State nod for project on childhood disability

TIRUVANNAMALAI: The State government has given its approval to expand a pilot project undertaken by the District Differently-abled Welfare Office (DDWO), to prevent childhood disabilities in the age group of 0-6, for the whole district.A sum of Rs 3.5 lakh has been allotted for the ‘Pilot Study on Development Delay and Impairment of Children’ and said to be the first of its kind in the State, said Charles Prabhakaran, District Differently-abled Welfare Officer.  Many existing rehabilitation programmes focused on adults with disability. They were expensive and often put families under great stress.  To avoid this, the Tiruvannamalai DDWO has taken the lead to launch a new scheme which would identify kids in the age group of 0-6 with various disabilities through special camps and devise schemes to rehabilitate them at an early stage.The project is aimed at helping children avail welfare schemes, along with developing skills in rehabilitation services.