"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how...We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."
...Agnes de Mille, dancer
V-Excel News
V-Excel celebrated its Annual Day on 15th March 2012. This was a special program given that it is our tenth anniversary year. An Annual Day is typically a musical presentation and a grand culmination of our work with children with various developmental challenges. For their parents, it is a much awaited event when their children don costumes and, like all their peers, perform on a professionally set-up stage. The Chief Guest was Mr. Nakano Masanori, Consul general of Japan in Chennai.
This year we had two stories presented in completely diverse formats - one, a story in English depicting the creation of land, sea, plants, animals, and man, while the other was a mythological story in Tamil of the Prahlad and Hiranyakashyapu, brought in the traditional folk form, Villupaatu. With creativity and commitment at its best in the making of this program, little wonder that we are getting accolades from all quarters!
Dr. Matthew Belmonte, a Nehru-Fulbright Scholar and an international research expert on Autism, was our Guest of Honour for the Annual Day. During his visit to Chennai he addressed teachers and parents on neurodevelopment aspects of brain in context of Autism.
The Nashik and Tirunelveli Satellite Centers are taking shape, gradually but surely and we hope to be able to cater to many more children over the coming year.
One of our dreams has been to initiate the V-Excel Alumni Association. We took the first steps in this direction in March. Past students of our Teacher Training program, parents of ex-students, a few of our volunteers came together and shared their experiences with all. This nostalgic occasion helped create a fine bond between the diverse alumni members.
Kaleisdoscope Learning Centre
The event of the month was the 'The Story of Creation', a musical performed for the Annual Day. The school is still basking under the glory of the congratulatory messages, phone calls and emails from parents and other invitees applauding the efforts of the students and staff of KLC. A grand event like that took months of preparation time and unwinding time; we saw many examples of how the children had begun to understand more, speak more, move more and benefit in many ways from the experiences. It was surely a very enriching process for all!
The end of the term reports were being compiled and the month of March definitely felt like a stressful, activity-filled, and packed month as it moved from one big event to the other. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Mathew Belmonte, on the 17th of March to address the parents and teachers about the working of the autistic brain. The talk was based on scientific research.
Class photographs were being taken and plans were being finalized for the graduation ceremony and the school exhibition to be held on the 7th of April.
Parent meetings for two classes were held with Gita Bhalla, John Miller and Parimal Pandit as a part of the customary year-end review session by a multi-disciplinary team. Pre-vocational and Grade 4 meetings were conducted. The main areas where these parents needed help were in planning some weekend activities and chalking out a holiday program for their children. They also wanted some social activity organized for their growing girls and we suggested that small groups could meet during after-school hours and make this happen. Parents also felt the need for suggestions on some sports programs. They were sensitized to the needs of their adolescent children by the faculty present.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
This year, we have been working on different short term training programs such as Strategies for Learning Disabilities, Basics of Counseling, and Introduction to Special Education, besides workshops for regular school teachers. The potential trainees are typically graduate students of psychology or those who are already working with the children, or are parents/teachers of special children.
Early Intervention Unit
The focus for the month had been on providing training for parents and staff. Separate workshops were conducted for each of these groups. The parent workshop gave insights into early childhood development, play therapy, importance of communication in early childhood development, diet, and feeding patterns in young children. The workshop was attended by around 50 parents and was conducted over two weekends. We received very positive feedback from all the parents, as they felt it was an extremely useful session.
The training program for the staff included aspects such as basic development screening, formation of IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) and various implementation strategies. Our staff from Tirunelveli Satellite Center also attended this program. Importance of sensory awareness and sensory-rich facilitation was also focused upon.
The month ended with execution of the regular early intervention program for children, identification of children who are ready for complete disengagement from our support and preparation of children for admission to play/primary schools as a part of our inclusion work.
Bridges Learning Academy
The Annual Day preparations had reached a feverish pitch this time. Two days of rehearsals were held at the Narada Gana Sabha Auditorium. Everyone was charged up and when the D-day dawned, each one was wishing the other luck. The curtains went up and everybody watched the show with awe and wonder; when the curtains came down there was a loud thundering applause! The children's splendid performance had touched a sensitive chord in many a heart and the audience was clearly moved by the entire program.
BLA boys had tirelessly practiced and the tempo was uniformly and consistently high. They could accept their slips, incorporate the corrections/changes and carry on with repeated practice sessions without sulking or losing their mood and temper. This is itself was an amazing learning for all of them. While all the children did well, Eru & Adam were the crowning glory!
After the euphoria of the Annual Day function, we got back into the normal routine and began our revision rounds for the upcoming annual exams.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
We completed one assessment in the month of March and the student was started on Art Therapy and Counseling to address his emotional needs. We have started two more remedial assessments and one IQ assessment.
On March 22nd, an in-house training program was conducted by Dr. John Miller for full time and part time teachers of VRC. The program was activity based and the teacher responded with great enthusiasm. John demonstrated the activities with bean bags & bamboo sticks and gave an introduction to Eurythmy (a movement therapy). Teachers were made to experience copper rod massage and play hopscotch games. The main objective was to understand and incorporate these traditional activities in our remedial programs in an innovative manner to enhance skills of children with learning difficulties.
Rural Outreach Program
This month was one of appliance distribution. After our medical camps in all the nine blocks of Villipuram, we undertook distribution of different medical aids and appliances to the children identified with physical impairments. The aids included ortho appliances such as calipers and knee splints as well as other items like tricycles, wheelchairs, walkers, spectacles, hearing aids. We would like sincerely like to thank Godrej Industries and Rotract Club for extending their support in this endeavour.
The home-based programs, day-care services and resource room work continued as usual.
Vocational Training Unit
The Annual day program was a great event for the Vocational Training Unit. The theme being 'Ne Unnai Arindaal' in which the story of Prahlada was portrayed through an adapted version of an Indian folk art called 'VILLUPAATU'. The students brought forth the story through the movements taught to them during their Movement Therapy sessions, while staff rendered it through sing-song dialogues and rhythm. Every student of VTU had a significant role to play.
The work shop on Autism for parents and teachers, including those from Vocational Unit, was conducted by Dr.Mattew Belmonte, an expert researcher and speaker on Autism. Dr. Belmonte gave a basic insight into Autism. It was well-received by the group as Dr.Belmonte guided them through a totally different angle of Autism and issues concerning children facing developmental lags in social and communication skills.
Two of our staff members visited a few Vocational Units in Chennai to understand the approach and functioning of these units. These Centers combine Open Schooling and Vocational stream. We also wanted to evaluate adding of various new products to our range.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
The month of March was an extremely busy month, especially since it was the last month of the academic year and hence was also a time for all reports and reviews.
One of our psychologists helped direct a musical 'The story of Creation' for the annual day of our school.
This year our Unit Head Parimal presented a paper on 'The Effect of Play Therapy on children with Autism' in an international conference conducted in Delhi by IARP. The paper generated a lot of curiosity and triggered many interactions, giving us a platform to showcase our work.
Along with our Vocational Training Unit, we conducted an awareness camp at Cognizant Technologies in Chennai. This was a part of our 10th Anniversary Celebrations. The response to our counselling stall was overwhelming and many showed interest in the products made by children. We plan to have another camp after June.
Our counselling patronage has increased by leaps and bounds. People from all walks of life and age group have been seeking help. We also conducted art in-service for the teachers of KLC school. It was great to see them relaxing through the medium of colours after the hard days at work.
Contact Information
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
V-Excel Center for Research and Rehabilitation
(In assocation with S.V. Sarada Foundation)
50 Sreyes, M.G. Road
Shastri Nagar, Chennai 600 041
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24522061
91 - 44 - 24521986 E-mail us
Academic Concepts, Inc.
1403 Merrywood Drive
Edison New Jersey 08817
Tel: (732) 572-3748
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
