Vikram one of the most well known superstars of Tamil cinema visited Pathway on 13th September. He has been known for  his sensitive portrayal of important roles and has recently been made Mani Ratnam’s Ravanan. In the recent past, all his movies, such as Aniyan, Samy,etc have broken Box office records.

Vikram spent nearly two hours at the centre, he visited the various wings and departments of Pathway at Chennai and witnessed the work done for children and adults with mental handicap. He appreciated the products made by the children.  He spent considerable time conversing with children learning about the performance of each and every child. The children of the centre were thrilled to see him and shake hands with the superstar,whom many of them have seen on the silver screen or on the Television screen.

He was accompanied by Mr A L Vijay,  a very well  known director of many well known movies, such as Madraspatinam,etc.

This unique program was created to address the following needs:

• Pathway attracts many children from different parts of India
• These children need a place to live while receiving treatment at Pathway
• No facility in India has the means or capacity to house every child who needs care

• A parent or family representative is trained by a rehabilitation expert at the center with specific therapy routines for their child
• The parent continue the therapy routines for their child in their own home
• The child must visit a Pathway center once every three months to be examined and monitored by professionals.

• The family becomes involved in the child’s care
• Family members attain a high level of proficiency in therapeutic treatment
• Housing costs are reduced for both the families and Pathway
• More children throughout India may be treated by Pathway professionals

In 2008-09, a total of 25 children participated in the Homebound Program

It is proposed to establish very well organized and planned courses to train young minds to serve the disabled and the needy. These training programs will be need-based and specific to the urgent needs of the proposed facility. All these courses will be recognized by the Rehabilitation Council of India, Ministry of Welfare, Govt. of India.These courses will run at different levels, such as: Multipurpose rehabilitation workers, Special Educators for the disabled, etc. All these training program will have considerable inputs from agriculture.

The training programs will provide 20-30 qualified and interested helping hands in integrated education to the Farm and reduce the overhead recurring costs. Candidates trained at the Farm are expected to acquire all round expertise which includes general management of the disabled, working with normal children, residential rehabilitation program, specific skills in the techniques of scientific agriculture, etc. Training will be unique as no such programs are available in other centers.

• This will be a functional asset to the Farm as there will be a steady stream of qualified and dedicated professionals who can be absorbed and employed in the facility, avoiding hardships in finding qualified candidates for running of programs to serve the disabled.
• In-house training programs will give ample opportunities to device useful and meaningful syllabus to all trainees promoting a scientific, compassionate, creative and spiritual environment thus shaping all round character of all candidates.
• It is proposed to offer a six-month training course with a mixture of theory and practice. Candidates trained under this category will need to work under the supervision of educators and will be termed as ‘Multipurpose rehabilitation workers’(MRW’S)
• These trainees will be trained in all types of disabilities so that these workers can work in any wing of the Agro-Farm. Candidates to this course will need to be at least 10 grade graduate with demonstrated interest in working with disabled

The proposal includes integrating children with mild to moderate mental retardation and children with cerebral palsy with average intelligence or above average intelligence, as well as with children with borderline or mild intellectual impairment with the average children and also children with speech and hearing disorders.

It is our strong belief that integrated education will help the less able in a very big way in terms of putting an end to their segregation or isolation and straight away bring about their acceptability. This will also bring a platform for the them to follow the ‘able model’ following the average children in their day to day learning situations. Integrated classrooms situation will also help in reducing behavior problems of the disabled children as they watch and observe the accepted behavior pattern of their able counterparts. By providing them uniform education opportunities, the disabled and able will be able to perform in a competitive and enjoyable atmosphere with a sense of friendship and cooperation.

Such a model will also help bring about much needed empathy in the minds of able children regarding the condition and needs of their disabled counterparts. In addition to the disabled children attending classes alongside with their normal counterparts it is suggested that all these children also undergo a specialized program consisting of:

• Special Education
• Speech and language Therapy
• Physio therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Yoga and dance
• Creative Arts therapy/ recreational therapy
• Pre-vocational and vocational training

All these services will be offered to all children with disabilities in a resource centre or a rehabilitation centre that would be established in the Farm to enable all children to attend the specialized program along with their education program designed along with their able counterparts.

Pre-vocational training includes utilizing teaching aids developed by the Pathway vocational staff, as no standardized tools exist in the ready market. These aids are specially designed to meet specific learning disabilities, determined by extensive testing and evaluation of each child. All children above age 9 are evaluated for trainability, and taught key values necessary for successful integration and job placement:

• Time management
• Hygiene
• Social interaction
• Responsibility
• Cleanliness –personal and environmental
• Age-appropriate behavior
• Healthy sense of competition

Pathway also requires each child to contribute to the cleaning and maintenance of each center. It is the goal of the organization to replace as many “normal” workers with the disabled in various household functions. These activities provide “on the job” training for many children. Additionally, the pre-vocational training methodology takes into consideration several aspects of a given task, such as:

• Type of job
• Physical energies required for a specific job
• Mastering a particular skill

Statistics on Pathway’s Vocational Programs are also available here.

Pathway with the assistance of Misereor M.V of Germany implemented well organized a fullfledged vocational unit at Koothavakkam, Kancheepuram district. This comprised of setting up of a large industrial shed of 5000 square feet with some area earmarked for residence of trainees, kitchen area, besides dining hall and bathrooms were built.

In 1991 This unit was inaugurated with a large wood working unit equipped with various machineries such as wood working lathe, planners, cutting machine, electrical saw and other equipment. In addition to this a number of hand operable plastic injection moulding and blow moulding equipment were also installed. Many eligible boys were taken for training in wood working and carpentry as well as in injection and blow moulding.

After years of training it was felt that woodworking and carpentry was fairly well suited to our adult mentally retardates. Three batches of more than 25 adult mentally retarded boys have been trained in this unit. This unit has three well-qualified instructors in wood working who have proven to be assets for the organization. Boys have been trained in various aspects of woodworking and this unit has turned out considerable work in the following ways:

• Production of windows, doors and other building needs
• Production ofTeaching aids and gadgets
• Production of high class furniture
• Production of class room furniture and requirements
• Turn key operation in interior decoration

In addition to the above, recently, weaving was also introduced. Boys are being trained to work in the production of towels, napkins, etc.

This organization decided to help these children in their education by providing well-evolved educational stimulation and also by imparting literacy program for the children. This programme has been very successful as over 120 children attend this program regularly and the centre has been able to get very dedicated teachers from the neighbourhood who teach these children in the evening every day.

Over the years considerable success has been seen in many children who have completed their 10 and 12 grades with much better grades and scores. This programme has helped particularly girl children from the slums whose parents are now able to realize the potential of their children as well as able to see that girls also have equal rights.

Games and other competitions: The children from the centre partook in various programmes organized the Department of social Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu and won many prizes, They also took part in the cultural competitions held by the department . The children also participated and won many prizes in the competition organized by the Mylapore Academy, Leo Clubs, etc.

Eye and ENT camps were arranged at the Agro Farm for children. ENT specialists from Adhi Parashakthi Medical and Research Centre took part in the camps, they examined children and the staff of the Orphanage. Children who needed medcial treatment and surgical procedure were advised and many children were taken up for surgery for Tonsils and Adenoids. Children with middle ear infection, such as Otitis Media were also treated. All the children and many staff were examined by the eye specialists and many children who were found to have refractory errors were prescribed spectacles.

• Chennai Rehabilitation Center
• Pamela Martinez/Agro Farm for Children

• Dental chair , tools and Dental X-ray
• Dental scaling and sealing equipment
• Facilities for pure filtered and treated water
• Fully licensed and experienced dental surgeon available every day for consultation

  and treatment

• Open to patients six days per week from 6:30 –10:30 p.m.