Personal experience is often the best muse and teacher. In the case of activist and photographer Jo Chopra, it bore fruit in the form of Dehradun-based Latika Roy Foundation, which will set up a major early intervention centre in 2011.

Jo Chopra (centre), founder of The Latika Roy Foundation

Chopra came to India from the US almost 30 years ago -- at age 23 -- and continues to work with special children. "I met my husband Ravi, then a PhD student in the US, when our two protest marches collided in Trenton, New Jersey. It was love at first sight!" she says.

After eight years in Delhi, they settled in Dehradun with their children Anand and Cathleen. Her life changed when she adopted a third child in 1989. Moy Moy was 12 weeks premature and had a disability as a result.

"When it became clear that she needed a special school, some friends and I started one -- The Latika Roy Foundation," says Chopra. Today, their centres -- all in Dehradun -- attract 200 children every day. The foundation has an inclusive play centre, where every child is welcome to have fun and learn in the process. For adults with disabilities, there is a college that offers vocational training.

Chopra named the foundation Latika Roy after the woman who started the first Montessori school in India. "In Dehradun," writes the activist in an email interview from there. Roy was trained by Maria Montessori herself, whose then-revolutionary, now-mainstream approach to education was developed for children with mental handicap.

"One of the things we've learned is that the younger the children are when they come to us, the better they do," says Chopra. So, she opened two Early Intervention Centres to work with very young babies (birth to 5) with multiple disabilities and their families.

Parents can also be trained to provide their children with therapy, language development and social skills.
In 2011, the foundation will open an Early Intervention Centre in the government-run Doon Hospital. "This will allow us to provide high quality services to the poorest children in the state -- a huge step forward by the government of Uttarakhand," writes an excited Chopra. This Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is being funded by the National Rural Health Mission.

What makes this centre different from most Early Intervention Centres is that it's aimed at families that normally can't access services of any kind, let alone the modern facilities the Latika Roy Foundation will provide.

Each week, 10 children will take part in a residential programme in which an interdisciplinary team of specialists will train parents in creative, no-cost ways to help their children develop to their fullest potential. The therapy programme will be enhanced by the participation of an awareness/outreach person who will help them identify resources within their own communities when they return to their villages.

Log on to: https://www.latikaroy.org/ for details

Latika Roy Foundation
provides early intervention, education, training and awareness about various aspects of disability in Dehradun. Coming up, an early intervention centre for special children from all social strata, to give them a headstart on therapy