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
From Parimal Pandit's Desk
January month was an action-packed month for counseling department as the services resumed full swing post floods and holidays. We resumed our work with corporates though not fully as the facilities were affected and relief work was in full swing. We met about twelve people in all. There had been many follow ups as people want to really work on themselves to overcome difficulties.
Our clinical counseling work with outside adults is picking up and we had about more than 30 sessions between all our counselors. Many of the people who come , they are referred by someone we had worked with or experienced counseling at our center. V-Excel is also now being recognized as being providing the counseling services apart from special education.
Our counselors had their regular sessions with teachers and students. Curriculum guidance and personal sessions for teachers was carried out as per schedule. Our counselors and art therapist worked individuals and groups of students in play therapy, art therapy and music therapy. 2-3 children were met as they were an emergency. One of the interesting thing that happened during one of the play therapy session was... grades 5A and 7 spent the drama sessions enacting scenes from an original story written by Jai Ganesh, a Grade Seven student during a communication session. The characters were then chosen by the children themselves and the sessions were aimed more at catharsis, free expression and conflict resolution rather than putting up a final production. The children had a very enjoyable time watching each other and harnessing their acting skills and self expression.
It was very interesting to see how through the story and the sessions, many issues such as anger, self control, pain, expression of joy, building relationships were addressed and given a suitable vent through drama or a resolution and working through which was an integral part of Jai's beautiful story.
We also started a very unique project for Nalanda Way an NGO. As a little contribution to flood relief we volunteered to work with flood affected children with NalandWay and it turned out to be a huge project. They asked us to conduct a one time intervention for some corporation school children affected by floods from primary schools. We devised an hour long group work with movement, story and activity of bracelet making for class 1,2,3 children and added drawing from the story for the older children of 4& 5 classes. It was amazing and heart warming to see how the children lapped up the songs, got immersed in story and how they expressed their feelings of fear, trauma, relief . It also showed how resilient children can be and how small things brought joy on their faces. There was imagination, expression eagerness to learn and drink in all that was given. Most fulfilling as the children simply loved you back with no questions asked...We had asked the children to tie the bracelet to their friend after making it...one little girl walked up to our team mate and tied it for her saying its for her new friend and she didnt want any in return.
Another project we started was of Sibling forum with the help of one of the siblings and our counselor. Five siblings came. for younger ones we had a magic show and origami. The origami was taught by our front office person's son:) For older siblings it was art of drawing whats coming out of an egg..an activity to bring out their intentions and dreams.
We had been having a constant stream of consultations from regular schools and for admissions to our various centers. We had about 8 consultations and 2 were for admission out of those. The others were for academic concerns.
We celebrated Pongal with KLC and took part in the festivities.
Two of our counselors attended a three day course on Curative Education conducted by the section head of Curative Education Gotheanum school of spiritual sciences. He spoke about how to work with adolescence and gave beautiful images to diagnosis which can guide therapy. He also spoke about teacher meditation and how to work for the inner growth of the teachers . It was an extremely useful session
One of our psychologist co facilitated a teacher training program for Kuruvila Jacob Initiative
We also completed first level counseling course of the year 2015-16 and had the certificate distribution ceremony. The students expressed how the skills were beneficial in making them more conscious of listening as well as observing.
Early Intervention
Success Stories
A child from Early Intervention Unit has got admission in regular School on his own merits for the next academic year. He came to the Early Intervention Unit with absence of speech. At present he communicates well and able to express himself in 2 word sentences.
Two young motor development delay children are now in the stages of assisted walking. One child requires very minimal support to walk and he has to overcome the fear due to instability. Once this is achieved he will walk independently.
Parent training on toilet training and feeding have shown results. We have couple of children who are toilet trained able to indicate needs and eat on their own. This has helped in the overall development of the child, as increased focus and attention, comprehension and speech.
Parent observation of the session happened at Tirunelveli and Erode centre. The parent gave their feedback and a home programme is given to all the children in line with the goals achieved and new goals set.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
School reopened on the 4 of January in the new year. It's been a busy busy month at KLC with events, visits, serious curriculum work, preparation for the sports day, and many meetings. Fruitful and active has been the month of January. A few highlights:
The Blue Blue sky choir performed twice once in MCTM School on the 9th of January and the other in Chennai trade centre on the 23rd of January. The choir was much appreciated and a touching moment was when four of the Grade 9 boys from the MCTM Matriculation school in Alwarpet, cycled down to our school to come because they were curious and very eager to learn more about autism and other disabilities. A true story of sensitising the community and how effective advocacy and awareness programs can be.
An exciting day for the senior grades who were doing a block on the human body and had two young engineers specialising in school based science experiments and demonstrated to the students the functioning of the lungs and the heart. They used balloon experiments and made a stethoscope and the children had a hands on experience with it. Many thanks to Harish and Aravind from Infinite Engineers for providing this experience.
Pongal was celebrated with the usual gusto with the children watching the Pongal bubble over . The highlight was the young volunteer from Pudiyodor who came and got the whole school moving rhythmically in his dance of the simplest movements all children could do. His spirit and energy was infectious enough to really get many of the 'sit by myself' children up and moving.
We had Dr. Rüdiger Grimm visit our centre from Donarch from the 13-18 of January. Dr. Grimm is the world head of curative education and social therapy in the Anthroposophical community and he saw and heard a presentation about our school and shared many insights and experiences thereafter in his three day workshop held at Theosophical Gardens. He also spoke to the parents regarding adolescence and meeting the special child! Jai Ganesh a student of Grade 7 was the case study that we presented and we were very glad to get some useful feedback from him. Almost all the teachers of KLC attended the lectures / workshop conducted by Dr. Rüdiger Grimm at Theosophical Society, Adyar. It was an insightful workshop which answered many questions of our teachers and made them understand the children better.
The four day visit culminated in a Light Eurythmy performance on the 18th of January by the "Light Eurythmy Ensemble" group from Switzerland consisting of 12 members performing for our children and many other special children, teachers, parents and public at Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan in the evening between 4 p.m. to 5.30 pm. The children enjoyed watching them perform.. It was enjoyed by all the children. We are truly grateful to our mentors Dilnawaz and Aban Bana for arranging this visit and the performance for the city of Chennai.
Grade 5B, its students and teachers went out on a field trip to a Buddha temple - Sri Lanka Maha Bodhi Centre, Chennai, at Egmore and spent some time in the calm environment. This was related to the main lesson for this block which is Gauthama Buddha. The children enjoyed the trip and on the way back to school they all had lunch at a restaurant and were impeccable teenagers on an outing.
Teacher and parent meetings were held and the kindergarten parents were addressed by the Principal.
During the teacher's meeting we had a counselling session and a session where each one of the teachers were asked to draw and represent their Mandalas within an empty circle. Different patterns and reasons for them emerged from each teacher who explained their designs.
The school is deep into the Sports day practice and every morning students from Grade 5 and 7 go to the corporation park to practice their Greek Olympic Games which they will be showcasing on the Sports Meet. All this and much more to be seen and enjoyed on 27th February 2016 when we have our Sports day. An open invitation to all readers of Strides to please come for it at P.S . Senior Secondary School grounds Mylapore, Chennai and encourage our children. Please mark your calendars and be at the venue by 9 a.m. Your presence will be greatly appreciated.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Chennai Wipro Marathon
In the Chennai Wipro Marathon 2016 Run for Fun for special needs, our students rocked the show and we had immense support from the enthusiastic parents, teachers and volunteers.
This was the 4th edition of The Wipro Chennai Marathon. Wipro Limited is the title sponsor for the event. Nearly 30,000 runners have participated in the past three editions. The marathon has grown steadily over the years and a total of 16,000 runners took part this year. The event comprises three categories – a full marathon (42.195 Kms), a half marathon (21.095 Kms) and a 10 m run. TWCM has become a permanent December fixture in the city now, with runners from several cities congregating in Chennai to take part in this 'for the runners, by the runners' marathon.
Craft Mela 2016
For the 5th consecutive year ARUNIM (Association for Rehabilitation under National Trust Initiative of Marketing) put up 20 stalls exhibiting varieties of eco-friendly and organic products made by the persons with disability in the L&T premises in Chennai (Jan 28-29, 2016). V-Excel was represented by Charumathi Sriram and Prakash Subbukalai.
In Conversation
Dr. Vasudha Prakash was in conversation with RJ Sulabha Santhosh on Radio One Chennai on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 sharing thoughts on disabilities and taking calls from listeners.
The details of the program are available on this link
Workshop on Curative Education
V-Excel hosted a three-day workshop from January 15-17, by Dr. Rüdiger Grimm, the Chair of Special Education at the Institute for Curative Education and Social Therapy, Alanus University, Germany. The focus of this workshop was on Dealing with Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities.
The following topics will were covered:
1) Introduction to Curative Education - Understanding disability
2) Understanding relationship of the four bodies in different disabilities
3) Methods and ways of handling adolescents and young adults using curative knowledge in classroom situations
4) How to convert the special talents of children with disability especially autism as skills to earn livelihood and how to integrate them in society
5) Understanding and dealing with seizures, medications in adolescents
Each day ended with case discussions and question and answers.
Occupational Therapy
Observations
Observations from Parents:
During this month, the therapy department arranged for the first time observation sessions for the parents to enable them to know their child's program and to discuss the interventions, progress and home program of the children. Some children excelled in their performance purposely demanding their parents' appreciation. Parents also actively participated in it and expressed positively in the department feedback book. One of our parents has written (see image)
A Success Story:
A girl with high level of movement and vestibular defensiveness was trying to avoid coming into the therapy room. She has been in w-sitting for years. Whenever therapist tries to make her move she anticipates that some activity is going to be demanded from her and immediately avoids changes. From being a cautious girl after undergoing many therapy interventions is now able to do activities like treadmill walking with minimal support. Though she has to go a long way therapist perceive this moment as a turning point in her journey.
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath's Desk
The term-end evaluation of the school children were carried out during the month. Some of the children show marked progress in learning and behavior.
Two new children have joined the school this month. Manasvi is a five year old child having apraxia and chronic constipation issues. Jeet is a six year old boy diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome.
The highlight of the second term activities of the school is the home-visit schedule carried out by the Psychologist and the class teacher.The home-visit program came to a closure this month and in the feed-back forms, many parents expressed the need for a speech therapist in school.
Ms.Parul Diwan, who holds a Masters in Audiology and Speech Language pathology(MASLP), joined us a part-time speech therapist. She imparts speech and communication therapy to children having speech and communication difficulties in the school.
Jasraaj Bindra is a 9 year old child attending our remedial program since last two years. From June 2015, he started attending First grade in regular school under the guidance of a shadow teacher. In the second term – oral and written exam conducted at school in January, Jasraaj secured 98%. His parents and teachers are thrilled with the performance of the child. Hearty Congrats to Jasraaj!
Report from Solapur
- 7th January Our center's Annual Gathering was held. Dr. Pujar and Mrs. Pujar were Chief Guests of the program The article on program published in Divya Marathi Paper.
- 26th January Republic Day was celebrated and Chief Guest was Mrs. Anuradha Jahagirdar (Retired Principal of Damani School of Solapur) and that day she interviewed four parents of our school. This will be published in the near future. On the same day we celebrated the birthdays of Aditya Jahagirdar and Aditya Sahutre in the school.
- 27th January Mrs. Ajita Panshikar visited our center. She also visited Textile Industry and met some Doctors and Sri. Gavande, a parent. She had meetings with Teachers of Dnyan Prabhodhini School and interviewed candidates for Clinical Psychologist Post.
- Three students have joined our center for therapy and Remedial Teaching in this month one of them was come to our center through google Business.
-An OT Room was made by partitioning an open space in compound.
Vocational Training / Youth Empowerment Services
From Usha Rajagopal's Desk
Every month brings in new learning experience. February too has its share for the interns at Sreyes.
Real time Samarth cafe is the notable one. The interns who are a part of it have learnt to set the table, greet clients, sight read menu, serve with a professional touch, clear the table, and handle cash, with minimum assistance, under able supervision. Every Friday, Samarth cafe comes alive at Sreyes. On the sports day, a stall was put up at the venue and it was a very good experience for them.
Six of the interns were part of the sports day parade. Visit by the APD was different experience. Parents and children interacted well.
The full group attended the award function at Jeppiar college where Dr. Vasudha's Prakash was felicitated and acknowledged for the work in the field of special education.the group ,who were duly informed, were able to relate to it well.
Volunteer Piravi works in the practical mode. His training for them in concepts of fractions and money handling is very interesting and there is good response.
Communication, an essential part of their activities is effective.they talk about safety while using the mobile phones, self-evaluation and self-improvement. They have mock purchase transaction exchanges which helps them in realtime.
The puppet and story telling weekly workshop also helps them in this.
The above are the activities that go to enhance the personality of the interns while they are primarily engaged in the production of our said set of products. Jute and other bags, bead work, paper bags, chord jewellery, jute fibre products, coasters. Mrs. Margaret Buch works with a group on pot painting and stone work. Come March,the interns are looking forward interesting things before it gets too hot. Do follow us on Strides to know about it all.
Youth Empowerment Services News
- We are happy that a MOU with Wassup Laundry has been signed and we are going start the training of professional services. It is another feather in the YES cap.
- Sports day was a memorable event of this month. One French March-past was appreciated by one and all. The sports day brought out the perseverance of our trainees.
- We have harvested greens, green chilies and lady's fingers in our garden.
- We are conducting yoga classes daily.