As some of you may be aware I am familiar with the challenges faced by Mentally retarded children and is personal to me. In my recent visit to India I observed and understood the need and importance for these children to be vocationally trained. As I understand presently there are training programmes available in special schools which focus on old trades -- cutting paper, making envelopes, etc. These trades are basically create low-value. It is my belief that in this age of global economy and research outcomes in positive psychology we can provide innovative training for skills which can create more value. In order to achieve this we need to identify inborn strengths and talents and match them against new economy trades and train them for the same.
In order to explore possibilities around these themes, at a high level atleast the following needs to be done:
1. Study the behavioral traits of these children
2. Identify patterns of behaviors if any from behavioral study (1)
3. Leverage consistent patterns and match against trades which create higher value
To enable conduct this study a questionnaire probing general behavior with an intent of identifying unique strengths and talents needs to be created. As a first step lot of research in psychology, current training methods/trades, etc. is required. I am writing to seek your interest in contributing to this effort. If you are interested in making consistent contribution please reply to this email and I will add you to a Google Group.
If you know of someone who has worked / working with these children or an expert - doctor, teacher or can in anyway help/advice in this effort please forward this message to them. Also if you know of any groups working in this area already please share with me.
As always I welcome your comments, ideas or suggestions.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
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