Special needs news of the month October 2023

Special Needs news of the month October 2023

School on wheels assists students with special needs in Chandigarh

In our good news segment, watch this story from Chandigarh where Kalam Express, a school on wheels, has been assisting students with special needs from physiotherapy to education.

SCERT to make 500 educational videos for special needs children in Stds IV, V

Pune: Using the state curriculum for children in grades IV and V, a team from the Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) will produce 500 instructional videos for kids with special needs.

The videos will be completed by March 2024, after consulting with specialists and resource people who work with children who have special needs. Earlier this week, a session was conducted at the Pune headquarters of SCERT.

The Union Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy launched the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project in 2021. It will run for five years, ending in 2024–2025, and has been implemented in the following states: Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Rajasthan.

Creating e-content based on information and communications technology was one of the plan’s components.

Read this news by timesofindia

BMC’s first day care for kids with spl needs in Marol; to offer both therapy & activities

Mumbai: The BMC at Marol will establish a daycare center for kids with special needs and kids with conditions like cerebral palsy. This will be the first time the local body has established a facility of this kind for kids with special needs.

In addition to activities, the daycare center will provide rehabilitation for kids with special needs. The BMC will manage the center in collaboration with an NGO that possesses the necessary skills to manage a facility of this kind.
There is a need for these facilities among the general public since kids with a range of illnesses and special needs need therapy in addition to regular exercise or activities that will engage their bodies or minds.

Read this news by timesofindia

A Genetic Link Between Synesthesia And Autism Has Just Been Revealed

According to a recent examination of thousands of sets of twins, autism and synesthesia may have similar genetic origins. Specifically, repetitive and restricted behaviors and interests (RRBIs), commonly referred to as non-social autism features, appear to be associated with synesthesia and have been related to perception differences when compared to non-autistic persons.

A team led by psychiatric epidemiologist Mark Taylor of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden writes, “Our study suggests that the link between synesthesia and autism might reside in shared genetic causes, related to non-social autistic traits such as alterations in perception.” Building on these discoveries, future research might look for certain gene groups that affect perception, synesthesia, and autism.

Read this news by sciencealert

UK hospital launches world-first gene therapy trial to cure rare deafness

In an attempt to determine whether gene therapy can help infants with severe to profound hearing loss caused by a rare hereditary disorder, UK scientists have started the first-ever global experiment.

Up to eighteen children from the US, Spain, and the UK who were born with aural neuropathy (a disorder resulting from a disturbance of nerve impulses traveling from the inner ear to the brain) are participating in the trial run by Cambridge University Hospitals.

Read this news by thestatesman

This Chennai boy conquers Palk Strait – and autism

Haresh Barath Mohan, 16, of Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai, accomplished a remarkable accomplishment on Saturday when he swam the 32-kilometer Palk Strait from Talaimannar, Sri Lanka, to Dhanushkodi, Rameswaram. With only brief stops to rehydrate, the youngster with autism spectrum condition completed the distance in 11 hours and 52 minutes.

Haresh left Talaimannar at 11:37 p.m. on Saturday and arrived in Dhanushkodi at 11:29 a.m. Nirmala Devi, his mother, claimed that although they had anticipated a calmer sea, it was actually windy. After Jiya Rai, Haresh is the second autistic youngster to swim across the Palk Strait in recent times. The 13-year-old Mumbai girl had completed the swim in March of the previous year.

Read this news by timesofindia

Teenager from Jamshedpur suffering from autism finds place in India Book Record

Jamshedpur: Known as the Iron City of Jharkhand, seventeen-year-old Ashutosh Panigrahi from Jamshedpur has accomplished great things. Even though he has autism, he has broken the record for how quickly he can add and multiply numbers.

In fifteen minutes, Ashutosh Panigrahi completed 208 questions. Following this accomplishment, he received a medal as well as honors.

The India Book of Records posed 107 multiplication and 101 addition problems to Ashutosh. Ashutosh completed all of these quickly.

Read this news by avenuemail

Meet NAO, the social robot spearheading a new wave of autism treatment in Kazakhstan

A child’s wistful look can have incredibly powerful effects. Anya (last name changed), the mother of young Iliyana, had waited seven long years to see this momentous occasion—the moment her daughter’s eyes would meet hers. And then it occurred on a remarkable day. Anya’s hazel eyes caught Iliyana’s attention, and for a split second, happy tears spilled out.

“It is stories like these that have inspired me to embark on a journey of child-robot interactions, to bring the transformative power of robotics to help children with autism,” stated Anara Sandygulova, who witnessed this touching scene.

Read this news by indianexpress