boost their confidence about which I will explain in greater detail later on in my report. Children in this class are generally in the age group of 11 to 14 years. Vocational training programme The special education centre of CIMH offers vocational training to mentally retarded children with a futuristic view of vocational placement. The institute gives intensive training on making candles, envelopes, paper-packets, mosquito nets, phenyl, gardening, diary, tailoring, cover files and note books. The institute has also opened up a grocery shop since 2003 for vocational training and placement of adults with mental disabilities. Community based rehabilitation(CBR) programme The main objective of the CBR Programme is to provide service to the disabled people at their door step. The Special Educators appointed under this project visit the homes of people with disability on a regular basis and help the parents conduct home based special education and vocational training programme. The project activities include awareness generation on disability, publication of literature on disability in the regional language, parental counseling, and home based special education programme. Vocational training and placement of people with disabilities in locally available vocations is one of the major activities under the project. The institute has also implemented a project on Community Based Rehabilitation of People with Disability with a focus on Intellectual Disability in collaboration with Lebenshilfe, Germany, and the Ministry of Economic Co-operation & Development, Govt. of Germany. The project was implemented in 16 Community Development Blocks of Orissa spread over 12 Districts. The project also included infrastructure development in Bhubaneswar and Balakati branches of the institute. A total number of 7125 persons with disability are under the CBR programme. Most of these people are below the poverty line and require intensive long duration service.
12

Self-help programme As a part of the self-help programme the institute has helped forming 50 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) by the disabled people and their family members in 16 CBR Units. Each SHG was given an amount of Rs. 10,000/- as revolving fund. Each member of the SHG also contributed Rs. 10/- to Rs. 30/- per month to the common fund of the SHG. The members of the self help groups take small loans from the common fund of the SHG and use the money for small businesses, animal husbandry, and agricultural activities. . Early intervention programme CIMH also provides Early Intervention and Home Based Training Services for children with intellectual disability, delayed development, autism, and multiple disabilities, who are unable to avail either day care or residential services due to various reasons. The experts of CIMH either visit the homes of these children or invite parents of the children to the Centre, and train them with the skills to manage their children in a home environment. The centre also provides Early Intervention Services for children with developmental disabilities from birth to six years of age. The institute has also conducted a large number of training programmes on Mental Retardation and Disability in the year gone by. The abstract of the training programmes is given in the following Table. Seminars, Workshops, and Short-Term Training Programmes conducted in collaboration with Lebenshilfe, Germany Funding Agency Lebenshilfe & Govt. of Germany Lebenshilfe & Govt. of Germany Lebenshilfe & Govt. of Germany Name of the Programme Parent Training Programmes Follow Up Parent Training Programmes Village Level Volunteers Training Programme Duration 5 days 1 day 10 days No. of courses in the Programmes 16 59 16 No. of Participants 1327 1456 400

13

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO MENTAL RETARDATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Before I get into the details of my experience at CIMH and my role therein I would like to throw some light on some facts and figures which I think are important for us to understand the behavior of these children. Firstly, I would reiterate my statement about these children not being mad, which is a widely held misconception. This notion has absolutely no credibility and contemporary science refutes it vehemently. As per Merriam-Webster dictionary, mental retardation is defined as follows:sub average intellectual ability equivalent to or less than an IQ of 70 that is accompanied by significant deficits in abilities (as in communication or self-care) necessary for independent daily functioning, is present from birth or infancy, and is manifested especially by delayed or abnormal development, by learning difficulties, and by problems in social adjustment.
14

Supporting the definition and empirically based on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) the following data will show us the ranges that are used in classifying varying degrees of mental retardation. Class Profound mental retardation Severe mental retardation Moderate mental retardation Mild mental retardation Borderline mental retardation IQ Below 20 20-34 35-49 50-69 70-79

As per a recent report prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with the ministry of social justice and empowerment the following statistics hold good for India.

Disabled People
10% 14% 48% Mentally disabled 28% Hearing and Speech diabilities Visually Impaired Movement Impaired

14 % of the disabled population amounts to approximately 8.4 million mentally handicapped people in India! This is a huge figure and we should realize that we have an opportunity to do something good for these children rather than castigating them. At the moment there are four laws namely,

- The Disability Law of 1995

15

- The National Trust Act - The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) Act and - The Mental Health Act
that cover all disabilities in India and even though these four overlook the activities and formulate norms of the organizations helping disabled people apart from giving them their legal status, their policies hardly result in assuring any form of employment of these people. As per the laws there should be 3 percent reservation for disabled people in government jobs but the public sector employs just 0.5 per cent and the situation is even worse in the private sector where only 0.2 percent of disabled people are employed. The overall employment rate is less than 0.4 percent of the disabled people for the mentally handicapped and the policies surely do not hold much promise for these people to be absorbed in mainstream jobs. It is very easy for one to cite the example of a disabled person in a neighbors house, but it is as difficult as or even tougher than that to accept the fact that there is one in our own home. The mindset of our people has to change. Feeling of shame and inferiority has to be done away with and public awareness on mentally handicapped people has to penetrate the larger strata of our society. There is a need for policy reforms to make a positive impact on the life of the mentally handicapped and to stop discrimination against them, at and outside the workplace. India is a developing country and has a lot of challenges lying ahead on its path of progress. It should not leave anyone behind in this wave of development and let us not forget that they too are one among us. Let us remember the famous words of Hubert H. Humphrey, a famous advocate of civil rights and the Vice President of the U.S (1965-1969) The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life . . . the children; those who are in the twilight of life . . . the elderly; and those who are in the shadow of life . . . the sick . . . the needy . . . and the disabled."

16

A DAY AT CIMH
It has been cold this winter in Bhubaneswar with temperatures dipping to single digits but the warmth with which the children greet me has never diminished. On a crisp morning as I enter the institute, I can hear voices calling me Sir..Sir youll teach us today?(in the local language) with the same enthusiasm in their voices as the day before, while they scratch their heads and hug me with joy and expectations. A typical day at CIMH starts as early as 6 A.M. and the children start performing their daily chores, but quite unlike what we would do. Some of them would require external assistance even in being led to the bathrooms or toilets. The helpers and people in charge of the hostel are by now used to this grind and are well aware of the abilities of most of the children. Once done with their morning routine, its time for breakfast and one can see a lot of amusing antics by these movers and shakers. They are not only energetic but are quite naughty too. These children seem to be in their own world, oblivious to the fact the teacher is telling them to form a circle, and its then that one realizes the gravity of the situation. Moving on to a lighter note, food and food it is, that can probably bring the broadest of smiles on their faces. After stuffing their bellies the children are now ready for some small drills or rhymes to start up their day. You can hear the words all jumbled up but the tune being maintained when they sing If youre happy and you know it, clap your hands... By the time they are done with their rhymes it is around 10 A.M. and it is time to do some brain crunching. The children enter their respective classrooms guided by their teachers and are smiling as always.

17

Once inside, it is both a test and a new experience for every teacher day in and day out. All the teachers are qualified with B.Ed degrees in special education with years of experience under their belt, but every child out there is different from the other and with that comes an opportunity knocking everyday at the teachers door to help the child grow. There are children in groups of five to seven and even then there can be everything, but silence in a classroom. Some children might be rocking on the chair back and forth, while some maybe least interested in what the teacher is saying and looking all over the classroom while the teacher is trying to teach them and as a result, more often than not, the teacher stops every few seconds, not even minutes to get back the diverted childs attention. Quite a challenge I must say, keeping in my mind that I too was going to do that on a particular level. Sessions of half an hour to an hour are conducted wherein the children are taught new skills or are just engaged in some form of productive activity. The teachers try to involve the children as much as possible by giving them tasks which could be varied or similar in nature and most of it is done in groups. This continues till exactly one oclock in the afternoon, when the bell rings for quite a long time and the children know that its time for lunch and I can see those smiles back on their faces. They are very curious about the menu for lunch since morning and on being told that theres an egg or a chicken preparation, the excitement on their faces is a sight to behold. The lunch break is for an hour and after two in the afternoon the children get back to do some practical activities like stitching, making boxes of cardboard and some even paint. They
18

seem to be more interested in creating images or making something more visual than just sitting and learning or probably listening because it keeps them more engaged and the results of their efforts are more tangible in nature which gives them great satisfaction.

By four in the evening it is time for some gardening (the picture above is of the garden at CIMH) and they have a natural inclination to water and the wet mud as far as I have noticed. Its a fantastic experience in the shaded garden to plant saplings and in the meantime develop friendly rapports with these children. By five o clock in the evening, its time for the gates to close and the teachers leave for their homes and the children can be seen playing games with the helpers and some full timers who stay at the hostel itself or they just wander in the campus doing things they find interesting. Yeah, they do watch a little bit of T.V as a part of their recreation and mostly in the local language and are very happy on seeing some cartoon network channels. Probably the funny faces and exciting sounds seem to tickle their funny bone to a good extent. Finally, they have their dinner by eight and jump on to their beds to cuddle up under a blanket bracing themselves for another chilly winter night. It has been a long day, filled with a lot of fun, activity and a new set of experiences and now it is time to rest, as I start my bike and head out thundering into the darkness.

19

MY BODY OF WORK
I was involved directly in the skill training of the mentally handicapped children who were at the secondary level. I was instructed on the first three days of how the process would be and the things that I would have to take care of at a personal level, especially on not losing my temper and to keep encouraging them. At the end of one week I had to conduct a behavioral assessment on any one child stating his problem in certain areas after checking his actions against a list of behavioral checklists and recommending specific actions for the child to cope with that problem. I was given a list of expected problem behaviors by the teachers and I was free to add new ones too if I noticed anything that wasnt already there. To be precise, my recommendation was not to be an out-of-the-book solution but was to be more of an activity or an innovative idea that could be implemented. In the forthcoming week I was to have another round of teaching sessions with that kid in which I would be implementing my recommendations and submitting my observations to the teacher in charge. The picture below is of me with Somnath and Tushar, two children from CIMH.

20

SKILL TRAINING
Concept of Money and Time The concepts of money and time are of practical importance to these children as it comes very handy in their day to day functioning and also prepares them for vocational jobs. I spoke about the denominations of coins currently in circulation and how to make use of the other denominations in exchange of one. I should have realized that the old adage of action speaks louder than words couldnt have had a truer meaning than in this context. I had to get back to my drawing basics and I drew a few charts on both the money concept and a made a clock to explain to them the concept of time. The following charts will give an exact idea of my briefing on the money concept wherein they had to match coins too so that they could recognize a coin with its value with a similar one. Associating the value with real coins is important because they need to develop mental images for a particular value and breaking it down into lower denominations gives them a clearer picture of various possible transactions for a particular value.

I had to get a very important thing right for teaching the concept of time. All the charts that I had seen present in the classrooms had every hour drawn unto them and there was no scope for the child to experiment. Keeping that in mind I made a basic clock with movable hands
21

which helped me get the idea of time across to them in a more efficient way as they could also participate actively by moving the hands of the clock and more importantly, it grabbed their attention that got them excited about learning how to use it.

Concept of Days and Months Apart from these 2 concepts I also taught them about days and months. It was important for me that I do not go too fast or jump steps thinking they would understand, because at the end of the day I knew their abilities and it was me who had to adapt to the situation. I followed the process of drawing and making the experience more visual to increase the effectiveness of my teaching them these concepts. The following picture drawn by me helps them relate the days in a month with respect to the height of the mountains. The higher mountains represent months having more than 30/28 or 29 days and the smaller ones represent months having days lesser than 31. Seasons added here give a more realistic impression of what they are learning and helps them remember information more effectively.

22

The man in the picture above is actually juggling balls with the days of the week written on them and the child would have to match the days of the week on either side. This will involve the child in being able to recognize the letters of the week and his cognitive abilities would require him to identify a similar one on the other side. I also taught them about the cyclical concept of the days of a week. As these children learn faster by doing things than just sitting, I made them stand in a circle with each day of a week assigned to one child and they went around the circle till they got a feel of what was happening and the rhythm of Monday,Tuesday,,Sunday,Monday.. settled in their minds. One important aspect of teaching these children that I realized and implemented while I was teaching them was that, they pay more attention to musical sounds. For example if I said, One Two Three., they were less inclined to listen to me than when I said One, Two buckle my shoe.. in a rhythmic tone. Rhythm accompanied with actions plays an important part in any mode of communication with these children, and especially while trying to teach them something new. By the end of the week the children were more comfortable with these concepts and were able to answer some of the questions asked by me. In short, they picked up the cues and were having the foundations laid clearly in their minds. It was a joyous moment for me to see the children being able to answer simple questions on time, money and days-of-the-week concepts. It was a week that got me closer to these children and got me acquainted to some of their habits. By now I had a rough idea of the mental abilities of each child and I had to choose any one child for his behavioral assessment. I took up the case of Somnath Barik, a 12 year old mentally handicapped child.

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CASE OF SOMNATH BARIK

Behavioral Assessment (Problem Identification) To assess Somnath I had to check his activities against a checklist of a behavioral scale which broadly had 18 categories and each category had 10 checkpoints. The following statistics of the assessment gave me an idea of the weak areas of Somnath and guided me to focus on those areas for development.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Checkpoints

Behavioral Fields

My observation of these results led to me to the fact that Somnath was still scoring less on the Reading and Social Interaction fields. He was scoring less in Community Orientation and Vocational Skills too, but that could be taken up at a later stage for development. One was a fundamental area of self development and the other required greater interaction with the world around him. Both of these problems had completely different contexts and hence demanded different solutions. I communicated these observations to Ms. Savita, my guide and mentor during the entire process. Checking up on Somnaths file she told me that he has a very short attention span and is acutely restless. His case file also revealed that his mother was malnourished at the time of his birth and his father too was mentally handicapped.

24

Solution (Action) Firstly, coming to the Social Interaction component of the behavioral scale meant more than just talking or interacting with others. Social interaction also meant the following things in brief:a) Waiting for his turn in groups b) Taking the role of a leader in group activities c) Asking for help when bullied or manages the situation by himself d) Says words like Please, Thank You and Sorry and shows other social courtesies. Somnath lacked all of the above. I had to decide a way by which he could inculcate these habits through experience. After a good amount of thought, I came up with a simple and feasible idea-playing carom. A carom board was present at the institute catching dust, and it caught my eye. Playing carom daily for an hour with Somnath and two more children (both were at prevocational levels) was a great experience. Liza and Tushar were very co-operative. Carom, as we all know is a group game and requires patience from each of the players to play his turn. It also involves requesting for the striker from a co-player when its beyond the reach of the person and involves setting up of the coins and starting the game too, apart from directing a team mate to pot in the most easily available coin. There is a possibility of a tiff too, when somebody breaks the rules, especially when one is playing with children. Basically, it encompasses all of the above points and was a great practical guide for Somnath to develop himself in those areas. Secondly, coming to the Reading field on the behavioral scale. Just like social interaction didnt just mean communicating, reading didnt just mean pronouncing words. It also meant sorting objects of different shapes and matching pictures with objects. This time around I used a board as shown in the following page. I drew a figure on a piece of paper and wrote what the object was and Somnath had to choose the exact object from the board whose figure I had drawn on the paper. This made him learn the name of the object and he got the physical feel of the object too. The board is a hollow cavity wherein different shapes of wood
25

are placed. I even emptied all these shapes of wood together and left it to Somnath to fill up the board placing the right shape in the right cavity while I timed him on the activity.

Results (Observations) It had been a week since I started working with Somnath on his problem areas and it was time for me to give my observations on the recent developments. I would say Somnath as a child is an introvert and it is his natural inclination to shy away from a crowd, leave alone addressing somebody with social courtesies. But there was a sign of hope, on the day I got chocolates for all the children at the institute and Somnath walked up to me and said that he wanted to distribute the chocolates to everybody. This according to me was the first step in the right direction. He clearly showed willingness in performing an activity that involved everybody. Let us not forget that inculcating a habit, is not a weeks job or even a months. It requires constant involvement of the child with his peers and people who drive and support him and provide him with verbal reinforcements of praise and good-work.

26

A picture of Somanth- the leader with chocolate boxes.

As for his reading skills in terms of matching and sorting objects I gave the results of his clocked timings to Ms.Savita. Somnath started with a clock time of 58 seconds to place the 10 pieces in right cavities and hovered around it for a few days before the clock times gradually came down to 25 seconds at the end of the week. This was a decent improvement in his ability to match figures and he became more efficient in identifying vegetables and stationery items too. It is important to note here that both these results are definitive indicators of the possibility of improvement in developmental behavior of Somnath if sustained over a long period of time. Somnath showed signs of improvement in both individual and social arenas of development and the future surely holds a lot of promise for this special child. Though Somnaths IQ levels still remain below 70, he has learnt new and important concepts that will keep him in good stead all his life.

27

CONCLUSION
I have come to the end of my report but I am still at the beginning of my journey at CIMH and in the upliftment of the mentally handicapped people in a broader sense. The two odd weeks spent working as a volunteer at CIMH not only brought me face to face with this neglected and discriminated section of our society but also helped me understand the challenges faced by the teachers at the institute. During the course of my project, I got hands on experience of working with the faculty at CIMH and also learned about their difficulties in terms of shortages in the workforce. Coming to think of it, the demand for teachers in Special Education is approximately five times than the current supply as per recent statistics. This shows that there is clear dearth of resources in this field and this gap can only be plugged after policy reforms are implemented in this sector. After all, they need to be treated at par if not above teachers who teach normal children because their jobs are more strenuous and even tougher than their counterparts in normal schools. The photo below is that of Ms.Savita, who has about 25 years of experience in Special Education, and was my mentor and guide in the entire process. The boy with her is, Tushar, and hes almost ready for vocational jobs.

Mental disability is not a disease. It is not a curse. My experience at CIMH was a true eye opener for me. These children just like others have a future and we have a part to play to improve
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their future. While I volunteered to teach at CIMH, I was surprised that I too learnt a couple of things from the children. Firstly, never to allow the smile fade off my face and secondly to retain the innocence of a child as far as I can and to not limit my thoughts to just what Ive learnt. Both these things are a way of life for these children. It is because we are so educated that we forget or even fail to look at things from a different perspective and stick to the conformity of the structures and patterns we have learned so rigidly. The minds of these children are like open boxes and they explore it to the utmost level. They fail because they cannot associate it with the context at hand. Mentally handicapped children need constant appraisals and these could be satisfying their basic physiological needs by providing food or liquids or it could be something more verbal like Very Good or Great Job. Whatever it may be, it just goes on to show that these little things matter the most and go a long way in shaping and developing a differently abled child. It was an enriching experience for me to help those who needed it most and my association with CIMH and the cause of helping these children will continue long after my SUPA project is completed. Let us all remember as a society and as a nation, the crux of disability wrapped in just one line in the words of Scott Hamilton.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

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REFERNCES
1) http://www.disabilitynewsasia.com 2) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health

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