Strides Newsletter Archives
- Counseling & Assessments
- Early Intervention
- Kaleidoscope Learning Center
- V-Excel Educational Trust
- Occupational Therapy
- Satellite Centers
- Vocational Training / Youth Empowerment Services
Counseling & Assessments
C&A Diaries
Our counselors in school and training center met 11 children for individual work either painting, foot massage, music or writing from all the centers and outsiders. Our individual children for play therapy for children from outside one from KLC continued! We had also been getting consultations where we need to do assessments either for academic problems or for counseling.
Group work - The group play therapy and art/ music for children from school and for our vocational trainees continued. The theme for vocational trainees was about themselves and they also did movement and dance with singing.
Our new counselor has started work with our three trainees from Sreyes for individual work. Puja our art therapist and counselor did two Friday sessions with KLC teachers on painting- one session of vermilion and blue and then a card exercise. It was interesting to see their reaction to different colours and how it moves them. The card exercise was on transformation.
We have been meeting parents from KLC and YES center for counseling and to address issues regarding behaviour and home management of the children. We had three consultations in last two weeks. The process of consultation is still settling in. The last two weeks we also had a bit of organizing and planning for the carnival testing booth. The art activities were chosen by Sharmishta and Puja were well liked and many parents did art exercises. Over our corporate desk we met 28 people for counseling and our individual adult counseling sessions continued
Early Intervention
Motor Delay Assessments
Motor delay assessments and training have been done for children with physical development delay. Children with gross motor delay have shown improvement in muscle power, tone strength and functional transitions. A young child who was initially able to sit with support has started walking independently. A few more children are making progress towards functional independence in their motor skills. The major milestones achieved in these children are neck control, trunk stability, sitting without support, standing without support and walking without support and performing complex gross-motor skills.These are facilitated through a neuro-developmental therapy programme which focuses on strengthening the muscle, preventing abnormal posture, improving tone of the muscles, preventing abnormal reflexes, and enhancing balance and coordination. This is achieved through active-passive resisted strengthening and stretching exercises. Splints, braces and other alternative devices are prescribed to enhance the development and reach independence as early as possible.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center
KLC Recap
The transition from Krishna Jayanthi to the next festival celebration Ganesh Chaturthi was smooth and the corridors came alive with a few more festive art work by the classes. Along with that clay Ganeshas were made by children and teachers and each Ganesha was anointed, displayed and a small celebration of song dance and sweet was held. A special feature of this day was the dance drama by children of Grade 5A organised by our new teacher Jayashree Kidambi. It was great initiative for one so new and the presentation was greatly appreciated by one and all.
KLC was on display on two occasions when we had a unit of a movie house who came to shoot the activities and capture the essence of the curriculum followed at the school . The other time was when the trainees from Srirangam and Shaivasailam came to observe and learn about different disabilities and how a school can incorporate the pedagogy and activities of the Waldorf ok curriculum in a special school.
Grade 5A and Gade 7 went for two movies arranged by the Ability Foundation at Satyam theatre. All children enjoyed the experience and came back to school and discussed their views on the two movies with the teachers.
Classes 1,3,4 went to Sri Gaudiya Mutt as part of their field trip on their block of Krishna on 20th of September.
Chinmayee from KLC went to the wheel chair marathon held on Marina beach to encourage the runners. He gave away some of the prizes. We really appreciate being involved.
Puja from the counselling department started her art therapy inservice on Fridays. Every teacher felt they needed more of these sessions and found newer facets of themselves and were inspired by it. Most of them enjoyed the art work, the introspection and the process of transformation which has been given to them as holiday homework. This work was started after the biography work by Parimal concluded in the first week of September.
A meeting was held by the counselling department with the senior teachers and they were briefed about the the parent concerns which had been gathered over the last month meetings that were held. A meeting to address the parents of the children of over 15 years was held in the Sharada building and both Vasudha and Parimal addressed them and discussed the future plans, vocational possibilities, and other adolescent issues that were concerning the parents.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Carnival 2015
V-Excel's carnivals are events primarily held to raise community awareness of the disability sector and to provide a platform for education and advocacy. Carnival 2015 was in many ways a great success. From the vendor stalls, to exciting food stalls, games and events, the participation was encouraging and enthusiastic. Our gratitude to our sponsors and partners who made much of this possible. A special thanks to the young team of organizers who took on the "Give Me a Sign" city-wide treasure hunt and turned that into an incredible success.
A Toast to Jayanthi!
Mrs Jayanthi Vishwanath, V-Excel's Regional Head - Satellite Centers, received an award on Sep 8, 2015, from Rotary Club of Nashik for her service and contribution to children with special needs... Here's the press coverage from the Marathi edition of Lokmat Times. Congratulations Jayanthi!!
Tarang in Chennai
After a month-long hiatus, our concert series Tarang is back. On Wednesday, September 16, Chinmaya Sisters, Uma and Radhika, performed for us at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore.
They were initiated into music by their mother Smt. Bhavani Natesan at a very young age and had their basic training from her. Later on they came under the tutelage of Neyveli Shri R.Santhanagopalan and learnt from him for a period of about 12 years. For the past several, years they have been learning from the renowned vocalist Madurai Shri T.N. Seshagopalan. They come from a family of devotees of Swami Chinmayananda and are fortunate to have sung before him. Having received his blessings they have been named "Chinmaya Sisters" by their guru Neyveli Shri R. Santhanagopalan.
A Class Apart
On Wednesday, August 26, 2015, a solemn closing ceremony was held at our centre in R.A. Puram to mark the completion of Batch 6 of our "A Class Apart" programme held under the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative.
'A Class Apart' is a skill development programme for kindergarten and primary teachers. This is a programme which is spread over an academic year with three sessions of three-day duration each comprising the theoretical and practical aspects of inclusive education. At the end of three sessions, the teacher is expected to have a better understanding of child development and of much of the underlying learning processes. The ultimate objective is to ensure inclusion of every child in the curriculum, to foster conviction, courage, and creativity in every child and to have a deeper and profound understanding of a teacher's role in a child's life.
The programme, organised by Mrs. Gita Bhalla, has been very popular among its participating teachers and has consistently received stellar reviews from its participants. Sharing some reviews:
"It was an effective module which helps teachers understand better about students and also change the methodology of education"
"Excellent level of communication and flow of information. Interactive, enjoyable and informative"
"This session has given a lot of ideas in teaching and communicating. I want to put them into practice in my classroom and be more watchful of my students. Wish to attend more such sessions and evolve as a teacher."
Occupational Therapy
Parents' In-service Programs
Our therapists met parents of KLC children on 1st and 2nd of September to assess the ADL needs of the children. Each parent was given an ADL checklist on Eating and Toileting. They were asked to fill it up with the guidance of the therapist. During the meeting, parents were given training on importance and effectiveness of home program for planning ahead towards the development of the children. The strategies were set more realistically with KLC parents' involvement in working towards the goals of individual development.
Working towards the goal of this year, all the KLC children were already been provided therapy and Sensory integration. Now with periodic effective assessments, the maximum slot availability for the needed children other than KLC and VRC has also been filled in.
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath's Desk
On 7th September, we had Gokulashtami celebration at school. For the celebrations, the children were asked to come in colourful clothes. Some enthusiastic parents sent their children dressed as Krishna and Radha.The children sang bhajans on Krishna, danced and made merry in the dahi-handi celebration. It was a wonderful sight to behold!
On 8th Sep, the head of the Nashik Center Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath was awarded the "Adarsh Shikshak Puraskar" by the Rotary club of Nashik (Main) for her services to children with special needs.
On 16 th September children and their teachers made small idols of eco-griendly models of Lord Ganesha with clay, to mark the Ganesh chathurthi festival.(photo enclosed)
Dr. Preeti Bakre, a consultant Psychiatrist from NIMHANS - Bangalore visited our center. Her expertise was sought to tackle the behaviour issues of some children. She observed two children for 2 hours and gave her inputs for a behaviour modification program.
Quarterly evaluations of all the school children were carried out during the last week of September. Evaluation sheets were prepared and children were assessed by teachers from an other classroom (i.e., children were exchanged between teachers) to have genuine reports. Surprisingly all the kids co-operated with their "examiners" and performed very well. On the last Saturday of September, the teachers gathered together and prepared new IEPs, which shall be implemented during the next quarter..
Vocational Training / Youth Empowerment Services
VTU Diary
This month, September, has seen a flurry of activity at Sreyes. Being the production unit, it was busy gearing up for the V Excel products stall, in the carnival which was held on the 27th September. VTU displayed a wide range of products: jute bags, cloth bags, file folders, papier mâché, beaded jewellery, terracotta products, block printed dupattas, and twilling work. Our stall was manned by the skill trainer and interns. This gave them an experience of real time money handling to a certain degree.
Plans for Cafe Samarth are taking definite shape and a trial kitchen was set up at Sreyes a couple of weeks before the Carnival. At the Carnival itself, Cafe Samarth had a stall and catered snacks. The overall efforts of our PRO Charu Sriram and the admin team together with all the staff made the Carnival an enjoyable event.
Other activities at the Unit are going on as usual. Mohan, the puppet master, comes in on Mondays and teaches the group to make puppets of their choice and talk about it.
Parents of all new trainees have been seen by Dr. Karthiyayini and their medical records have been updated. On the 14th, there was an all parents meeting with Vasudha where parents were invited to freely talk about their concerns about the present and future. The meeting went well with satisfactory interaction in the group. The parents expressed their happiness being part of such a meeting.
On the 20th, trainees from Sreyes and Kaustabham, participated in the event organised by Spinal Foundation, on the Marina. There was a wheelchair Marathon and our trainees were requested to be there to distribute medals to the participants in the Marathon. Four of them, Ibrahim, Kartik and Bharath from Sreyes and Kartik from YES participated in that event.
On the 30th the group went to Ability Fest show. They enjoyed it thoroughly and exchanged reviews on the story line with the guidance of Uma Swaminathan and Nirmala. On the 29th afternoon, new recruits who were undergoing orientation ,came to Sreyes as part of their orientation programme. They observed the interns at work and said that they were able to understand how a unit can plan activity for persons falling under a wide range of skill sets.