BrainRakshak is mainly built to improve the understanding of the condition and create an environment in which the child can connect with the world. This program is a platform for all of us in the medical field with similar goals; to improve the lives of children with Learning, Behavior, Educational, and Neuro-Developmental Problems from becoming a disability in life and helping these children live independently in the mainstream society.
MBBS, MRCPCH (London), FRCPCH (London), Paediatric Neurology (Cambridge, UK),
Member of British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA),
PET 1 trainer,
Member of International's Child Neurology Association
Fellow Member of Royal College and Paediatrics and Child Health,
London, UK CCT- General Medical Council, UK
Founder - Association of Child brain Research
Founder- CDC solutions
Founder- Geniuslane Child Development Centre
Founder- Ispectrum
The BrainRakshak Program was established after 5 years of my work in India.
For some background history, I completed higher specialty training from the United Kingdom with a specialization in pediatric neurology and epilepsy in 2013 and also completed my MRCPCH in 2007. My aim was always to return to India and work at the grass-root level, in order to help children get the right environment and eventually become forces in the world.
The idea behind Brainrakshak was to build a program that can be used with children who have special needs in the areas of education and health.
Currently, I believe that the Education System in India is focusing mainly on auditory learners and the rewards are all related to getting good grades in the examinations.
This scenario is creating a society in which about 20% of individuals are not achieving their full potential and a lot of people are living with low self- esteem or some aspects of self-centered behavior.
With the help of BrainRakshak, I am working towards changing this mindset. When I came back to India in 2014, I met a lot of children and their families with autism. Upon observation of various interventions provided to children for 18 months, I came across a number of challenges faced by the parents, the children as well as the intervention centers. The biggest revelation was that the parents felt blamed; particularly mothers for their parenting styles.
Most parents were also in denial and still could not believe that their child could be suffering from a neurological condition. It was also seen that the mainstream schools were unable to accommodate and provide necessary help to these children and in special schools, they were treated like mentally retarded children. There were also a lot of commercial interventions available that were advertised through the Internet and sometimes parents felt that they were a magical cure.
My observation in those 18 months was that up to 90% of families discontinued intervention in less than a year and moved from one center to the other. Parents were anxious and neither was this helping their interaction with the child nor the home environment.
In order to understand what solution was available around the globe, I spent a year working with Child Development Centres in the United Kingdom. After a lot of research, I came up with this program which is based on the approach used with children who have neurological disorders in the United Kingdom.