Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped Children (RCSC)-PRAYAAS is a project of Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW), U.T. Branch, Chandigarh, is working since 1985. This Centre offers services to children suffering from Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Neurological Developmental Disorder, Hearing & Speech Impairment, Mental Retardation, and Psychological Counseling to the parents/guardians. It also provides education services to slow learner and children with hearing impairment to teach them basic recognition of Alphabet and numbers. Speech Therapists work on these children to improve their communicative skills. Clinical Psychologist assesses their intelligence and counseling for behavior disturbance. Occupational Therapist trained the children in their daily living and improves function balance and walking skills of children with handicap.

All these services are provided free of cost to the patients under one roof from one building which spares the patients from hassles of moving from one hospital to another. Once the children are able to walk, talk and take care of their toilet needs they are guided to get admission into main stream schools. Prayaas has a preparatory school for Special Children with 33 children. Special Educators take care of the educational needs of children with cerebral palsy, hearing and communication problems. Medical Social Worker helps the parents in processing disability certificates, helps in camps for disabled persons and helps spread awareness about the benefits of early diagnosis and treatment of children with disabilities. Prayaas is also serving a Training Centre for several Institutions in the region. Till date RCSC-Prayaas has registered/enrolled 21244 children for their rehabilitation treatment in different departments of Prayaas.

The Following services are available to disabled children;
A total number of 587 new patients were registered for the period from 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013. They were administered therapy sessions in different departments as given below.

Department

Nos. of sessions

Physiotherapy

3101

Occupational Therapy

2392

Speech & Audiology Therapy

2708

Elementary Teaching

1087

Total no. of beneficiaries

10636

Events & Functions of RCSC-Prayaas in 2012-13

Workshop

A workshop was held for the parents of special children on 24.03.2012 at Prayaas on the topic of ‘Management of Mentally Challenged Children at Home’. The speaker was Sh. Arvinder Paul Singh, Vice Principal of the Special Needs School of London, U.K. and second workshop was held on 27.03.2012 for the nursery teachers/counselors of primary schools of Chandigarh, both Govt. & private, on the topic of ‘Autism and Learning Disorder’. The speakers for the second workshop were Dr. (Mrs.) Praveen Suman, Sr. Counsultant, Development Pediatric, Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, Dr. (Mrs.) Pratibha Singhi & Dr. (Mrs.) Prabhjot Malli from the PGIMER Chandigarh. Both the workshops were successful for the purpose, these were organized. Both the workshops were attended by 65-70 teachers.

Camps for Medical Awareness & Early Identification of Disabled Children

Medical Awareness & Identification of Disabled Children Camps were organized in Village Dhanas, Sector 25 Colony & Ramdarbar, Phase-II & Palsora, Sector 56 Chandigarh in the months of March, April & May 2012.

The mother’s day

was celebrated in Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped Children (PRAYAAS), Sector 38-B, Chandigarh on 15-05-2012. The Director Social Welfare UT Chandigarh was the Chief Guest on this occasion. Chief Guest, Honorary Director and Administrative Officer Prayaas distributed gifts to the mothers of special children & eatables to the special children. The children performed cultural activities like dance and songs. All the children and staff members enjoyed the Mother’s Day’. Mothers were encouraged and appreciated for looking after the special children.

Independence Day Celebration

India’s Independence Day was celebrated on 14.08.2012 at RCSC-Prayaas with the Special children of Prayaas Preparatory School and OPD children. Children perform cultural activities on the occasion like dance, song, music. Honorary Director & Administrative Officer RCSC distributed sweets & eatables to the children. All children enjoyed the function.

Symposium of Learning Disabilities

Rehabilitation Centre for Handicapped Children-Prayaas (A project of Indian Council for Child Welfare, UT Chandigarh) organized a symposium on Early Identification, Assessment and Intervention of children with Learning Disabilities on 20.09.2012 at Law Bhawan Sector 37A, Chandigarh. Learning Disability affects 6-8% of school going children in the age group of 6 years up to 16 years. On this occasion, Sh. K.K. Sharma, IAS, Advisor to the Administrator-cum-President ICCW was the Chief Guest. The basic motive of the symposium was to identify the learning disabled children at the initial stage at school level. In the symposium Sh. Anil Kumar, Home Secretary-cum-Vice President ICCW and Sh. Rajesh Jogpal, Director Social Welfare-cum-Hony. Secretary, ICCW were also present. The speakers of the symposium were Dr. (Mrs.) Pratibha Singhi, Chief Pediatric Neurology and Neurodevelopment, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr. Neeradha Chandramohan, Director, N.I.E.P.M.D., Chennai, Dr. Himangshu Das, Senior Consultant, National Centre for Disability Studies – IGNOU and Hony. President, Society for Advance Study in Rehabilitation, New Delhi and Dr. Priti Arun, Professor in Dept of Psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, Chandigarh. The symposium was attended by the more than 475 teachers/counselors of the Govt. & Private schools, crèche teachers and Anganwadi workers.

Youth United Program

A program was organized by Youth United in Tagore Theatre, Sector 18 Chandigarh in April 2013. Prayaas Preparatory School children participated in group dance & music

Chesire Home Program

A program was organized on in the month of April 2013 at Bal Bhawan, Sector 23 Chandigarh. Special Children of RCSC-Prayaas performed the different activities like Group Dance, Solo Dance, Music & Singing

Mother Day Celebration

A programme to celebrate the mother’s day was organised on 13 May 2013 at RCSC-Prayaas, Sector 38-B, Chandigarh. Special Children of Prayaas performed different cultural activities. Hony. Director, RCSC-Prayaas distributed the sweets, gifts to the mothers of special children and special kids.

Exhibition at Prayaas Preparatory School

An exhibition of Art & Craft was organized by the special children of Prayaas Preparatory School with the help of their teachers to show their talent of art & craft in making of file folders, color envelops, paper bags and decorative pots.

Distribution of Aids and Appliances

Distribution of C.P. Chair

A program was organized on 2 August 2013 in RCSC-Prayaas, Sector 38-B, Chandigarh to distribute the C.P. Chairs to the needy and BPL patients. Dr. R.K. Gupta, Hony. Director, Sh. Surender Singh, O.S. ICCW, Sh. Jai Bhagwan, ADO-Prayaas and other staff members of Prayaas were present on the occasion. Dr Gupta distributed 20 numbers Cerebral Palsy Chairs to the needy patients. Sweets and eatables were also distributed to the special children of Prayaas Preparatory School and OPD children of RCSC. And according to needs of the patients 20 more CP chairs were also given a total number of 40 CP Chairs and this is a regular practice to distribute aids and appliances.

Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) & Knee Ankle Foot Orthosis (KAFO)

53 numbers AFO/KAFO were given to the poor and needy children whose treatment is being given in Prayaas. The parents of these children thanks to the Honorary Director of RCSC-Prayaas. These special aids are very beneficial in the treatment of these children.

Hearing Aids

Ten number hearing aids were given to the needy and poor patients including Janki Kumari d/o Sh. Sunil Kumar Sha (CR No. 21162) and Arun S/o Sh. Ramesh Kumar (CR no. 2114) etc. These hearing aids will help in achieving their hearing & speech.

Independence Day Celebration

A program to celebrate the Independence Day on 15 August 2013 was organized in the Bal Bhawan, Sector 23-B, Chandigarh. Special Children from Prayaas Preparatory School and OPD were participated in the function and showed their talent in various fields.

Children Day Celebration

A cultural program was organized on the occasion of Children Day on 14 November 2013 in the Bal Bhawan, Sector 23-B, Chandigarh. Special Children from Prayaas Preparatory School and OPD were participated in the function