College students to be trained to identify kids with spl needs

[Kalyan]

College students to be trained to identify kids with spl needs


Chennai: College students are now being chosen to spread awareness on learning difficulties among children. 700 NCC cadets from city colleges will take part in a twoday workshop as part of their combined annual training camp from June 5 to 15.

    "We adopt a theme every year and we thought we would take up child rehabilitation this year to help students in early identification of children with special needs. On the first day, 600 girls and 100 boys will be listening to talks on the topic.

We'll also invite 150 parents and college teachers the second day so that we can reach out to them as well," said NCC Girl Cadets Instructor M Geetha, who is associated with the project.

    According to Resori Sharmila, occupational therapist, Child Rehab and Therapy Clinic, Mogappair, whose team will participate in the event, the emphasise will be on early intervention.

"We'll bring psychiatrists and paediatricians to speak to students. If students are trained to recognise early symptoms of learning difficulties in children, they can bring it to the notice of specialists.

The symptoms include mirroring of images while writing, omission of words. Parents are also being involved because a lot of them fail to recognise that this is a neurological problem and dismiss the child as dullhead," she said.