"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.."
.. Jawaharlal Nehru
V-Excel News
Playful energy, seamless joy, fun and games, music and rhyme - Children's Day on November 14 was a day to remember as we discovered the quintessence of childhood along with our children. All of our units and centres came alive with the sound of laughter, celebrated the magic of innocence and paid rich tributes to the spirit of the child.
The monthly classical concert series, Sushravya, was conducted successfully. We had a soulful performance by the young and talented, Rithvik Raja, accompanied on the violin by M. Rajeev, and the mridangam by K.V. Gopalakrishnan.
The annual International Post Graduate Medical Training (IPMT) programme, organised by the Anthroposophic Medical Society (AMS) Chennai Chapter, was held between November 19 and 27, at the Yellow Train Waldorf School in Coimbatore. This was the third consecutive year that the staff of V-Excel was an active part of the organising committee, and helped manage yet another successful IPMT programme.
V-Excel now has an official Facebook page! We request you to please support us and 'Like' the page. This is our only official page that has all the updated information, news and communication from V-Excel. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/freehearts. We hope to see you there soon!
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
November is a special month for the school as every year around this time about seven to eight teachers from the school are away for the annual IPMT programme. The school ran smoothly and children cooperated well with the larger mission of teachers getting trained for supporting and teaching better. The teachers came back on November 28 fortified for a year, and will soon be sharing their learning with the rest of the staff.
Dr. Swapna Narendra, a certified Anthroposophic Physician, made her monthly visit on November 8, and reviewed her cases. She met with several parents and many of their queries were addressed.
Two senior teacher trainers from Sacramento - Lorie Hammond and Crystal Olson - spent a day in our school on November 12. They observed our children during their main lesson and their wet-on-wet painting session, and spent some time with us sharing their views on using the arts in the curriculum for special children.
It was with great pleasure in our hearts that we welcomed our Kindergarten messiah, Sowmya, who left for London after her wedding. She came back on holiday and brought with her many new ideas and learnings, which she shared with the teachers during our Friday in-service meeting. The children and teachers gave her a hero's welcome!
Academy for Teacher Excellence
The month of November was all about motivating parents and the staff at our centres in Chennai, Erode and Tirunelveli to join the Parents Awareness Training Programme. The response we received has been heartening indeed as we now have 18 participants from Erode, 13 from Tirunelveli and 10 from St. Ebbas in Chennai. We also have a group of six outside participants, a mix of volunteers and parents from Chennai. Contact classes for the programme will begin December 2013.
We are delighted to share the news that members from our staff are part of the organising committee of the Continuous Rehabilitation Education in Autism Spectrum Disorder (CRE-ASD) programme. This three-day programme will be held in February 2014 and we have begun planning for the same.
We continue our work on preparing the application for a new RCI course on Home Care for the Disabled.
The viva for two of our students, who are set to reappear for their Practical Exam in ASD, was conducted.
Early Intervention Unit
The mother of a special child from our Unit is attending an empowerment programme at NIPMED (National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities), where she is being trained in tailoring and embroidery.
Two children attending our early intervention programme on speech delays reached the age-appropriate level of communication this month. They were able to express their needs and converse in legible sentences.
V-Excel Satellite Centres
November has been a busy month at our Nashik centre. Two new children joined our school - a non-verbal autistic girl and a boy who seems to have multiple issues like hyperactive disorder and possibly ASD. Two children from regular schools were referred for IQ tests and one of the boys was diagnosed with dyslexia and is now attending therapy at our centre. The Individual Education Programmes plan (both academic and therapy-related) for the new term that was designed in October has commenced this month. Counselling sessions with two sets of parents are also happening every week.
In Solapur, a small centre for special needs is up and running, where parents are very actively involved in the operations. We are now looking for a larger more suitable space for setting up good infrastructure for a special school for children with autism.
We require sponsorship support towards the fees of two children in our Erode centre for their intervention programme. Those interested, please write to us at info@v-excel.org.
Activities are continuing in full swing at our Tirunelveli centre with early intervention programmes for children and counselling sessions for parents. There is an increasing need to start vocational training activities for children above 18 years of age. The New Year will see more happening in this area of work.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
As part of the week-long Children's Day celebrations at the centre, we organised a painting activity on the theme of 'Colours Speak to Me'. They were asked to choose a colour and paint the emotions the colour evoked. It was indeed heartening to see the sheer variety of emotions our children expressed - from super happy, to calm, to bright and joyful and much, much more. It was an interesting exercise that engaged children of all ages.
We continued with our progress review meetings. There was positive feedback from parents, particularly from the parent of a non-verbal child with ASD studying in a mainstream school. The child has shown significant progress in independent task completion, fine motor functioning, and behaviour issues.
Since some of our children are able to attend remedial only once a week due to proximity issues, we are supplementing these sessions with home programmes, where a few mothers are being trained in the movements and remedial exercises to follow as a daily routine at home with their children.
We identified three mothers going through stress and arranged a counselling session to help them handle their children better. This needs to be an ongoing process.
Vocational Training Unit
Our trainees began work on the calendars for the year 2014 this month! Our eco-friendly jute calendars in green and black will be ready by December and we are happy to take orders starting December 15. The calendars are priced at only Rs. 200 (for orders over 25, the calendars are priced at Rs. 185). Write to info@v-excel.org to place your orders and make 2014 truly special!
Three of our staff members visited a few vocational units in Bangalore to observe the work done at these centres and exchange valuable experiences and ideas for the future. They also attended a workshop held at SAP Labs on the extremely relevant topic of Autism @ Work.
As a part of the vocational training programme, we made home visits to some of our trainees' homes and suggested programmes the trainees could do with their parents at home. This not only helps foster a sense of independence at home, but also gives parents an opportunity to see much their children's progress and expertise.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
Three of our psychologists attended the IPMT programme. The topic was Diagnosis in Anthroposophic Psychotherapy.
One of our counsellors conducted a parent support group session for our vocational trainees' parents. The focus of the session was how to handle the trainees at home as the trainees were new to the programme and the parents needed guidance and support.
The counsellor also conducted a teacher's group session at our Vocational Centre. The theme was team-building through four corner painting to observe how we regard our own space in a group and how we need to re-adjust accordingly.
We conducted a short stress-management workshop for employees at a manufacturing company. It was interesting exercise as this sector was totally different for us!
We also conducted a group session for our wonderful helpers at V-Excel. It was received very well as our helpers, who come from different backgrounds, enriched the session with their insightful questions, enthusiastic suggestions and ready interaction.
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.
33 Pine Street
East Brunswick New Jersey 08818
Tel: (732) 619-7944
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
