Family Networks (FaNs) for Children With Developmental Disorders and Delays
Family Networks (FaNs) for Children With Developmental Disorders and Delays
Over 6% of children in Pakistan suffer from a developmental disorder (intellectual disability
 or Autistic spectrum disorder) and most receive no intervention.In an earlier proof of
 concept study, the investigators integrated social, technological and business innovations to
 develop and successfully pilot a sustainable service for such children in one rural
 population of 30,000. Affected families were identified through a mobile phone-based
 interactive voice response system, and organised into family networks. 'Champion' family
 volunteers were trained in evidence-based interventions. A Tablet-based android application
 was developed for training, monitoring and supervision of the champions, based on the World
 Health Organization's guidelines. The champions delivered the intervention to other families
 in the network. The project was sustainable and demonstrated significant improvements in the
 lives of children and their families in the first 6 months of its operation. The
 investigators are scaling-up this intervention to a population of 1 million. The
 investigators aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the scaled-up
 programme using cluster randomized control trial nested within the scale-up study.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Children aged between 2-12 years,

 -  Screen positive on any of the Ten Questions screen questionnaire items #
 1,4,5,7,8,9,10 for developmental disorders and delays.

 -  Developmental disorder and delay present according to clinical assessment (History &
 clinical examination for developmental delay in motor, communication, social,
 cognitive, daily living skills domains according to mhGAP developmental disorders
 guidelines for clinical assessment

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Co-morbid physical or mental conditions in the child requiring inpatient
 hospitalization

 -  Deafness or blindness in the child

 -  Primary caregiver not available or unwilling to participate in the intervention
 program for 6 months

 -  Physical or mental conditions in the primary caregiver needing inpatient
 hospitalization or frequent outpatient visits (more than two times a month)

 -  Written consent not obtained for participation in the trial by the primary caregiver