"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." Henry Miller
V-Excel News
The New Year began with an intense, week long workshop on principles of Anthroposophy and the educational philosophy of the famous psychologist, Rudolf Steiner.
Ten professionals from our organization - Janaki, Gita, Sowmya, Neha, Puja, Parimal, John, Ajita, Nandini and Vasudha - attended this program in Bangalore.
We are shortly going to review the prolific workshop and share, with the other members of V-Excel family, all that was learnt. Many thanks to our ATE students,
volunteers, and other staff who managed the classes and the office so well in absence of the participants. While the workshop with the experts has given
us a lot to think about, it also gave us a reassurance that we are on the right path with regards to our work with the children.
A correction is in order on an item that was in our last issue. Sharada Krishnan, a 10-year old from Morganville, NJ, set an example for us all in giving
and sharing. Sharada celebrated her 10th birthday in November and asked her invited friends and guests to support our cause in India. With her persuasion,
she was able to raise $550 for us. The amount had been incorrectly reported as $350. From all of us, "Thank you, Sharada!"
Kaleisdoscope Learning Centre
Our school reopened on January 5 to a new block entitled ‘Ecosystem’. Preliminary meetings led to teachers really putting on their
thinking caps as to how to bring the world of animals, plants, insects, to their respective classes as well as their interconnectedness. This process
was an experience in itself!
Practice for the Sports Day to be held on the 6th of February has begun in right earnest. Art work, physical work, rhythm and music can be heard
from every nook and corner as the teachers and students prepare for the big day.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
The New Year brought with it a whole load of new experiences for us at ATE. As January began, we continued our learning process through our practical
sessions with the children, while also bracing ourselves for the first evaluation of our teaching skills! Happily, we all fared well. With added
confidence, we took on the substitute work allotted to us in the absence of a few teachers who had to attend a 7-day workshop in Bangalore. Taking
charge of an entire class for the entire duration of the day (helped by Assistant Teachers) proved to be an experience that we can never ever forget.
Our resources were tested & challenged. We gained insights about our own capacities. And we all came out of it with one feeling – at the end of the day,
it didn’t matter if we achieved goals or handled behaviour. It only mattered that these children grew one day richer in their ability to manage
their own environment. Contributed by one of our students - Grace Vaitty)
Early Intervention Unit
The unit is performing fairly well and the parent feedback with regards to their child’s development is encouraging. We are planning to intensify our
work in the area of sensory development as well as remedial work with these young children. For this, we need to strengthen manpower and resources.
We wish to also focus on awareness generation for parents and doctors, an area which directly impacts active vigilance by the care givers and professionals
in terms of developmental milestones of a growing child.
Bridges Learning Academy
The first week after the Christmas break was one of major excitement - deciding the events for the forthcoming Sports Day. Each Unit is working on
different ‘seasons’ and our students are slated to do a spring drill. They will also participate in two interesting races.
After the Pongal break, practice for the drill commenced, and since then, it has continued every day for an hour daily. The students eagerly look forward
to it and it is a real delight to watch them practice with great enthusiasm.
A field trip to a bakery unit was arranged this month. The students watched bread and pastries being baked and were treated to some delicious cake
as well. This was followed by a visit to the Adyar banyan tree and an hour spent at the beach in Besant Nagar. In a student’s own words, “The wind was
just right and it was amazing to see the waves froth back and forth in the sea”…..This coming from a child with Dyslexia was the actual amazing part for us!
V-Excel Remedial Centre
Children returned from the short winter break enthused for more learning and fun. From day one they got back into the rhythm of the practice
for the Sports Day races as well as for the classroom work.
Children from VRC–Groups and BLA have been practising hard to perform a movement drill together for the mega day. It has been wonderful to work
with the two seemingly radically unlike set of children. Learning to be together and working together has been quite an experience for all!
Young adult group adapted to the temporary change of teacher in a very individualistic manner. Some were grief stricken, but others settled in
very smoothly. What is significant is that this specific task looked impossible a few months ago but had now been made possible due to the
focused grounding of the children to accept and adapt themselves to the changes within the environment.
Children with LD who received scribe help for the term exams have done much better. Their confidence levels have risen up along with their marks!
Rural Outreach Program
Our sincere thanks to Naidu Hall (a renowned retail chain in Chennai) for giving 400 dresses for the young girls and boys we work with under
our rural project in Villipuram district.
The Rotary Club of Kilpauk stepped forward to help us with nine wheelchairs to be given to the children with special needs, identified during
our medical camp.
Vocational Training Unit
The desk calendars by our children were much appreciated and we got an order for 75 more! Although it was a mad rush to get them ready before Pongal,
it was truly encouraging to see that our products were acknowledged to have an invisible quality stamp.
After Pongal, we started preparing for the Sports Day (Feb. 6th). Initially, it seemed an impossible task to get games, drill, music, props etc. for
the theme of four seasons within just two weeks. A few heads put together, and ideas started flowing in. Then on has begun the hard work and a lot
of practice. It is beautiful to see our team work so harmoniously together (touch wood!). The students are very enthusiastic, and although it
may seem that our routine time table is disrupted, we factor in the preparation for these big events as a part of their learning process.
Mrs. Lalitha Sridhar, the Head of our Early Intervention Unit, gave a talk to the parents on how to help their children to become independent, with
a focus on ADLs i.e. Activities for daily living. The parent feedback has indicated that more sessions on this theme should follow shortly.
There was a workshop on “Regression Therapy” conducted by Mrs. Anuja Dinesh. It was a very unique program and some of the participants who went
through ‘regression in past life’ reverted with unforgettable experiences.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
The month was full of holidays and celebrations. Children were busy and were looking forward to the Pongal break. The play therapy children have
all shown improvement - some more than the others. What makes us glad that the direction is positive and the overall response from the children
is good. The outside clientele, i.e. counseling cases from the general public, also has shown an increase in the numbers.
The department is now coming together with four dedicated psychologists in our team. We are all looking forward to a brilliant new year and a whole
lot of work with the children, their parents, and other clients.
Contact Info :: India:
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
Contact Info :: USA:
Academic Concepts, Inc.
1403 Merrywood Drive
Edison, NJ 08817
Tel: (732) 572-3748
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
Volunteer Info:
Volunteers are an integral part of our success. Our most pressing needs are in the areas of occupational and speech therapies, and
as teacher aides. We also require assistance in library management.
If you have any of these and are interested in volunteering at V-Excel, please contact us.
India Autism: Trying Tradition
In India, old ideas are giving new options to treating autism. Liz Neisloss reports on that country's approach.
Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the action of people.
Science has therefore been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy,
education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and
hope of reward after death.
To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations, and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important
function which religion has to perform in the social life of man. And if one asks whence derives the authority of such fundamental ends, since they cannot be
stated and justified merely by reason, one can only answer: they exist in a healthy society as powerful traditions, which act upon the conduct and aspirations
and judgments of the individuals; they are there, that is, as something living, without its being necessary to find justification for their existence.
But if the longing for the achievement of the goal is powerfully alive within us, then shall we not lack the strength to find the means for reaching the goal
and for translating it into deeds.
The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of
life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. (
I see a pattern, but my imagination cannot picture the maker of that pattern. I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable
to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one?
What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of "humility."
This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
