The Academy of Magical Sciences
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Mission Statement
Different Art Centre will act as a window of opportunity in identifying, training and refining the basic talents of differently abled children in various art forms. Developing Innovative approaches for differently abled children that will help them to reach their full potential. The centre envisages a comprehensive outlook to empower, educate and enlighten the talented differently abled children in our society. Creating unique programs that improves the mental and physical health status of children. Enabling children to be the breadwinners of their family, that enable them to lead a better life like any other individual in our society. Enabling active participation of differently abled children in all aspects of family and community life.
About This Cause
The Different Art Centre (DAC), a division of the Academy of Magical Sciences supported by the Kerala Social Security Mission of the Government of Kerala, is successfully implementing a set of art-based programs (magic, and other art forms) for the rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities. The centre rehabilitates children (12 -18 age group) with any kinds of disabilities viz., Cerebral Palsy, Vision Impairment, Locomotor disability, Speech - Hearing impairment, Spectrum autism disorder, and other intellectual disabilities. The majority of these children could not complete or continue in the conventional special education systems due to different reasons. Currently, the centre is supporting about 200 children with various disabilities Programs for the Rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities The following set of programs are being implemented for the rehabilitation of this children; Art-based Rehabilitation Programs The DAC implements a set of unique art-based programs for the empowerment of these children along with other programs for medical and educational rehabilitation. The centre identifies the raw talents of these children in different art forms such as magic, dance, music, instrumental music, drama, painting, filmmaking, etc., and helps them to get trained in the particular art in a therapeutic way. In the centre, there are performance platforms for each art form, where these children showcase their skills in front of the audience. It is observed that the responses from the audience while they perform these art form is the real driving force for them to learn this skill. The details of each art-based program in our centre are given in Annexure 1 (enclosed PPT file). Training in different art forms, such as concentration on magic, music, dance, drama, cinema making, painting, and skills in various musical instruments, results in significant improvement in self-reliance and a set of other variables. A study on adaptive functioning in these children carried out by the Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS) revealed that approximately 18% of the children have shown improvement from their levels in the baseline. In the maladaptive behaviour domain too, 17.94% of the children showed a reduction in behavioural issues. Among the sub-domains of adaptive functioning, 30% of participants showed improvement in their social skills. Motor and communication skills improved by about 25% compared to the baseline. In the capacity for daily living skills, 15.38% showed betterment from the start of the program. Educational Rehabilitation Programs Along with artistic development, the center has formulated educational programs for the intellectual development of children with disabilities at the DAC. A comprehensive learning program has been designed at the DAC to provide the basic functionalities of learning such as reading, writing, simple mathematics, language development, simple matching exercises, puzzle exercises, simple sequences, and attention through sound as well as behavioral coaching. • SCIENTIA Program: A unique initiative at the center to promote curiosity amongst children with disabilities on scientific subjects. Under the guidance from the Western University, California, these children of the DAC gets a hands-on start on scientific research activities. The project named “Scientia” is a joint venture by the organization and the Western University. Medical Rehabilitation Programs Along with art-based therapies and rehabilitation programs, we also provide occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, etc. depending upon the need of each child. Programs for supporting the family of Children with Disabilities, especially Mothers The parents of Children with Disabilities, especially mothers, face several social-psychological, and economic challenges in the hard journey of supporting their child, and mostly their lives become very stressful. Dealing with child behavioral challenges and/or medical needs frequently leads to stress among the parents. Other factors related to stress among family caregivers include financial burden, relationship strain, employment/activity constraints, low self-efficacy, physical demands of caregiving, concerns about the future, and perceived social isolation. • CHARISMA - A platform for mothers of the children at DAC to explore and expand their interests and hobbies, while adding to their living. The mothers engage in activities like tailoring, candle making, umbrella making, toothbrush making, and several others. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has joined hands with DAC to support the skill development of the mothers. They also receive the full proceeds from the sale. These mothers no longer have the worry of keeping away from their children but can remain in the vicinity while working for self-sufficiency. Upcoming Initiative, The Programs for FY 2022 - 23: The Launch of Universal Empowerment Centre, second Phase of DAC As our efforts for skill development and rehabilitation for children with disabilities started producing positive results, we could identify the substantial need for enabling them (children at the adolescent age) for suitable employment opportunities. • The concept of the Universal Empowerment Centre (UEC) evolved as a way forward to achieve the goal of enablement of Children/Young People with Disabilities suitable employment opportunities through tailored skill and capacity development training. • The concept is the first of its kind in India, probably even globally, and it will function as an extension of ongoing programs of DAC (with the addition of a set of new programs) to reach more beneficiaries. • The proposed UEC comprises: o Performance Theatres (3+1): For the performance of different art forms by the PwDs, a livelihood/employment opportunity o Therapy centers: For medical rehabilitation, consists of Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech and Hearing Therapy, Psychotherapy, Virtual Reality-Based Therapy, and Horticulture therapy o Different sports centre: To engage PwDs in sports activities o Arteria: For the exhibition of paintings and other crafts items produced by the children with Disabilities o Symphonia: A cafeteria run by the People with disabilities, a livelihood option for them o Scientia o Mom Centre: For the productive engagement of mothers of children with disabilities The centre is expected to function as a training center during the day and as an entertainment centre in the evening, with the latter being entirely managed by these differently-abled youth. Youth who successfully pass their training program will be given a chance to take up paid internships in managing the entertainment center. The Universal Empowerment Centre (UEC) is located at the KINFRA Film & Video Park Kazhakoottam, Thiruvananthapuram and it covers around 38518.62 sq. ft. area. Under the project of UEC, seeking support for the following components (either any or all) 1. The Therapy Centres: The therapy centre shall help in early detection of disabilities and making children more productive in doing daily activities. Early screening and identification of the disabilities are important to treat them on time and make the children more productive in day-to-day activities. Comprehensive intervention modalities can improve the mobility of many children with disabilities to a greater extent, especially children with autism and other neurodevelopment disorders. The proposed therapy centre is planned to contain the following departments: Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Audiology and Speech therapy, Psychotherapy, Development therapy unit, Sensory integration therapy, Virtual Reality (VR)-based Rehabilitation, and Vocational Rehabilitation. 2. SCIENTIA: An initiative to promote curiosity amongst children with disabilities on scientific subjects. Under the guidance of the Western University, California, the children with disabilities at DAC get hands-on scientific research activities. SCIENTIA, with the guidance and support from the research scholars of US universities, is to bring to the light, the scientific aptitude of the children with disabilities at international science forums and conferences. The platform’s focus will be to promote scientific curiosity and to stimulate thinking in these children on scientific matters. Our SCIENTIA program is already functional in a small set-up and under this project, we are planning to expand the Scientia unit so that more beneficiaries can be benefited from the program 3. MoM Centre: A Centre for the livelihood activities of Mothers of Children with Disabilities A small business center, exclusively for the production and selling of the products prepared by the mothers of Children with Disabilities. The items such as umbrellas, candles, Agarbathis, bakery items, etc are planned to be produced at this center. The training for the production of these items is offered by NABARD