Trust for Rural Uplift and Education (TRUE)
Vadakkankulam – Tirunelveli District
Report on Home for the Mentally Retarded Children
(Home for Hope)
Genesis
The mild and moderate types of differently able children can be improved by
providing proper training, education and therapy. Either the mother or the relatives of
these differently able children find it very difficult to care these children and take these
children to the hospitals or the private therapy center, for want of adequate transport
facility and poverty. Therapy center is more useful and essential and if they are trained
regularly, tremendous improvement will occur. The differently able children can develop
in hand function, concept, social and communication skills, writing skills, toilet control
and functional abilities only by therapy.
Hence, we have started a home namely “Home for Hope” for the mentally retarded
children (MR) with the intension of providing proper care and support, social respect and
recognition in the community and mainstream line them. The home is functioning at
Deverkulam in Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu, India. There are 40 mild and moderate
types of MR children are staying in the home.
AIM
Ensure an enabling safe environment, education, special learning practice, care
taking services and motivated to acquire skills, equal participation and inclusive lead to
the mentally retarded children with mild and moderate towards their self respect and
social recognition.
OBJECTIVES:

Providing proper shelter, special care and support to MR children with
50-60 % disability who are all not able to go to schools.

To provide need based residential training to them by House mother in
charge and special teachers.

Enhancing the capacity of these children to develop and to fulfill their
day today needs.

To make known the parents, on the need of special training, education
and attention to their children in providing proper care and support.

To create a safe and suitable environment to lead a quality life.

To promote health and hygienic practices among these children

To eradicate the defects of children with behaviors problems

To reduce the burden of the family

To impart belief and mental strength to the parents regarding their
children

To develop the skills and knowledge of the disable person for equal
opportunity and full participation in the society

To provide medical and nutritious support to improve and maintain
their health status

To develop and expose their hidden talents.

Motivate to assert their rights.

Ensure recognition and respect in the community.
Daily Programme for the children in the Home
Timing
Events
6 am – 8.30 am
Rising up
Brushing / Bathing / prayer
8.30 am – 9am
Break fast
9 am – 12 pm
Special education / training
12 pm – 12.40 pm
lunch
12.40 pm - 1.40 pm
Break
1.40 pm - 3.30 pm
Co curricular activities
3.30 pm - 3.45 pm
Tea
3.45 pm – 4.45 pm
Rhymes
4.45 pm – 6 pm
Games
6.30 pm – 8pm
Watching television
8 pm - 8.30 pm
Dinner
8.45 pm – 9 pm
Prayer / Sleeping
Activities
1. Activities for Daily Living (Day to day Practices)
The children are educated and motivated to fulfill their activities for daily livings.
Special Education is provided to these children to practice on the usage of toilet, how to
brush and clean their teeth, Bathing, Dressing, combing and Eating. They are also
educated to keep themselves very clean and neat.
2. Education and Skill practices
The children are reviewed and assessed on the basis of their birth, health condition,
mental health and families’ situation. According to their abilities and skills, individual
lesson plans for education is prepared for each child and provided needed education and
skills. The condition of the child in the beginning stage, education and skills provided to
them and the changes occurred in their lives are properly maintained in a separate record
for each child.
i). Communication:
The children are educated to tell their names, their parents’ names, their sister’s
and brother’s name and the names of the other children in their groups. Secondly,
they are educated to tell the names of the objects in the class rooms. They are also
educated to pronounce a word properly.
ii). Reading
The children are provided with ABC card and different kind of pictures in order to
identify and name them properly. The children are given practices to match the pictures
with the ABC cards. Identification of the letters and reading them with the correct
pronunciations is the main focus in the Reading skills.
iii). Writing
The children are given practices to find out a letter and write them correctly. They
are given practices to write their names, their parents’ name, and their addresses, names of
the places and what others say in the class room.
iv). Concept
The children are educated to identify the numerals, to tell orally to write, and to set
up them in correct order. They are also taught the value of the numbers and to count them
in a correct manner. They are also educated to identify the colours, shapes, money and
traffic signals. The active children are taught simple addition. .
In order to teach them more effectively, Teaching and learning materials were provided.
Each child is reviewed and assessed once in three months about their progress and precede
them with the next skills.
3. Vocational Training
We encourage the children who have completed their 8th standard and unable to
continue their further education due to lack of access and poverty. These children are
given training on basket making, toys making with match sticks and etc.
4. Care and Support services
i) . Provision of Food and snacks
The children were provided with food and snacks. The food is being prepared with
utmost care and hygiene. We prepare and provide daily food to the children as per the
chart given below.
Day
Break fast
Lunch
Dinner
Monday
Idly with dall
Rice with Egg
Idly with Chutney
Tuesday
Pongal Rice
Rice with Carrot
Rice with Peper water
and vegetable side dish
Wednesday
Chapatti with gravy Rice with egg
Idly with chutney
Thursday
Idly with dall
Rice with Peper water
Rice with Beetroot
and vegetable side dish
Friday
Rava
Dall rice
Idly with chutney
Saturday
Dosai with chutney
Rice with egg
Rice with Peper water and
vegetable side dish
Sunday
Chapatti with gravy Vegetable priyani
Idly with chutney
with curd and onion
ii). Medical Support
The medical check up is done by the qualified medical practitioner once in three
months. The children were examined and treated with medicine to maintain good physical
strengths. Therapy practices are given daily. These pave way the children to be healthy
and follow hygienic practices. These children are also linked with the Government for
getting benefits like national ID card, aids and appliances, monthly grant and etc.
iii). Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and meditation practices daily an hour is given to the children in order to
keep them very active and healthy.
iv). Games
The children are trained to play different games in every evening. Physical
exercises, indoor games and outdoor games are encouraged to them. They were also
provided with swings and sea-saw for their entertainment and refreshment. This paves
way for their healthy attitude.
v).Extra curricular activities
In addition, once in a week the children are motivated to bring out their hidden
talents on drawing, painting, singing, dancing, and reciting stories and games. This makes
them so happy and enjoyable.
vi). Provision of cloth and uniform
The children were provided with clothing and uniform once in three months.
Documentation
The following documents are maintained in the Home.

Admission register

Attendance registers

Parents acceptance register

Activity register,

IEP of each child,

Medical check up records,

Health and hygienic records

Improvements register etc.
Impact
-
Ensured a safe and enabled atmosphere
-
The children show improvement to the certain extent in the daily
activities such as eating, dressing, toileting and keeping themselves clean
and neat.
-
Reduction of barrier, stigma discrimination and denial among the family
and the community.
-
Increase of Behavioral and attitudinal changes to the certain extent
-
Involvement and participation have increased in the group activities by
mingling with others easily
-
Enhanced their abilities and skills at different levels such as in reading,
writing and etc
-
The health status of the children is maintained and improved
-
Parents of these children feel so happy and joy.
Conclusion
This “Home of Hope” is certainly a great blessing to the abandon and hopeless
children of the Mentally Retarded. We strongly believe that our efforts, timely support and
helping hand would create a very good impact and it would be a great blessing and fruitful
for the betterment and quality life of the children in the home.
Detailed Budget for the Home
S.No
1
Activities
Education Materials
Needed Amount in
Dollars
100
(Note, Slate, Pen, Pencil & eraser)
2
Eatable Materials
50
( Plate & Tumbler)
3
Play Materials
100
(Balls & Skipping)
4
Training Materials
100
( Charts, Markers ,Boards etc)
5
Mat, Bed sheet & Pillow
180
6
Uniform
200
7
Colour Dress
400
( 2 sets of dress)
8
Medical support
500
9
Play park equipments
800
(swing, slide, seesaw& climber)
10
Nutrition Package
900
11
Honorarium for the Occupational therapist
960
Total
4290
Why do we need Occupational Therapist & Play park Equipments
Occupational Therapist:
Most of the differently able children have problems and they need therapy daily.
The mother of the differently able children cannot take their children regularly to the
towns, where the facilities available because of inadequate transport facility and poverty.
While assessing them we find more disable children can improve and live independent
while giving therapy like physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
The parents are also realizing the importance of therapy but due to poverty they are unable
to do this. Also, due to the problem of transport facilities the parents are unable to take
their children to the center, which is available only in urban areas. So it is not possible to
the parents to go to the center daily with their disable child.
In most of the villages the disable children have problem in reflex development,
sensory & motor, hand function, gait pattern, memory skills, speech, ADL skills,
behavior, toilet control and functional abilities.
These problems can be minimized and development will occur only by giving
therapy daily. Hence a qualified therapist is the most urgent needful one in the Home.
Play Park:
Play as diversion was an integral part of therapy to the differently able children.
The DAC has some barriers to play along with the normal children. If the play park can be
created with barrier free the children in the home can play and get functional pleasure.
The play park in the home will be equipped with all materials and easy accessible to these
children All type of play can be install in it, example (swing, slide, seesaw, balance beam,
& climber. This play park can suppress or inhibit the primitive, abnormal tonic reflexes
and facilitate higher integrated righting and equilibrium reactions of cerebral palsy. The
ADHD (Attention deficit and hyper active disorder), Autism, Erb`s palsy, Polio, CTEV
and multiple disability (MD) children also improved in their mind and body and feel
happy and gains self-confidence and self-reliance.