Parvathy Viswanath who founded AIKYA in the year 1990 has run it successfully over the years, continuously striving to give the best to the children who are entrusted in her care and train the parents to adapt and bring out the potential of their children.
AIKYA was started as a recreation center to integrate mentally challenged children into main stream academics. Due to popular demand, it grew into a full time organization where children attend regular classes. Parvathy and her staff are knowledgeable in their chosen area and have devised a lot of therapies and intervention programs for the benefit of special children.
AIKYA offers different programs for different age groups. 0-6 years is the early intervention program. Here parents are counseled and helped to identify early symptoms including infants and babies not having proper milestone development. They have trained more than 1000 babies in this age group.
The next stage is the school going age 4 – 16 years. Here a lot of activities are planned for the children to keep them occupied right through the day. Speech therapy is part of the curriculum. Some children who are capable are integrated gradually into the mainstream and apart from that some are sent to appear for national level examinations. A lot of importance is given to physical activities – sports like volleyball, yoga and dance. There are a few children who come only for certain therapies or for weekend sessions. There are others over the age of 16 and they are given vocational training and also placed in certain companies where the employers are willing to give them a chance.
Parvathy added “When we raise our expectations on our children, they do better. There is so much more that can be done for these ‘special’ people. From our learning and experience we have identified around 100 skills that can be imparted to them so that we increase their employment opportunities. We are looking out to expand our infrastructure so that we can accommodate more people and also set up group homes as a permanent arrangement. We always encourage parents of our children to start support groups so that they learn and benefit from each other.”
“Our children are very affectionate by nature and also very systematic. Society has to be understanding and patient with them so that they are able to lead better lives and also live up to whatever potential they have.”
AIKYA has indeed made a mark for service as there are a lot of people from the nearby slums who send their special children here for getting systematic training. They have not only grown to help more children but also with their scientific and systematic approach to therapy, have been playing a significant role in the lives of these children who come to them and their families. It is indeed the AIKYAs of the world that give us the assurance that the steely will and determination of human beings can produce wonders for the society. Chennai Chimes salute the humanness and the spirit of their intention and applaud their action.
Phone +91 44 2461 2668, 94449 60643
E mail info@aikya.org
Website http://www.aikya.org
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