"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is
over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.."
...Charles Kendall Adams
V-Excel News
Crossing yet another significant milestone, V-Excel has made inroads in the international arena. In May 2011, V-Excel
papers were accepted in two conferences, one in New York, USA and one in Reykjavik, Iceland. Both the conferences
were widely attended by professionals from various countries. Our topic was centered on 'Effectiveness of Curative
Education for children with Autism in India'. Dr. Vasudha Prakash, Mrs. Gita Bhalla and Mrs. Ajita Panshikar jointly
presented V-Excel's journey, the philosophy behind Curative Education and the different methods used while working
with children with Autism. Our approach was appreciated by many and raised interest among other professionals from the
field.
June 6th was the orientation for all V-Excel employees at our Shastrinagar Center. It was especially nice to see all
the employees together, appreciate our diverse roles in the organization, to know how we connect to each other, how
we need to bring in synergy for achieving a common goal for special children. This was explained by way of a three-fold
social order, where the technical team (teachers and therapists), the administrative team, and the financial support
system have to be in sync for harmonious and effective working in a social development field. It was a very good
idea to reiterate that we are all in this together. Gita Bhalla and Ajita Panshikar together also presented an
interesting, informative and lively report of their trip to the New York conference. Their sharing of how the world
was looking at Autism, various issues surrounding disabilities, Waldorf Education and other special educational methods
and institutions brought in a new kind of validation, support, appreciation to the work done at V-Excel. They both
brought in motivation, new ideas and rejuvenated our already energized team.
The short film on V-Excel made by Neha, and assisted by Puja and Sowmya, was viewed with much applause. Everyone
was been moved by it and as it is about our children, their responses, our work with them; all so close to our hearts,
everyone wants to watch it again in smaller groups.
At V-Excel Mandeveli, we all took part in the making of an artwork that is currently in our foyer. Everyone painted
a few strokes on a huge 6' x 6' canvas eventually labeled, 'What lies beyond'. Gita wrote a beautiful piece that
brings it all together and it has been hand written and displayed in our lobby. It bears significance at the
entrance of an organization such as ours, where the deep work that goes in, beyond the outer visible work, is
often far more significant and rewarding.
Our satellite centers at Nasik and Tirunelveli are taking good shape and we are engaging special educators, therapists,
counselor etc., depending on the profile of children coming in for services. Occupational Therapy and Sensory
Integration material has also been purchased.Our key movers in these two cities, Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanathan and Ms.
Jeyaseeli respectively, are actively involved in seeing that we do the right things needed to establish these Centers.
We would be happy to have all of you join us in extending our wishes and complete support to them.
Kaleisdoscope Learning Centre
June 8th saw the beginning of the new year in school. The school was wearing a spruced up look with some classes
having new curtains, some new durries, and all the blackboards repainted. Children greeted each other with smiles
and hugs. The teachers, who had come in a few days earlier, received the children with 'welcome back' posters and
brought in cheer with three days of group music.
Ten new children have joined us this year while eight children have left for various reasons. Some moved out of the
neighbourhood; some have joined regular schools; we wish them all the very best and a happy journey ahead. A parents'
orientation talk was held for all new entrants.
A whole school art work was done by the children, with every class doing some hand work. To commemorate the ninth
year of school, we depicted nine bushes, nine birds, nine children, and kites, fences, bushes, meadows, flowers and
butterflies in the art work titled - 'All things bright and beautiful'.
We had begun a Reading Group; they are now reading the chapter on walking, speaking and thinking from the book 'The
First Seven Years'. It is very insightful and the discussions that follow add immense value to all the group members.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
This month was a crucial month for the trainees of the 'Diploma in Special Education' course. They took their
final external examination for all the five theory papers. Though the 'Developmental Psychology' paper seemed a
bit challenging, on the whole, the trainees were satisfied with their performance in all the papers. There was
contentment and happiness that they have not just completed the last stage of the course, but completed it well!
The ATE has planned the 'Certificate Course in Specific Learning Disabilities', which focuses on identification and
intervention methods for children with Learning Disabilities. The course, scheduled to begin in July 2011, is a
weekend program spread over a three month period, and is being conducted for the second time in this calendar year.
Early Intervention Unit
Therapists, Special Educators and children came back after their summer vacation. Around ten of our children have
joined primary schools. They will continue to be a part of our Early Intervention program and would eventually be
weaned off, as they become more independent.
The home programs, sent for the parents to implement for their children, during the holidays were reviewed.
Around 10 new children are inducted into the Early Intervention program. The children were assessed to see the level
of functioning and development, so that appropriate sensory integration and education program can be designed.
Goal setting and IEP formulation have been the important aspect of this month's program. Individual sessions have
commenced, and group sessions for enhancing social and play skills are going to be soon facilitated.
Bridges Learning Academy
BLA began this year by participating in the activities for the Founder's day. This included making a painting, making
a natural fence using twigs and other material collected from our playground and the nearby farm, creating a
maida painting. Children really enjoyed doing all these activities.
Books were purchased by the teachers from the Oxford Press. This year we have split Environmental Sciences (EVS) into
Science and Social Studies. We have also included general knowledge and cursive writing in the curriculum.
This year, we have added new feature to the BLA assembly time - the brain gym and movement therapy like eurythmy.
These will help the children increase their concentration, confidence and speech.
We have also included kitchen activities from this term. All the children took part in the Tuck Shop and enjoyed it
thoroughly. Activities like chopping, cutting, and patting were done very well by the children, much to the surprise
of Vasanthi Aunty who is in charge of the Kitchen.
Yoga has also been introduced in BLA this year.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
The month of June welcomed the students and teachers after a short summer break. Many new students were referred to
the remedial program after the initial consultation.
Remedial assessment was done for all the new students to know their exact learning difficulty areas and also to gauge
their current functional level.
Our Program Coordinator met parents of the new students and briefed them about the current functional level of their
children and explained to them the customized remedial program designed for their ward.
The staff took part in the child study conducted by KLC, an exercise where the multidisciplinary team working with
the student combines their understanding of the special child for ensuring positive development.
To augment our knowledge in the philosophy, text reading was started and each staff member interpreted, analyzed,
and understood the text in her own way.
Rural Outreach Program
Britannia Industries stepped forward this term too and organized for biscuits for nearly 4,500 children with special
needs for our Villipuram project. These serve as motivators for the parents to send their children to the Resource
Rooms and Day Care Centers, and of course, for the children to come for remedial work, as they get different yummy
biscuits to eat! A million thanks to Britannia for their support.
This month our Special Educators, from all 10 blocks of Villipuram district, started inclusion work. This entailed
identifying children from Day Care Centers who have school readiness skills. Our teachers ensured that they joined
regular schools, and now follow up with their teachers on a weekly basis to check that the special children are
adapting well to the class environment and coping with the academics.
One of the initiatives from V-Excel is having Vocational Center within each Resource Room for adolescents and young
adults with disabilities. We encourage them in making candles, flowers, dolls, covers, greeting cards etc.. The
teachers support their endeavours by marketing it to shops, or at times, even personally buying these. It gives us
great pride in sharing that, after an initial investment in these vocational activities, our team has been successful
in rotating the revenues for further investment in material!
Vocational Training Unit
VTU reopened on the 6th of June, with the most exciting news of our first job placement! Ashwin, one of our trainees,
has been successfully placed as a Data Entry Operator. Usha, his Job Coach and Head of VTU, is personally monitoring
his work behaviour as well emotional aspects on a continuous basis.
With expansion of our work, our requirement of space increased. Our Trust-associate, ESVI Sarada Foundation,
volunteered to step in and help with the construction of two halls to accommodate the three different activities.
The Annexe is ready for use; Baking and Screen-printing units are shifted there.
Two trainees Surekha (17 years) and Anand (20 years) joined this year. We also added one faculty member, a
Physiotherapist, Mr. Vishwanathan to our Unit.
The paper cup-making machine has been installed and the trainees have begun their training on the production process.
VTU trainees and staff went for a monthly outing to the SaiBaba Temple and ISKON at East Coast Road on the outskirts of
Chennai city. Trainees proudly distributed their self-baked biscuits as 'prasadam'!
Ms. Devika and Ms. Vasantha from Aseema Trust visited the Unit and proposed to conduct special dance classes, once
a week. Movement and physical activity are known to have a positive impact on development of special children, and
especially in this enjoyable form, it will surely be beneficial for the trainees.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
The team sat together to plan out the schedule and work areas for the new academic year, in preparation for the
school reopening in the first week of June.
We were tied up this month with parent consultations and child observations for assessing potential admissions.
There were also a number of follow-up cases from our counseling work with schools and corporates.
We sincerely believe that a lot of help can be given to children with learning difficulties, if these are identified
early on. Besides identification training, there are many remedial and counseling services that are required in a
school setup. Networking with regular schools, to become their ongoing support arm, has hence been one of our
endeavours. Our efforts in this direction have met with positive results and we look forward to working closely
with teachers and students.
Contact Information
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
V-Excel Center for Research and Rehabilitation
(In assocation with S.V. Sarada Foundation)
50 Sreyes, M.G. Road
Shastri Nagar, Chennai 600 041
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24522061
91 - 44 - 24521986 E-mail us
Academic Concepts, Inc.
1403 Merrywood Drive
Edison New Jersey 08817
Tel: (732) 572-3748
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
