Center Overview

Care Development Centre was established on 1st August 2001 to provide education and rehabilitation services for children / youth with disabilities (Autism, Hearing impairment, speech impairment, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, learning disability, intellectual disability). At present there are 39 students registered in 10 classes are conducted with the help of 8 teachers trained in special education, and two management staff trained in psychology, Management, International Child Welfare and Disability Studies.

Physiotherapy

With the establishment of physiotherapy classes in Care Development Centre in 2004, Care Society provided this support to children with disabilities. Classes were conducted by a Developmental Physiotherapist assigned to Care Society for one year with the assistance from Community Based Rehabilitation program. Classes were conducted five days a week at CDC and at home. Furthermore, physiotherapy assessments had been done for several children with disabilities in a few islands and consultations for the parents were continued by doing follow up of these cases. When providing physiotherapy services, CDC gives priority to cases from islands where they do not have such facilities available at their islands. Physiotherapy services included parent consultation on how to handle the child, developmental physiotherapy to the child, and information about the child’s disability and how to give basic physiotherapy exercise to the child at home once they go back to the island. Care Society is planning to incorporate this area in parent education programs to make parents more aware of the area and how to take care of their children. However at the moment due to certain instances Care Society in not providing this service, but is hoping to start theses activities as soon as possible.

Vocational Training Class

Vocational training classes are conducted by CDC for young adults to develop their vocational skills. Currently this class is run at a basic level but this is an area that requires to be strengthened in the future. The job market opportunities for people with disabilities are limited in Maldives. Care Society is in constant demand to provide this support to young adults with disabilities. In 2005 three children worked in three institutions to gain work experience as on a volunteer basis.

Parent Consultation

Consultation sessions has been conducted for families over phone (especially those who are from the islands) to give information related to the child and how to handle the child. These sessions are conducted with the help of a trained teacher, or/and physiotherapist, with psychological support to any of those who require CDC assistance and refer their child to CDC. Consultation is an ongoing support for the families with children/people disabilities and priority is given to those who come from islands. After consultation, an intervention program is designed for the child to be implemented by the parent on how to provide the support needed by the child/person. There are a vast number of people who require special needs education and related needs but are not able to be enrolled in the Centre due to geographical difficulties and limited resources available at CDC.

Social Club

In order to provide an opportunity for children/people with disabilities to interact with the community, CDC has been conducting a social club on weekends with the support from teachers and volunteers. One of such activities was weekly badminton classes where all children were given the opportunity to participate. In addition, afternoon walks, visits to the park, outdoor play activities and swimming classes have been conducted. Although swimming classes and badminton classes are not conducted at the moment, all the other activities are taken place during the weekends.