Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...

Toilet training is one of the tasks of childhood that can reflect stress, and the child can exercise a great deal of control by controlling toileting. Things tend to run much smoother without stress and expectation.

Strategies to improve bladder control:

• Ideal frequency of sending the child to urinate is 90 mts. Child should sense the urge and develop control habit. Do not pay much attention to accidents.
• Use single word command and no detailed instructions.
• Ensure consistency.
• Once 70% success is achieved in day time, proceed for night time.
• Ensure the diaper is completely off during day and night.
• If the child is not urinating after 90 minutes interval, stimulate by opening the tap. The sound and visual of running water gives the stimulation to urinate.
• For night training, keep the alarm every 4 hours after the child goes to sleep. Take the child to the toilet without waking him up and you may sprinkle water on his private parts to stimulate him to urinate.

Strategies to improve bowel movement:

• Potty training should always be done in the morning preferably.
• To stimulate bowel movement, give warm water 30 mts after the child wakes up, allow the child to move around before getting him to sit on the toilet.
• Be consistent.
• Give the child to hold a squishy toy to hold. Squeezing the toy relaxes and helps, in pushing down the bowel.
• Food given to the child should contain a mix of carbohydrate, pulses and fiber.
• It is important the child bites and chews the food.

General Tips:

• If child is not aware that he is urinating, let him go naked - child will connect the sensation to the consequence.
• If child cannot tolerate sitting on the toilet, try to make it as safe as possible.
• Make the hole smaller with infant toilet seat.
• Put stool under the child’s feet.
• Try a handrail for the child to hold on.
• Use distractions like songs, music or pictures on the walls.
• Try padded toilet seat because it is softer and warmer.
• Dim the light, if it is over stimulating.
• Never force. Respect the child’s tolerance.
• Use visual aids and social stories to increase child’s understanding of the task.
• Make the task as pleasant as possible.

School reopened after the first term break on the 9 of October. Children began their new blocks and the changes in groups of vocations rolled out with enough planning and thinking from the teachers so that it was quite seamless.

The second batch of trainees from NKT College for teachers started their internship with us and were placed in different classes. V-Excel has always been encouraging where internships are concerned and extending ourselves to sharing knowledge and best practices with the outside world.

In the same vein, two of our teachers Tamizh Selvi and Shashi our school coordinator demonstrated handwork and hospitality respectively on two different days to the students of the All Inclusive Classroom as part of their practical work. These sessions are really helpful and go a long way in preparing interns to work with children directly.

KLC celebrated Father's Day on 15 October. We had a number of interested fathers and the children were most excited to share school space with them. The fathers were celebrated, made to play games, entertain their wards and talk about their experiences. It’s very heartening to note that the face of the father tribe is changing and we see more father’s involvement and joy to the children, different from the mothers who remain the primary care takers. 22 fathers participated.

They were welcomed by walking through a student's hand held tunnel with their child, to be honoured with a badge made by our students. It read "I have a Hero, I call him....." (Appa/Daddy/Dada/Papa - as each child addressed their father. Mothers helped us).

They were welcomed with sweet ragi kanji. They, were tested for their kitchen skills by an onion cutting competition, played tug of war, had a snack served by the students, had their hand prints made along with their child, met the challenge of playing the HumDrum with the teachers, heard and sang a few songs and went home happily with a small verse gifted by their child.

The students were very happy to see their fathers enjoy, relax, compete and have a good time. One of our student's said,"I am very happy to see my father happy"

On 15 of October, Rekha Vijaykumar one of our Senior Students got an award. The award was given by Inner Wheel Club of Madras Central Adithya, who presented THE SADHANA AWARD for the Specially Abled, on 15th October, Tuesday evening at Gandhinagar Club, Adyar. Rekha is a student of Kaleidoscope Learning Centre an unit of V-Excel Educational Trust, received this award for her progress and achievements.
At present, she has independently been cooking at V-Excel Educational Trust, as master chef, for Tiffin Times, that serves food to the community, twice a month. She also went to Institute of Hotel Management and exhibited her cooking prowess to the trained chefs.
Rekha also has good hand work skills and stitches, draws and is good at artistic work. Along with this she carries herself with grace and has good social skills.
Rekha’s message to the community on many occasions is spreading warmth and humanity.

On 17th of Octiber Thursday, a new set of 7 students with a teacher started on a day trip to Sreyes Farm. They go along with the long stay group on Thursday mornings and return the same evening after some work there. The students are Siva, Kailash, Zubair, Hari, Srisha, Prasad and Akshay Sunder.

On 18th of October Friday, Grade 6A went to the park. They are working on learning the topic, Symbiosis and the different kinds of Symbiotic relationships. As observed by them in the park, they found a Mushroom living off a tree in a mutual symbiotic relationship. This is bringing in learning in a practical sense to the students.

Lakshmi Sudhakaran conducted an in-service on "Sense of Touch" to the teachers of KLC and VRC. She talked about Connection and Separation, meeting oneself, boundary, security which all comes into the fore with the Sense of Touch. It was a very interesting talk, which will continue in the next session.

A Doll Making Workshop was held in Sharada by Sowmya Vikram, one of our well-wishers and an experienced ex-teacher of KLC Kindergarten. A few of our teachers and parents joined this workshop and enjoyed creating the dolls.

On 19th of October Saturday, a working day, we had text study in the morning and we had a Baby Shower for Gowri, one of our teachers who is 8 months pregnant and going away for her delivery. In keeping with Indian tradition, all teachers brought her different food and the pot luck was shared by all. The mother to be received blessings for her baby to come.

We welcome Levi Hofmann a young 18 year old volunteer who arrived in our school on the 28 of October. He is a volunteer from our partner organisation in Germany "Freunde" and we are really grateful to them for sending us enthusiastic youngsters who add value to our programs for one whole year. We hope Levi has a happy healthy meaningful stay with us at KLC.

Diwali the Festival of Lights was celebrated noiselessly in every class with lighting lamps after painting them. A full school celebration followed on the 1st where families and other units gathered in the foyer and each person lit their own lamp and placed it around a flower rangoli. The spirit of each lighting their own lamps within and lending their light to a community space was well understood by the students, parents and other visitors who had gathered in the foyer.

The month of October marked the beginning of a new term for the students. The students came back the same zest and fervour after the Pooja holidays.

Exam time:
The students of BLA in the Senior Secondary grade appeared for board exams and they have done well. Two more students have joined the Secondary class of NIOS. They will appear for the board exams in APRIL 2020. The pre NIOS students wrote Exams set by the concerned teachers.

Report and Feedback time:
The parents of the VRC morning group and BLA were invited for a parent teacher meet. This was to give a report of the student’s progress in the first term. They were given feedback about their wards, home programs as required, suggestions and future plans. It was a platform for sharing views. It was a mutually benefitting process for both the parents and the teachers.

Educational Trip: Shop and Learn
Every day is a learning. Learning becomes fruitful when it is enjoyed!

As part of know your neighbourhood program children were taken to a Departmental Stores at Vadapalani, Chennai. The shop is owned by parents of one of our students. The students travelled by school van to the venue. On the way they were taught to observe the familiar and famous places. On reaching the shop the children were taken in a line to visit all the sections of the shop. One supervisor of the shop told them about the shop and the various departments. Then the students purchased based on their requirements and the amount that they had with them. They were happy to take it to the billing counter and buy them. Each one had a bag because plastic bags are a definite no.

The shop owners treated the team with a tasty and healthy meal. Our students gifted them a bag and candle made by the V Excel vocational unit. The trip helped the children to learn the art of buying based on needs, based on the amount they possessed, maintain discipline in public places.

Diwali celebrations:
The lamps were lit - clay lamps of joy, the wick of love and the oil of knowledge to brighten the minds, to spread love and energy. A ten-minute group prayer to thank and wish all the important things in our life and then a lamp was lit by each student and they stood in a line clearing the darkness of ignorance. The teacher then read out to them how Diwali is celebrated in various parts of India. Tasty “adhirasam” (a traditional South Indian sweet prepared with rice jaggery and ghee) was served. Then the students enjoyed lighting the sparklers, amidst laughter and joy.

Mindful Movements:
Mind and body coordination, perception are areas that need remediation for many of our students. Pattern walking is one of the aids for improving them. Pattern walking is used for therapeutic movements – to help in coordinating the body, balancing the body and understand spatial and body orientation. This activity is done on a regular basis to help the students.

It has been a busy month at the Nalandaway project. The remedial sessions and Occupational therapy sessions are being conducted in a systematic way.

Innovations are always a part of learning in Anandam. The students had a small expo on "Best out of Waste". The models exhibited by the students bear testimony to their creativity.

Animal walk for sensory integration: Children are asked to pretend like animals and walk like them. It's a fun filled exercise. It helps them to get over shyness. It is also useful for children with cross over and motor skill issues. It helps in sensory integration. In short it has multiple benefits

Strategies to improve visual motor integration in children

Visual Motor Integration (also known as VMI) is the effective, efficient communication between the visual systems and the motor systems.

Good VMI skills can help your child correctly copy or draw the shapes, numbers and letters that he/she sees, which is important for handwriting.

• First draw "straight" lines (horizontal and vertical) then circles.
• Toddlers usually manage to scribble the lines, and then start drawing loops, that eventually develop into circles.
• Draw lots of bigger spirals on non-paper mediums and have your child trace them before doing a worksheet.
• Squares and rectangles are harder because they require that your child STOP at corners and turn the corners.
• To draw triangles, start by practicing lots of diagonal lines before connecting them to make a triangle.
• Stand/sit behind the child and guide their hands through the tracing.
• Help the child with verbal prompt, emphasizing stopping at the corners and turning the corners.

The staff of Tirunelveli center underwent intense training on assessment, formation of IEP, parent observation and home programme training. Avaz as a communication tool is introduced at Tirunelveli center to help non-verbal children to communicate and help children who are speaking to improve vocabulary. This has helped in addressing behaviour issues in adolescent children. ADL training is an integral part of every child attending the programme. The main aim is to achieve the appropriate functional independence. Parents are also guided on generalizing the ADL training at home.