Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still,
to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. Benjamin Franklin
From the Director's Desk
It has been five years now since we began as a fledgling institution and I am happy and proud at how far we have come in this
short span of time. It hasn't always been easy, but we have had the good fortune to have had the support, blessings, and
well-wishes of hundreds of our friends in the community both here and overseas. Their continuing faith and belief in our
vision infuses us with renewed energies to achieve higher and to consistently provide the best services and resources for
the population that we cater to.
This year I'm particularly happy to announce that we have started new services like Assessment and Counseling, Early Intervention
and Vocational programs. Our center in Shastri Nagar, which we jointly run with ESVI Sarada Foundation, is now fully functional
and provides training in sensory integration, vocational services, counselling assessments, workshops for teachers, parents
and children and home management for parents.
With this expansion has come the need to bring on more professionals on board and we are excited to have done so. Our quest
is to hire, and retain, the best and our staff is held to the highest standards of excellence. Our teacher-training program
offered at the Academy of Teacher Excellence has been recognized by the Rehabiliation Council of India (RCI) in New Delhi and,
in addition, has received a major boost in support by our friends in i-Flex Solutions, Mumbai.
Our other flagship centers continue to provide high standards of services. Our frequent interactions with parents brings out much-valued
feedback about our programs. We have also been fortunate to have several volunteers who have provided us with expertise in many
areas of administration and education.
We recognize that there is much left to be done and that we've only just begun. We are confident we will get there. With the blessings
and the good wishes of so many of you, how can we not?
Dr. Vasudha Prakash
Academy of Teacher Excellence News
The academic year concluded on 13th April 2007. Eleven students will be graduating with our Diploma in Special Education.
Rhe Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), New Delhi has granted provisional recognition to our institution to conduct
the one year Diploma Course in Special Education on Autism Spectrum Disorder. This prestigious recognition is bound to boost
enrollment in the Academy. In addition, fellowships will be awarded to deserving candidates enrolling in this course.
Plans are also under way to conduct short-term courses on Specific Learning Disabilities and Mental Retardation.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center (KLC) News
The last few days of the school term crawled by in the heat, but whizzed past for the teachers who where busy compiling
the term reports. This year parents were invited for a “Holiday Preparation" and a “Review of 2006-2007” day which has held on
11 April. Parents were treated to an in-house movie which show-cased the events and achievements of the school year. Each
student was presented with a holiday list of “Can do” and “Must do” activities. We hope that this helped the parents to plan
their children’s routine for the summer.
We bid farewell to a few teachers with sad hearts. Rashmi Devaprasath, Shyamala Ramaswamy, and Banu Arjun will surely be
missed in KLC. We hope we can work with them again sometimes in the future. We also bid farewell to some of our students from
the Pre-Vocational Programme – Ramiah, Subhashree, Kaushik, and Jainesh, who have now moved on to the more “Formal Real World”
programme in our Vocational Rehabilitation Centre at Shastri Nagar.
V-Excel Remedial Center (VRC) News
VRC, Adyar merged with the Mandaveli unit in April. VRC is now fully located on the 2nd floor of our Norton Street building.
The autism-specific morning group now has six children and they have started to work towards independence.
VRC also includes an autism-specific young-adult group. Four boys are currently working towards their 8th and 9th grade.
The focus for the group is to get them to homogenize and learn together as a group. Life skills and independence are among their
main goals. It is so very heartening to observe them as they learn to communicate effectively between themselves in a
non-verbal manner.
Bridges Learning Academy
The new academic year has commenced and classes are on in full swing. Some of the older students continue to be a part of
BLA, while a few new faces can also be seen. The curriculum has been revamped this year. Several innovative techniques are
being introduced to facilitate learning and to make it an enjoyable experience. A conscious effort is being made to give
individual attention to each child, which will help to ensure that all children make steady and measurable progress.
Three children from BLA, Prashanthi, Sarabeshwaran and John Noel moved on to the Vocational Training unit in Shastri
Nagar.
V-Excel Center for Research and Rehabilitation
The Early Intervention unit in this new center has become fully functional from April 2007. More than 15 infants and children
with developmental delay come in during the week to avail of the sensory integration and neuron developmental therapy.
A lot of meetings and brainstorming sessions are happening to formulate vocational and pre-vocational programs for young adults
with disabilities.
The Counseling and Assessment is expected to become fully functional from July 2007.
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.
Parent Statements
I can't look at him as a case study. I can't look at him as an interesting thing. I can't look for a different common cause
because I see potential.
My husband think of it like this: he says, "Good thing that they don't look at the world as we do, because they would be miserable.
They're in their own little sphere and everything is happy-go-lucky, and that's it."
When you first understand that your child's been diagnosed with autism, part of the frustration is that people ask you, "Well, what
causes that? What's the cure?" There are no answers. And it's frustrating for us to have to know that initially, but even harder for
us to try to explain it.
I went to the priest and I said, "What is this? Why me?" And he said, "Well, think of it the other way - why not you?" I said, "Because
I don't deserve it. I did everything right." Yes, I felt real guilty. I still think about it sometimes.
I share things I learn about autism with my group, or I go and read different things about autism, or I talk to my initimate friends. But
my husband and family don't want to hear these kinds of details because they don't want to deal with that term. They want to hear about my child's
progress.
