Arivu, early intervention centre for special kids to open on May 13

Arivu, an early intervention centre for special children, will be inaugurated in Shaktingar on May 13.

An offering of Arivu Trust, an NGO, it is the result of the first-hand experience of its founders in raising their son diagnosed with downs syndrome.

Addressing reporters on Wednesday here, the trust founders Poornima R Bhat and Dr Radhakrishna Bhat said the centre aims at helping the parents in raising their children diagnosed with autism and Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD) through behaviour therapy and counselling, speech and occupational therapy and counselling.

 Dr Santhosh T Soans, HoD, Paediatrics, AJ Hospital, will inaugurate the centre at 4 pm on May 13. Maria Jyothi A C, founder principal of St Agnes Special School, will be the chief guest. Executive director-strategy, the Association of People With Disability, V S Basavaraju and corporator Akhila Alva will be the guests of honour.

The centre was started informally a year ago and has 32 children, with majority of them diagnosed with autism and ADHD. The centre is bearing the expenditure that includes salary for four staff with generous donations from philanthropists.

Parents too

Poornima underlined that apart from the kids, the focus is on their parents who will be taught on methods to handle their wards. Poornima recalled the ordeals she faced at the early stage of raising her toddler son (now 26-year-old but has a stunted intellectual growth of a four-year-old). The family moved to USA in 2001 and that was when Poornima thought of acquiring skills to deal with her son.

She did her MS in rehabilitation and counselling from Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA. Soon after completing her MS, she worked in the field of rehabilitation and counselling in USA for 12 years. The family returned to India in 2012 and thought of doing their bit to parents of  specially-abled and established Arivu Trust. Poornima is the administrator cum counsellor while her husband is the treasurer and secretary.

Dr K Sundara Bhat, retired HoD, general medicine, Father Mullers Medical College is the president of the trust.