Children with special needs being left behind during Coronavirus

A lot of kids with disabilities find comfort in routine, when that routine gets disrupted, their anxiety goes up and tend to behave differently.

The pandemic disrupted the lives of children across the board, but it caused immense stress for those with disabilities, especially the hearing and speech impaired and children with Autism and other sensory processing disorders.

Dr Garima Vegivada, Clinical Director- Speech Language Pathology,Hear 'N' Say Clinic, Secunderabad, "Parents and child experts alike are definitely worried about their emotional state in these intense times, compounding the concern is the impact of lack of in-person instruction on children with special needs in the long run. These Special Children have unique needs and deserve greater personal attention, continuous engagement and more consistent care."

Extraordinary situations like the current one leading to closure of schools and non-emergency therapies, result in loss of skills the special kids assiduously acquired over a period of time. Lack of daily therapies in such children actually lead to overall backsliding. Since these kids need full-time care and they not going back to their routine at the earliest impacts the family's social and financial fortunes, with several being working parents busy with their daily routines while struggling to make ends meet.

However, tele-rehabilitation widely practiced abroad can retrieve the situation and provide the much needed solace to such children and their parents. It's not been popular in our country due to lack of or poor tele-connectivity, but with COVID-19, we along with the world have seamlessly moved online and tele-rehabilitation becomes a real possibility.

This enables not just the children in cities but even those in the remotest part to access and benefit from the therapies.

Tele-practice, also known as 'online speech therapy' involves video conferencing, interactive activities, assessments, progress tracking. Keeping child's interest in mind, systematic plans are discussed with parents before the session and children are encouraged to perform activities using toys and household items which are easily available at home and more, through a private and secure virtual classroom. The patient gets the therapy right at his home from a certified therapist over the Internet.

Eight-year-old Viren, who was a regular for one to one session at a therapy clinic, had an abrupt disruption due to lockdown. As he started showing severe behavioural changes, his parents explored options, to their delight they hit upon the online speech therapy.

By then a handful of trained Hearing and speech therapists adept at tele-practice started offering the highly skillful service.

Initially his parents were apprehensive about the quality and the child's attention span for it. But therapist specially trained for online therapy made his sessions so interesting and engaging that the child hasn't missed even a single session since then.

Because the therapy is being rendered in the precincts of their home, the entire family got involved and the child has shown enormous improvement. The parents too are immensely relieved, as they are spared of regular long commutes to the clinic involving time and effort.