SRINAGAR — In Jammu and Kashmir UT thousands of special needs are struggling for Early Intervention treatment and basic inclusive education. Most of the parents of these kids faced a lot of challenges to cater their needs without proper resources treatment facilities in the valley.
Like other states in india Jammu and Kashmir too have a large number of children with different disabilities in different districts.
The number of children with special needs enrolled in J&K during the academic session 2020-21 was 22,736—13,190 boys and 9,546 girls.
There are only eight schools for children with special needs in J&K all privately run and unaided and professional OTs, Rehab Therapists, Speech Therapists, DIR floortime Therapists are not available in these schools.
As per the 2011 census, in J&K, the population of children with different types of disabilities up to 18 years of age is 1.01 lakh—56,336 males and 45,062 females. Thus, a large number of children with special needs are unable to attend schools and most of the kids miss early Intervention.
In jammu and Kashmir Autism, ADHD cases are rising day by day because of various reasons said Zaheer Jan .
In December 2022 Zaheer Jan Pediatric Therapist and professional social worker came to know about DIR Floortime Therapy from colleague Therapists and friends from the USA , Australia and Mexico.
The DIR Floortime therapy is introduced by the International Council on Development and Learning (ICDL) training Institute in the USA. This Institute organises different DIR Floortime Therapy training courses across the world.
The DIR Floortime is the Developmental, Individual differences, and Relationship-based model. DIR provides a foundational framework for understanding human development and learning and how each person individually perceives and interacts with the world differently. Floortime Therapy is a relationship-based therapy for children with autism, Adhd and other cases .
The intervention is called Floortime because the Therapist gets down on the floor with the child to play and interact with the child at their level and follow child leads.
He said after he came to know about DIR Floortime Therapy and it’s results, he approached the Institute for Floortime training in the valley.
In our jammu and Kashmir 12 clinicians Rehab Therapists, Speech therapist, physiotherapists, special educators registered for training and have completed DIR Floortime introduction course and 6 clinicians Pediatric Rehab Therapists, Physiotherapist, speech therapist, special educator able to complete and passed basic DIR Floortime course exam.
We appreciated the ICDL CEO, staff and other training leaders for organizing this course for professionals in Jammu and Kashmir valley.
Zaheer Jan said DIR Floortime is a research based approach and professionals in various countries like USA, England, Mexica, Europe, Australia etc used DIR Floortime in their practice.
He said all those completed DIR Floortime course used DIR Floortime Therapy techniques with different special needs kids especially Autistic kids and we found wonderful results in overall development like motor skills, communication, attention and social skills and most of the parents are happy with results they informed us they find visible changes in kids in different domains like play skills, emotions, socialization etc.
I highly appreciate ICDL Institute for introducing this course and I highly recommend other professionals across the world Physios, Rehab therapists, Speech therapists, psychologists and special educators and other professionals dealing with special need kids to register for DIR Floortime courses.
Floortime Therapy will help Rehab professionals in clinical practice. I will try my best to help special need kids and their families through Floortime Therapy and I will start advocacy awareness for DIR Floortime because it is an intervention that is effective, respectful, evidence-based, and truly addresses the core issues of the special need child.
All children have within them the potential to be great kids. It’s our job to create a great world where this potential can flourish.’ Stanley Greenspan, MD.