AFVOA Newletters of Year 2005

Page 25 of 75 scope of their work sunk in, one couldn't but wonder what selfless service to humanity it is! ! May the Lord keep them going strong for many more years! 18. The Maduram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children was presented the National award of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India on 03 rd December 2004 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The award was given in public recognition of its outstanding performance in the field of Welfare of persons with Disabilities. AVM (Retd) V Krishnaswamy, VSM, received the award on behalf of the Institution. 19. The next item on the agenda was dinner by Narendra Maharaj and as usual the delicacies were tempting and all had a sumptuous treat and everyone went home happy not only with the evening that was well spent but also the very ambient locale that we'd spent it in! Presentation on “Service in the Cause of Disability” 20. The Presentation was made by Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy (Retd.) and Mrs. Jaya Krishnaswamy 21. “Mental Retardation is the worst of human handicaps. About 1 % of the population, i.e. about 10 million persons in our country are afflicted by this. Early Intervention facilitates bringing out the potential of the children with this disability. Intervention has to be as early as possible to be most effective, as nearly 70% of the development of the child’s brain takes place by the age of four. Awareness about the disability and the need for, and importance of, early intervention needs to be spread among the public so that children with such disability get the benefit of early intervention, get ready for further training and education and the burden on the entire family with a disability child is considerably reduced”. 22. This is the message conveyed by Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy and Mrs. Jaya Krishnaswamy in their presentation to the AFVOA meeting on 20 March 2005. , They are running Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children, an institution for early intervention for children with mental retardation. 23. The presentation began with the screening of a documentary on the Centre showing the genesis and the activities at the Centre. Sponsored by a leading corporate group and established in 1989, the Centre was a sequel to the indigenous development of an Early Intervention programme by its parent organization, an R&D society of the group, with an interdisciplinary team of experts on a voluntary basis. This was done to meet a felt need for a programme suitable to the socio economic conditions and cultural milieu of the country. Empowerment of the parents is the basis of this programme. 24. Over 3000 children have been provided services at the Centre so far. The institution has been disseminating the programme, giving orientation training to teachers from other special schools and persuading and assisting technically organizations in the country to set up such schools. 25. Responding to queries from the audience, Mrs. Krishnaswamy clarified the following: 26. The importance of early intervention. She explained how the brain responds to early intervention. The brain is endowed with trillions of nerve cells called neurons. Each neuron has a protective sheath called myelin. The formation of the myelin called myelinisation begins even in the womb. The neurons are interconnected in millions of pathways constituting a neural network. It is these neural pathways that get stimulated with early intervention. There are many redundant pathways which, when stimulated, take over the functions of the damaged pathways. Intervention should be as early as possible. Some conditions could be detected at birth itself and early intervention should commence soon after.