Strides Newsletter || V-Excel Educational Trust

Strides Newsletter - December - 2018

Academy of Teaching Excellence

From Meera Suresh's Desk

Batch-3 of Ate classes for P.G in Multiple disabilities and Inclusive Education have completed successfully on December 17th. The candidates will start their On Job Training (OJT) after the holidays. The feedback received from the candidates has been very good. (Course, Admin & soft Skills). The weekend classes are also going on smoothly. The intimation for the Annamalai University examinations has been received by us. The exams are starting from January 5. (4 days). The Viva Voce for the same will be held on 10th January. The examinations will be held in the Library and we have made the seating arrangements.

We have guided the Candidates in their Case Study preparation and collected the same after binding of the same. Valedictory function was held on December 13th, along with the Inauguration of the new batch of ATE TMF Smart. The Guests of Honour were Mr. Rajagopal and Mr. Radhakrishnan Iyer, our trustees. Mrs. Lalitha Sridhar welcomed the guests who also included Mr. Jesuraj from Tech Mahindra Foundation, Dr. T. Santhanam and Mrs. Usha Venkatesan. (Faculty members). The new candidates were welcomed by Mrs. Eshwari Andiappan our topper from the passing out batch. Our Trustees also addressed the gathering and handed out the certificates to the successfully passed out candidates.

December 3rd saw us celebrating the World’s Disability day at the TMF campus at Shollinganallur. Our children pinned the badges and spoke to the staff and Employees about themselves. Very positive response and acceptance was seen. We had also arranged a stall with our selected products for sale and there was a huge crowd for the same. Great Response. We were helped by our special children and ATE candidates on this day.

An advertisement regarding the ATE TMF smart was seen in the CSR journal. The supply of the same is Pan India. Aptitude test for the Candidates for PGMD was conducted and their Interview was also conducted on the same day. Impressive candidates. Their classes have been started from December 19th. Samagra Siksha (Tamil Nadu) had organized a State level Orientation program on RPWD Act 2016 and it was anchored by Dr. Santhanam. It was held at Presidency Girls Higher Secondary schools Egmore and it was attended by the HM’s of all leading schools across the state. The dignitaries on the dais included an Advocate in the High Court (TN), Income Tax officer (Center), Director of Education and Deputy Director of Education.(TN) We were given 10 minutes to address the HM’s regarding, V-Excel, ATE and the courses offered by us. Mrs. Meera Suresh was requested to continue for nearly half an hour since they were very much impressed by the courses as well as the awareness given by me regarding the need for Special Education and the supports being offered by V-Excel. The Director of Education personally thanked me for the same and shared that he would like to visit our centre as soon as is possible and interact with all. He will be accompanied by Dr.Santhanam who has agreed to coordinate with the same.

A Special Interactive session on Sign language was organized for the ATE candidates. One trainer from each V-excel Unit was also given the opportunity to attend the same. The Anchor Mr. Vinod is an M.Phil (Presidency College) and a Lecturer and Sign Language Interpreter at Pudiya Thalamurai as also for various ther organizations. Bhaskar had attended the Job fair organized by Makkal Pathai in collaboration with Equitas. Response was good with a promise to walk in to the centre for more information. This was a part of the Mobilization activity. We have plans to Visit colleges and schools once they open after the holidays

Counseling & Assessments

Greetings of the New Year! Wishing all a very enriching and meaningfully wonderful new year! It had been wonderful reading the updates from all of the units. So much happens in the units and as a result within each individual child and trainee as a result. Its always magical to see the transformation of the children and young adults on daily basis and how they constantly work against a tide to keep the joy alive. Its always inspirational.

December month is always a jolly month of awaiting Christmas and the spirit of joy it brings!

KLC: At KLC our senior music and art therapist Puja as a group work built Christmas play. Over two weeks of December; KLC went deep into drama and enacting plays and stories of their main lessons which carried the essence of Christmas and was performed for certain parents and the school community. The plays from grade one to the senior school had live music instead of recorded; as requested by one of the students and it was wonderful to watch the children expressing themselves with courage either in a role they identified with completely or gave them a chance to lift up a sword and be an Achilles, if they were very shy. It was wonderful to see the self-involvement and initiative from the students themselves.

The Senior School play which was written and conceptualized by one of the students- Hari Prasad came out of a small therapeutic exercise he gave the teachers, of asking "what pains me." He wished to write a story that spoke of real pain that existed in people around him. He also asked them to find a way to transform this pain into hope. Through discussions and self-reflections the teachers came up with several ideas and Hari wove his story around this.

The therapists cast the characters either voluntarily or based on who they were and what they were going through. Some students had to overcome grief of their own grandparent dying, a teacher had to work on his diction and confidence in himself, the "naughty bunch" were given a chance to be legally naughty and much inner transformation came about with everyone coming together. It was quite a wonder to have a student lead this very therapeutic process for the teachers to bear this pain and transformation process into hope! This month we also met quite a few parents and teachers for one on one counselling.

BLA: BLA and VRC students decorated the Christmas tree as part of their group work! The groups for VRC and BLA are carried out to address various issues! For VRC it is more to develop social skills and through play to bring out the inner will.

VTU: Individual therapies and parent sessions took place. The interns from BALM academy are planning a group sessions series on Safety and Gender Awareness. The plan is to create this awareness through various art, movement, drama exercises.

YES: Our counsellor has been working with the trainees individually and sometimes meets them as a group of two or three. The sessions are aiding them to deal with their own issues of anxiety and anger. The BALM interns in this unit work individually as well as in groups. They have been engaging the group for self expression and social skills over the sessions.

VACC: This month we continued our individual sessions with outside clients. In our monthly inservice we had a presentation by Suryarekha our counsellor on Victor Frankl therapy,' The Logotherapy'. Viktor Frankl is the founder of logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that he developed after surviving Nazi concentration camps in the 1940s. After his experience in the camps, he developed a theory that it is through a search for meaning and purpose in life that individuals can endure hardship and suffering. It was interesting to understand this therapy and see how through purpose one can overcome the emotional difficulties in ones' life. As counsellors its very important to work ones own skills and ones own life continuously and these inservice really helps in the department to enrich our knowledge. It's also an opportunity to have academic discussion which can develop technical skills and help us in our work with children and adults.

We had three counselling desks at PayPal and met 7 people overall. The festive season and year end affected the desks outcomes. Once again wishing all a very enriching, healthy and satisfying year ahead. As we enter yet another year hope we are able to look at our struggles as stepping stones, our achievements as blessings and our relationships as our foundation stones to this life.

Early Intervention

From Lalitha Sridhar's Desk

Attention and Focus in young children

Attention or concentration span is the child's ability to give undivided attention to the task in hand. It requires to, block out all other stimuli such as sound, visual or unnecessary information. Environment can be over-stimulating for some children. Children who struggle to focus in class miss out on many learning opportunities and don’t keep up with their peers.

To improve attention span in children:

Give activities with an end result: E.g. Puzzles. It helps to lengthen the concentration time. Number of puzzle pieces depends on the age of the child.
Age-appropriate activities: Provide short activities that have a challenge but are not impossible. Child will start to spend little more time as he matures.
Daily routine: Keeping a daily routine will help child get used to daily activities and will teach them about patterns. It gives a sense of security and helps the child to settle quicker. It gives opportunity to schedule activities in a day that stimulate concentration.
Healthy diet and sleep: Diet and Rhythm has a massive impact on the child’s ability to concentrate.
Regular outdoor activity: This helps with memory, attention, mental alertness and lowering anxiety and also increases child's energy.
Learning style: Children have different learning styles and they will concentrate and perform well in their preferred style.
Movement breaks: It boosts the child's concentration so that he can continue on the activity for few more minutes. Movement breaks help them develop gross motor skills (core strength, coordination and balance) and even cognitive skills.
Breaking down task: It helps the child to stay focused and to complete it.
Reading to your child: It is one of the most beneficial learning experiences. It is a fun and simple way to build child's concentration span on a daily basis. It motivates attention and receptive language
Ban Screen time: Screen time reduces child's attention span. As the child gets used to flashing images on screen, at the rate that is unnatural to the brain, the child struggles to process information that is flashing at natural rate. Hence it is necessary to ban screen time.

Activities to improve attention span:

Puzzles
Craft work
Nature walk
Play in a local play ground
Memory games
Board games
Read a book

Kaleidoscope Learning Centre

From Gita Bhalla's Desk

December has been a busy month and with it was added the festive cheer of Christmas. The building got a make over with Santas , stockings, stars, candy sticks and snowflakes adorning the three floors. Along with the physical expression of the festival of good cheer and sharing, KLC decided to celebrate the month in the spirit of giving and the entire month was taken up in that gesture. Food was lovingly prepared and shared across departments and units. It was a unique celebration and in its own way helped to unify the units of V-Excel under the roof of Sharda at least. "Surprise in a Box" - with the spirit of Christmas, giving food to people, departments happened in Sharada between 17th - 21st December as per Santa's instruction. At KLC we got goodies from BLA, VRC - sweets and more sweets. Other departments also got goodies from a few of us. Thank you for believing, caring and giving.

Christmas was celebrated with Santa visiting school on the 20th of December. Thanks to Mr. Sri Prasad Teacher Aditi’s dad, the children had a live session with Santa's friendly ho ho ho and distributing of gifts.

On the 17th of December 31 students from Tatva School came for Christmas Carols concert to Sharada with their teachers. They enjoyed the singing, Kailash as Santa who shook hands with them and going around the building and up to the classes. It was a joyful moment for all children. Neha and Puja as every year gave an hour long concert of Christmas songs and carols and it was enjoyed by all. Our German Volunteer Jo's parents came in visiting us and stayed for the singing and practice of drama sessions and enjoyed being with the children.

As part of the open day celebrations that was held for parents, the blocks were reviewed with drama and these presentations were witnessed by the other classes and parents. On 18th December, plays were staged by 4 grades. Grade 1 and 4B staged the story of "Birth of Jesus", Grade 2 staged the story of "St. Francis of Assisi" and Grade 5 staged the story of "Troy - Hector, Paris, Helen and Achilles". We had the children of other grades as audience and also parents of Grade 5 (who were invited) and some other student's parents who were in school.

19th Wednesday: Was the day of Senior School Student's performance of the play "The Christmas Miracle". Parents of these students were invited to watch the play, in the afternoon. After the play they were served "Rice Vegetable Upma" made by the Cooking Vocation students in the kitchen, with green chutney. The parents relished it.

The play was written by Hari Prasad, one of our student with a little help from Raghu one of our teachers. Parents enjoyed the play which showed the importance of grandparents, love of a mother, consciousness of our surroundings, caring, prayer and a miracle. A question put forth to parents on Open Day of Senior School by one of our students Aravind Karthik and to think and work on this idea in the coming weeks. Could parents invite and exchange children for a few days so they give opportunity to all children to experience living outside their homes? Parents were also asked about their "Dreams for themselves which they wanted to achieve or work on". It was a very interactive session and the parents left with their thinking caps on, for the suggestion given by students and as to how to achieve their dreams.

On the 21st of December, the last day of the term. VRC and BLA performed for the whole school. Lakshmi performed 2 dances with the students of KLC - Jingle Bells with the girls and a ballet presentation with Hari Prasad. It was very beautiful to watch them. Classes exchanged Christmas Gifts to other classes. Children went around the classes and looked up the decorations of other grades singing Carols. Teachers presented the Christmas Gifts to their Children.

The students went back home after getting a calming foot massage after the week full of festivities, singing and enjoying for their Christmas Holidays. Teachers closed their meeting that afternoon by celebrating the birthdays of all teachers from September till December.

Last week the first batch of mothers of young girls from Grades 1, 4B and 4A met with Lakshmi and class teachers and worked on the personal hygiene issues for girls - using sanitary pads properly and how to work on training them. It was a successful training process. Thank you Lakshmi. We will work with them again in January. Senior school parents will also be met.

It has been a very active and focused month for the OT department under the able leadership of Lakshmi Sudhakaran. Besides the personal hygiene workshop and demonstration for girls , some students with severe vestibular needs were advised a day in the amusement park under the supervision of the therapists. We hope to conduct more during the coming months.

On Monday 24th Priya Dandapani one of our Ex teacher, current volunteer and parent, performed a group dance drama. A few of us went to watch her beautiful dance. Earlier in the month , we had Dr. Sudha Srinivasan present to us the communication app Jellow over a two hour presentation. It was attended by parents and teachers both and was found quite useful.

On December 3rd , International Day of Persons with Disabilities, to bring about awareness to public, from KLC we had a few activities organised. Morning there was an awareness walk by students, teachers and parents in Thiruvanmiyur Beach, arranged by Nandavanam which we joined in. Grades 1,2 and 3 students participated. Parents said that their children enjoyed being with their peers and playing in the sea with them.

At school we celebrated all our children on this day, provided them sweet ragi made by Vasanthi aunty and had special music session in school. We also planned a short play for the public regarding our students and how to understand and work with them. We performed it in Nageshwara Rao Park in the evening. Thank you Charu, Prabu and team and Siva for helping us arrange this on short notice. Were grateful for all the help.

December 5th - We had Open Day in Grades 4A and 4B with parents watching sessions of activities in class and then meeting the teachers, mentors and Lakshmi. Parents were also given the Consent Form to read through, sign and submit to the class teachers. Grade 5 had individual parent meetings with the teacher and mentor through this week, to identify goals, improvements, worries and give updates on the child in school. On 7 December the Blue blue Sky choir performed in MCTM school and the students from KLC were flooded with cards and gifts made by their peer group from the host school. It was touching to see the outpouring of pure interest, love and wonder that greeted our children from the students of MCTM school. A true step in inclusion.

V-Excel Educational Trust

From all of us at V-Excel, we wish you a Bright and Happy New Year!

Everybody has a story and when that story moves us, we change our perspective and move closer to a world that celebrates difference. From all of us at V-Excel, we wish you a Bright and Happy New Year!

GuideStar India Platinum Certification Award

We are happy and proud to share that V-Excel has been awarded the Advanced Champion Level - GuideStar India Platinum Certfication Award 2018. We were awarded the Gold Certification for the past 2 years.

GuideStar India certifies NGOs based on their level of transparency & public accountability after a rigorous due diligence carried out by our team of certification experts. Due diligence is based on verifying financial and legal compliances through a thorough scrutiny of registration documents, tax returns, FCRA returns, audited financial statements & auditor's reports, public disclosures on our portal, reporting key facts to stakeholders as per our Annual Report disclosure template and confirmation of third party site visits and references.

Christmas Celebrations

V-Excel family wishes you all Merry Christmas. The students and trainees of all Chennai centers celebrated Christmas on Friday, Dec 21, 2018. The day was festive with Santa's flying visit! While carols were sung, trainees and students of all the centres sat together. Sundari Aunty sat near the tree and each class and trainees of VTU and YES came to take photos with her! She was our Santa, after our Santa in red left and spent time with all of us! Vasanthi Aunty made ragi for everyone. We had a special morning.

Tarang in Chennai

This month's Tarang featured a vocal concert by the Sai Sisters (SaiKiran and SaiNivedita).

Sai Sisters (Kiran and Nivi) are currently diciples of Sri. Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna, and “Sangeetha Seva Ratna” Dr.C.M.Venkatachalam. They are also layam disciples of "Nada Oli" Sri Melakkaveri K Balaji. They had the great privilege to be under the tutelage of "Sangeetha Shironmani" Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan for four years. Sai Sisters have been given multiple concerts in USA and India. They are giving concerts from the year 2015 in Chennai both in summer and during the December music season in various prestigious sabhas. They are finalists of Carnatic Music Idol USA in year 2012 and have won the Carnatic premier league "Sangeeth Samraat" in duo category in the year - 2015.

Sai sisters have been singing Sai bhajans from the age of 3. They have released a CD on Sai bhajans, which is sold in USA, India, and Singapore, in the year 2015 composed by their bhajan guru Sri Hariharan Venkataraman. They have also given bhajan concerts in various places including the Sri Sathya Sai Baba ashram at Whitefield, Bangalore and at Sai Prem, Vashi in Mumbai.

Global Autism Convention

We are pleased to share with you all that a five member team from across all our centers (Chennai, Erode, Srirangam and Pollachi in Tamil Nadu and Nashik and Solapur in Maharashtra) consisting of our unit heads and teachers attended the three day Global Autism Convention (GAC 2018) conducted by Academy for Severe Handicaps and Autism (ASHA) Charitable Trust, Bangalore. The objective of the convention is to provide a platform for researchers, educators and professionals to present and discuss the latest teaching methodologies, interventions, employment and family support. Eminent speakers from various countries were present and addressed the gathering and this was a good exposure and learning experience for our team.

Felicitations by Saksham, Nashik

Saksham, a National Organization working for the welfare of the disabled, felicitated five employees of V-Excel Nashik Center with awards, in connection with International Day for Person with Disability 2018. The felicitations were done by an eminent Citizen of Nashik Shri. Dr. Vinayakrao Govilkar. Our students were given an opportunity to give a dance performance at the Award function.

International Day for Persons with Disabilities

V-Excel celebrated International Day for Persons with Disabilities, 2018 today by creating awareness at two places in Chennai.

Event 1 :– Tech Mahindra, Sholinganallur
The students of Academy in Teaching Excellence, trainees of Youth Empowerment Services and Vocational Training pinned the badges with a message about disability to around 500 employees. We also had a display and sale of our products. The stall was managed by our trainees and staff and had an overwhelming response.

Event II:– Nageshwara Park, Mylapore
Teachers and staff of our special school enacted a little piece of poetry written and set to music by them. This poem captured how children with special needs are viewed in the society and how the lives of their teachers have changed, thus, creating a more harmonious earth together. They ended with a message from their children, which was a song on brotherhood. We thank the Tech Mahindra Foundation team and Mr. Sivakumar, Vice President, Sundaram Finance, who helped us to use the Park for this event

V-Excel Remedial Center

From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk

VRC Group

VRC Group:
December, being the last month of the year and also a festive month, children were involved in lot of activities other than their usual routine. It was decided that the curriculum would include information about the festival, the significance, the story behind and all other related activities. So it was all about Christmas, the birth of Christ, Christmas carols, making gifts, exchange and then the Chris mom and child theme. The children visited Santhome church and the Sensory Park alongwith the BLA childen. They made beautiful gifts out of wool, twigs and bottles for the other departments. They were also engaged in making a crib and the other decorations. They sang carols for the children of KLC. The VRC morning group children had holidays from 24th till 2nd January. An assessment camp was conducted on 29th December. Five children were given Remedial and OT assessments. The teachers also had the member's birthday celebrations alongwith the in-service.

Bridges Learning Academy:
The second term comes to an end. This month was a great term of revisions and celebrations. Our children were very enthusiastic in making a Christmas tree, decorations for Christmas, carols and gala celebrations with an aim to spread joy and happiness. On 21st December VRC children sang the carols in front of KLC children. Gifts and Sweets are shared among the students. We exchanged gifts with love among all the units. It was a different and grateful experience for all of us. As a token of love Our Director, Ajita mam. provided lunch for our VRC unit. Chris Mom and child were all shared by our team members. Two students Master Yuvaraj and Miss Monika of BLA drew the Images of Santaclaus and Christmas tree. The students showed good improvement in theirs academics. Primary and Pre NIOS children were given holidays. 4 students of NIOS will be appearing during the month of May. Intense coaching and tests have been started for the NIOS students appearing for the exams.

Nalanda Way:
We had a lot of activities for December celebrating Christmas. The kids had a lot of fun doing the activities and thoroughly enjoyed playing Santa. The activities provided a way for socializing as well as working on their fine motor skills. School closed for Christmas break on December 21st.

Anandam Outreach Center:
The Remedial activities in Anandam Learning Center is going on well under the guidance of VRC. Understanding about the Consultation forms, assessments reports, goal sheets and other forms are necessary for effective remediation and so it was decided to give an orientation for the members for five weeks in Sharada. The members were taught how to enter basic details about the child and the parent in the forms and later update in the system. This was done with the help of Mr. Ramesh and the unit head. The therapist from Anandam was also given orientation on group therapies and individual therapies by Mr. Senthil. Follow-up to be done once a month for the effective functioning of the Program.

Satellite Centers

From Jayanthi Vishwanath in Nashik

Every year, December is a cool, eventful and happy month. This year too, we had several varied activities like Sports, Picnic, Award functions, etc, lined up for the month.

On Dec 3rd, the World disability Day. this year all the Students of our Center, accompanied by their teachers went on a picnic to Mama cha Malla( meaning Uncle's Horticultural Farm). All the children went on tractor ride, bullock-cart ride, danced, played and ended the day with a sumptuous spread of their favorite food.

On 5th and 6th December, our students participated in the Inter-schools Para-lympics competition. Out of the nine students who participated in the various events, seven children won the first or second prizes in various competitions like Book-balancing, soft throw ball and kick-ball. The children who received prizes were Ms. Aastha ( Stood First for book-balancing on the head), Harsh & Anushka( Stood first and second respectively for soft ball throwing), Parth & Karthik( Stood second and third respectively in soft ball throwing), Samruddhi and Sathyam (Stood first and second respectively in Kick ball)

On 8th December, 5 of our staff were conferred with awards by Saksham, a National level Organization which works with Disabilities. They include Ms.Anjali Marwah(Occupational Therapist), Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath (Regional Director), Mrs.Pradnya Apte (Clinical Psychologist), Mrs. Suvarna Kannadkar(Special Educator) and Mrs. Sandhya Salve (Special Educator).

This month, our Regional Director Mrs. Jayanthi Vishwanath, along with four other Unit Heads of V-Excel, attended the International Autism Convention, which was held at Bangalore from 10th to 12th December. The Objective of the convention was to provide a platform for researchers, Educators and Professionals to present and discuss the latest Teaching methodologies, Intervention strategies, Employment Opportunities and Support availability.

On 23rd December, our students participated in Nashik District-level Sports meet and won prizes there too. Prathik won First prize in 25m running race and second prize in Soft-ball throw. Miss Manasa also won 2 prizes, first prize in shot-put and and second prize in 100m running race.

From Gopal Jahagirdar in Solapur

1.On the Occasion of World Disability Day we held Sports events in our school. Children participated in Running, Musical Chair, Throwing ball into bucket, Filling bottle with water, Drawing ,Colouring and many sports events and won several prizes. Prizes were distributed by Dr. Suhasini Shah- Founder Director of Precision Camshaft Pvt.Ltd., Solapur.
2. On 3rd Dec. we held awareness Rally from our Center. Our children, teachers and parents participated with various slogans related to special needs,written on hand-held boards or placards.
3. On 26th Dec. We went to picnic at 'Picnic Point' near Solapur. All children enjoyed all fun activities like Rain Shower, Air walk, all funny games , children's park and delicious food.
4. On 27th and 28th Dec. Our Regional Director Ms Jayanthi Vishwanath visited our Center. In her visit she did classroom observation in school and remedial sessions and guided teachers.She did 3 new consultations. She also met few parents and counseled them.

From Abhyasa Kendra - Srirangam

From 10.12.2018 to 12.12.2018 Ms. Reka Rr. of our Srirangam center participated in the global Autism conference at St. John's College Hospital Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore. The three day event provide a platform for researchers, educators and professionals to presented and discussed latest teaching Methodologies,interventions,employment and family support systems. The conference hosted eminent speakers both, national and international.

Our Srirangam center coordinator Mrs. Reka was invited as resource person to facilitate training sessions for 2 days from 27th to 28th December 2018. This training was conducted under the leadership of Mr. John Suresh, District Coordinator, Samagra Shiksha -Trichy The training session was conducted on "Psychological support, Vocational Training & Skill development for the Differently Abled as per RPWD act". Each day they were around 60 teachers from SSA – Trichy.

From Outreach Centre - Pollachi

The activities in our center for month of December 2018 started as early as on Monday 3rd Dec 2018. The SSA (Sarva Sikha Abhiyan) Day Care unit of Pollachi North block organized a programme in their premises to mark The International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd Dec 2018. We were invited to take part in the celebrations, about 60 children with disabilities and 30 children from nearby government schools were integrated based on the theme for year 2018 “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.”Various cultural activities like fancy dress competition, dance, musical chair, sports and literary activities was performed by children and prizes were distributed to them. Our team encouraged the children of different age groups (6 to 22 years).

Mrs. Lalitha Sridhar Visit
It was a happening in our center with the visit of Mrs.Lalitha Sridhar, on 27/12/18, after taking charge as the head of the organization. It is her first visit to our center and it has opened new horizons for better understanding and the perspectives brought in by her in the curricular and therapy areas will help us in the development of our present program. She shared her ideas in extension activities to reach out to the needy in the rural areas, with a vision to identify the children with difficulty in learning as early as 3 years of age and provide intervention for a better and healthy adolescence.

Vocational Training Unit

From Usha Rajagopal's Desk

The highlights of this month, the trainees were in full mood in the celebration of Christmas festival and they were busy fixing the Christmas tree and decorating the class room. The teachers talked about the Christmas festival and our Trainee Anton was excited and explained about Christmas festival.

On 3rd Decemebr 2018 World Disability Day, 4 VTU students & a teacher went along with other students and teachers of V-Excel to Tech Mahindra Foundation, Sholinganallur to meet the staff there and create awareness about the day, V-excel & ATE courses. Anton, VTU student became quite popular there as he introduced himself courteously and spoke about the day to all. Further, he requested them to visit our stalls. With their permission, he pinned the badges on their shirts sporting a smile on his face. Other VTU students along with Kantha Madam, Margaret mam and other staff of V-Excel managed the stalls and sold our products. It was a very successful day and a great experience for all.

Regular production activities were carried out by all divisions as per the order schedule. Many orders were received and got executed. Received 13 jute double colour bag orders of Mrs. Gopal, referral through Mrs. Charumati Sriram was executed. Order of 500 sanitary napkins to Ms.Gayathri also through Mrs. Charumati Sriram got executed.

Executed the stitching order of 30 jute coin purses received from Mr. Rajagopal within a short span of time. Grundfos India order for 125 file folders was received. Tailoring division workers were too busy with the stitching work of file folders and thamboolam bags. Simultaneously, block printing work on the stitched bags were done at the block-printing division.

Mrs. Charumati Sriram has started attending VTU Sreyes regularly every day in the morning hours to guide us in the absence of Mrs. Usha Rajagopal, who is traveling. The regular therapy session for the VTU trainees both individual and group therapy continued full-fledged on Tuesday and Thursday for the entire day.

On alternate Fridays Ms. Neha and Ms. Puja attended VTU. They narrated the Greek story of the Trojan horse and taught greek steps and movements to the students for sports day function. The students loved doing this activity. Props preparation and training the students for the sports day activities on all days continued.

On 20th December morning,VTU Sreyes trainees and the teachers joined others at Sharada for the Christmas carol singing. The children sang and danced to the joyful tunes. They were delighted to shake hands and enjoyed taking snaps with Santa claus & beautifully decorated Christmas tree. It was a joyous occasion for one and all especially the children.

On alternate Fridays Ms. Neha and Ms. Puja attended VTU. They narrated the Greek story of the Trojan horse and taught greek steps and movements to the students for sports day function. The students loved doing this activity. Props preparation and training the students for the sports day activities on all days continued.

20th December afternoon, The vocational teachers along with the trainees who have joined this year, went to Malar hospital as part of the regular experiential training. They were accompanied by the Balm interns. The Head of patient welfare accompanied by a Doctor took them inside the Malar hospital. The trainees were shown the various procedure rooms, specialised treatment rooms, pre-consultation procedure/rooms, master health check-up rooms. The duty doctor also explained them about the various procedures w.r.t. ECG, Eye check-up, X-ray, Emergency room. They were taken inside the ambulance by the HOD of nurses. Thus, the trainees field trip to hospital proved to be educative experience for them.

Month end last Thursday, VTU trainees and teachers attended the Tarang musical programme by Sai Kiran & Sai Niveditha. The trainees enjoyed their Carnatic music performance. The soulful rendition of Sambo Siva Sambo and Vittal bhajan songs touched the hearts of all.

Other regular activities of the trainees getting trained at Automobile shed, art teachers giving training to the trainees on arts and crafts also continued.

Youth Empowerment Services

From Rama Nagarajan's Desk

2018 ended with a happy note. We are happy to inform you all about the placement of three of our trainees in Blue Lagoon Resorts. Venkatesh, Karthik Ramani and Adithya Mahesh are placed in the different departments of Blue Lagoon Resorts.

On December 3rd 2018 on the world disability day our trainees Gokula Krishnan and Ezhilarasan helped in the sale of our products at the stall at Tech-Mahindra. Our trainees Varun Lal and Deepa with our staff were present there to create an awareness about intellectual disability on the world disability day. 500 badges were printed by our Printing and documentation unit to be distributed to the Tech-Mahindra employees.

T.A. Hari, a new trainee has joined in the YES unit on 5th Dec 2018. As on Jan 1st 2019, the total number of trainees in YES is 33. Two consultations happened on 27.12.18 for admission in YES. On 15th Dec 2018, Aswin of Juco-makers of organic juices, took our trainees Adithya Sai Anand and Gokula Krishnan to a sale mela at Chettinad Harishree Vidyasram, Raja Annamalai Puram. It was a very good learning experience to our trainees to learn about the marketing strategies. Personalised mug printing for all the 157 employees of V-Excel Educational Trust, Chennai was done by our Printing and documentation unit trainees.

On 8th December 2018, our staff John Bosco and Yuvaraj attended a demonstration on Jellow App for non-verbal special children. On 14th December 2018, our staff John Bosco attended a programme about Sign Language. Blue Lagoon resorts at ECR, Chennai organized a New Year celebration at their resorts to our 33 trainees. From 10 AM to 4.30 PM, our trainees had a fun filled time. Morning till lunch they spent time in outdoor activities, like playing cricket, lock and key and a pleasant beach walk. After lunch the singing and dancing session started and we found a lot of new singers. We heard Prakaladh, singing a Carnatic note for the 1st time and he surprised us with a melodious voice.

Our trainees, who were placed were also invited and it was a happy get together for them with their friends. End of the day, our trainees presented a greeting card signed by them all to the General Manager of Blue Lagoon.

Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...