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The Idea
Doctors (general practitioners, pediatricians, others) are often the first point of contact for families that are concerned about their children’s development – they therefore remain key to early identification and early and appropriate intervention. Unfortunately, child development and disabilities are not uniformly understood amongst the medical fraternity leading to significant inconsistencies in diagnosis and intervention.
Further, the model of disability in India is very medical or deficit based. Therapies and interventions focus on ‘fixing’ the child or trying to make the child ‘normal’. However, disability results from an interaction between individuals with a health condition (such as cerebral palsy or autism) and environmental factors (such as negative attitudes, inaccessible infrastructure or limited social support).
Ummeed has been working to address some of these systemic challenges over the years, through its team of developmental pediatricians (DPs) and therapists, and through our programs.
Our Approach
Short-term workshops
Some of the short-term workshops that are held at Ummeed are Playing Made Easy for Pediatric Therapists; Behaviour Management for Professionals Working with Children with Autism; RAISE - Rights and Approaches for Inclusive School Experiences for Professionals; Writing Made Easy for Professionals; etc.
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Long-term trainings
There are trainings like ECHO ADHD, ECHO Autism, which are run for the medical fraternity by the team of developmental pediatricians (DPs) and therapists in Ummeed. Ummeed also runs a one-year Developmental and Behavioural Pediatric Fellowship for Doctors who have completed their M.D. Pediatrics or D.N.B. Pediatrics or DCh (Diploma in Child Health)
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Mentoring for Developmental
Pediatricians, Pediatricians, Medical
Professionals, etc.
Ummeed’s experienced team of clinicians has been offering mentoring and other learning opportunities around family-centered care, participation-based approaches, setting up of child development centers, etc., to our partner organizations
Speaking at events and conferences
The DP team members have been participating at various national and international forums as care providers and to share our work in child development and disability with the larger community of professionals. The team has presented in conferences at Indian academy of Pediatrics, International Developmental Pediatric Congress (IDPA), International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), etc.
Research, Publications and Advocacy
- Ummeed has been an integral part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded five year (2011-2015) multi-country research project. This involved standardization and validation of the international Guide for Monitoring Child Development (GMCD) tool, for use in low- and middle-income countries, including India.
- The team has many publications in peer reviewed national and international journals and has partnered with other disability organizations to foster research.
- The team members are part of national groups, task forces and international committees to support awareness and advocacy for children and families such as UNICEF, WHO-CST, International Developmental Pediatric Association (IDPA), Forum for Autism (FFA), Autism Speaks, etc.
- Participating and conducting events/activities to spread awareness – International Day of Persons with Disability, World Autism Awareness Day, Down Syndrome Awareness Day, Fragile X Syndrome Awareness day.
Ummeed’s team made innovations and developed new and hybrid models of working during the COVID pandemic, providing support online and being there for those most in need in diverse ways. These approaches and new perspectives have been captured and published in several journals of repute, as given below.
ECHO ADHD in India: a feasible and acceptable training model for child-care physicians to identify and manage attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
