Strides Newsletter Archives
- Counseling & Assessments
- Early Intervention
- Kaleidoscope Learning Center
- V-Excel Educational Trust
- Occupational Therapy
- V-Excel Remedial Center
- Satellite Centers
- Vocational Training / Youth Empowerment Services
Counseling & Assessments
From Parimal Pandit's Desk
Wishing all a very happy and joyful new year!
December was month of a lot of turbulence and it did cause disturbance in some of the functioning. Through it all the Christmas spirit was kept alive.
One of our psychologist Puja along with the KLC coordinators set up a Christmas play, "Magic of Love" which was conceived by the children. She was involved majorly in creating the music, developing the theme and training the children.
VACC - We had three counselling desks for the month of December in two of our corporate clients. Our regular counselling for outside clients continued and we had two three new counselees. There were quite a few emergency counseling for which we were called. Puja also attended the module 3 of IRA teacher training. It was an enlightening module where they learn sculpting, grade level painting and music. Play therapy for outside children continued. We also worked through Christmas and except for two children all of them had their sessions.
KLC - Major work was the Christmas play so we did not have group play therapy. A few sessions of individual play therapy did take place. A few teachers and parents were met as per the requirement but regular sessions could not be held
YES - The group sessions and individual sessions at YES continued. Some of the trainees needed to be seen as an emergency. Three parents were met individually for their concerns of their children. Two of our counselors held the parent support group for the parents on 30th of December. 17 parents attended. We had a meeting with the center coordinator to streamline the services
VRC - We had sessions with some of the VRC children and have to reassign some of the children in the coming term. Two of the parents were met for counselling
Early Intervention
The Importance of Early Identification
The term "At Risk" is used to denote difficulties which children may experience in the formative years. The first six years of the child's life are very formative years:
- The intellectual development of the child is most rapid than at any other stage of life.
- The child is learning about himself and the world around him. He uses all his senses.
- Energetic use of large muscles.
- Cannot sit for too long as it tires him.
- Thinking is concrete and egocentric.
- Attention span is 7 to 15 minutes.
- Very stressful to use his small muscles such as the three fingers used in writing.
- Needs strong one to one relationship.
- Needs to develop social skills, emotional strength, vocabulary, listening skills and speech.
- Must start gaining confidence in himself and in adults.
- Eyes are not ready for close work.
The Areas of Testing in Early Intervention
- Sensory acuity-visual and auditory acuity
- Motor development: Gross motor and Fine motor development
- Concept development: Colours, objects, shapes, sorting, classifying etc.
- Language skills: Receptive and expressive language, articulation
- Social and affective skills: Based on their interactions with others
- Based on the testing intervention will have to be given. Teaching prerequisite skills to young at risk children helps to prepare them for later academic learning such as reading, writing, and arithmetic
- Self-help skills: Dressing, eating, and personal hygiene. This promotes a positive self-concept and feelings of independence
- Gross motor activities: Involve large muscles and include walking, crawling, jumping, throwing and rolling activities.
- Fine motor activities: Involves small muscles used to move the fingers and wrist as well as eye hand coordination and coordination of the two hands
- Communication abilities: Use language to communicate one’s thought and includes both listening and talking
- Visual activities: Help children develop visual discrimination, visual memory, visual motor integration, as in eye hand coordination
- Auditory activities: An awareness of the sounds in words help children to practice auditory identification of sounds, auditory discrimination of sounds and auditory memory.
- Cognitive activities: Help children with thinking skills, learning relationships and differences, classify compare and contrast ideas and solve problems
- Social activities: Help children develop social skills and learning to interact with others forming age appropriate relationships with other children and with adults.
Kaleidoscope Learning Center
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
It was a month of weathering storms and literally so. Chennai was ravaged under the impact of cyclone Vardah, and the city looked ravaged in the aftermath. Trees uprooted, heaps of green blocking the roads and the desolate state of the surroundings with hanging wires, no electricity and many parts of our daily life affected ; it was indeed a sorry state. Gathering ourselves through this stormy weather and continuing with practices for the 'Magic of Love' , the Christmas play at Olcott school was a herculean task . The final presentation on the 19 and 20th of December bears testimony to the fact that tough times don't last , tough people do ! The staff and students of KLC put up the play with total dedication and grit and it was a resounding success. Great reviews, many tears and a feeling of bonhomie that pervaded the atmosphere after the play was exactly what the purpose of the play was and has left a satisfied feeling at the end of it all. Our supporters , Sowmya Vikram Kumar, Parimal Pandit and Janaki Ashok who funded this project are thanked from the bottom of our hearts.
Given below is one expression of a mother whose child joined KLC in the month of August 2016 -
My views:
I have seen several Christams plays both in special schools and in UK. The plays would be over stimulating with very loud music sounds and lights which would cause a lot of stress to our kids who struggle to cope. There would be very limitedpractice, less structure and more chaos than fun. When I was told there is a Christmas play here I was not sure what to expect. I probably expected more teachers involvement and less students. I also expected students to have more a presence than a participation. But what I saw was mind blowing.
Every child (atleast most of the older ones) irrespective of their disability had a role to perform. There was no loud music blasting, not too much jarring lights... instead soft music, pleasant colours and limited lights to not overstimulate. performance was very structured, practised painstakingly, brilliantly organised (e.g... good mixture of students and teachers to help them).
It was lovely to see all the students actually enjoy and perform. They understood clearly what they ahd to do, they put on a brilliant show. Even the younger ones were all included and though there was a bit of anziety amongst a few, they all managed it well and did their parts thanks to the staff who was around motivating them. All in all it was an amazing performance and an overwhelming one for parents. Special mentin to the Grinch and the train conductor whose performance was outstanding. Don't think neurotypical kids could have done better. Kudos to V-Excel team."
Lectures on Autism by Mallika Ganapathy, on 4th, 9th, 16th and 23rd of December were held at Sharda, and many of the teachers from KLC attended them and found it very informative.
IRA Teacher Training batches for Module 3 took place between 4th - 10th December which was attended by Neha and Gita. Module 1 took place between 11th - 15th December attended by me. It was an enriching experience.
On 21st December we had "Blue Blue Sky Choir Programme" at M O P Vaishnav college in the morning which was very very well appreciated and left quiet a few college girls in tears. There was a talk by Gita on Autism after our programme which was also appreciated by the staff and students of the college. The same evening 4 of our children went to Huma Speciality Clinic where they painted the pots to plant herbal plants and enjoyed the Christmas Party which was celebrated there.
22nd December we had Santa Claus visiting V-Excel and the children had a great time with him, shaking hands, singing carols and presenting him with some gifts. Thanks to Mr. Subramanium, fondly known as Subbu, husband of Shashikala, who is our latest friend to join the Christmas band wagon!
Children and teachers of Grade 5 visited the St. Luke's Church at the end of the road and Children and teachers of Grade 3 went to the St. George's Cathedral on a visit on 23rd December.
23rd December was the day of Christmas celebrations where every child in KLC got a present, contributed by the parents, teachers and V-Excel. Children went to other classes giving them gifts made by them and singing carols. We had sweet Ragi Kanji prepared by Vasanthi aunty and we sang some carols down in the portico for a few minutes. School closed at 2 pm after wishing the children a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
V-Excel Educational Trust
A Happy New Year
Wishing our entire family, friends and supporters a very Happy 2017! Thank you for your trust, faith and support.
A Christmas Party
At a small Christmas party hosted yesterday (Dec. 21) by Mr. Sam Paul at the Huma Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Nandanam, Chennai, children from V-Excel were invited to paint on pots for their nursery. These pots will then be used to grow healing plants. Ten of our children participated.
The Magic of Love
Our special play, "The Magic of Love" was staged at Olcott Memorial School on the 20th of December at 3.30 p.m. This was a simple production but one with great potential for touching the hearts of many and we offered this as our contribution to advocate to the mainstream school children the ability of children with special needs.
Feedback on the play comes from Mr. Kavithalaya Krishnan who writes
Theatre in any form requires courage..requires passion..requires commitment..requires involvement. It is as much content as intent. It is not as much following a script, it is more following your heart. This year Christmas came early for me. I saw a miracle happen. A magic created. I saw a special performance by some very special people. I saw a beautiful story being enacted. I have seen and applauded theater across the world in many languages in many forms and the Christmas pageant enacted by the students and staff of V-Excel school was right up there. The enthusiasm, the clever creativity, the involvement, above all the kindness and generosity, the sensitivity, the understanding as much as the sheer eagerness and happiness of each and every one of the participants was like being in the midst of something almost holy. In the light of those candles lit it seems there was a halo above every person assembled there. I have spent many an evening in my life in watching various art forms being performed. I have watched some all time greats perform. But that evening I spent watching a group of angels performing at Olcott campus ranks right up there. It was an evening that will remain with me for a long long time. There is nothing that human spirit and compassion cannot overcome. It is evenings like these that make this life meaningful, that make this living fulfilled. Kudos and pranams to everyone who brought that magic alive. The spirit of Christmas transcends religion. It is all about peace and joy and happiness in the heart. It speaks in the language of love. It speaks the word of God. I saw God that evening and it was as if i was watching something holy. I left feeling like I do after prayer. I left feeling blessed.
Occupational Therapy
Happenings
Farhath's Story
Farhath has been the most punctual and regular coming boy for many years to therapy sessions. He was there in the progress update of October strides stating that he has started accepting other children and sharing his things with them which had impact on the behavior with his own younger sister. His grandfather, his main caretaker always believes V-Excel will bring about good change in him and being extremely motivated goes to the extent of fighting with staffs to get maximum sessions in his schedule. Now his grandfather is no more with us. Nobody could bring him to V-excel. It was by his grandfather’s effort he showed drastic progress. His mother met the therapist and told that Farhath is getting ready everyday to come to V-Excel. He cries “papa” when he was not taken by anyone. Though he is cognitively unaware about his death, he cries everyday whenever he misses him. As they are going back to their native we wish him better future and his grandfather soul be in peace.
V-Excel Remedial Center
From Kejal Bakshi's Desk
…..And one more school to work with, many more children to encounter and learn from.
It is our immense pleasure to commence our work with Velachery Primary School. We have setup our resource room and special Educator Mrs. Priya Shankar is working with children under the guidance of Mrs. Lekshmi Ramesh. Children with ADHD, Down syndrome, Autism, Hearing Impairment and learning Disability come to our resource room. We did classroom observations, spoke to class teachers, parents and Informal assessments of these ten children to have a holistic approach. This also helps us to build the Individual Education Plan.
In V-Excel Remedial center three children with Learning Disability joined. Vishal, a non-verbal child with Autism had mastered the skill of typing on type writer very well. This helps him to communicate with all of us and also to express his emotions and thoughts.
At Olcott School, we began with Tamil Remediation along with our Language and Skill remediation. This month we also had Parent Teachers Meeting to discuss the progress report of each child. Counselors gave a small talk and did few activities with the parents. Special educators had one on one discussion with each parent. Parents were very happy with our work and also reported changes at their home front. Occupational Therapy began for few children.
At Malathi School, the children are showing improvement in behavior and academic. The group session for K.G’s and I Std has helped children to socialize, wait for their turn, and follow the class rules. The Principal and classroom teachers are very happy and do appreciate the progress in each child.
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath's Desk
Special School:
Once again, we have come around to the end of another exciting year- 2016!!
As per the schedule, the last lap of the year was spent on various exercises to understand our children better. The teacher accompanied by the psychologist visited the home of the children. Some of the visits were so fruitful that it ushered in a fresh perspective of the child. In her own words, the Psychologist Mrs. Pradnya Apte says, "Some of the kids behave very differently at home.. For instance, Sujit Varade, a very quiet and sober child at school, was very naughty and uncontrollable at home. After the home-visits, we are able to figure out the reason for certain inappropriate behaviors presented by the children".
On 3rd December, the International Day of persons with Disabilities was observed to re-affirm and draw attention to the rights of people with disabilities. This year, to promote the concept of inclusion, the children were taken on a picnic to the Khandoba Hill Temple garden in Devlali, where they interacted and played with teachers and children from the regular school.
On 9th December, we welcomed some unique guests to our school premises. A few enthusiastic senior citizens belonging to the Jyeshta Nagarik Samaj of Dwaraka area, constituting of retired teachers and officers, visited our school. They interacted with the children for over an hour and pampered them with some snacks and gifts. It was a pleasurable experience for both the children and the elderly.
From 19th December, the term-end evaluation of the school children began. This continued until the school closed on 29th December for Winter Holidays. On 23rd December, X-mas was celebrated in the school. All the teachers and children came in dressed in colours of Yule to mark the birth of Jesus Christ and welcome Santa Claus. The teachers decorated the Christmas tree and danced to peppy Christmas songs with the children while Santa Claus walked around the room showering gifts on the children. It was truly energizing to watch the happy and excited children. With this we come to the end of another eventful year!
Wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful New Year 2017!!
From Gopal Jahagirdar in Solapur
3rd December World Disability Day was celebrated in our center and we also had Sports Day on that day. Following sports activities were done in our center: 1) limbu chamacha, 2) musical chairs, 3) bucket and ball and 4) drawing. The Chief Guest of this function was Smt. Saloni Butada
From Srirangam
On 7th December, a parents meeting was held at the Abhuasa Kendra centre. Dr. Vasudha took part in the meeting. Nearly 15 parents also attended. Dr. Vasudha said that the first year's focus would be on personality training and exposure to two vocations. In the second year, vocational training would focus on on one trade say laundry, kitchen or Pakkumattai thattu. In the third year the focus would be on production and sales and in the fourth and last year it would be on employment. Parents were very eager and also gave ideas about various other vocations such as soap and detergent making.
On 19th December, 20 trainees and 6 staff members visited the Srirangam temple. All the trainees enjoyed a lot and ate in the Anna dhana koodam at the temple. Every month we are going for an outing to make the trainees mingle with the public. A few devotees who came to the temple spoke with the trainees and staff.
On 20th and 23rd December, Sri Vadivel, our special educator, conducted training on sex education to the parents of 7 male trainees. He taught Activities of Daily Living skills and the care and handling these trainees. Parents eagerly took part during the workshop.
From 26th December to 11th January 2017, training on millet food products is being conducted by Indian Overseas Bank. Ten trainees, 8 Parents and 4 staff are involved in the programme. Practical demonstration of millet food product is being done. All the participants are very eager to learn. The programme is very innovative and they all enjoy it.
Vocational Training / Youth Empowerment Services
From Usha Rajagopal's Desk
The highlight of December month, we attended 3 exhibition cum sale in L&T, Amazon & Redignton. Good response in Amazon & Redignton for our products.
We started giving training in Tie-Dye for all trainees. The sanitary napkin training is going on with the paper (cutting, assembling and gumming). Training on using the sealing machine has started with Koushik & Ibrahim with the help of Ms. Sathya and Mrs Santhi.
A thambulam bag work order was received and is being executed all the trainees. Mrs. Uma Swaminathan continues the Cafe Samarth training. All the teachers went to the Head Office for training in autism. We are doing kolattam dance practice for Pongal celebration in Sreyes under guidance from Mrs. Radha and other teachers. Academic classes and loom training continue with the help of Mrs. Radha and Mrs Uma Swaminathan, respectively.
From Youth Empowerment Services:
The Vartha cyclone has uprooted many trees in the YES centre. Our staff helped the corporation authorities to clear the debris.
On December 21, our trainees went to Huma Multispecialty hospital and participated in the painting activity.
On December 22, we participated in a sale cum exhibition at Amazon corporate office premises. It was a successful attempt and created a great awareness about V-Excel. All our products were sold out especially our chocolates were the most sought out one.
On December 23, we participated in a sales cum exhibition at Redington corporate office. All the employees were in appreciation of our trainee's marketing skill.
On December 24, our trainees and the teachers went to a movie 'Moana', a Disney 3D animation movie. It is about a small girl's adventure in the sea to save her island. A wonderful movie. We had our lunch in a restaurant, then spent some time in playing video games. We thank Hexaware for sponsoring the whole programme.
On December 26, we received visitors from Hyundai and from Rotary club of Chennai East. A demonstration of chocolate making was done by our trainees and they were delighted to have hot chocolates. Each trainee is trained in all the steps of tampo printing. A collage of the trainees doing tampo printing.
On December 31, we celebrated the New Year with our founder director Dr. Vasudha Prakash and Managing Trustee Dr. Prakash Natarajan