Strides Newsletter || V-Excel Educational Trust

Strides Newsletter - May - June -2019

Academy of Teaching Excellence

From Meera Suresh's Desk

Sign Language classes are going on and the reports are very good. Inclusive Education classes are going on in earnest and will be completed by this month. The marks for the second internal test for the inclusive program has been given to students. Group discussion on IEP formatting, lesson planning with various case studies have been going on. Students took up tests on IEP and the feedback will be given after corrections. The Personality Development program has been addressed through PPT. Annamalai University Examinations have been completed. Viva voce examinations have been conducted and the feedback has been positive. Plans to start the Inkle Weave's "Class Apart" course is going on in earnest. A few enquiries for the ATE course have been coming in. Plans for the OJT for the candidates giving their exams in December has been done.

Counseling & Assessments

The V-Excel family congratulates our teacher-parent Mrs. V. Pon Rajam, on being the recipient of Sri Arunodayam's Special Mom Award 2019 on May 14 at Good Shepherd Convent Auditorium, Nungambakkam, Chennai.

The month of June started with trainings and in-service programs for the organisation and different skill-based ones for our team. Puja, our Art Therapist, completed her 4 years Waldorf Teacher Training course at IRA Institute of Learning. Puja and Parimal attended a two-day Eurythmy workshop by Patricia Orange, IRA faculty.

The counselling department attended the two-day orientation program for all the teachers, counselors and therapists conducted by V-Excel and the town-hall meeting. Radhika and Parimal conducted a Mindful Listening and Barriers to Listening session during the orientation.

From June 10-12, Parimal and Lekshmi Ramesh (of VRC) attended the WIPRO meet of their South Zone partners in Pondicherry. They presented our work with the foundation and about V-Excel.

The Counseling department conducted an in-service program for YES trainers on 3rd of June on Communication and Team Building.

This month counseling team had 4 new counselling cases. Our work with various departments with trainees, parents and teachers has resumed from 12th of June. With new systems, a streamlining of the roles has begun.

Early Intervention

From Lalitha Sridhar's Desk

Reading readiness in young children

Reading can be taught in a developmentally appropriate way. The pre-school years are the years for developing Pre-reading skills and a love for books by reading to the children.

Pre-reading skills should be worked on during the toddler / preschool years. Learning to read is just not about learning letters and putting them together.

The skills that need to be worked on are:

Auditory awareness, discrimination and memory.
Visual awareness, discrimination and memory.
Print awareness.
Listening comprehension.

Learning to read should be meaningful and easy.

Activities to help develop reading skills in young children:

Read to them – Reading to the child will not only develop vocabulary and language skills, but also develop love for books and desire to read.
Talk to them – Talking to the child and encouraging discussion while reading to them will develop their vocabulary as well as their use of grammar and language. Children must have a good understanding for language before they are ready to read for a meaning.
Point out Print in the environment – Before children are ready to read they must understand letters form words and that words have meaning (e.g.) Facilitate children to look at words on food items, road signs, functional words and help them understand the messages and why the message are there.
Develop visual perception – This is very important for learning to read and seeing shapes and patterns in letters and words. Games that help develop visual perception are matching card game, memory game, I spy game, build jigsaw puzzles, sorting games.
Auditory perception – This can be developed through games such as listening memory games, following instruction games, nursery rhymes etc. The child's auditory perception will influence how capable they are of blending, analysing and segmentation of sounds when reading.
Play with letters – Surround the child with letters in the rooms, play area and in the bath. Let them play with the letter and become familiar with the shapes without placing any expectations about learning them.
Encourage free play – It is during play (Child directed or adult guided) that children will naturally develop all kinds of skills needed for reading visual, auditory, special perception, motor skills, language skills etc.
Introduce the letters and sounds – This is the step in pre – reading skills and the first step in formal reading. Once they relate letters to their sounds, they will be able to place 3 simple sounds together to make words and also learn to make blends.

Kaleidoscope Learning Center

From Gita Bhalla's Desk

School began after a hot hot summer break on the 3 of June. Teachers came in to arrange classes, plan timetables, gather material, adjust with changes in classroom colleagues who had been moved to another class or welcome new staff. The distinct two sections in the staff are the older , more confident staff who form the main backbone of KLC, and the fresh new faces we see every one or two years. These staff members look courageous though timid, unsure but willing and it becomes a unique responsibility of using the talent of the older staff to welcome, mentor and guide the newcomers in the ways of KLC.

So there was a whole organisation orientation planned where new comers were initiated and the older ones revised and restated the philosophy, visited the ethos that has been built over the years and decided what would hold and bind the organisation better, what would serve the children better. There were thought provoking talks and skill building sessions and we hope these sessions stand in good stead and the teachers have a good head start into the year. We had visitors from our satellite centres and it was good to hear their stories from their centres!

On the 4 of June the new school van arrived and a small inauguration ceremony was staged to welcome the van! We had our donor Mrs. Lakshmi, another official from Ashok Leyland- Mr. Suresh who cut the ribbon and a group of delighted children climbed into the bus and went for a joy ride around the school.

Children arrived on 10 June, all eager beavers ready to meet their friends and teachers. Some moved to new classes, some welcomed new class mates, the new classmates had staggered timings to slowly orient them to school. The planning, the meetings continued to see how to streamline vocations and help the younger lot of children be more comfortable in their bodies and be usefully engaged.

The new parents orientation happened on 17 June where parents were briefed about the philosophy, diet, rules and regulations. We hope to have a very fruitful and engaging association with our new parents. Welcome to KLC.

As a part of the whole school art work done for Founders Day, this year we were guided by an amazing mentor Varsha who helped design and execute the art installation titled Diversity. Every child and teacher contributed in dressing up thief blocks and finally arranging it on frames made by the carpentry vocation teacher, Raghu. Please do stop by for a few moments when you visit school and read about what this piece of art signifies for us at KLC.

Varsha also gave the teachers a head start on the 4 th, followed by a whole V-Excel workshop on the 15th of June. Teachers learnt how to do appliqué, quilt, make yardage out of scrap fabric. All items were made as a part of a project of upcycling waste. This could develop into a new vocation in the senior school.

The biggest change this year has been to collectively decide to start school for senior students at 9 am so that they get some additional time for coming together and doing their main lesson before beginning on their vocation.

Dr. Swapna our school doctor visited on the 24 and 25th of June. She has always been a resource that we can all turn to for advice and guidance for the students their health and program.

Tiffin times had the KLC chefs, teachers and other helpers running the show for three hours on the 25th. It was a great success.

Parents of the Sreyes farm trainees had a meeting with the teachers and Usha and Mr. Rajgopal on 29 June where they were briefed about the enhanced program of vocational training at the farm. We look forward to a productive term this year.

The first batch of seven students completed the AIMS media course and had a simple graduation ceremony on the 19 of June with the parents and Dr. Maria who is the coordinator of AIMS. She came especially for this ceremony. The students were excited to receive their training certificates.

We had a visit from the AMM foundation on 21st June and the visitors joined the students in the afternoon music session.

V-Excel Educational Trust

V-Excel Sparkle

We are introducing a new column in our newsletter where we will showcase one Team V-Excel member each month. The spotlight this month is on Shenbagavalli Murali, our receptionist at our Head Office.

Shen, as she is popularly known, is an energetic, committed person who delivers excellence in all facets of service and administrative support. Interacting positively with people always is her mantra which helps her complete all tasks with a smile.

Our volunteer, Jayashree Bharath, spoke to Shen about her V-Excel experience.

When did you join V-Excel? Do you remember your first day with the organization?
In 2008, I just walked into V-Excel in quest for a job. I was asked to write my biodata and it was my handwriting that got me the job. My first day was full of surprises as I had no clue as to this was a special school and I was awestruck looking at teachers welcoming them and talking to them.

Over the years, what have you learnt working in V-Excel?
It has been a journey of learning, starting from how to speak and write in English, knowledge of Computer etc. I voluntarily stepped forward to help and learn, thus I started co-ordinating with Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and help with the courses offered in V-Excel.

What makes you continue with V-Excel after so many years?
Differently abled children are not seen differently in V-Excel. This was something that I caught on to. I find happiness working here.

During holidays or on an off day, how do you wish to relax?
Spend time with my children, enjoy north Indian food and sleep.

Tiffin Times Rolls Along

V-Excel's Tiffin Times, a food truck manned by young adults with special needs, completed operations for the last academic year with an evening at the Prime Terrace Apartments in Indira Nagar on May 24th. The truck continues to serves healthy snacks and beverages and is manned by our trainees.

Town hall meeting

A 3-day orientation and town hall meeting was held between June 5 to June 7, 2019 for all the teachers, therapists, counsellors, and staff, to start the academic year 2019-20. Staff from our satellite centres in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also attended the meeting.....

Inauguration of school bus

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our Germany-based donor, Yoga Vereinigung Rajagopalan E.V. (YVR), for donating a 25-seater school bus to us. The inauguration of the bus was held on June 4, 2019 at our R.A. Puram centre and Mr. D. Suresh, AGM, CSR, Ashok Leyland along with Ms. Lakshmi of Yoga Vereinigung Rajagopalan were present on the occasion. After the flag-off, students and teachers of our school went for a short ride in the bus and enjoyed it.

International Yoga Day 2019

On the occasion of the International Yoga Day 2019, trainees of Vocational Unit demonstrated yoga for the employees of ADP India Private Limited, Guindy Industrial Estate, Chennai on 21-June-2019.

Tarang in Chennai

The monthly Tarang concert held on Thursday, 27th June at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) - Mylapore between 2.00 p.m. - 3.00 p.m. featured a vocal concert by Kalaimamani R. Suryaprakash accompanied by Deepika Venkataraman on Violin and Akshay Ram on Mridangam.

V-Excel Remedial Center

From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk

Remedial Unit

Farhan is an autistic child with features of CP. He came to VRC in 2015. He has been undergoing training for hand functioning skills, gross motor skills, cognition, perception and orientation skills. Slowly he has been responding to the activities. Initially he was integrated with the group to drink ragi kanji. He started drinking it.

His difficulty was severe in swallowing, chewing food, with oral motor massage he slowly improved.

Now the biggest stride is he is able to eat solid food along with his group. This achievement is a success story for VRC. The parents are also very happy to see their child eating.

The activities given to achieve this stride
Transferring things using ice cream sticks and spoons
Doing different activities based on the above task
To help the child take the spoon to his mouth

Bridges Learning Academy

Monika’s journey in V-Excel began in June 2018, Monika was studying in regular school. She had difficulty in coping with the pressure and expectations of regular school. She had difficulty in coping with the pressure and expectations of regular school. The school could not understand her individual needs and help her to manage. Her struggle worsened. She had to drop out of eleventh standard. She came to V-excel with low self-esteem, with eyes filled with sorrow and absolutely no hope about her future. The team at V-Excel welcomed her on a promising note. She was given counselling, art therapy to improve her self-confidence; motivate her to pursue her studies and move forward.

She was admitted in NIOS training centre Bridges Learning Academy A unit of V-Excel Educational Trust. She started preparing for her 12th NIOS Exams. The teachers gave her one-to-one training. She slowly opened up, gained back her self-confidence and cooperated well. She completed her twelfth exams in first attempt. She is now studying first year BBA in a college at Chennai.

Monika is now confident, cheerful and motivated student. Monika’s parents are overwhelmed by her improvement. They have recoded their immense gratitude to V-Excel. The journey has been fruitful for both the student and the ever dedicated team of teachers.

One more feather in the cap of V-Excel Educational Trust- always striving to empower.

Satellite Centers

From Jayanthi Vishwanath in Nashik

Seven students had appeared for Level 1 Final exams of Open Basic Education under the National Institute of Open Schooling. All the seven students passed out in flying colours with either A or B grades. It was a happy moment for all the students, their parents and their teachers.To celebrate the success of the first batch of students, a small gathering was organized in the school and all the students were felicitated by us.

Four staff from Nashik center attended the training and Orientation program in Chennai Center from 4th June to 8th June. All the staff benefitted immensely from the sessions and came back empowered with new ideas and inspired with a fresh perspective on special Education. We take this opportunity to thank the Teaching and Management team and Admin Staff of Chennai Center of V-Excel for adding value to the knowledge and skill of the participants and also for the wonderful arrangements made to make their stay pleasant and memorable.

The major benefit to mainstreaming children with special needs is, it allows them to be in a natural environment. This year too, three students were main-streamed into regular school. Kian Mendonca, a 5 year old child enrolled in the Early Intervention program, secured admission in Junior KG in Little Angels International School. Sai Sonar, a 7year old boy secured admission in Std:1 in Abhinav Adharsh English medium School. And Mohd Anis, a 10 year old boy from BLA, passed the Level A Exam of NIOS(OBE) Exam with A- Grade in all the five subjects and secured admission in Rising Star English medium School, after clearing their School Entrance exam.

On 21st January, Yoga Day was celebrated in the school and Vocational Center. All the students and staff of the Center came in White attire and performed important yoga poses, as instructed by the Yoga teacher.

From Gopal Jahagirdar in Solapur

Early Intervention center shifted to new building A-20, Indira Nagar, Solapur on 01-06-2019.

New building of Early Intervention of V-Excel Solapur was inaugurated by Dr. Suneel Godbole, Developmental Paediatrician, Pune on 16-06-2019.

Solapur team arranged a free check up camp and seminar on Autism and other behavioural problems and its solution. Dr. Suneel Godbole and Dr.Ashwini Godbole, Dietitian and Psychologist, did the assessment check-up for 35 children. Out of 35, 20 children joined for therapy program.

From Abhyasa Kendra - Srirangam

During the visit of Mrs Lalitha Sridhar on 20th June 2019 to the Srirangam Centre, a meeting was organised for the new and the existing parents. 14 parents attended this meeting, where key points relating to - Independence in ADLs skills, attendance of students, importance of functional academics and the need for improving the communication was highlighted. Apart from this, individual meetings were also held with the new and existing parents.

From Outreach Centre - Pollachi

Summer classes

Summer class for the students was continued in the month of May 2019 with 30 students. We had many activities like preparation of fruit salad by one group of children and the other group prepared lemonade. Apart from core academics we also involved children in mindfulness activities to calm their emotions through glitter jar activity. Children exhibited their talents like yoga, brain breaks and storytelling in the closing ceremony of summer classes.

Mainstreaming of full time students

About 09 children of age group (07 to 15 years) were undergoing remedial education in our pullout programme.Of which, 05 children have been into mainstreaming schools with equitable board of education. The children were reassessed and guidance was given to parents to admit children in schools which believe in the objectives of remedial education. All the 05 children were given individual and group counseling to monitor their target behaviors’ and were documented. An exit report has been prepared for all the students those who are moving back to school.

Free Awareness Program

Free Awareness Program on Learning Disability for Primary teachers and Parents of slow learners at Noyal Public School, Kinathukadavu, Pollachi, on 15-06-2019, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. by Dr. S. Manju, Director, OutReach Remedial Center, Pollachi.

Beneficiaries: 23 Primary teachers and 35 parents were benefitted from this free awareness Programme on Learning Disability.

From Erode

Pre vocational training in making paper covers with newspaper is being offered to 7 boys at the Centre. As it is a pre-vocational training, the paper covers are not marketed but the trainees are just trained in folding the paper. ADL training is offered to 4 girls, where they are taught platting using ropes.

From Tiruneveli

Music therapy was introduced for the pre- vocational and primary group children at the Centre. They are being trained to play the Key Board and listening to songs. This helps them to calm down and improve their focus and attention. As they play the instrument, they touch and feel it, and explore. Positive energy seems to be flowing among the students and so it has been planned to include more music sessions as part of the group therapy.

Vocational Training Unit

From Usha Rajagopal's Desk

Greetings from all of us at VTU Sreyes. The current academic year began on an auspicious note with Poojas for enhanced positive energy across units. While the staff came in on the first Monday of June , the trainees came on the 2 nd Monday of June. The teachers had the annual orientation and the Town Hall meetings during the first week of June.

Ms Charumathi Sriram( PRO) has taken charge as coordinator Of the VTU Sreyes. The energy levels in the Unit has been boosted by her vibrant personality.

Two helpers Ms. shoba & Ms.Jayanthi who have been classroom assistant hitherto ,have been promoted as Junior Teachers in class room. With the Founder Director, Dr. Vasudha, taking a fresh look at the organisation; reorientation and reorganisation of working methodologies has brought in specialist like Ms. Lakshmi Sudhakaran to work with units.Ms. Lakshmi works closely with the VTU being there every Tuesday for the whole day. Apart from this the Unit has the benefit of the psychologist Ms Radhika’s services for a whole day every week.

The OT Services provided by the therapists of the EI continue to benefit the trainees of VTU.

This month two interns came to VTU Ms Manasa(student from Dubai’s) for 15 days and Ms Partha ( PG student)from BALM.The trainees are not only enjoying but also deriving benefit from their presence and intervention.

Special mention is to be made of two new activities that have been introduced this year, Carpentry and Automobile.

4 trainees of the Unit go to the carpentry unit at CSI School for the Hearing Impaired for training in carpentry.

3 trainees go to an automobile garage for training in car mechanics. Teachers accompanied them daily during the first month of training away from their main Class Room. With inputs from the Leadership council, fresh IPPs and timetables are on the table. Consultations for admission have been going on.The Unit has 3 new students with two more to come.

Regular consultation and Counselling by our Counselling Team happens every Tuesday. Ms. Rama and Ms. Margeret Buch continue their volunteering.

Trainee Ms. Anandi has been placed at Writers Cafe . She is settling well with the constant support of the V Excel team. Upon the exit of two female special educators, one Male special educator has been inducted.

4 Trainees with the Yoga teacher conducted a half hour “ Do Along” Yoga session at APP Company on the World Yoga Day.

Guests from AMM Foundation visited VTU and appreciated the trainee’s activity and the products.

Sreyes Farm meeting was conducted with parents ,for this academic year, at Sharada premises.

On the work front, brisk activity is going on across all sections to cater to a wedding order of paper thamboolam bags, cloth thamboolam bags, shopping bags and decorated diyas. Regular work is going on in the sanitary napkin unit as well as the craft section.

Last Thursday of the month is earmarked for Tarang programme. VTU team attended the musical (vocal) programme by Kalaimamani Suryaprakash at BVM, Mylapore. The songs were enjoyed by everyone especially the Trainees.

That's from us for now. Do follow us with every issue of strides to be updated about VTU Sreyes.

Youth Empowerment Services

From Rama Nagarajan's Desk

YES reopened for all the staff on 3rd June 2019 for the new academic year 2019- 20.

Mrs. Vijisha joined YES as trainer for Arts & Crafts vocation on the reopening day. She had already volunteered for YES for about couple of months during February and March 2019.

All the trainers and staff attended a wonderful 3 day orientation program on 5th, 6th and 7th June at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Sringeri Mutt Hall. It was a great coming together for the whole V-Excel and it gave the team all the motivation and confidence needed to start the new academic year with more enthusiasm.

YES unit reopened for the trainees on 10th June 2019. It was very nice to see all happy faces after a period of 2 weeks. We had 2 new admissions to the program, whose consultations were already done.

On 13th and 14th June we had our Tiffin Times mobile food truck run by our staff and admin team to understand the training requirements for our trainees.

On 21st June, on the occasion of International Yoga Day, 4 of our trainees, Gokula Krishnan, T.A. Hari, Ezhilarasan and Sruthi R. performed at the ADP India Private Limited, Chennai. They demonstrated Surya Namaskar and few other asanas in front of all the employees. It was well received by all and indeed was very nice to see the employees of the organisation follow our trainees and tried out the asasnas.

This month we had 3 enquiries. All the 3 were through references from management or parents.

We have started with the Life skill training for all the trainees. They are grouped based on their requirements and needs. One trainer is assigned to each group to impart the training and gauge the progress. At the end of the month we see a considerable progress in all of them in terms of their ADLs, social skills and communication.

As far as the production for the month of June goes, all the units are trying to balance between production and training.

In Printing and Documentation all the internal orders and external orders are taken up and completed on time.

In Baking, this month, we delivered 11 boxes of chocolates to Rane Foundation as their regular monthly order. We made 25 boxes of Chocolates to out trustee Mr. Radhakrishnan Iyer.

In Laundry, due to water scarcity we have stopped the washing process for now apart from the regular towel washing order from Naturals salon. We still continue with ironing. We do get garments from all our regular customers for the same.

Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...