ALVA Foundation

Persons with challenges should be able to live a complete and meaningful life. They may face certain problems in day-to-day life. Here, you can find information on employment, housing and various support schemes for persons with challenges. someone who is physically challenged has a problem with their body that makes it difficult for them to do things that other people can do easily.

We at The Little People Tree are aware of the fact that raising a child with intellectual challenges requires tremendous emotional strength and stamina. The child has special needs and parents can find themselves overwhelmed by various medical, care giving and educational responsibilities. Voluntary support from family, friends, community and/ or paid care giving is critical to maintaining balance at home.

Professionals with different specializations, parent support groups, schools, NGOs working in this field, etc. that you may choose from to suit your child’s needs. We have also provided useful links and downloadable information that might be of great use. This may enable you to gather strength, seek better care and plan well for your child.

Intellectual Disability
Intellectual Disability is a new term for what used to be called Mental Retardation. It manifests before the age of 18 years. It is identified by how a person does on tests to measure his/her intelligence and his/her adaptive skills.

Intelligence involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. Intelligence is measured by special tests called intelligence tests. These tests provide a numerical score after measuring the person’s general mental capability with reference to their age. This score is called intelligence quotient or IQ. In general, a person with an IQ test score of about 70 or below is indicative of Intellectual Disability.

Intellectual Disability impacts adaptive skills, these refer to how well a person can deal with the tasks of everyday life. These include the ability to speak and understand; self-management skills (dress, bathe, feed or otherwise care for themselves, manage job responsibilities, manage money); use of community resources; leisure, self-care, and social skills (empathy, social judgement, inter-personal communication, ability to make and retain friendships); self-direction; basic academic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic); and work skills.

A child is only considered to have Intellectual Disability if he/she displays deficits in both IQ and adaptive behaviour. He/she is not considered to have Intellectual Disability if only one of the two is present.