Muskan Foundation for People with Multiple Disabilities was established on 9th February 2007 by Mrs. Dipti Gandhi to offer services for children with impairments. Muskan means a smile. A smile makes one’s day. It brings us back to life, more so if it is a child’s smile. Our centre has taken up the endeavor to bring back this lovely smile -“Muskan”, back on the faces of our special children and their parents through our services. Muskan has three wings, the H. G. Hanmante School for children with special needs, J. V. Gandhi Therapy Centre, and Shardaben G. Shah Early Intervention Centre. As a private agency we provide special education as well as therapies. Our staff has a variety of backgrounds (special education, counseling, early childhood development and psychology, etc.). They are all certified (or in process of) with the Rehabilitation Council of India. Some additional staff act as consult or mentors as needed in various areas like occupational therapy, physiotherapy, neurodevelopment therapy, sensory integration therapy, speech therapy etc. These consultants are available on call.
Services offered by Muskan:
- Assessment, diagnosis and consultation: Before a child is started on a rehabilitation programme it is important that the child goes through an assessment by a multidisciplinary team. The diagnosis is made on the basis of the assessment and the child is put on a rehab programme.
- Direct treatment: By way of treatment and remediation different types of therapies are provided to the children with developmental problems.
- Special education: Treatment and special education go hand in hand, according to the age of the child, the child is enrolled in early intervention or the special education programme our teacher child ratio is 1:1. We train the child in areas like motor skills, communication, socialization, recreation, and activities of daily living.
- Awareness programmes: The centre endeavors to create awareness about multiple disabilities in the masses through trainings, lectures, and presentations. Our centre also conducts training programmes in low vision for other professionals, teachers and parents.
The centre will provide services to the following categories of children and adults:
- Visually impaired
- Multiply impaired
- Hearing impaired
- Deafblind
- Mentally retarted
- Cerebral paulsy
- Learning disabilities
- Attention deficit disorders
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Brain inquired children
- Sensory integration dysfunctioning
- Other neurological impairments