Download On 27th Day in the month of December 2014 10th National

On 27th Day in the month of December 2014 10th National Symposium was organized
by Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research on the topic “Cerbral
Palsy: A Developmental Disability- Its Treatment and Rehabilitation” at Tecnia
Auditorium.
Hence the main goal of this one day national symposium is designed solely to
understand the concept of developmental disabilities specifically cerebral palsy and to
discern its treatment and rehabilitation procedures.
The symposium will provide an appropriate platform to all Academicians, Intellectuals,
and Researcher and, Scientists for capturing & sharing expertise on the concept of
developmental disabilities specifically cerebral palsy along with its treatment and
rehabilitation procedures. They will also have a discussion on taking preventive
measures to treat and rehabilitate the children with Cerebral Palsy. Apart from this there
will be focus on the educational services available for persons with Cerebral Palsy.
Through this symposium we will also highlight the ways to prepare children with
Cerebral Palsy for employment and vocational training. There will be a discussion on
advance technology i.e. Rehabilitation Engineering (RE) useful for children with
Cerebral Palsy.
The 10th National Symposium was inaugurated by hon’ble Mr. Ram Kailash Gupta,
Chairman, Tecnia Group of Institutions along with hon’ble chief guest Dr Manoj Sharma
from Jaipur Golden Hospital, and guest of honor Dr J C,Gupta , Dr Anil Kansal, and
respected Dr. Anmol Arora, Director Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences &
Research.
The lamp lightening ceremony and saraswati vandana was done before starting the
technical session.
More than 200 participant comprising delegates, special educators, professionals, and
expert from the field of academia attended the Symposium.
Mr. Amjad Hussain, Head, Deptt. of Hearing Impairment, Ashtavakra Institute of
Rehabilitation Sciences & Research welcomed all participants and provided an
overview of the Symposium. He then welcomed Dr. Anmol Arora, Director Ashtavakra
Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research to the podium to deliver the opening
remarks.
The event started with an opening speech by Dr Anmol Arora, the director of
Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research, where he talked about the
vision, strengths and achievements of the institute.
Dr. Manoj Sharma, MD, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi, focused on tuning the system for
inclusive education. For this to happen he emphasized on guiding parents for their
support to make inclusion successful. He opened his lecture by saying that as we are
moving towards the era of inclusion, it is very importance to make people aware about
disabilities. He then went ahead saying that cerebral palsy is a group of disability which
affects the brain and nervous system. In this condition brain is poorly developed and the
patient is at a high risk of developing problems like hydrocephalus i.e. excessive
accumulation of fluid in brain, and many more. Postures of the person like sitting,
standing, and ability to walk are prominently affected. He then discussed about the
treatment of cerebral palsy which included Botox, Shunt, Stem cells Therapy and
Dyclonine. He concluded his presentation by emphasizing on the participation of
parents and caretakers to make inclusive education a success.
Dr. Rachna Bhardwaj, Asha Kiran, Sector-1, Rohini, Delhi, talked about services being
provided at Asha Kiran Center at Rohini Delhi and she expressed the need to
rehabilitate children with all types of disability at earlier stage. She mainly focused on
the mental and emotional state of a person who is suffering from cerebral palsy and
what the families and the caretakers feel and experience. It is not easy to fit into the
shoe of these people. She emphasized on the importance to making people aware
about the disabilities and in a way change the attitude of the society towards the
differently able people who are, till date, considered unwanted or as pest. In the end,
she talked about the role of families and care takers because they are greatly
responsible for the success or failure of the medications and therapies.
Dr. J.C.Gupta, Controller Examination, RCI and Ex. Asst. Director of AYJNIHH-NRC,
Delhi exhorted all delegates to be focused on inclusion. He urged rehab professionals to
come forward to make inclusion successful with their collaborative efforts. He started by
explaining that cerebral palsy is basically a problem in coordination with muscles and
moved further discussing about the important role which society plays in the
rehabilitation of the patients. He then gave us the medical and social model of this
developmental disability. The medical model perceives cerebral palsy as a non
progressive condition but the society, which lacks awareness about cerebral palsy and
its rehabilitation, can be a great support in restoring the health and self confidence of
the patient. Dr. J.C.Gupta emphasized on the right to education of these children who
deserve equal opportunity to study in a normal school and lead a normal life. He further
talked about the role of parents which is great in terms of the support the child gets from
his/her family. He concluded his lecture with a note for the parents for play the major
role in terms of providing the emotional support to the child and giving the child an
environment where he can learn and restore his confidence.
Dr Anil Sharma, from Fortis Hospital, discussed about the management and prevention
of people with cerebral palsy and also talked about the disabilities associated with it. He
went ahead talking about the disabilities associated with cerebral palsy which are
Mental Retardation, Epilepsy, Speech Disorder, Vision and Hearing, Learning
disabilities, Behavior abnormalities and many more. He also discussed about the
treatment of cerebral palsy which included physiotherapy, orthopedic, medication,
psychiatric treatment, speech and occupational therapy. He focused more on the fact
that improper management is the most common problem in cerebral palsy and went
ahead saying that proper guidance of the parents plays the most important role in
treating this developmental disability. Boys are slightly at a higher risk of cerebral palsy.
He concluded his session saying that awareness about developmental disabilities and
health education should be imparted to each section of society in order to make
everyone aware and considerate about the problem and take steps towards the
prevention.
Hon’ble Mr. Ram Kailash Gupta overwhelmed delegates with his remarkable speech.
He shared his views on his initiatives in the field of special education. He also talked
about importance of inclusion in this new era. He urged delegates to be with the
philosophical approach of inclusion in their endeavors in the field of special education.
Lastly he thanked Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research to
organize 10th National Symposium on the topic of utmost importance. He showed the
keen interest inherent in his heart for serving children with special needs. He thanked all
the organizing committee to hold this 10th National Symposium on such an innovative
concept which matches with the philosophical and global approach used round the
world now. His Encouraging words and introductory remarks laid the informative
foundation for the Delegates.
The Symposium opened with plenary session on cerebral palsy: a developmental
disability- its treatment and rehabilitation
Dr. Kansal and Dr. Sindhu discussed on the concept of cerebral Palsy along with its
types, characteristics and educational implication and management.
They also discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in
innovative teaching practices for children with Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Sindhu started by
defining cerebral palsy as a persistent but non unchanging disorder of movements, tone
and posture which effects the motor skills, cognitive ability, muscle coordination, bend
posture and causes overall instability. It is commonly associated with a spectrum of
developmental disability like mental retardation, epilepsy. He next talked about the
classification of cerebral palsy and also discussed about the etiological factors of this
condition. Cerebral palsy is classified into Topographic and Physiology and etiologically
into prenatal, perinatal and postnatal. Further, he discussed about the early markers of
cerebral palsy which included slow head growth; poor head control; rolling eyes; poor
hand regard; lack of auditory respond; inability to sleep properly and floppy posture. Dr.
Sindhu also highlighted the importance of early diagnosis as cerebral palsy cannot be
cured but improved with medication and therapies, he explained. He then talked about
all the assessments of cerebral palsy and that included assessment of cognition and
behavior; assessment of vision and hearing; assessment of speech and language;
assessment of feeding and nutrition. Dr. Sindhu concluded his lecture with a note to all
the members of the rehabilitative groups which includes pediatricians, therapists,
psychologists and special educators about the importance of early intervention, right
diagnosis and rehabilitation.
The presentation and discussion in the session by Mr. Amit Kumar, Head Department of
Cerebral palsy brought out various facts, figures, and practices in the inclusive
classrooms. It touched upon the concept of Cerebral palsy along with its types,
characteristics and educational implication and management. He, first defined cerebral
palsy as developmental disability and it may occur through anoxia i.e. lack of oxygen
during birth and is a result of brain damage in the first few months. He then discussed
about the causes of cerebral palsy that was further classified into prenatal, natal and
postnatal causes and preventive measures that could be taken at every stage. A few
main causes about which he emphasized more were injury during the first trimester of
pregnancy, mother exposed to harmful drugs or medication, improper health and
medical care, consumption of alcoholic beverages, labor pain for long duration,
jaundice, child weight below 2.5kg. Mr. Amit Kumar then discussed about the
complications associated with cerebral palsy which are weakness, clonuses, seizure,
hip dislocation, urinary tract infection and many more. He concluded his session saying
that cerebral palsy can’t be cured nut various treatments and therapies will often
improve a child’s capability. Treatments and therapies of cerebral palsy can be
performed by Pediatricians, surgeons, occupational therapist, speech therapist,
physiotherapist, clinical psychologist and special educator. Other treatment aids include
prosthetic devices like walkers, wheelchairs, rolling walkers and so on.
There was an informative, lecture on Autism Spectrum Disorder given by Madhu Bala
Head of the Department of ASD. She explained the causes, prevention and
management for children with ASD. She produced very heart touching experiences of
the lives of children with the same disability. She began by describing ASD as a genetic
disorder and discussed the functional limitations of ASD patients like communication,
self care, home living, social skills, leisure, community use and health and safety. In
most cases, ASD patients are unable to relate with others and have delayed
communication skills. They are highly sensitive to sensory inputs like noise level and
touch and may react indifferently or with emotional outburst. They, usually have difficulty
dealing with changes. Ms. Madhu referred ASD as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder
because as and when the symptoms spread it may cause communication impairment.
Just like cerebral palsy, ASD also have disabilities associated with it. Some of them are
mental retardation, motor skill disorder, learning disability, tick disorder and
communicative disorder. Ms. Madhu then specified that ASD is different from Autism
and autism being a part of ASD. She also mentioned that ASD can occur with anyone
irrespective of their racial, ethnic or socioeconomic status and Autism is four times more
likely to occur in boys than girls. She also mentioned that the physical milestones in
ASD patients are not delayed and at the same time she pointed out the importance of
diagnosis which included clinical and educational diagnosis. Next, she talked about the
causes of ASD and stated that the causes of autism are not known but genetic
influences are likely the most important risk factor. She then discussed about what the
interventionists need to know and that included, firstly, how the characteristics of
individuals with autism effect daily performance and secondly, evidence based practices
for instructing students with autism. Ms. Madhu also greatly focused on the strengths of
students with autism and that are, good knowledge of facts; good long term memory,
one the information is processed, it always stays in their minds; musical and special
talents; visual thinking. She then talked about the development of the pre-linguistic
skills, imitation skills and communication skills which might makes things easier for the
patients and the caretakers too. Ms. Madhu further discussed about the social
characteristics of ASD patients. Some of them include a lack of spontaneity; decreased
ability to recognize a speaker’s intent; decreased ability to reciprocate during
conversation; difficulty with time; higher interest in objects than people; inability to
understand social studies; poor empathy; bluntly honest; withdrawal tendency; difficulty
in making friends; restrictive and stereotypic behavior, interests and activities. In the
end, she concluded her lecture by giving some general teaching tips to the audience
which included use visual support; reduce distraction from physical environment; use
errorless learning; use age appropriate material; reward system; label feelings and
object.
The plenary session was concluded by Mr. J.C.Gupta, Chairperson of the technical
session and he thanked all the speakers on focusing and highlighting the topics of
utmost importance in context with Cerebral Palsy.
Mr. Dhirendra Kumar Tripathi, Co-Chairperson of the technical session, discussed as to
how creating a responsive learning environment and the ways to modify teaching
learning materials keeping in view the various needs of children with Disability. Apart
from this he suggested for adaptive furniture, text adaptation and also the classroom
arrangement in an adapted form to be used for these children with special needs.
Lastly Mrs. Sanjana Mittal extended a very hearty vote of thanks to all speakers for
gracing their important work and sharing their findings and opinions in the Symposium.
She also thanked Dr. Anmol Arora, Director Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation
Sciences & Research for the support and guidance he has extended at this 10th
National Symposium.
Lastly she thanked Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Tripathi, Mr. R.K. Srivastava, Ms. Madhu
Aloria, Ms. Anupama Gupta, Mr. Naresh, Ms. Monika, Mr. Haseeb and all the staff
member of Ashtavakra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences & Research and auditorium
for their support and enormous cooperation in the organization of this event.
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