You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.
Alan Alda
V-Excel News
The highlight this month was a splendid event where over 100 students of our special schools, remedial and vocational training
units put up a show of dreams and colours to celebrate the Annual Day on 23rd February 2008.
The program was a musical named ‘The Very Curious Caterpillar’. The curious caterpillar was an apt metaphor for a special life
that searched for adventure and inspiration. Through unfamiliar lands and sudden challenges, and amidst fruit salads and friendly
dinosaurs, the caterpillar explored many places before finally discovering the lovely butterfly inside.
Led by our school Principal Mrs. Gita Bhalla, this play was a truly exclusive event. All the children and their special educators,
did a lot of hard work and were practicing for over two months. The involvement and joy of enacting on stage of each and everyone
was evident to the 1,000+ spectators, comprising of parents, teachers, and many well-wishers of V-Excel. The caterpillar’s
journey and the special children’s performances moved the audience to spontaneous applause and uninhibited smiles.
Our Founder-Director, Dr. Vasudha Prakash, read out the annual report thanking the Trust’s supporters and reminiscing the years
gone by.
Eminent Filmmaker and Director Mr. K. Balachander, was the Chief Guest at the function, and Consulate General of Japan in Chennai,
Mr. Kazuo Minagawa was the Guest of Honour. Both of them found the entire experience very touching and were extremely vocal
in their praise for the teachers who made it happen and for the children who showed immense potential of self-expression.
Academy of Teacher Excellence News
The trainees are currently engrossed in their practical training with individual children. The practical classes are very
structured and each trainee is allotted three children with different profiles. First the trainees are asked to observe the children
individually in the classroom set-up for three days and then go on and build a rapport with their allotted children. After
understanding the current performance level of the child, they develop lesson plans with the help of the trainer. Lesson plans are
aimed at achieving atleast two goals required to raise the academic skills of the child. Each trainee is asked to conduct twenty
lessons for each child and develop a case-study with inputs from the child’s parents and teachers.
The Annual Day celebrations saw some expedient contributors from ATE, as assistance poured in from them for arrangements and
coordination at the venue. Given that there were over 1000 people at the auditorium, enjoying the children’s ability fest, their
help was really useful.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center (KLC) News
This month “The Curious Caterpillar” took over everyone’s life - teachers, children, and administrative staff alike. It was
like the month of busy elves getting ready for the big day - tailors stitching spaghetti on to white pajamas and teachers attaching
sequins to make the butterfly wings resplendent; props being nailed for the final time and the checklists getting crossed out.
The big day arrived and all the children played their part well. Our individual goals for some children were well achieved. Sharan
did pick out the relevant ‘day’ card walked across the stage. Amruth was a slow moving parrot but independently gave Aaqila the honey
for her doll. So did Ponharish, who was an authentic crow lightly hopping on his feet! Every child in school knew what role he
played and also the entire song list. Many excerpts from the musical have now been made into reading books of various events and
will be followed up in school.
Three cheers to the teachers and children who timelessly practiced and patiently sat in the wings for the final performance!
On February 9, 15 children participated in the Leo Club’s Annual Event, Handipark. Reena from KLC won the second prize in potato
gathering and all the children got certificates of participation.
V-Excel Remedial Center (VRC) News
Annual day practice harnessed energies, space and time in the lives of our children, teachers and parents. We found unusual
alliances being formed between our children, friendships that transcended age and disabilities. The most beautiful part is that
all boundaries dissolved and we had teachers and children of KLC, BLA and VRC working together as a single unit to make this work.
Some snippets from the practice sessions:
Gokkul and Akshay Manikandan were an inseparable pair. What is remarkable is Akshay is all of 2.5 feet tall and Gokkul
close to 6 ft.
Siddharth, our caterpillar, became pally with Shanmathi and was proud to share his friendship with his classmates, introduce
her and dance around with her in his free time.
Children from the regular school have been working hard to complete the curriculum and prepare for their final exams. There is
a lot of hard work happening at the Center in the evenings. Children prefer to draw, paint, listen to music or play a game for
a few minutes to de-stress. The children and the teachers do put in great effort to find a balance between remedying their
lags in reading and writing, learning the concepts, memorizing and exam taking skills. We are hoping for academic success of
all our children.
Bridges Learning Academy
Aamir Khan’s new film “Taare Zameen Par” has been a trailblazer in the field of Special Education. There has been a
tremendous spurt in awareness, especially about Learning Disabilities such as Dyslexia after the film has been released.
Kudos to Aamir Khan and Aloke Gupte for boldly taking on this subject.
At the Bridges Learning Academy, we strive to create a nurturing environment for children with special needs. An Individualized
Education plan is designed for each child, keeping in mind the child’s strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, by giving individual
attention to each child, a conscious effort is made to bridge the gap that exists between the child’s performance and potential.
It is very encouraging to note that all our students are making good progress.
Counseling Unit
The individual therapy cases and group work which were being carried out throughout the year are now bearing fruits and
children are showing significant improvement. The groups which were facilitated by one of our Counselors, Puja, and focused
on children’s development of emotional and social communication have moved forward in a positive direction. In this context,
a special mention must be made of the group of children with Autism that has started displaying some form of symbolic play.
The Parent Empowerment Program (PEP) which was recently carried out received a favorable response. There were requests for
more such programs for specific age groups. The next follow-up workshop of PEP will be conducted shortly. This time we will
focus on a crucial subject - Adolescent Sexual Health, with reference to Developmental Disabilities.
Outreach Program
Our implementation of educational and life skills training to children with special needs under the SSA program
(Education for All) has been well-appreciated and the government officials asked us to make a documentary film covering
the various aspects of our work. They would like to present this film at their Delhi office during the review meeting. This
is indeed a feather in our cap and we are thankful to the government for recognizing our sincere efforts.
We have now started Daycare Centers in each of the 10 blocks in Villipuram district of Tamil Nadu. We have employed teachers
and aayahs at each Center to take care of the children who are there between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. There is no age restriction as
the objective is to tend and train children who are unable to attend school.
Contact Info :: India:
V-Excel Educational Trust
#1 Norton 2nd Street
Mandaveli Chennai 600 028
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24620243
91 - 44 – 24956373 E-mail us or visit us at www.v-excel.org
Contact Info :: USA:
Academic Concepts, Inc.
1403 Merrywood Drive
Edison, NJ 08817
Tel: (732) 572-3748
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
Volunteer Info:
Volunteers are an integral part of our success. Our most pressing needs are in the areas of occupational and speech therapies, and
as teacher aides. We also require assistance in library management.
If you have any of these and are interested in volunteering at V-Excel, please contact us.
A spirited journey of self-discovery
CHENNAI: A land of wonder and enchantment unfolded on stage as the curious caterpillar explored the world to find its destiny. Students of the
V-Excel Educational Trust put up a show of dreams and colours on Saturday to celebrate the annual day of the Trust.
The curious caterpillar was an apt metaphor for a special life that searched for adventure and inspiration. Amid fruit salads and friendly dinosaurs,
through unfamiliar lands and sudden challenges, the caterpillar explored before finally discovering the butterfly inside.
The students and their special educators alike seemed to have a ball on stage, and it showed. So did all the hard work. The caterpillar’s journey and the
special children’s performances moved the audience to spontaneous applause and uninhibited smiles.
Founder and Director of V-Excel Vasudha Prakash read out the annual report thanking the Trust’s supporters and reminiscing the years gone by. From a few
people’s dream to a large-scale movement that has now spread across Tamil Nadu, the Trust had scaled great heights. “The performance today was the culmination
of two months of hard work,” she said.
Filmmaker K. Balachander, chief guest at the function, said he was dumbfounded by the performance of the children. He said he had been credited with bringing
out the talents of great actors, but his achievement was small compared to that of the teachers who had brought out the talent of these children. “Nothing
can undermine the child’s power of self-expression,” he said. Consulate General of Japan in Chennai Kazuo Minagawa, Guest of Honour at the function, related
his personal experience of discovering his talents and reminded parents of the immense potential that lay inside every person. “I was so touched by the
performance of these children that I forgot that they were disabled. I have seen some of the world’s greatest operas and performances, but have never been
so moved,” he said.
The speeches and formalities that followed were not enough to take away the charm that the children had spun. It was a fitting finale when 12-year-old
Shyam Gopal performed some of his own compositions on his keyboard, much to the awe of the audience. Fascinated with predicting the weather and a gift to
perform and compose music, Shyam not only wowed the crowd, but also reiterated the curious caterpillar’s journey of self-discovery.
