ABSTRACT
About 80 per cent of the developmentally delayed children are due to environmental influences such as abnormal mother-child relations, deprivation in environmental stimulations in the formative years of life, birth injury, difficult labour, forced delivery, postnatal hazards such as viral infections, or inflammation of the brain. Early detection, followed by timely and appropriate intervention initiated by AWWs, can help accelerate the cause of normal development of the pre-school develop-mentally delayed children or, at least, the impact of the deficits on the everyday life of the children can be diminished. AWWs, thus, can do much in training the parents, particularly the mothers of developmentally delayed children. For proper nurture, care and understanding of children as well as the wellbeing of nursing and expectant mothers, it aims at providing an integrated package of six services immunization, health check-up, referral services, supplementary nutrition, nutrition and health education and, lastly, pre-school education.
