TTP : Teacher Training Programme

This programme which is meant for providing short-term training for primary school teachers on physical disabilities including cerebral palsy is under preparation. At present, a group of specialists is working for a practice oriented training curriculum for teachers.

ORP : Out Reach Programme
As the big majority of children with cp living in districts outside of Kathmandu valley are left without services unless they come to Kathmandu, this out-reach programme is introduced as a humble attempt to reach to cp cases living in rural areas. It is essentially a home based programme for cp cases of outer districts. It is implemented through home-visitors trained in physiotherapy and speech therapy focused on cerebral palsy.
The programme bas been introduced to 9 districts: Dhankuta, Tanahu, Dang, Jhapa, Dhading, Kanchanpur, Chitwan, Kapilbastu. and Sharlahi. In 1999, this will be started in 13 more districts; Surkhet, Udayapur, Doti, Kalikot, Rukum, Sunsari and Bajhang. The services rendered in this programme are counselling and therapeutic services (physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy).

HVP : Home Visit Programme

Under this programme, the following visits are done by the trained home-visitors :

1. Regular visits. In these visits treatment and rehabilitation services are given to those cp cases who are severe and more grown-up because it is very difficult and costly to bring severely disabled cases to PCCP;
2. Home environment study visits. These visits are meant to acquire a firsthand understanding of home environment of cases and to build a rapport with the parents of cp cases;
3. Casual visits. These visits are a sort of follows-up programme for cp cases. Their main purpose is to motivate the parents to keep on helping the cases, to maintain contact with PCCP and to help them feel that we are behind them to support.

Some of the activities done commonly in these visits are counselling, ways to handle cases at home and teaching exercise; emphasis is given to adequate positioning during lying down, playing, eating, sleeping etc.
Nominal fee is charged for regular visits only with a possibility of providing free services for poor families. This programme is introduced within the Kathmandu Valley only.

The home visit programme has been broadened and strengthened since 1997. Severe cases have been regularly followed up and adequate motivations have been provided to the parents. There has bean satisfaction progress in the qualitative aspects of this programme than in the quantitative aspect of it. It can be said that parent - professional partnership has grown well during the project period.

The quantitative targets have been affected due to the illness of one of the home-visitors and ultimately her resignation on health ground. To be specific our performance in this programme has been good in casual visits and home environment study visits. In regular visits, the number of cases has been below the target set. The request for the regular visit slid not increase as it is difficult for parents to pad Rs. 60 per visit.

On the basis of our experience on programme implementation the focus of this programme should be more on casual visits and home environment study visits and the home visit fee on regular visits should be waived for cases from poor families.

PCCP : Physiotherapy Centre for Cerebral Palsy

PCCP aims to provide counselling and emotional support to parents of children with cp. Parents are motivated to assist their handicapped children on a long-term basis. Our physiotherapists establish a treatment plan for each child and teach the parents how to handle their disabled child and how to carry out exercises in order to keep the body flexible and prevent secondary damages.
The Centre is run by a technical staff consisting of a counsellor, two physiotherapists, two physio assistants. The services of the speech therapist and an occupational therapist have been provided by VSO, Nepal for a period of 2 years. The Centre is fairly well equipped. It is open Sunday to Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. except on public holidays. The fees are kept nominal and there is also a provision of free services for needy families.
This centre has been developed as a self-contained one so that parents will be spared the harassment of seeking services from different experts working in different places.

SEP : Special Education Programme for Children with Cerebral Palsy

In 1993 SGCP started a small special education programme for cp afflicted children with multiple disabilities. Five new children are admitted each year. In 1997 twenty five children (13 boys and 12 girls ) between four and fourteen years of age have been able to attend school . In this programme, only 20 percent weightage is given to cognitive activities and 80 percent weightage is given to individual work, group work, communication, daily living skills, creative activities, physiotherapy and plays. The aim of this programme  is to help children to become more independent. Each student has his or her own individual education plan based on one's abilities and capacities, Six teachers and four physio hands teach the children in small groups. Diversified activities are used to stimulate active learning School buses collect the children in the morning near their homes and take them back in the afternoon. This programme runs Monday through Friday.
 

Guided tour / Visite guidée