Prayatna helping special need children deal with the lockdown

KOCHI: Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have created widespread concern, fear and apprehension in everyone. People have been staying home for a month now, which is adding to their stress. But the situation is affecting differently-abled children with special needs (developmental delays, ADHD and Autism) a lot worse. Rohit (name changed), a five-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism, has been receiving occupational therapy, speech therapy, behaviour therapy and special education services at Prayatna Centre for Child Development, Kochi. His routine was disrupted due to the lockdown and he is being forced to sit at home.

Soon, his parents noticed hyperactivity and behavioural issues. He would throw tantrums and they did not know how to deal with it. “It was a challenge for his parents to help him cope with the routine of staying at  home without getting bored or frustrated,” said Namita Panekat, a senior occupational therapist.

Since many more parents started facing similar situations, Prayatna decided to reach out to them through telerehabilitation or online therapy. “During these lockdown days, kids, especially those living in apartments, have no access to the outdoors, which leaves them frustrated if they don’t have any activity to keep them engaged,” said Minna Mathew, a clinical psychologist. Through online sessions, we assign them indoor motor imitation activities, movement-related exercise and above all, we try to teach them to adapt to the current lockdown situation, she added. 

Apart from kids, Prayatna also focuses on parental training sessions online and over the phone. The outcome of the online session depends equally on the therapist and the parents’ input. “Our focus is on both parents and children to make it a quality day. The parents who actively follow the sessions have seen a positive change in their children,” said Minna.  

Online sessions like these have helped many parents to consult their child’s therapists and receive guidance to create a routine for them at home. “During the therapy session, Rohit had developed a few skills, but he didn’t know how to deploy the skills in a natural environment like his home. The online sessions helped him with this,” said Namitha. 

The feedback on online sessions state that 80 per cent of the parents noticed an improvement in the overall behaviour of their children, as all the family members were spending quality time with them. This has also helped in improving the level of interaction in the kids, she said. While talking about the physiotherapy treatment, which is a one-on-one session based on ‘touch’, Mayuri Chaudhari, an NDTA-certified physiotherapist, said, “When the thought of online physiotherapy treatment came up, I was not sure how it would be possible because it is more of a hands-on manual therapy. But left with no other options to keep a check on the kids, I thought of giving it a try. Reviewing them once or twice a week, I found positive results in a few kids,” she added. However, parents cannot always be a substitute for a therapist. But surely, this lockdown period has proved that parents are the first and most important therapists for special kids.