Ummeed Child Development Centre

Maharashtra

"UMMEED" meaning hope, is a non-profit organization set up in 2001 to help children with developmental disabilities. It was set up by Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy, Founder and Executive Director, who trained at Children's Hospital, Boston as a Developmental Pediatrician. After returning to India, the lack of facilities for children with developmental needs led her to set up UMMEED CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER. From an initial team size of 3, UMMEED today is an 80+ member strong professional team.

UMMEED's vision is to help children with developmental disabilities and those at risk for acquiring disabilities reach their maximum potential and be integrated in society.

There are over 50 million children in India with developmental disabilities and over 650,000 in Mumbai alone. Out of these, not even a quarter have access to quality care. UMMEED addresses this mammoth issue through 4 verticals:

* Each year there are over 1,110 children and families supported at their clinic.

* UMMEED assesses and provides therapies for children with a wide range of developmental disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual Disability, Learning Disability, Genetic Syndromes such as Down Syndrome, William Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Hearing Impairment.

* Over 60% of the children availing services at UMMEED's clinic are from low/mid socio-economic backgrounds.

* Ummeed also runs an Early Intervention Center (EIC), which is a mother-child program modeled on the pre-school model, where children between the ages of 2-6 years are trained on communication skills, play skills, social interaction, etc. with the objective of getting them school ready.

Ummeed is one of the five centers in India approved for providing a recognized Fellowship program in Developmental Pediatrics, the IAP Fellowship in Developmental Pediatrics.

Training (Center for influence):

In January 2017, Ummeed set up a dedicated training facility to extend its reach to at-risk and undiagnosed children in the community. They do this through training professionals, parents, teachers, community workers and partner organizations in a range of various disciplines in the child development & disability space.

Research:

Ummeed participated in a five-year four-country research project funded by the National Institutes of health, USA and in partnership with Yale University and the University of Ankara, to develop and test a tool to monitor and support Early Childhood Development specifically for use in low and middle-income countries. This tool is now used in Ummeed's community programs to monitor child development.

The findings of this research have recently been published in the Lancet, one of the most prestigious peer reviewed medical journals.

Advocacy:

* Ummeed is constantly working to better the lives of children with disabilities. Towards this, Ummeed is a member of the National Trust, the disability committee of the WHO, the Rehabilitation Council of India, Action for Autism, and is also part of the task force for the implementation of the Right to education Act. Ummeed personnel also serve as experts on the committee formed for the implementation of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthiya Karyakram of the Government of India.

UMMEED has reached out to over 16 Government special schools, trained 80 teachers in these schools working with over 4000 children through the school outreach programme.