Vasudha Prakash, Ed.D.

Position: Founder - Director

Dr. Vasudha Prakash is a social entrepreneur and professional academician who holds a doctorate in Special Education from Rutgers University. Dr. Prakash brings with her a proven track record of success in the field of special education and learning disabilities. She has been instrumental in raising and increasing awareness of the need for resources for children with special needs. Under her guidance, the V-Excel Educational Trust now services around 450 children in Chennai and 4,400 in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Prakash is also a professional counselor who devotes a lot of her time to counseling parents of children with special needs. Her counseling services also extend to issues concerning adolescents and young professionals. She has conducted several professional workshops and seminars in companies such as InfoSys, Cognizant Technologies, and the Lifeline Group of Hospitals.

She writes extensively and has maintained weekly columns in the Indian Express. She also makes regular appearances on TV and radio where she provides advice and guidance on special education and life skills, while advocating and championing the rights of equality of people with disabilities.

B. Sundari, M.A., B.Ed.

Position: Managing Trustee and Correspondent

Mrs. B. Sundari is a tireless administrator and worker who is able to bridge the divide between governmental, private, and NGO sectors with consummate ease and professionalism. She was the Chief Administrative Officer and PRO for the prestigious Padma Seshadri Schools in Chennai, India for 40 years. She brings a wide array of experiences in the administrative and operational aspects of running a school. She has been a pioneer in getting the Government of India to entrust V-Excel with 10 school blocks in the Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Program.

She oversees the conducting of medical camps, appliance distribution camps, and special events in these areas. She is also the contact person for accounting, audit, and all financial and legal issues of the Trust. She provides valuable input and direction in the day-to-day management issues of all initiatives that the Trust undertakes.

Gita Bhalla, B.Ed.

Position: Principal, Kaleidoscope Learning Center

Mrs. Gita Bhalla, the Principal of Kaleidoscope Learning Center, is a graduate and has a B.Ed degree in Special Education along with over 30 years of experience working with a cross-section of children with severe to mild disabilities. She has significant experience in child development and psychology. Her training ground has been Spastic Society of Karnataka where she had an opportunity to work for about seventeen years with children having special needs from different socio-economic profiles. Her association with V-Excel Educational Trust is as old as the school itself. Her philosophy related to practical living needs of a special child and her thoroughness in work has given a quality edge to our school program which is widely acknowledged in Chennai as a pivotal organization in Special Education. Her effervescent personality, commitment, and unique sense of purpose are keys to making our school a superlative platform for learning. Gita is also one of our ace trainers for Resource Development and Training Workshops.

Ajita Panshikar, M.Sc., MBA

Position: Vice President, Strategic Development

Mrs. Ajita Panshikar, our Vice President - Strategic Development, is a M.Sc. in Statistics and a post graduate in Business Management. She's a successful marketing professional who gave up her lucrative, high profile job in the corporate sector when she met with the team at V-Excel and saw their unconditional dedication in educating mentally and developmentally challenged children. Her focus at V-Excel Educational Trust is systematizing NGO operations, assessing and raising resources for ensuring uninterrupted services to the challenged children. She has built her knowledge in this field and works on various developmental activities essential for expansion. Ajita's positive, fair, analytical approach brings in objectivity and a holistic perspective for planning and implementation of our programs. She plays a crucial role in all our key decisions and is committed to widening the reach of specialized services.

Usha Rajagopal

Position: Manager, Vocational Programs

Mrs. Usha Rajagopal is the managing Trustee of ESVI Sarada Foundation a Public Charitable Trust engaged in providing educational and medical relief for the poor and needy in addition to rural development programs.

A Commerce graduate by qualification Mrs. Rajagopal has brought to bear great organising capabilities from her school days. Besides, by virtue of her humane qualities, she has taken active part in helping people around her. Presently she is heading the Vocational Training Unit at the Research and Rehabilitation Centre of V-Excel run in association with ESVI Sarada foundation. She has been a part of this unit in its planning, growth, as well as the programs for the trainees from its inception in 2007.

Jayanthi Vishwanath

Position: Manager, Program Development

Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath is a post-graduate in Biochemistry, with 14+ years of professional experience in the corporate sector as well as in several schools and colleges in India. Her forte lies in teaching, planning, public relations and administration. She worked as the Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the Oxford College of Science, Bangalore prior to joining us.

Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath is a post-graduate in Biochemistry, with 14+ years of professional experience in the corporate sector as well as in several schools and colleges in India. Her forte lies in teaching, planning, public relations and administration. She worked as the Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the Oxford College of Science, Bangalore prior to joining us.

Parimal Pandit

Position: Coordinator, Counseling and Assessment

Mrs. Parimal Pandit is a trained clinical psychologist and counselor who has 13+ years of professional experience in teaching and counseling. She has a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pune. Her responsbilities at V-Excel include play therapy for children with autism, developmental delays, learning disabilities and emotional issues. She also counsels parents of children with special needs and provides counseling services for adults with emotional and psychological problems. Mrs. Pandit is also a Lecturer in our Diploma in Special Education program.

Her prior experiences include tenures at the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health, Ashnaa Health and Counseling Center and at the Shishuvan Primary School. In these organizations she was responsible for providing counseling services, conducting group interventions, and teaching a variety of courses in psychology, psycho-diagnostics and psychotherapy.

P.D. Mary Veronica Punitha

Position: Coordinator, Remedial Center

Mrs. Veronica Punitha is a professional in the field of rehabiliation, counseling, and psychotherapy. Her educational credentials include a Masters degree in Counseling and Psychotherapy, a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Science and a Masters in Philosophy. Her professional career spans 12+ years.

Veronica started her career as an intern in the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Chennai and spent several months since interning in other institutes in South India where developed teaching materials, performed assessments and planned goals, participated in early-intervention and special-skills training, and conducted house visits. Following her internship, Veronica worked as a special educator in the Sophia School in Bangalore where sge was responsible for performing assessments and developing goals for mentally challenged students, preparing lesson plans, formulating and executing IEPs, and planning and implementing various recreational activities.

Veronica has also worked as a Course Coordinator at MITHRA, Chennai where she handled subjects like Identification, Assessment and Rehabilitation of persons with hearing impairment. She was also responsible for planning field work and internship programs for trainees and for networking with other NGOs for concurrent field work.

Shikha Kaushik

Position: Coordinator, Vocational Center

Mrs. Shikha Kaushik is a RCI-registered Special Educator with extensive experience in the teaching and training of persons with Mental Retardation and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

In addition to her M.A., Mrs. Kaushik has several credentials in various facets of special education. She has effectively steered and coordinated many special education and training centers, and is adept at developing course curricula, IEPs and Functional Assessments. Mrs. Kaushik professional experience includes one-to-one intervention using Verbal Behavior Techniques; counselor in family training programs, language and communication therapist, teacher and therapist involved in classroom teaching, vocational training , remedial intervention and parent counseling, and home programs.

Lalitha Sridhar

Position: Coordinator, Early Intervention

Mrs. Lalitha Sridhar started her career as a physiotherapist in various hospitals in clinical intervention. She worked as a senior therapist at the Alzahra Medical Centre, Dubai and was the head of the therapy department at the Al Noor Training Centre for children with special needs in Dubai for 8 years.

She has been involved in the whole process of assessment goal-setting and training staff of multi-disciplinary teams. Mrs. Sridhar has handled children with various early childhood development delays and cerebral palsy and syndromes. In V-Excel, Mrs. Sridhar has been involved in setting up the Early Intervention Unit on the principles of sensory integration and neuro-developmental therapy. Her core areas are assessment, formulating development indices, setting of goals, effective therapy, planning work with regular schools on inclusion, providing training for teachers, parent counseling and training, and training staff of multi-disciplinary teams.

S. John Miller, Ph.D.

Position: Coordinator, Early Intervention

Dr. S. John Miller has a degree in Occupational Therapy and Heading Occupational Therapy Department. Dr. Miller has been associated with the Anthroposophy Medical Society and curative education for several years. Currently, his main area interest is understanding and working with special needs children. His focus is on curative education and its impact on children with autism. He as served as the curriculum guide for Kaleidoscope Learning Center and the V-Excel Remedial Center, both of which have taken up curative education as their theme.

Dr. Miller specializies in sensory integration therapy and has a keen interest is integrating traditional games and various play options in Occupational Therapy.