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
February was full of different activities apart from Counseling, play therapy and teachers meetings with the school KLC and other departments.
The counseling department did fourteen consultations over the month of February! Many for admissions to our various centers and others from regular schools for various learning issues.
As the school was busy with the sports day practice, the individual children therapies of music, art , play and communication continued. Five children were seen for 10 sessions for either therapy, and 17 children for communication, Four trainees were seen from our production unit over 2 sessions each.
We had our usual counseling desk running for the corporates and met 13 people. We also were called for an emergency session and met a team.
Our project of working with flood affected corporation schools for Nalandaway continued and we had 5 sessions in February and covered more than 200 children. The joy on children faces where they are can sing, move and draw without conditions makes us feel each and every effort to be worthwhile.
Our individual sessions with adults continued and we had about 32 session amongst the three of us. We met 5 teacher meetings amongst four of the counselors
Two of our Psychologists conducted a two day workshop for 14 counselors and teachers of TVS Lakshmi school Madurai. The counselors needed a continue education training was focused on child development, child observation, identifying and dealing with children with learning issues and perspective on understanding children with difficult behaviour. The feedback was very assuring as the participants felt they got to have a different perspective on how to look at children, and also interpersonal relationships through the functional fluency model.
The other special event was Sports day, where one of the psychologists was the coordinator for all the races, drills conceptualization and music. During these special events what children learn and show is many a times beyond our imagination and it gives us immense pride to present our winners.
The following story is one amongst many such ones...and how counseling space can heal! During one of the Joy therapy sessions one of the child from grade 5 B from KLC wrote a song. For the last month and a half Grades Five B and Seven have been immersed in the Ancient Greek Olympics. During a session of music therapy, in a silent moment, one could hear a muffled sound from Prasaad. After a few minutes of more silent space and encouragement, a song was born from the heart of a fifteen year old Greek- a praise to God Zeus to begin the Olympics. While Prasaad has been known to write and sing his own songs often during his individual therapy sessions, he has come a long way over the years, to trust in the counsellor and be ready to have his voice recorded and played back to an entire audience.
"Are we in the light
Walking amongst the Gods who rule us
Putting our best foot forward in the
Spirit of Brotherhood
Oh Zeus do we strive for you
To do our best to honour you
Hail in Glory!"
This song became the song on which Greek army performed their drill:))) A winner indeed!
Early Intervention
Sensory Diet in Early Intervention Programme
The facilitators of Early Intervention unit have been working on incorporating sensory diet in the home programme of every child. The facilitators work with the child to enhance development through various activities that will stimulate their senses and evoke appropriate sensory response and promoting learning. These are given as simple activities based on the individual child’s needs. Few activities prescribed for sensory diet are listed as follows.
Children under responsive to sensory stimulation:
-- Use exercise balls or mini trampolines
-- Have the child play on swings or bounce on the edge of the bed
-- Use bright colors in their bedroom
Children seem fearful or overly cautious of everyday experiences:
-- Encourage playing on the swings (even if they are only comfortable with very gentle swinging) or see-saw
-- Try piggy back rides and hide and seek
Children constantly in motion:
-- Create an impact pit with pillows or bean bags to allow them to jump safely
-- Engage in quiet, calming activities an hour warm bath before bedtime and tuck them in tightly
Children do not like to get their hands messy or are uncomfortable with touch, hugs or cuddles:
-- Encourage them to walk, roll or run on different types of surfaces
-- Allow them to gradually play with various textures such as rice, beans glue and paint
Children very sensitive to sounds:
-- Offer earplugs, earmuffs or noise conceling headphones as needed
-- Warn your child before you create loud sounds such as with blenders or vacuum cleaners
Children have difficulty with motor activities or have frequent bumps or falls:
-- Break activities down into smaller steps and guide them through the activities
-- You can use weighted pencils and spoons if needed
We have to be sensitive to how the child responds to different experiences as we try various intervention.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
Sports day round up:
The Annual parents day this year was the Sports Meet 2016 which was held on 27 February . For all those who were intrigued and really curious to know about how Waldorf education works with children with special needs, this was a golden opportunity to witness that. "Through the grades" was the theme chosen and each race, drill, movement sequence was related to the main lessons held from Kindergarten to Grade 7. Fairy tales, animal fables, mythology, the Norse world, map work , physical and political geography of India, the human heart and the circulation of blood, the Greek olympics were some of the themes around which the sports day was woven. A great learning experience and what must be mentioned here especially ,is , how with every annual day , the involvement and ownership of students into the planning and the execution of the events has gone up.
In an interesting behind the scenes story, Vidya Meenakshi a student of Grade 5, suggested that all the princes vying for the hand of Sita from Mithila, should gallop like horses which would be possible only when both their legs were tied! So the challenge of the race went up and the six princes hopped on their feet and the makeshift horse made of bamboo stick and then picked up the bow and won the hand of Fair Sita.
Pranav suggested that no tale should be adapted to suit the race, the tales and history to be kept as much in tact as possible! A deep conviction indeed.
The stories are many and the successes great too, but again what stands out is the process of the two months of preparation, where every disability is challenged every step of the way, whether it is getting the very stuck child with Down's syndrome to complete the race or get a child with perceptual difficulties to run in the tracks or challenge a child with autism to follow a number of steps and not run helterskelter!
More news from KLC:
The parents and about 15 students of APD, from Chintamani visited our school and spent about two hours interacting, singing and playing a few games with our children on the 10th of March . There was an exchange of information and best practices that we follow at KLC. It was a useful interaction and the parents got a chance to interact with parents from V-Excel as Disha was actively involved.
Nature Walk in the Guindy National Park: Grade 5 A children and teachers with some parents went for the nature walk on 16th February early in the morning. Mr. Poochi Venkat and the Park care takers accompanied them. These walks are encouraged as they work as an important sensory integration tool with the sights, sounds, textures and movement all woven into an early morning walk and come more settled to school.
Sukrtam Meeting with Sowmya and Group: On 23rd Tuesday , there was an Orientation Meeting between the Sukrtam group of Singer Sowmya, Bharat, Subashri, Ashwath and Ramanathan and a few of the senior staff. This group has offered their help in conducting carnatic music therapy classes with groups of our children and this meeting was an orientation about how our children recieve music and how they benefit from it. They are going to begin their group work and individual therapy sessions from March and a detailed orientation plan spanning three days in the next two weeks was drawn up where they could understand and observe the students on home ground!
Teacher meetings, parent consultations with Gita, detailed planning, making of props, and smooth hard work was the hallmark of the month of February by the entire staff and the efforts of the teachers and Admin team culminated in a successful event and a very proactive month.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Award Time
In an earnest and solemn ceremony, Dr. Vasudha Prakash received the Lady Kalyani Sivaswami Aiyar Best Teacher Award at the Lady Sivaswami Ayyar Girls' High Secondary School in Mylapore on the 7th of February. In Vasudha's own words,
Just wanted to take some time to share some thoughts. The award function was very beautiful. One of the best I have experienced. Done with complete sincerity, planning and involvement. The awarders themselves respected the award and the process itself. That was evident. I felt truly happy and felt that I had truly won an award... The hall was packed.. students, teachers, trustees of that organization were all present. All excited and earnest. There was a marching band which led us to the stage and that felt really festive.. I felt very important:) ..Beautifully sung prayer songs... The whole ceremony was solemn without being stuffy, serious without being boring. It was graceful and gracious and just right. I really loved it. Any Award is for the work.. for the organization, the cause.. not for individuals. The awardee is merely a representative. I stood there because of V-Excel and because of all of you. No award is small. It is really a great gift that out of all the people and organizations V-Excel gets selected for an award. We need to celebrate it more.. a lot more.
Dr. Vasudha Prakash also received the Jeppiaar Icon Award under the category of Educational Entrepreneurship on Thursday 25th February 2016 at Jeppiaar Engineering College, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Old Mahabalipuram Rd, Semmancheri, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600119. The JEPPIAAR Icon Award is a prestigious Award given in the name of Hon'ble Chairman Col. Dr.Jeppiaar , M.A., B.L., Ph.D. It is his "Vision Turned Mission " to honour those who have won laurels in their respective field. Every Year , people with high profile belonging to different fields are selected based on their achievements.
Sports Meet 2016
V-Excel organised a sports meet at the P.S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, for over 100 students of Kaleidoscope Learning Centre, a special school and the Youth Empowerment Services units of V-Excel. The event saw drills, races, exercises, all based on the curriculum taught in the school. The teachers and staff also participated with the children.
The magic of fairy tales, animal fables, the battles of the gods, demons and giants were part of the presentation. Also, students participated in Olympic games such as athletics, javelin throw and shot put.
The chief guest was Chittaranjan Sathapathy, international vice-president V-Excel, and the guests of honour were Vatsala Narayanaswami, senior educationist and secretary, Sivaswamy Kalalaya and M.CT.M Chidambaram, correspondent, M.Ct.M. Chidambaram Chettyar Matriculation Higher. Other dignitaries participated.
IDBI Federal Life Insurance CSR Funding
Based on the initiatives taken by Mrs. Usha Suresh, a volunteer in our Kaleidoscope Learning Center, IDBI Federal Life Insurance has now included us in their CSR programs and have committed to working with us for the long-term for activities in our Head Office. Thank you Usha! And special thanks to Mr. S. Santhanankrishnan, Managing Partner, and Mr. T.V. Balasubramanian, TEFR, both of PKF Sridhar & Santhanam LLP for their inputs and diligence in making this possible. A special word of gratitude to Mr. Rajesh Ajgaonkar, Chief Compliance & Legal Officer and Company Secretary, of IDBI Federal Life Insurance.
APD Visit
The parents and about 15 students of the Association of People with Disability (APD), from Chintamani, Karnataka, visited all our centers in Chennai and interacted with staff and students. The visit was intended to have the parents interact with our parents and teachers. The visit covered a a group session with KLC students with art and music sessions, a V-Excel video show and an explanation of our activities, an open interaction with KLC parents, a visit to Lady Andal inclusion school, a visit to YES and Sreyes and finally a visit to NIEPMD.
Occupational Therapy
Observations
Parachute Drill:
All the sensory group sessions of the month were utilized effectively for parachute drill training. KLC children not only enjoyed doing it but gained a lot therapeutically. It has been a very good sensory diet for their vision, movement, joint, touch and auditory sense. They acquired better eye contact, joined attention, social interaction, gross motor skills, bilateral co-ordination and body awareness. Eight children performed the drill with therapists on the sports day which was well appreciated by everyone.
Enthusiastic races and fun:
It was a great day for all the therapists of Sharadha and Sreyes to join hands with Disha in conducting races for parents, akkas and annas. The races were like stress busters not only for the participants but also for the audience. Win or lose didn't matter when everybody had fun!
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath's Desk
Our children participated in the various arts and sport events conducted for children and young adults with special needs, by the Rotary club of Nashik North. They won many prizes in the event. All the participants were given T-Shirts and a gift hamper by the organizers.
Mrs. Maya Sanghi, an experienced speech language pathologist, conducted a training program on different methods of communication. The program was well-received by the parents of children with autism and Apraxia.
One new child, Master Sarvadnya, aged 5 years has joined our EI program from this month. He is a child afflicted with Cerebral Palsy. He is being given intense Physiotherapy to help him stand and walk independently. He shows good cognition and speech therapy is also being given to him.
Mr. Pravin Sonambekar, proprietor of Ganesh Electronics, donated a brand new CCTV camera, which we have installed in the front entrance of the school. We are very thankful to Mr Sonambekar for this noble gesture.
In Maharashtra, it is mandatory for all special schools to be registered with the social welfare department of the Local Government body. An official from the Social welfare department of Nashik Zilla Parishad office conducted an inspection of the school, including scrutiny of files and documents.
Report from Solapur
February Report
- 13th February meeting with staff and discussed about Roles & Responsibility of each staff and distributed their works. And report of this meeting sent to Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath, Mrs. Ajita Panshikar and Mr.Dilip Kulkarni.
- As per Ajita Madam's advice following works were done:
* School Bell
* Shoe Rack
* Partition Bar in Hall for Physiotherapy
* Circle time activity with fixation of time and ending with Om
* Functional Academic with Practical(Dron Making)
* Outdoor movment activity walking in street and collecting leaves flowers and discussing about collected materials
* Making paper bag with various steps
- Discussion with Mrs. Lalitha Sridhar on ohone about Early Intervention center
- On 26th February Mrs. Gavande HOD of Physics Dept of Sangameshwar college visited our School with 40 students of BSC and students want to participate in our center as volunteers
- As per above discussion 29th February 6 students batch came to our center for participating
Report from Srirangam
In our Srirangam branch we have started training for both the staff and trainees in chocolate making as a vocation. Eight different types of chocolates are being taught and the marketing of the chocolates will commence in April.
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.