BMI Foundation
BMI Foundation was established in 2013 by professionals with extensive experience in developing services for children, adolescents and adults with autism. BMI Foundation’s vision emerged out of Dr. Smita Awasthi’s 36 years of work in the field of special needs where one thing thing led to another and an in-depth needs assessment and cultural understanding based on the philosophy of doing the best with highest ethical standards.
Mission:“Provide highest quality services & facilities for persons with autism, without discrimination, to enhance their potential towards a life of inclusion and mainstreaming and provide a safe and enriched environment for a life of dignity with highest standards.”
BMI Foundation (www.bmi-foundation.org) is a not for profit non-govt organization, registered under the PWD Act. It is also registered under section 80G and Sec 12AA of Income Tax with FCRA clearance.
BMI Foundation has been involved in numerous endevours to make our society a better place for families with children with autism and other special needs. It is involved at 4 very different levels.
- Advocacy
- Interventions
- Skill Development
- Education
- Facilities
Advocacy: BMI Foundation in actively engaged in Autism advocacy. On April 2 the World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) declared by United Nations its team of volunteers interact extensively with thousands of general public engaging with them to make them aware of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Simultaneous efforts are made across Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Mumbai each year. Trustee Dr. Smita Awasthi is invited each year by multinational corporates such as Capgemini and Microsoft to sensitize its employees on autism as well as individuals with autism at workplace. A fashion show was organized in collaboration with Microsoft in 2019 where 50 children & adults between ages 3 years to 45 years walked the ramp to foot tapping music to the delight of parents and surprising Microsoft employees. At another level BMI Foundation organizes an inter-disciplinary Annual conference since 2017 where medical professionals involved with diagnosis and medical treatment and intervention providers such as behavior analysts, SLP’s and OT’s come together on one platform to educate parents and professionals alike. The most eminent hands on national and international speakers participate in the conference by presenting cutting edge evidence based interventions and provides opportunities for direct interaction with these eminent and hands-on professionals through panel discussions. High quality research in the field of autism, selected by the scientific community, is also presented as oral presentations at these conferences.
Intervention: BMI offers cutting edge ABA based therapy for children where intervention is provided in a 1:1 ratio, dyads, triads and small groups. As ABA is supervision based each child is monitored by 3 people. The Behavior analyst: who designs the intervention for each child, monitors child’s progress, trains supervisor and does behavioural data analyses. The Supervisor: who trains the trainer in implementing the program using behavior principles. The Front line trainer: who works directly with the child and takes data Our scientific work in the field of special needs is an example in India and various organizations such as NIMHANS, KPMRC, NIEPID send their students for observations and fieldwork at BMI. Our global initiatives further our standing as an organization which believes in hard work and excellence.
Skilling: This important aspect of the Foundations work involves training behavior technicians in working with children with autism and other developmental disabilities. It provides them a career opportunity and builds a trained resource pool. Parent empowerment through training provides the parents both knowledge and skill in service delivery.
Education: BMI has been running a Verified Course Sequence in Applied Behavior Analysis approved by the USA based Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). The course provided education in behavior analysis to many students in the last 5 years and many of these students made us proud by becoming certified behavior analysts in turn improving the quality of intervention and services for families with child with autism and other special abilities in India.
Facilities: The experience in running BMI as the largest intervention center in Asia and the region with high value and ethics which provides services to nearly 300 children at a time forms our backbone to take up this emotional project for those who really need it.
BMI Foundation’s most prestigious project is to develop a residential facility “Paripri” which will house 100 adults with autism. This arises out of a desperate need in society for residential facilities for the growing number of adults with autism in our society. Paripri which means “Highly Valued” is a Sanskrit word with its origins in Rig-Veda dating back to 1500 -1000 BCE. The word Pariprī resonates with our philosophy as all adults with autism and other special needs at Pariprī will be valued members of this community. Paripri, is an ambitious residential project planned on a 20 acre land at Denkennikottai, Tamil Nadu. The community will be spread over 23 acres and its living spaces will meet international standards. It will house independent villas, a vocational unit, an amphitheatre for performances, a movie hall, a supermarket, a hospital, a training college and leisure areas such as swimming pool and bike paths. It will also have housing for support staff and a guest house for visiting families.
The project will be one of the best in the country not only because of the International standards in running a facility but also because of the beautiful environment it will be housed in. Firstly the water table at the project site is very high making water available for irrigation and other needs. Next Denkenikottai is 3000 feet above sea level and the weather conditions here are like living in Bangalore. Called the “Little England” it has beautiful flora and fauna with the area filled with rose plantations and butterflies. It is just a 3 hour drive from Bangalore airport and is very reachable.