Strides Newsletter Archives || V-Excel Educational Trust

Strides Newsletter Archives - March-2019

Academy of Teaching Excellence

From Meera Suresh's Desk

Batch 4 of ATE classes for P.G in Multiple disabilities is going on in earnest. The New batch of Inclusive classes has started off well. Guidelines for on-job training have been given and follow-ups being done. The rough copies of the OJT report are being checked every day and guidelines given for the same. Letters for a few who were doing their OJT outside of V-Excel were also given with the expected reports from the concerned schools.

Drafts of the candidates who are sharing their Reports is being checked and guidelines being given. Soft-skill classes are going on with most of the participants attending the same. Topics like Listening skill, IEP and Attitude have been addressed. Tests have been conducted on Listening and Attitude. Test on IEP is yet to be taken.

Bhaskar along with Prof. Anand visited Youth for Job and interacted with the Centre manager Madumitha. A request to come and visit our centre was made and she had visited our centre. They had visited the Aide-et-action centre and interacted with the Head Mrs. Nesam to discuss about the programs done by them. Bhaskar had gone to attend the Employer's Meeting along with TMF partners to discuss about the placement of candidates. Companies like Bajaj Finance, Sundaram Finance, Indusind Bank, Cholamandalam Finance and Axis Bank had come to address the partners.

ATE candidates had visited the NIEPMD to understand the Vocational Unit activities. They interacted with a few heads of the Institute and gathered some valid information. We had visited Chidambaram twice. Once Bhaskar had gone to submit the forms for registration and pay the necessary fees. Again both Meera and Bhaskar had visited the University, to meet the Vice Chancellor on request and discuss the MOU for the next academic year. The Vice Chancellor has asked us to continue with the program as we were doing a good job in training teachers to take care of special children. The Panel at the meeting consisted of the Director (DDE) Mr.Arul , The Registrar of the University and the MOU deciding Head. All had shared their happiness at being a part of this endeavour.

Mrs. Gayathri Suryanarayan had come and addressed the ATE candidates regarding the Tiffin Times food-truck and had asked for coordinators to help with the same.

Dr.Roopa Kothari had visited our centre and addressed the parents regarding homeopathy as a treatment for special children. A few ATE candidates had attended the same and shared their happiness. Question bank for the forthcoming university examination has been collected from the concerned faculty members and aligned before taking the print outs. Will be visiting in April to hand over the same.

Counseling & Assessments

This month two major activities took place in Counselling Department. One was the the first of the parents group took place this month with VTU parents. It was a small group and the focus was to create avenues for the parents to look at themselves as an individual apart from parents of so and so. The second group is scheduled for November with both the VTU as well as YES parents.

The second activity was the second module of the first batch of the program Heart of the Matter with high school teachers.The second module focused on various mental health issues faced by high school students, how to identify those life-skills training, creating safety awareness regarding social media presence and net security, sex and sexuality education, teachers inner work.

The program was received with a lot of enthusiasm, and teachers felt they feel a little more equipped to handle behavioural issues in class in a different manor and they have learnt to listen a little more empathetically.

Apart from these our regular programs with various departments continued. The individual play, art ,music therapy with children from KLC and group play therapy with KLC continued. We met a few parents and teachers this month. At VTU our counsellors met the trainees individually and met the parents and teachers for their own issues. We went to VTU for the Golu celebration.

At YES this month mostly trainees were met for counselling and some of the trainees are showing improvement in their anger control and expressing their feelings. Once they have a person they can trust and who trusts them they feel encouraged to work with themselves.

At VRC and BLA we had our individual and group sessions. Two consultations were done for probable admissions for the BLA program. As an inservice for the counselling department we painted with Magenta with Puja and learnt the movement and mood of Magenta.

Under Inkle Weave we met our regular counselling cases and four new cases. As we welcome the festival of lights Deepavali we wish all a very Happy Deepavali and may this bring light and happiness to all.

Early Intervention

From Lalitha Sridhar's Desk

Pre-Writing skills

Pre-Writing skills are the fundamental skills children need to develop before they are able to write. As part of Early Intervention programme, facilitation of pre-writing skills lays a strong foundation for future writing skills.

Prerequisites for enhancing writing skills:

Hand and finger strength
Crossing the mind-line
Pencil grasp
Hand eye- coordination
Bilateral integration
Upper body strength
Object manipulation
Visual perception
Hand dominance
Hand division

Activities to improve pre-writing skills:

Threading and lacing
Play-doh (play dough) activities that may involve rolling with hands (or) a rolling pin, hiding objects such as coins in the play dough
Scissor, that may involve cutting out geometric shapes, then paste them together to make pictures
Tongs (or) squeezes to pick up objects
Drawing (or) writing on a vertical surface
Everyday activities that requires finger strength such as opening containers and jars.
Pre-writing shapes- practice drawing the pre-writing shapes
Finger games-that practice specific finger movements such as incy wincy spider
Craft: make things using old boxes paper etc.
Sensory play activities (e.g. Rice play, finger painting) to assist the development of tactile awareness

Kaleidoscope Learning Center

From Gita Bhalla's Desk

March arrives in Chennai and the sun shines brighter and the days get hotter. So does the activity in school as the term end is fast approaching and that is always a signal for a lot of documentation,reviews, planning, and lots and lots of completing the half finished projects.

Looking back over the year, the Farm program under the guidance of Mr. Rajgopal and Usha has been a real meaningful addition to the vocations.While there are six or seven students who go there regularly with the teachers for an overnight stay, two other classes went for a day trip to experience the farm. Despite the heat , it was an hearty experience and the children of Grades 5 and 8 enjoyed the horticulture, walking, agriculture and the livestock experience at the farm.

We had two guests for the in service for teachers this month. Dr. Kala who is currently working with students in Sreyes, visited the Friday meeting with the staff and took them through a simple exercise of Dance and movement which she has entitled Nrityobics. She is ready to train a bunch of teachers who need some techniques for stress busting and fitness. We also had Dr. Swapna talk to teachers on the 19 of March on Seizures. The talk was informative and very topical seeing the number of children prone to seizures in the school. She gave an insight into the causes of seizures and what can be done to handle them effectively.

Parent review meetings were held with teachers, mentors, therapists and counsellors and the Principal and coordinators and each child was discussed. Parent and teacher goals revised, exchange of stories of home and school, some challenges understood, some strategies explained. All in all the meetings were fruitful, and a step forward in understanding the students better. An exchange of experiences, an explanation of the philosophy is able to bridge the expectation gap of teachers with parents and vice versa. The most promising throwback from this years parents reviews was the parents coming forward to ask for additional training and workshops to handle their wards better. We hope in the coming month that we are able to answer this need of the parents.

Lakshmi Sudhakaran continued her small group training of "mothers and daughters", on health , hygiene and practical skills of sanitary care during menstrual periods. The parents were grateful for this input.

The month has also been one of outings. Grade 7 who call themselves free hearts, accompanied by their teachers had a wonderful start to the last Friday of the month. They met at the beach very early in the morning, ran, walked and played , had breakfast in Murugan Idli and were back in school after a brief halt at Neha's house where all of them changed into their uniforms. These simple experiences are when the children generalise their ADL�s. Grade 4B went to Theosophical Society to explore the gardens on 19 March.

Report writing for each student has begun and the teachers and mentors are busy collecting data, revisiting the year and closing many of the teaching blocks.

Tiffin Times launched by V -Excel had its start at Sharda with KLC taking over the operations for two days on the 21 and 22 of March. The whole school was involved in assembling the dishes, the foyer was converted into an attractive cafe with tablecloths and live music and the food was a great hit. Vasanthi as the guiding force and the master chefs Arvind Karthik, Rekha, Rokith, Akshay Nathan, Venkat fried Falafel tikkis and banana cutlets. All the students in the busy hands, chopped, grated, cut and mixed the salads and the poha and the Upma. It was a great success and was the highlight of the month. Some feed back from parents and the community around Sharda ........

"The food also made with love and care and can be felt in the taste. Thank you"- Ashwin's Mom Ceyloshia.
"Today's evening was wonderful. The table cloth... everything was nice, Just perfect" Kejal.

She also gave us some suggestions.

Holi was celebrated in KLC but with a difference. Keeping in mind, the scarcity of water in the city the students themselves opted for having a waterless Holi . So they became imaginative with using colours and each class decided how they would celebrate this festival of colours. So we had a grade playing with coloured flowers, another eating colourful food, another grade who requested teachers to be in white and the students to be in colour. It was an innovative and thoughtful celebration and the teachers were especially touched by the students own responsible decision .

The counselling department has been busy meeting teachers and parents gently guiding them to bear their own challenges and strengthening them for the future.

On 19th Tuesday, Ramesh gave training on MS-Office & MS-Windows basic troubleshooting tools and tips, which was attended by Shashi. It was very useful.

Admissions to KLC have begun and the kindergarten invites admission of 5-8 year olds who need to work on their learning readiness skills. The other classes are quite full there are only limited seats which are being offered for the next academic year.

V-Excel Educational Trust

Tiffin Times - Dry Run

Our Tiffin Times had a fabulous start at the Spring fest at Hotel Savera on 01 March 2019.

This dry run gave us the great confidence and it was so wonderful to see people being so receptive and encouraging for our new venture which is a pioneer of its kind.

Five trainees, Anandhi, Adithya Balaji, Ibrahim, Samyukth and Sruthi, from 2 of our vocational trainees with the support of our trainers Mrs. Bhagavathi and Mrs. Divya made yummy sandwiches and tangy juices. Our trainees made fresh vegetable sandwiches, handmade chocolates and 3 types of juices. Training for this menu was done under the able guidance of assistant cook Mr. Rajanikanth of Hotel Savera. Though it was a modest menu, the efforts of our trainees were highly appreciated.

Our Founder Director Dr. Vasudha Prakash introduced the project and was there throughout to explain about this initiative and its objectives.

We take this opportunity to whole heartedly thank the management of Hotel Savera for supporting us by providing needed infrastructure and manpower. We also take this moment to acknowledge and appreciate Mr.K.S. Ravikumar, Surya Kitchen Equipment, Thirvanmiyur, for the perfect interior fabrication and Ms. Poornima Shivram, The Art Room Chennai, for the beautiful exterior design.

Special thanks to our admin team Mr. Sivaprakash Balasubramanian, Mr. Prakash Subbukalai and Mr.V. Yuvaraj who took care of the logistics and billing.

We sincerely hope and very sure that this initiative is going to take us a long way in our endeavour in empowering young adults with special needs as much as it is going to be exciting for all of us.

Sri Arunodayam�s "Special Mom" Award 2019 to Mrs. V. Pon Rajam

We are proud and happy to share that one of our teacher cum parent Ms. V. Pon Rajam, has been the recipient of Sri Arunodayam�s "Special Mom" Award 2019. Out of 45 nominations, 15 were shortlisted further consideration. We congratulate Ms. Pon Rajam and her family for the award and she deserves it. She is a dedicated teacher and mother balancing both roles.

She joined our Teacher Training program in 2005 and joined immediately as volunteer and teacher since 2006. Both her children Ms. Preethi (22 yrs) and Sai Hariharan (15 yrs) have been at our Special School since then.

Dr. Vasudha Prakash awarded The Hindu Torchbearer Award 2019

The Hindu Torchbearer Award recognising excellence in education was awarded to Vasudha Prakash, founder and director, V-Excel Educational Trust. The ceremony was held on March 22, 2019 at the Sri Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Lady Andal School, Chennai.

Ms. Sharada Menon was given The Hindu Lifetime Achievement Award. Preethi Srinivasan, founder, Soulfree, received the The Hindu Inspiration Award. Among the other awards given were: The Hindu Business Leadership Award to Vanitha Mohan, chairperson of Pricol; The Hindu Heritage Award recognising excellence in Art and Culture to Sudha Raghunathan, carnatic vocalist; The Hindu Excellence in Agriculture and Rural Development Award to Jaya Arunachalam president of Working Women�s Forum (India); The Hindu Excellence in Healthcare Award to Prithika Chari, senior consultant neurologist; The Hindu Entrepreneur Award to Hemalatha Annamalai, founder and CEO at Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd; The Hindu Contribution to Society Award to Vidya Reddy, co-founder Tulir; The Hindu Flying Colours Award recognising excellence in sports, adventure to Joshna Chinappa, squash player; and The Hindu Dazzler Award recognising excellence in entertainment to actor Trisha Krishnan. S. Sundaresan, business head advertisement, The Hindu also spoke during the occasion.

Diversity & Culture Conclave

Dr. Vasudha Prakash was a speaker and panelist at the Diversity & Culture Conclave organized by the All Ladies League, India Chapter (IALL). The event was held today, March 23, at the Westin in Velachery. This was a specially curated conclave on the culture of diversity - embracing all walks of life. Dr. Vasudha was a panelist in the discussions on "Different Strokes for Different Folks - A Culture of Diversity

Tarang in Chennai

The monthly Tarang concert held on Thursday, 28th March 2019 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) - Mylapore between ?2.00 pm - 3.00 pm. featured a vocal concert by sisters Apoorva and Anahita (Vocalist), Shraddha Ravindran (on Violin), B.S. Prasanth (on Mrudangam).

V-Excel to launch 'Tiffin Times' to help youngsters with special needs

V-Excel Educational Trust, which focuses on providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs, will be launching its Tiffin Times initiative on April 1. As part of the initiative, a mobile food truck, will be stationed near Marry Brown restaurant on Luz Church Road, Mylapore, from 4pm to 7pm. It will be manned by young adults with special needs and proceeds from the sales will be used to pay stipends to the interns involved in the project.

"The trust, which was established in 2001, is run by founder-trustee Vasudha Prakash. In 2018, we won the Rane Pioneer of Change Award for coming up with the 'Tiffin Times' progamme, which will enable people with special needs to support themselves," says Charumathi Sriram, PRO of the Trust, which also conducts vocational training programmes.

A soft launch of Tiffin Times was done on Feb 16. "We have around nine young people who will be manning the truck now," says Charumathi, adding that the Trust has roped in Savera Hotel as its hospitality partner. The truck will serve healthy tiffin items such as upma and an assortment of beverages such as lemon mint cooler and panagam in the evening. "We are hoping the initiative will take off. We have committed to training 100 students in three years," says Charumathi.

V-Excel Remedial Center

From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk

Remedial Unit

We are happy to announce that our Morning group student, Master Shyam has been inducted to KLC from the coming Academic Year. Initially a challenging child, he evolved into a beautiful being with acceptance, communication and empathy. We wish him all the best for the wonderful journey ahead.

As we come to a close of this Academic year, we have been trying to modify things that we felt could bring in more quality and also make our understanding about the child better.

A brief note about our Assessment Model

Our Assessments, though we call it Informal Assessments, has many tools that are standardized and also we assess the children on areas other than Academics, eg, auditory discrimination, laterality, and the emotional development of the child. The report also has clear indication of the difficulty of the child and the present level of functioning for each area of learning. We have also been able to give recommendations to the school, based on the difficulty areas of the child. All these have really helped in making our reports a comprehensive one. Still, we are working on more modifications and bring in a model that is at par with the Standardized one.

Home program

We have been observing that quite of a few parents, because of the distance are not able to come for Remedial sessions. As a trial, we have come out with Home Program for one child. The initial consultation was done, and also an assessment. With these inputs, worksheets that would help him to improve his skills were carefully selected. This booklet along with suggestions to the parents were given If this works out, we are planning to bring out more Home Programs with regular reviews.

We are also busy planning for the summer camp. This year, we are planning to have the camp in the last week of April. Shall share more about it in the coming strides.

Bridges Learning Academy:

NIOS:

It was a hectic month for the NIOS students as they are getting ready for the exams. Practical exams are over and the students have done well.

Theory exams start from April 7th and end on May 4th. Students are learning how to think critically and analyse information with greater depth, and teachers teach according to the level of students. Along with whole-class discussions, small-group work can be used to gauge student comprehension of and comfort with a given text or assignment.

We are trying our best to bring colours to their lives.

Primary & Pre NIOS:

Regular revisions have started for the students. One more successful Academic year is going to conclude. We have been trying to:

Have continuity of syllabus from one level to the next.
Use English to communicate with other students and the teacher in the classroom.
Give all students fair access to resources such as time spent with the teacher, space in the classroom, books, equipment and playground space.
Have a student-centred approach which means that teachers use a variety of teaching and learning methods that will help all students to learn best about their environment.
Focus on understanding, avoiding information load
Provide space to subject-specific pedagogy in-built in the content.
Integrate assessment within the content and learning.
Bring about an interactive session.
Provide space for learning beyond the textbook.
Soften the boundaries between different subject areas.
Provided adequate space for hands-on experience, arts and crafts

Neev Group:

Usually, this part of the year teachers are busy conducting re-evaluations of children, whom they are handling to understand whether the goals for the year are met or not. This time, the revaluation format was done in such a way that the Report has both the initial assessment and the latest one, side by side to facilitate comparison.

This was also done with a view to clearly understand the following:

The current level of the child
The initial level and the improvement made
The difficulty level of the child and the area
A self-evaluation for the teachers to know if they need to change any strategy

NalandaWay - Velachery Corporation School:

We are planning to conduct summer camp for our children. The dates and the schedule are as follows:

Dates: 8,9,10 April 2019 (Monday to Wednesday)
Theme: My Earth
Schedule:
9.30 to 10 - Circle time and songs
10 to 11 - Structured theme based Activities
11 to 11.30 - Games
11.30 to 12 - Story and closing

Anandam Learning Center:

It was a month of normal activities on some days and busy on some days.
We introduced two topics - Uniqueness and Confidence - and we used different strategies for teaching this. Based on the topic a Social Awareness drama was performed by children.
Three students Geetha, Jeevitha, and Aravind are able to comprehend the lessons taught well. They were having difficulty even to read the lessons initially.
Anandam Education Centre celebrated Women's Day on March 8th. Our children participated in Dance and Miming. They also participated in our Guinness Record feat. This was making a sentence as a tribute to the Martyrs using around 4,700 note books. They are also participating in the Annual Day Function.
Annual Day is planned for 7th April. They would be participating in Dance, Yoga and Miming Programme.

Satellite Centers

From Jayanthi Vishwanath's Desk

The campaign theme for International Women's Day 2019 was Balance for the Better. From grassroots activism to worldwide action, we are entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance. We notice its absence and celebrate its presence. Balance drives a better working world. The teachers of our school decided to celebrate Women's Day with a difference. They decided to usher in Balance at home. They organized an inspiring event and invited their Mothers-in-law as Special Guests for the occasion. It was a memorable and exciting day for all the participants, filled with songs, dance, and a stimulating lunch-spread and poetry-reading sessions. The guests of the day were overwhelmed with joy, at the end of the celebration.(photo)

The Art & Craft activities continued this month too. In connection with Women’s day celebration in the city, our VTU students received an order of 100 bouquets to be prepared and delivered in just 4 days. The trainees prepared lovely bouquets with a lot of zeal and excitement and received praise from the organizers of the event.

Mrs. Maya Sanghi, Speech and Language Pathologist, presented hands-on experience for the teachers on "Development of Language and Communication in non-verbal children”. Few parents too attended the sessions. Incidentally Ms. Maya Sanghi received the Life time achievement Award at the annual National Convention of Indian Speech and Hearing Association held at NIMHANS in Bangalore. We take this opportunity to congratulate Ms. Sanghi for this exceptional achievement.(photo)

A Special Drive was organized in our Center this month to create awareness among parents of students with Special needs about the Niramaya Health Insurance scheme of National Trust, for the disabled and Monthly Pension Scheme for the disabled of Nashik Municipal Corporation. Parents were enlightened about the Scheme, the Eligibility Criteria, Enrolment Process, Claim settlement, Renewal Process and Grievance Redressal.

One of the important festivals of this month is Holi. Holi was celebrated in the school on March 20, 2019. All the children came in wearing colourful dresses and smeared organic colours on each other and danced to lively music.(photo)

From Gopal Jahagirdar in Solapur

1. on 10th March We are arranged one work shop and all therapist of our center explained the importance of therapies and how the therapy changes and improved the life of children.We received best response from parents for this workshop parents are very happy about this workshop.

2. On 17th March We took one workshop for parents about Niramaya Insurance card and New UDID card Mrs.Vrushali Gandhe madam from pune guide the parents .

3. on 23rd March Rangpanchami was celebrated in our center.

From Abhyasa Kendra - Srirangam

Post ToT programme held at the Erode Centre, handlooms were purchased and the training for the 5 students at Srirangam Centre has started on 6th March 2019.

Apart from weaving, training in tailoring is also being imparted, as part of the pre-vocational training. These trainees have been showing keen interest in learning and are enjoying.

On 14th March 2019, Parents meeting was organised. Mr Sundaram (Founder & Director of Siragugal - Parent Association, Trichy was the special guest. He spoke on the importance of the UDID card and how to acquire it. He also spoke on free bus and train pass, insurance and legal guardianship for PWDs and importance of the same.

From Outreach Centre - Pollachi

During March a Skype meeting was initiated and organized by Mrs.Lalitha Sridhar for a better understanding about the activities in the center and for follow up of the assignments discussed earlier. Ms.Lekshmi Ramesh and Mrs.Kejal joined the call and have shared their valuable inputs for better functioning of the center.

Ms. Rohini Swaminathan, a native of Pollachi, serving as International GIS Consultant at World Food Programme, at Rome, Lazio, Italy, visited our center on 27/03/2019. Her work profile – United Nations Development Programme, New York, World Health Organisation, Switzerland, UNITAR – Operational Satellite Applications Programme,Switzerland. NASA Develop National Program, Virginia.

he was very anxious to know about the functioning of our center and met our faculty and students. She was happy for such remedial services happening in a small town like Pollachi. She shared her experience when she met few special educators who work for children with special needs in Guatemala. She also interacted with our children and motivated them. Children were shown Ms. Rohini Swaminathan video in TED X Rohini Swaminathan’s talk about natural disasters shares her personal experience growing up in a remote forest in south India and how the 2004 tsunami and its devastation led to her eventual study of geomatics. Her experiences were enthralling and were an eye opener for us, we travelled around the world through her experience.

From Tiruneveli

Group programme has been initiated for children in different age groups. This group programme aims to prepare the children for full time school programme when they are admitted into normal schools as part of social inclusion. Currently there are two group facilitation happening one for the early childhood group where children in the age group of 5 – 7 years attend. The main focus for this group has been to address the development needs, improve communication, train them to become independent, develop self-help skills and facilitate play and socialize with others. The second group are the older children in the age group of 10 – 14 years.

This is the Pre-vocational group, where the focus has been to prepare them for taking up a vocation based on their capacity and train them a skill. These children entering the teenage are taught functional academics, self-help skills, train them in pre-vocational skills like the handloom weaving which helps them to improve endurance and also improve the fine motor skills using their hands in an effective manner.

From Erode

Train the trainers (ToT) program was conducted by Mrs Kantha from V-Excel, Chennai for 2 days between2nd and 3rd March 2019 on weaving through handloom, production ofhand crafted items, envelope making, paper quilling, embroidery, jewellery making’at Erode. Teachers from the Erode Centre along with the Centre heads –Ms. Deepa, Ms. Rekha from Srirangam and Mr. Muthukumar from Tirunelveliparticipated in the trainingso that they in-turn would train the students.Some parents were also trained to take it to the next level. It was a very good learning experience for the staff as well as the parents of the satellite centres.

Pot colouring activity and Podi making (idly podi and paruppupodi) taught by Mrs. Rekha, the Srirangam coordinator.

Vocational Training Unit

From Usha Rajagopal's Desk

Month beginning marked a few new intiatives. Sreyes Farm Vegetable Outlet was inaugurated at Sreyes, Shastri Nagar by Mr. and Mrs. G. Rajagopal. Vaidhyanathan, VTU trainee has been inducted as an employee at the outlet. He will be accompanied by another trainee who will be assigned on a rotational basis as part of the training programme.They were supervised by a teacher. As and when the vegetables like ladies finger, beans, spinach, pudina, bitter gourd etc. arrive from the farm, they are sold at the outlet.

SREYES FARM's Gho Pooja and Vaastu Pooja were performed at the Sreyes Farm, Redhills. Manivannan, Charu, teachers and trainees were also present for the Pooja along with Usha mam and Rajagopal Sir.

Regular field trip to Sreyes farm happened during the entire month on every Tuesdays and wednesdays,wherein 6 trainees accompanied by 4 teachers from Sreyes and Sharada stayed at the farm over-night. The trainees happily engaged themselves in the various farm activities.

VTU trainee, Saravana Prabhu took part in the Equitas Bank exhition held at Spencer Plaza, Mt. Road, Chennai for the entire day under the guidance of Kantha. Various jute products made by the Sreyes trainees were displayed and sold in the exhibition.

Visit to NIEPMD took place in the third week of this month, proved to be quite useful and informative. A group consisting of a couple of teachers from VTU and ATE teams visited in and around NIEPMD. The NIEPMD coordinator explained in brief and they were shown various departments like E.I.unit, Early Childhood School Education, Pre-vocational units, Vocational training units, Tailoring division, Office training units, library room , consultation rooms, assessment rooms etc. wherein they witnessed special educators and others interacting with the children and teaching them with customised training aids.

3 trainees and a trainer from VTU attended Rane Tiffin Times food truck training on Hospitality Etiquette held at Hotel Savera for half-a-day. Rane Tiffin Times Food Truck sale kick-started at Sharada since 4th week of this month. Prior to this, the trainees from YES and VTU were trained on food preparation at YES for 4 days. Once the tiffin times sale began at Sharada where the food truck was parked , the VTU and YES team as per the schedule assisted others in the snacks preparation, carrying things to the van, getting ready the truck, serving the customers etc. other work etc.

Experiential Tirunelveli trip –from 21st to 25th March. Rama mam made all arrangements and discussed with Usha mam and shared the details with others at VTU w.r.t. the Tirunelveli trip. Tour program arrangements, train particulars and the list of things the trainees should bring for the trip were also prepared. The same details were shared with the parents of the VTU trainees during the meeting organised for this purpose at Sreyes by Usha mam. Also, she clarified all the doubts of the parents.

Prior to trip on 21st morning, after a final check was done the trainees and the teachers going to Tirunelveli dispersed at 12 noon. Evening at 7.15 p.m., YES and VTU trainees were handed over by the parents at the Egmore railway station. YES and VTU teachers under the guidance of Rama mam embarked on their experiential learning trip to Tirunelveli.

In the meanwhile, until the VTU team returned from their trip, VTU functioned as usual with the remaining teachers and a couple of trainees. The teachers were engaged in preparing the miniature sample models of all products made at VTU.

Tirunelveli trip- Day 1- VTU and YES team reached Tirunelveli early morning. After breakfast at our Tirunelveli centre we reached Amar Seva Sangham, Ayakudi. Our stay at Amar Seva Sangham was good and enjoyable. They took good care of our needs. Our visit to Amar Seva Sangham post-lunch was a great experience as we visited their spinal care centre, vocational centres where we could see the special needs & handicapped adults doing various vocational activities independently at the school, canteen, guest house, hostel etc.

2nd day, we visited appalam factory at Kallidaikurichi. Most of the trainees were eager to see the people making rice appalams and many of them could even understand the process of making rice appalams and even recall later. Post-lunch, visit to Pathamadai mat weaving industry at Pathamadai was organised. Great learning experience for the trainees as they watched with eagerness the various process involved in the making of mat right from the collection,separation of the korai grass till the weaving process.

3rd day, 24th March, Sunday- Left Amar Seva Sangham in the morning after having breakfast. Proceeded to Papanasam falls. After having lunch and refreshing bath at Papanasam falls, V-Excel team reached the Tirunelveli station in the evening to board the train for Chennai.

25 th Mar, Monday morning ,YES & VTU trainees were handed over to the parents safely at the Egmore railway station and we all left for home.The trainees carried loads of good memories, rich learning experience, knowledgewise and to manage themselves independent staying away from their parents, etc. Thus, the trip ended on a happy note.

Towards the month end for 4 days, Rane Tiffin times food truck was parked at Sreyes. Various healthy snack items were prepared and offered on sale to the public from 4- 7 p.m. viz. Frankie veg rolls, Tofu rolls, Aloo paratha, Moong pakora and lemon ginger mint juice, which was well received by the public.

Last Thursday of the month is earmarked for Tarang programme. VTU team attended the musical (vocal) programme by Anahita & Apoorva at BVM, Mylapore. Their soulful rendition of songs was enjoyed by everyone especially the children.

Bulk wedding order got executed within the short span of time. 600 nos. of block printed thamboolam bags (both jute & paper bags) for the wedding were delivered on time against the order of Ajita mam's relative. Hexaware order of 70 nos. of file folders was executed.

Youth Empowerment Services

From Rama Nagarajan's Desk

1st of March 2019 gave us more than one reason to rejoice and cherish. It was a proud moment for all of us at YES as our trainee Deepa Ranganathan joined her duties at ITC Grand Chola in the Fabricare department. With all the counseling sessions and the positive reinforcements for Deepa along with adequate orientation for the employees, the transition was very smooth and easy. Deepa could easily get settled into the new environment and system without any stumbling blocks. It was wonderful and heartening to see, with the right approach, how big players in the market are so welcoming and encouraging.

We had 2 of our YES trainess Sruthi and Samyukth actively involved in the Tiffin Times trial run at Hotel Savera. Both of them along with trainees from VTU participated in all the tasks which includes preparation of sandwiches, cupcakes, juices and getting the truck ready for the business. It was great to see them talk about the project, process and the products to people who walked by the truck. We got amazing feedback from the customers about the same. It also gave us an opportunity to understand the areas of improvement in terms of preparation and training for our trainees. Though it took some time for our trainees to warm up to the situation, it was a joyful experience to see how they could interact with the public and communicate without any inhibitions.

Our printing and documentation unit is busy this month in printing the payment vouchers, donation receipts for all the V-Excel Canters. Our trainees independently do the numbering on all the receipt books.

On 8th March, from the Baking unit, trainees took part in the Equitas Bank sales at Spencer's Plaza. The same day, two of our staff with many parents attended Dr. Rupa Kothari's talk on sleep disturbance, certain behavioral issues and other specific concerns of autistic children. Dr. Rupa Kothari is a homeopathy doctor, specialized in working with children with autism.

The long awaited visit to Tirunelveli and Ayakudi Amar Seva Sangam started on 21.3.2019. We, 47 trainees and 14 staff boarded Nellai Express at 8 p.m. We reached Tirunelveli on 22.3.19 at 7 a.m.. We went to our V-Excel, Nellai Centre for freshening up and breakfast. We then proceeded to Amar Seva Sangam. After lunch, we were taken a tour of their activity and study centers. Their Printing Unit is a worth Visiting place. Our Printing Unit trainees learnt to operate the ruled paper preparation machine which is a new skill to learn for them.

On 23.3.19, we visited Kallidaikurichi Appalam factory. There are many cottage industries in the area involved in making papads. The taste of Tirunelveli Halwa, Kallidaikurichi papads are due to the Tamirabarani river water which is used in their production. Then our team visited Pathamadai, a place famous for mat weaving. The mats woven are of the best quality with intricate designs and woven from Korai grass.

On 24.03.19, after breakfast, on our way to Tirunelveli Junction, we visited Papanasam and Akathiyar Falls. Many trainees took bath in the falls and enjoyed the dip in the river. We boarded Nellai Express at 8 Pm and reached Chennai on 25.3.19 at 7 a.m.

It was really an experiential learning to both trainees and teachers. Trainees experienced camp life while for the teachers it helped them to come closer to them to impart effective training.

Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...