Counseling is provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems to children with disabilities and their family members. It is professional guidance of the individual by utilizing their maximum abilities.

Counseling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counselor and a client. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than two people. It is designed to help clients to understand and clarify their views of their life space, and to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed choices and through resolution of problems of an emotional or interpersonal nature.

The Department of Psychology offers professional mental health services to children and adolescents with Autism, Intellectual Disability (ID), Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Cerebral Palsy, Speech difficulties, Hearing difficulties and other multiple disabilities. The department also provides services to adults with disorders related to Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Mood disorders, Personality disorders, interpersonal relationship issues and neuropsychological issues related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease, Epilepsy etc. Psychological assessment involves detailed case history, mental status examination, clinical observation and the application of standardized tools. The management plan consists of interventional programs that are tailor made to suit the needs of clients and their families.

The department pursues an eclectic approach and provides services in a range of areas which are:

1. Diagnostic Services
2. Management & Therapeutic Services
3. Academics
4. Research
5. Collaborative Projects with national and international institutions
6. Online mental health services

The Department of Psychology works in a multidisciplinary approach accepting client referrals from other departments within and outside NISH.

Diagnostic Services:
Identification and diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders based on objective assessment using standardized psychological tests.

The tests that are being utilized are listed:

Management & Therapeutic Services
Once the problem is identified, depending on the nature, magnitude and the need of the hour, tailor made therapeutic services are rendered.

Psychoeducation 

This consists of educating the parents and caregivers regarding the diagnosis, intensity, severity, need, importance of therapy and follow up. Role of parenting, caregiver support in the treatment, management of the symptoms, addressing the emotional problems of caregiver and caregiver burden are the other areas of focus. 

Counselling

Counselling consists of helping people with physical, emotional and mental health issues improve their sense of well‐being, alleviate feelings of distress and resolve crises.  Counselling focuses on typical life stresses which people may struggle as individuals or as a part of families, groups and organizations.

Various kinds of counselling include individual counselling, pre and post marital counselling, family counselling, parental counselling, group counseling etc.

Psychotherapy 

Psychotherapy includes  helping people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing. Therapy may be conducted in an individual, family, couple, or group setting, which can help both children and adults. The choice of therapy type depends on the client’s particular illness, circumstances and preference. Therapists may combine elements from different approaches to best meet the needs of the person receiving treatment.

Various types of psychotherapies include behaviour therapies, cognitive behaviour therapy, psychodynamic therapy, supportive therapy etc.

The psychologists act as resource persons for conducting program for personnel from related fields and parents:

Academics

The department staff are also faculty members of MSc Audiology, MSc Speech, BASLP and DECSE (HI). They also provide life skills training for students in the DHI programmes.

Research

The psychology department also conducts research on topics such as psychological test standardization, and improvement of cognitive skills of students with hearing impairments and of clients with other disabilities.

Collaborative Projects with national and international institutions

Our department has collaborated with institutions such as the Central Institute on Mental Retardation (funded by the State Initiative on Disability), Center for Child Development, and the University of Michigan, U.S.

Access Hub is a website created in collaboration with the University of Michigan supported by the Center for Internet and Society in Bangalore, and Inclusive Planet in Chennai. It includes descriptions of disability-related service providers, state policies, experiential anecdotes, and a discussion forum. The website can be accessed at: http://www.accesshub.org

The allied services include Psychology, ENT and Physiotherapy which are essential for the multidisciplinary team approach for assessment and management of the disorders. This becomes essential due to the co-morbidity of hearing loss and speech-language disorders with other disorders.

• Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy

• Psychology

Physiotherapy Department at NISH is a well-equipped departmentthat provides specialized health care services to community intended to develop, maintain, and restore maximum movement and functional ability. The physiotherapy department is run by qualified and experienced physiotherapist. The physiotherapy department forms an inevitable part of the multidisciplinary team for disability identification and management.

The physiotherapy services are available to a wide age group from paediatrics to adults.

We provide quality clinical services to adults and children with

• • Developmental Delay
  • Abnormalities in muscle tone
  • Neurological disability such as cerebral palsy or acquired brain injury
  • Mobility and Physical issue due to a syndrome.
  • Postural imbalances
  • Stroke
  • Head Injury

Intervention includes assessment using standardized tools and scales, formulating a functional diagnosis, planning of treatment, and implementation of intervention and evaluation of outcome of client’s condition

For the paediatrics, individual programs are tailored for each child. All children are assessed for their presenting condition, and a program is devised to improve the child's physical problems Therapy based programs are delivered though games, activities and songs. Parental counselling regarding child’s condition and training of home programme are provided to each parent. The department also conducts periodical parental awareness programmes on each disorder.

The Physiotherapy Department in collaboration with Speech Therapy Department runs Cerebral Palsy Unit at NISH.

Therapy timings depends upon the convenience of the patient and availability of the therapists.

Duration of  each session is 45 minutes.

The department is open from Monday through Saturday starting from 8.30am - 4.30pm.

The appointments given for therapy are to be followed by clients strictly.