A spot of hope in Dimapur is helping intellectually-challenged children bloom

Children who suffer from intellectual development disabilities are often ignored or pushed away from the sight of society. But there is still hope for them–there is a virtually unknown center in Dimapur that is helping improve the lives of children suffering from certain intellectual disabilities, reports our Staff Reporter Temshinaro 

DIMAPUR, MAY 31: Located within the premises of Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR) in Dimapur, is an educational crèche by the name ‘Precious Gems.’

The institution for special children was opened in March this year as the only institute in the entire state of Nagaland that was instated to guide and shape children suffering from intellectual development disabilities.

The founder of the establishment, Dr. Y Simpson, said during a short interaction on Tuesday that the centre envisaged training children of special needs, while training parents as well.

Some of the disorders that come under intellectual development disabilities are Autism Spectrum Disorder, Specific Learning Disability, and Children with Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder, and even Cerebral Pulsy (physical).

Dr. Y Simpson, also the head of development pediatrics at the CIHSR, said that the centre came into being with the opening of the Development Pediatrics department which was opened in June 2014.

Before the centre’s inception, Dr. Y. Simpson said, the team initiated by him started organizing workshops with teachers. The workshops focused on intellectual and developmental disabilities. This somehow led to networks that reached out to parents of children who were sufferring from said disabilities.

During the process, he said, teachers were helped in identifying children with said problems besides those who were referred to the diagnostic centre.

Dr. Simpson also spoke about the difficulties the center faced during its initial days. He lamented that many parents refuse to bring their children to the centre. Children with developmental problems can be improved through proper training. But, he said, parents find it difficult to accept that explanation for the reason that instead they want ‘miraculous cure.’

Led by Dr. Y. Simpson, Precious Gems consists of two special teachers, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, two physiotherapists, a speech therapist, four pediatricians and two arthopaetricians. The professionally-skilled team members are employees of the CIHSR who are working under said program too. Out of eleven children, two children completed a three-month course today.

Hope
Eastern Mirror’s interaction with a number of parents brought to the surface satisfaction at the training provided by the centre. The parents expressed happiness that their children had improved through the program and how it had also helped them in improving their approach to parenting and their skills as parents.

A mother, not named for privacy, of a son who successfully completed his three-month course delightedly spoke to this reporter about their family’s journey.

In the early days, her son had seemed ‘normal’ but then he started developing various problems such as wanting to play alone or having the inability to sit quietly for even a few minutes. Also, he began to speak less, and so on. The mother said that her son’s behavior became more severe that there came a need that demanded medical attention.

‘I was shattered when I was told my son was suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorder,’ the mother said. She had come to the CIHSR for his son’s medical checkup. She was directed to Precious Gems. The mother also disclosed that her parents had wrong notions about their grandson being admitting to the center.

Now, there is only joy in seeing her son improve each day with the help of Precious Gems, a delight she considers no less miraculous in its own right.

Touched by her son’s improvement, the mother said that every parent should open up about their children’s intellectual disabilities and seek medical assistance. Confining them within a boundary will never do them good, she said.

In addition to imparting special education about various disorders, Precious Gems also provide speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and medical facilities for the children. Besides, the center provides training on parenting techniques and various social behavioral educations focused on aspects such as mannerisms and gestures, and behavior orienting.