"All of us at V-Excel wish our friends and well-wishers a happy, successful, harmonious, and fulfilling New Year! "
V-Excel News
The World Disability Day (3rd December) was celebrated in the customary way that is done every year - with a social evening for the young adolescents.
What was different was that this year saw six of our students from Special School coming of age to attend it. What gave us joy that the children were
excited, well behaved and interacted with their peers and the guests. It is at moments like this that the teachers can feel proud of the well
rounded education that is being imparted to the children.
One of our well-wishers from Rotary Club, Mr. Ramana, organized a music concert especially for V-Excel Educational Trust, Mandaveli. We would like to
thank him for this gesture and for the wonderful hour-long program.
Kaleisdoscope Learning Centre
December 17 was a busy day at the Center, with the Christmas Party in school. Classes were all dressed up for Christmas and the school wore a bright, festive
look. Santa brought with him a lot of good tidings. Besides this he carried with him the presents handmade by the teachers and parents for their precious
wards. There were beautifully manufactured photo frames, beads and string converted into some attractive pieces of jewelry for the girls.
18th of December saw parents trooping in for the monthly lecture under our Parent Education Program. The topic this time was on twelve senses identified
by Rudolph Steiner - Touch, Life, Movement, Balance, Smell, Taste, Sight, Temperature / Warmth, Hearing, Language, Concept, Ego. The concept is that, on a
more refined level, senses are like a form of nutrition to the developing child, especially for the developing brain. The session was well attended and a
lot of interaction ensued. We later had a musical show organized for parents to witness their children’s participation in simple rhymes and songs.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
The trainees were working full time for their first case study. They also got hands on experience in preparing an Individualized Education Plan (IEP),
setting goals, planning lessons, executing them and writing records. It was an entirely new and challenging experience for all of them.
This month, there were a lot of lectures on intervention strategies for autism. These lectures provided them an insight into how they could work with
different children and train them in the different domains of development. After these lectures, the trainees have become much more confident and clear
about working with children.
December was a month filled with a lot of fun too. The trainees played Christmas - Chris child, shared gifts and enjoyed it immensely. There was Christmas
spirit in the air - joy, love, friendship, sharing and celebration! Happy New year 2010 !
Early Intervention Unit
Development training through movements was the focus for this month. Review meetings were conducted with all the parents on home program. Four
children have been moved to home based therapy intervention from center-based therapy. Periodic review will be conducted once a month to track
their progress.
Sensory play is being structured to promote learning among children who are ready to attend school or are in a pre-school training program. This comprises
mostly of social skills development and independence in self help skills.
Bridges Learning Academy
All our students spent the whole of December preparing for their half-yearly exams. It is truly heartening to note that all of them have made remarkable
progress this year in the areas of reading, spelling, writing and Math. Exams were conducted from December 18th - 23rd. On the 24th, detailed discussions were
held with the parents and they were apprised about the performance of their wards.
Christmas was celebrated with the usual gusto this month. Santa Claus brought a lot of cheer and happiness by distributing gifts to all our children, who
were later treated to the classic plum cake and other goodies.
Practice for the Annual Day was temporarily put on hold during this exam month. It will be resumed in full swing after the school reopens in January 2010.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! It’s Christmas time again. All classrooms were shimmering with Christmas decorations. As a part of
Christmas celebration, a party for students was planned where they merrily danced and relished their feast. They were also happy in taking home
their Christmas gifts.
To augment our knowledge in Anthroposophy an in-service program for the staff was conducted by John on use of ‘copper rods’. The effective exercises using
copper rods and its therapeutic effects were the main learnings of the program.
Five days workshop on Child Care and Art Therapy based on anthroposophy was conducted to enhance the knowledge of this philosophy that forms the basis of
our curriculum. Four staff members from VRC also participated in the workshop.
A parent meeting with the Director was planned individually for all the parents to guide them in their child’s program and also to counsel them if it
is required.
The 2nd term end parents meeting was organized for the ‘red group’ parents. John and Aparna met the parents and discussed with them the diet & rhythm that
the child follows and also the child’s progress in that term.
Rural Outreach Program
We have completed the second Medical Assessment camp for all ten blocks of Villupuram district.
We celebrated World Disability Day in all the ten blocks. Besides we also conducted sports, fancy dress competition, oratorical recitation on that day
and distributed prizes for all the participants.
Mrs. Ambujam from SPASTN, who is one of the National Trust Members, came and addressed the parents regarding host of benefits offered by National Trust.
National Identity Cards collected and issued to our children.
Vocational Training Unit
On December 3rd, World Disability Day, Hotel Sheraton Park helped us hosted a get-together for young adolescents with special needs of V-Excel as well as
student invitees from other institutions. Our students enjoyed performing the dance choreographed by Madhurima. During the event, we realize that we have
to lay more emphasis on teaching appropriate behaviour in public. Especially, in big gatherings our students find it difficult to understand general
etiquette; programs of this nature are deliberately planned experiences for social interaction
Special Olympics were held by the Tamil Nadu government and four of our students participated in the DISTRICT Level Sports. Vaishali won two gold
medals (running & long jump), Sai Aravind won a gold in ball throwing, and a bronze for running while Kaushik won a silver for running and a bronze medal
for long jump.
We are really happy that some of our students have learnt to make paper bags completely on their own which are fit for sale. To begin with, Vaishali is
able to earn Rs. 50 a week. Soon three others will be able to earn the same.
The year ended with a Christmas play ‘The little Lost Angel’ by the children, followed by reviews and goal setting by the teachers for the forthcoming term.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
The highlight this month was the Child Development and Art Therapy workshop held at DakshinaChitra, East Coast Road, Muttukadu. The workshop was the first
of its kind in Chennai. It was a five day residential program on Anthroposophy. Art Therapy module was facilitated by an Austrian Art Therapist, Sally Martin.
She introduced a different aspect of colours and their relationship to mind, body and soul. It was a magical experience to feel the world of colours and how
it works therapeutically. Child Development was facilitated by Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna and Michael Kokinos. They dealt with the development of children between
the age group of 0-14 years and elaborated the theory behind ‘twelve senses’ as propounded by Rudolf Steiner. It is indeed amazing how every workshop
takes you a layer deeper in Anthroposophy.
The counseling in corporate sector is growing steadily. The scope for counseling in our school is also growing, with parents and children of VRC receiving
play therapy and counseling as part of their program.
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.
India Autism: Trying Tradition
In India, old ideas are giving new options to treating autism. Liz Neisloss reports on that country's approach.
Yes it is. Some people notice similarities in the quality of movement with oriental disciplines such as Tai Chi and qigong but the intentions of a eurythmist
are quite different from any other dance form. Perhaps eurythmy has some aspects in common with the traditions of movement-drama such as Japanese Kabuki theatre
with its complex gestures that a knowledgeable audience understands.
In eurythmy the inner qualities of speech and song are made visible, not the feelings evoked by what is heard. The performer becomes the speech and the music
so that the hidden inner life is revealed. Speech has its own laws, as music does, which eurythmists have to obey. These laws are found in our etheric body and
eurythmy is thus an art of etheric movement. The vital, life forces that surge through our etheric bodies include the forming power of the zodiac and planets.
These can be made visible through their corresponding eurythmy gestures.
The eurythmical challenge is to move beyond personal limitations or disabilities, for the speech and music to become visible without any distracting technical
shortcomings. In a similar way a piano player may develop the skill to allow the music of Beethoven sound freely without added artificial colourings of the
player's personality intruding. The pianist uses a well tuned piano as a medium for music. A badly tuned instrument is an unwelcome distraction. The eurythmist
combines the tasks of tuner and player, developing a mobile body as the medium for eurythmy as well as learning skilful technique.
The ability to overcome personal limitations in movement comprises an important aspect of the self-development of anyone who practices eurythmy, and this
aim is integral to eurythmy's potential to therapeutically address disharmonies in our constitution.
Contemporary eurythmists have made tremendous efforts to make the movement as true to the eye as it is experienced by the ear. One particular difference from
many dance disciplines is that eurythmy relates strongly to the centre of movement that radiates from the area of the collar bone. Close to the heart, it invokes
a very different experience of movement from when one moves from the lower abdomen, or hara, as is common in eastern martial arts.
