Last Updated on January 17, 2024 by Neelam Singh
An eight-year-old Saanvi (name changed) was again readmitted in nursery class as she is not able to learn words properly. Saanvi is a child with learning disability diagnosed with autism when she was just two years old. She cannot study properly, due to the lack of proper therapies and special educators.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a problem that affects a child’s nervous system and growth and mental development. It often shows up during a child’s first 3 years of life. A child with the disorder often has problems communicating with others. They may not start speaking as soon as other children. They may not want to make eye contact with other people.
J&K and Children with learning disability
ASD can keep a child from developing social skills. Also a child with ASD may not be able to understand facial expressions or emotions in other people.
Dr. Seema, Saanvi’s mother, being a doctor, finds herself helpless when it comes to the treatment of her eight-year-old daughter.
“My daughter needs a team of therapists including speech-language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists, Speech therapists, special educators which can help her learn and experience things like other kids. Unfortunately, she is lacking behind. In Kashmir no efforts are made on kids with learning disability. I cannot find any help in Kashmir despite being a doctor I am not able to treat my own daughter,” Dr. Seema lamented, wiping off her tears.
When Saavi was diagnosed with Autism, Dr. Seema took her to Delhi for the treatment. “She was doing well with all the therapy sessions in Delhi and was learning at a good pace but due to personal reasons I had to move back to Kashmir which was very unfortunate for my daughter. In Kashmir, I don’t find any such intervention centres for the children with learning disability,” Dr. Seema said in a heavy voice.
There are few therapy centres in Srinagar which are not accessible for children who reside in other districts.
Dr. Seema resides in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district which is more than 70 kms from Srinagar. “It is impossible for parents like me who reside in far flung areas, to travel everyday more than 70 kms to Srinagar to visit the therapist for their children. Therapy sessions help such children to do basic activities on their own including going to the washroom, eating food independently,” Dr. Seema told this reporter.
Taking matters into their own hands
Initially, Dr. Seema used to give therapies to her daughter herself which she had learned from online videos due to which Saavi is now taking instructions easily.
“It took me around eight hours every day to give her different therapies and with the help of these therapies she is following my instructions but I could not continue it due to my job,” she added.
Saavi is good at sports, she likes cycling and sees her daughter’s interests, Dr. Seema has brought her a tricycle.
“These children are good at something and my daughter likes sports. If there will be a special sports teacher for her I am sure she will do well in this field. She can learn things if given the chance and provided with a special teacher. If a normal child takes half an hour to understand things, children like my daughter will take 2 hours to understand the same lessons,” Dr Seema lamented.
In north Kashmir’s Budgam district another parent, Mehboob Ahmad Malik shares a similar story of her daughter.
“At the age of three, my daughter, Maliha had high fever resulting in seizure attacks which affected her physical and mental development,” recounted Mehboob.
Maliha is now six-year-old, however she is still having difficulty in identifying the alphabets and is not able to write. “Doctors said she will improve with regular therapy sessions but it is not possible for me to travel Srinagar regularly for her therapies. In district Budgam we don’t have any kind of centres for children with learning disability which is why my daughter is lagging behind,” Mehboob said.
Lesser Heard Voices
Zaheer Jan, Child and disability rights activists said that there are thousands of children with learning disability in Kashmir region. “We don’t have any dedicated health care facility in our district hospitals for these kids. There are no shadow trainers for such kids. Parents have been running from pillar to post to help their children to be independent in their life but they feel helpless because there is no facility for them,” Zaheer told The THIP media. He further said that there should have been early intervention centres in every district hospital of Jammu and Kashmir.
When we spoke to the Commissioner for Persons with Disability, Iqbal Lone, he informed, that a recent survey carried out by the education department under Samgra shiksha revealed that there are around 30 thousand children under age group 0 to 18 with different disabilities. “Human resource is a problem as there are no trained teachers recognized by The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) in Jammu and Kashmir. There are gaps when it comes to professional therapists and special educators. But we are hopeful and trying hard to address these issues,” he added.
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