The Child Development Centre

The Child Development Centre (CDC) at Aster Whitefield offers personalized services for differently abled children. Equipped with a dedicated clinic, the centre caters to the needs of a child at all stages of his/her development and provides quality care through early identification, intervention, school age and specialized services. Our treatment strategy focuses on quality, stability, innovation, and positive outcome for both the guardians and their children and is curated after a detailed analysis by way of "scores." Under this treatment method, our team analyzes the inputs provided by Developmental Paediatrics, Child Psychiatry, Child Psychology, Speech and Language, Hearing, Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy departments and Special instructors and Play therapists on the way the child is playing with toys, interacts with his or her friends and their behavioural patterns - eating and sleeping habits. Based on this analysis, we provide a customized treatment plan that is community-oriented, inclusive, and responsive to the overall development of the child.

Our services are delivered in a culture of excellence, and diversity and address common conditions like Attention deficit disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) Intervention Program

This is among the most common psychological disorders that are diagnosed in children. The condition is often misunderstood as children often have symptoms that seem like ADHD and hence require professional consultation.

Aster’s ADHD program provides a comprehensive diagnostic approach and management program for children who are diagnosed with this disorder. We provide a three-pronged approach for the management of the condition that includes,

• Environmental Accommodation

• Behaviour Modification

• Poor scholastic performance

• Drug therapy

The program also offers a parental education program that assists the parents in developing coping mechanisms and helps them in regular monitoring of drugs.
 

Our Services

1. Occupational Therapy

Sensory integration therapy - Sensory integration is incorporated in therapy interventions that focus on directing the child towards sensory-rich experiences targeting the individual’s sensory needs. The therapist adjusts the environment to produce the necessary challenges that will promote self-direction and adaptive response in motor, affective, sensory, and cognitive activities
 

2. Special Education 

Behavioural Assessment and Management: Most individuals with developmental disorders will display challenging behaviours of some sort at some point in their lives. Conducting a behavior assessment is necessary as it allows to understand why a certain behavior is occurring. Once the reason for the behaviour is understood, a behaviour treatment plan is implemented to minimise the behaviour of concern and replace it with more appropriate behaviour. This is done by teaching the child other ways to communicate or accomplish what they want, and help the child to better communicate their needs. Behaviour therapy reduces challenging behavior in a manner that is safe and the least restrictive, where reinforcement-based techniques are used. Progress is measured throughout so that changes can be made to suit the person’s needs.

Skill Acquisition program: Skill assessment is done to identify and address skill deficits in children with developmental disorders, and language and cognitive delays. Assessment is done in 25 skill-sets including language, social interaction, self-help, academic and motor skills that most typically developing children acquire prior to entering kindergarten. The assessment is used to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP) based on each child’s current functional skill level. The IEP consists of goals that is comprehensive and exclusive to the individual and is directed to promote learning and address specific issues and skill deficits.

In Social Skills Group, children are put into a structured group setting, based on similar skill-set, goals, and their individualized needs. Social skills that are addressed vary from turn-taking, waiting for others, eye contact, Initiating conversations, Greetings, peer play, sharing, Co- operation skills, to How to behave in specific social and community settings, Understanding emotions and facial expressions, Gestures and body language, Assertiveness, Empathy, etc., depending on the skill level of the child.
 

3. Paediatric Speech & Language Therapy

Speech and Language Therapy: Being able to communicate effectively with others and have the ability to swallow food and liquids safely are fundamental to experiencing a good quality of life. Using Play based approach, we make therapy fun! Your child will look forward to our time together! We have a team of highly experienced skilled speech pathologist ready to serve you and our therapist will strive to empower families to help their children reach their full potential.

At Aster Whitefield, our speech therapist works within a multidisciplinary team with other health professionals to support children who have difficulties with:

• The building blocks for communication and language, including engagement, relating to others, imitating sounds and gesturing, a better understanding of body language, and non-verbal cues
• Improve both verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Auditory Processing
• Expressive language development
• social and conversation skills
• Speech sound development - Pronouncing words and sentences more clearly
• Fluency – stuttering and cluttering
• Social communication - Boosting social and conversation skills
• Play skills
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• Swallowing - safely consuming food and drinks.

Oral Placement Therapy: OPT (Oral Placement Therapy) is a type of oral sensory and motor therapy used to target specific movements necessary for speech clarity and feeding. This therapy differs from traditional speech therapy in which the tactile and proprioceptive systems are added while the strategy continues to utilize auditory and visual stimuli (e.g., “Listen, look, and do what I do?”) This allows the client to feel, hear and see movement. This can be an important adjunct to conventional speech therapy. This is especially important for people who have difficulty positioning or moving. This gives clients a holistic understanding of their muscles and their movements.
 

4. Paediatric Physical Therapy

Early intervention program/ services - Early Intervention (EI) is a program for infants and toddlers (birth to 3 years old) who have developmental delays or are at risk of a developmental delay.

The services are designed to identify and meet children’s needs in five developmental areas. These are Physical, Cognitive, Communication, Social or emotional development, and Adaptive development. The main goals of early intervention are- Strengthen a child's skills, Provide parents with information, social and emotional support, Instructing parents in providing their children with emotional support and intellectual stimulation.

Neuro developmental treatment/ therapy - Neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) is a sensory-motor approach used by physical therapists. The approach was designed to improve the function of children with difficulty managing movement due to neurological disorders. Preference is given to attain Mobility over strong Trunk stability, movement is enhanced through a sensory-motor experience.

Constraint Induced Movement Therapy - Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) assists children who have limited use of one arm and hand due to a medical condition or due to trauma in extending and strengthening their use of the affected arm and hand. By educating and re-educating the brain to rewire, certain activities that will assist child in learning new and appropriate movement patterns.

High Risk Babies Follow Up Program - This special care package program is for those who have ‘graduated’ from NICU. The program has been developed to regularly monitor their development as these infants, who had their early life within the NICU, run a risk of developing complications and/or developmental disabilities once outside its sterilized environment.

Infant Stimulation Program - The therapy program comprises of sensory and motor activities; playing is a primary medium through with the child is aided in attaining age-appropriate milestones in communication and cognition
 

5. Psychological Assessment

As children grow and develop, they sometimes have trouble learning in school, difficulty concentrating, or problems getting along with others. When this happens, a psychological assessment can pinpoint where the difficulties lie. Psychological Assessment offers insights into a child’s learning, social, behaviour and personality development, with the goal of tailoring recommendations to plan a child’s educational and mental health needs. A psychological diagnostic assessment measures the subject's intelligence, cognition, mental abilities and behaviour. Psychological assessment should consider the “whole child, including family, school, and the community”. The goals of psychological assessment are to better understand a person's strengths and weaknesses, identify potential problems with cognitions, emotional reactivity, and make recommendations for treatment/remediation.

Parental training

Children who display early disruptive and aggressive behaviour are also at greater risk for delinquency, mood and anxiety disorders. A number of factors are associated with the emergence of aggressive and disruptive behaviour, including family factors. Behavioural and Socio-Emotional learning is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. Social-emotional development includes the child’s experience, expression, and management of emotions and the ability to establish positive and rewarding relationships with others. Parent training represents one of the gold standard interventions for conduct problems. The main goal of behavioural and socio-emotional parental training is to decrease coercive interchanges and, consequently, children's aggressive problems by teaching parents strategies in order to apply a more effective discipline. Some of the most employed parent training interventions for aggressive behaviour problems are presented.