In this world of fast-paced performance and educational excellence, poor scholastic performance (PSP) in a child’s school years  produces deep emotional scars. Scholastic deficits can be remediated. There are also many other difficulties that can impede a child’s performance which need to be rectified, like language problems, Reading and Writing problems. Most children who do poorly in school are intelligent enough and possess numerous other skills that can help them get ahead in their lives; those need to be identified and nurtured.

The narrative of CGC evolves from the need to address the ever increasing problems of learning and behavior in school children; these are eminently treatable if identified early enough.

A multidisciplinary approach is adopted while evaluating children with problems in learning and behavior.

This approach is the first of its kind in this part of the country.

The Team

Most children tend to have a combination of problems: developmental, neurological, academic and emotional. Hence it is imperative that a Team of specialists from related fields is available to evaluate these children. Such a multidisciplinary approach is made possible at our CGCs. A dedicated team of child psychiatrist, educational psychologist, social worker, special educator and language pathologist offer appropriate assessment, guidance and treatment.

The Setting

Our team works in the open setting of CGC, which encourages children and their parents to seek help for learning difficulties, emotional or behavior problems without fear or stigma. The need of the hour is for Schools to have access to an Authentic Resource Centre like ours with various specialists, where they can confidently seek an expert opinion about the child’s performance in order to help him/her.

Many difficulties in children may just be variations of the normal, and not necessarily a disorder.

Services at our CGCs in Kerala and Emirates include professional evaluation for:

• Poor School Performance (PSP) and Learning Disorders (LD)
• Levels of Intelligence (IQ) and Types of Intelligence
• Special Skills and Abilities
• Academic Skill Deficits in Reading, Writing, Spelling, Math, etc.
• Speech and Language Disorders: Stuttering, Aphasias, etc
• Motor Skill Deficits; poor handwriting, clumsiness, etc.
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADD/ADHD)
• Defiant/ Oppositional Behavior, Conduct Disorders
• Addiction to TV/ Internet, Disorganized routines
• Tics/ Tourette Disorder, ‘Silent’ Epilepsy
• Obsessive Behavior/ Disorders; obsessive slowness/ procrastination, etc
• Anxiety, School Phobia, Exam Phobia and various Fears in the child
• Depression, Social Withdrawal, loss of interest
• Developmental Neurological Disorders
• ‘Functional’ symptoms like Headache, Breathlessness, Stomachache, Frequent sickness, Absenteeism from school, etc.

Outreach Programmes

The CGC Outreach Programmes include the following:

• Workshop on “Learning Strategies” for Children.
• Workshop on “Life Skills” for Children.
• Workshop/ Sensitization modules for Schools, Teachers and Parents.
• Consultation and Liaison for Resource Room Services in Schools.
• Training Programmes for Counselors, Social Workers and Special Educators.

Research and Documentation

Liaison with renowned organisations in India and Abroad for original research, documentation and academic publication as a major focus; writings have been published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York, Sage Publications, UK, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi , the World Health Organisation (WHO), Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) etc.