Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...
Strides Newsletter - April 2020 - Issue 168
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
April took on a new look, a new meaning, a new sensibility and definitely a new possibility in KLC, reflective of the huge happenings in the world which was locked down due to the deadly corona virus.
School had to shut down prematurely, in an unprecedented manner. April was in the grips of fear, heat, masks, social distancing, staying at home. Parents were the sole caretakers of their children and surely we at school were worried about the increased stress at home and were very eager to help. Teachers began to call up parents, talk to children, and plan individual sessions with those that had internet facilities and sometimes go that extra mile to support homes where help was needed. One family needed the teachers to send food to them as the doctor parent was busy in the hospital, another teacher reached water and provisions to a home of a student which was cordoned off.
But like a beautiful story of life which war times and deep struggle times bring to the forefront, most parents reported that their children were happy, busy and well managed. Parents were finding new ways to connect with their children. It really was a time to count our blessings and in a way reap what we had sowed. The students almost smelt that there was a world crisis and decided not to add to the chaos with their melt downs and tantrums. We started receiving from parents photos of our aggressive heroes being able to stitch on a sewing machine, while whistling a song!
Parents have suddenly woken up to the ‘spirit' of their children and are enjoying their company.
Akshaya, 21, who was holding his ears and shouting in school, suddenly became a gentle lamb for a few days, because his father had to stay home! And his father, began to sing while he skated through the cars in the building! Akshaya smiled and was over joyed. In return he offered to wash up after lunch and become a responsible adult at home. He meets his teacher over a ten minute video call from Monday to Friday where they go through few prayers, a little reading and movement work. He is very fond of his teacher. But this time, has given his teacher a new purpose and a chance to connect to him and his family, differently. Hold their hand each day, and not once in a few months, like she used to. And Akshaya is still going through his ups and downs, but somewhere in the space between his teachers and parents, a new part of him, is being birthed.
A few parents reported that their children were sensing too much which is so typical of children with autism that they were finding it difficult to sleep peacefully. Their music teachers, thought of them, prepared and sang to them, ‘quiet' songs that they would have usually sung in school. When the children heard these recordings, they began again to eat a little better and sleep better. Parents reported a complete turn around and music being a healer was witnessed in a compelling way.
Adi, a student of Grade 7, through this, met his teacher online, and asked her to sing. He was thrilled to hear her voice sing his favourite song. The next week, when she called again, and asked what he wanted to sing, he sang to her, a part of his favourite song.... to her greatest surprise she realised that the pitch was the exact one that she had sung the previous week. The third week when they spoke she asked him - do you want to sing Adi? And he sang a whole verse from the song. His mother sitting next to him, was so overwhelmed to see this in him that she kissed him.
These are some of the stories from KLC. We have had a few children in the last week beginning to require help and some therapeutic measures which school provides. The happy high of the first three weeks of April seems to be dwindling and teachers are needing to spend more time with parents and teachers. Recordings of cooking videos especially of ragi kanji which is served everyday in school was circulated and parents learnt the magical recipe to add to the well being of the children.
The world has certainly slowed down and the chaos seems to be less. We hear birds in the trees and families are spending more time with each other. No wonder then, for our oversensitive children the world is a lot more comfortable and is showing in these photographs enclosed of children happy, busy, helping with household chores, making music, singing songs, living.
We hope at KLC that we have learnt a few lessons for life. How to be kinder to one another, to the earth and how to manage oneself with the bare minimum. Valuable lessons which no school curriculum teaches but life teaches and the community that forms around the children with special needs is indeed a very special one comprising of parents and teachers coming together in a beautiful symbiosis each helping the other in service of the special child at the centre.
Stories from Other Worlds... Our Encounters with What Lies Beyond!
V-Excel Educational Trust has been privileged to encounter and befriend many children and young adults and grown up people with Autism. We have had our changes in perspective in our first meeting with them. Who are they and why are we together with them in this life time? I use the word lifetime because for most of us teachers, parents, and friends from the community holding hands with our students is not just our profession but the work that we have chosen to do and the world we have consciously chosen to be a part of.
Some one asked me recently why I straddle two cities and come to school I said simply - that here in this world , I get to witness a miracle everyday! My eyes are naturally open here and something ‘not of this world’ is happening all around me!
Today as we look upon the world literally unified in their fight and stand against the virus, many stories come to my mind of how some of our students had spoken of these very times many years ago. They spoke of brotherhood and universal love and we wondered!
Over this month , we invite teachers, parents, friends from the community to write to us with any of their special encounters with persons with autism. Something that spoke of their hidden potential and some place where you were left with wonder and a question.... who are you, what are you telling us and how can we serve you?
- Gita Bhalla, Associate Director
V-Excel Educational Trust
April 2, 2020
World Autism Day
From the diary of Gita Bhalla, Principal of Kaleidoscope Learning Center
What Lies Beyond Series...
From the diary of Gita Bhalla, Principal of Kaleidoscope Learning Center
The Phenyl Bottle and Gods and Goddesses
This was perhaps my first conscious encounter. Ten year old Abhishek who loved to smell every thing he could lay his hands on created a furore on the ground floor of our school. One of the Akkas came running in saying Abhi had visited the bathroom and had consumed some phenyl because the full bottle was now half empty.
Five teachers jumped into his mouth to smell it, some phoned the doctor and there was catastrophic hullabaloo. Abhi looking puzzled, pulled me to the computer and typed ....
“ I am not a fool. I only smelt it. “
And my shock not at what he had said but the fact that he had typed with correct spelling.
“Abhi abhi Abhi... you know how to write?” I asked in disbelieving belief because we were still teaching him to order alphabets and invariably he would throw, shuffle or run away from the cards.
And he typed nonchalantly, “Yes I can...”
“Who taught you?”
“Gods and goddesses.”
“When did they teach you?”
“At night when I sleep...”
Years later , when we learnt about Rudolf Steiner and what he had to say about sleep and waking and how children learn as much from sleeping as in waking did the pieces fall in place.....
- Gita Bhalla
Stories from Other Worlds....
From a Teacher at our center who has deeply connected with what lies behind the mask of Autism...
Nitya Sundararajan Venkatesh, Class Teacher of eight beautiful children in Grade Four at Kaleidoscope Learning Center shares:
MY WORLD AS A SPECIAL EDUCATOR
LOOKING BACK… IN RETROSPECT: Years ago, when I was still a school going girl, I knew I had an aptitude for teaching. I would take time out to help my friends and classmates understand concepts that were taught in class which they couldn’t grasp. To their delight I was able to teach them in a way they could understand. As life moved on, I found myself deeply drawn towards teaching, especially teaching children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
LOOKING AT MY CHOICE: My current place of work, V-excel Educational Trust is an organisation that dedicates itself to special needs children and their wellbeing. I recall the day when I met Mrs. Gita Bhalla, the principal of Kaleidoscope Learning Centre (KLC). As I entered her room, I was in a confused state of mind because in my mind I wasn’t ready for special needs, but the passion with which I was spoken to, the genuine and honest way with which I was told about the job profile, I knew in my heart that this is what I wanted to do. Even though I had agreed to join as a special educator, my mind was still in dilemma…. dilemma on whether I would be able to do justice to the faith of the person who spoke so passionately about the job. However, I chose to give it a try and joined KLC and opened a new world for myself.. A world that I now believe is truly god’s blessings on earth.
LOOKING AT AUTISM: As any layman would think, I viewed autistic children as children who are destructive, may scream, may bite and may harm you in some way. To my surprise I was introduced to a class that was none of these. The children were as curious to see me as much as I was to meet them and within a month most of them bonded well with me and changed my perception on autism completely. While there was a curriculum, a routine that we needed to follow for the children, the atmosphere on the whole gave me enough time to understand each child and the strength to put in my best efforts. And now after three years of working with the same set of children, I can very confidently say that we all understand each other well. There has not been a single human emotion that I have not seen in these children, yet we brand them special needs. What is this ‘special needs’? Yes, medically and clinically there are issues, which we need to address… Yes, there is a learning pattern and method that is different from a regular child…. Yes, there is span of concentration that is lesser than regular children, yet these special needs children are just as normal as the regular school going children. They know exactly if we look at them with pity or with love, and they will only respond to love and compassion. Just like a regular school going child, the pressure of expectation from the parents weighs heavy on these children too. Just like the regular school going children who demand that they be respected for who they are, so do the special needs children.
LOOKING AT THE PICTURE TODAY: Many people ask me that it must be such a difficult task to work with special needs children. I feel as a teacher, my responsibility is the same as for a regular school teacher. Just that as a special educator, I need to keep reinventing teaching techniques every single day to cater to every single child who is part of my class. It’s a job where the child already knows every thing and we are just working to unravel that. Yes, its difficult because we don’t get answers on demand, the answers come at their will, but they do. Many a times when I hit a road block, I get answers for that from my class children. They help me steer clear of the road block. Many a day when I have felt low and almost felt breaking down, I get a hug from these children out of nowhere telling me … ‘don’t worry we will cross the bridge together’. I don’t need to tell them anything, yet they understand me deeply. And so, when they want to let go of their feelings, in whichever way they want to, I should be able to help them with that and not disapprove of that. Yes, it’s a difficult task if I take it as a strict authoritarian task, but it’s the most rewarding task if I take it as one of mutual respect and understanding, mutual give and take. To me, my imagination of a perfect world exists here. A place where human emotions carry so much value. Where each child comes into your life with unconditional love and only expects that back from you. Where laughter and happiness, music and dance take predominance over constant pressure of proving their mettle through numerous tests. Where every day brings in pleasant surprises as well as disappointing shocks, where every day you fall down and have the courage to pull yourself up and look forward to the next day.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Introducing the V-Excel Webinar Series
To help professionals, teachers and parents tide over the current COVID-19 crisis, V-Excel has initiated a series of webinars. The first of these was called "Understanding Psychosocial Developmental Aspects of Adolescents".
Professionals from within V-Excel have agreed to offer several such webinars on a variety of topics. Please visit our website for more details.
Facebook e-Tarang
The first of our live e-Tarang concerts was streamed on on Friday, 17th April between 7.00 p.m. - 7.50 p.m. and featured a vocal concert by Savita Sreeram (Carnatic vocalist).
We followed this up on Friday, 24th April with a concert by Smt. J.B. Keerthana Bharathwaj (Carnatic vocalist) where the theme was 'Songs on Gods'
Please visit our facebook page /freehearts for concert updates.
An interview with Dr. Michaela Glöckler
For the times that we are in, here is an interview with Dr Michaela Glöckler, our teacher, mentor, doctor and friend of V-Excel... Dr Michaela brings a new light and perspective to the "crisis" we are all in and hope to work towards a change on this earth and within us in the coming days.. The interview is in German, but the subtitles option can be made available in this video.
Counseling services are available during COVID - 19 pandemic
By appointment only!
In light of the various issues surrounding COVID-19, V-Excel's counselling services are now available via calls on WhatsApp and Skype during this lockdown period, at a minimal cost.
Please SMS or WhatsApp on the following numbers for an appointment 98847 33004 and 9500014273 (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. / 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) (between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. / 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.)
V-Excel Remedial Center
From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk
Remedial Unit and Bridges Learning Academy
Greetings from VRC! Together we can make things happen!
April 2020 has been a month of lockdown for school. It has not been able to lock our aspirations and stop our genuine work. We the teachers and students of VRC are still connected and we continue our journey of learning and teaching from the safety of our homes.
Being in touch:
The teachers are in touch with their respective students. Everyday both look forward to this time. Some teachers send worksheets through Whatsapp and some through mail. The students do the work and proudly display it in the group (WhatsApp). We also counsel the students and parents to help them overcome their boredom and teach them games and activities which can keep them busy. Students share their experiences with their peers and enjoy buddy time under parental guidance over phone.
This has helped in bringing the following: continuity in learning their syllabus, spending time usefully, bonding with family, peers and teachers; displaying their creative skills. We at VRC felt that this was the time to be supportive to our students and their families to help them overcome the anxiety (if any) that this lockdown has caused.
In Service training:
Practice and training are an integral part of learning. An in service was arranged for the teachers of VRC and BLA. The topic was Attention. Under the guidance of the Unit Head all the teachers presented their knowledge about the topic in the five minutes given to them. One of the teachers's summed up the discussions. It was a new experience sharing knowledge through a conference call. It was a platform to discuss about the strategies adopted by the teachers to improve the attention of the students that they handled. The headings discussed were: what is attention, types of attention, why is attention important for learning, how to improve attention span of children with learning disabilities, strategies adopted by teachers with examples from classroom.
Plans for May:
We have worked out with the parents to start online classes for the students. Those with facility like zoom and Skype will be having classes on a regular basis for an hour on all week days. Some students have opted for twice or thrice a week. Based on the response and the learning experience the class timings may be increased. We hope that all things begun with a good intention will succeed.
Wishing one and all a safe and healthy life! Let's not stop, let's continue to make a difference in the life of people around us. Let's be together in thoughts and action.
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath in Nashik
While we all accept that the Strict Lockdown measures is the only way to control the spread of COVID-19, the effect it has on children with special needs and their parents is quite challenging. This is because children with special needs get used to a certain routine and order and the change in the schedule due to the lockdown has upset them. Our teachers have been working ardently to create activities that can be done at home with the child, by the parents. Our teachers and counselors have been in constant touch with the students and parents on Skype and Whatsapp video calls and helped to resolve challenging behaviors.
Parents were advised to keep some sense of the daily routine going and remain proactive, to avoid any meltdowns or breakdown with special needs children. Worksheets were e mailed to them and appropriate activities were suggested to keep the children busy, at least for a small part of the day. Parents were also urged to be consistent and were encouraged to carry out skill-building activities. Many children need regular occupational and Sensory integration therapies to go about their day. For these children, some home-based activities like kneading dough, crawling, and eating crunchy foods were suggested. For kids with Cerebral palsy, Physiotherapy is a must everyday routine and they were advised to do crawling, massages around the mouth, sucking, blowing and wet-sponge squeezing activities. (Photos enclosed)
Some parents of children in the Bridges Learning Academy were very upbeat and positive and used this time to develop new-skills. Vajra’s mother involved her in vegetable gardening activities and together they prepared vermi-compost from organic wastes, like vegetable and fruit peels, dry leaves, etc. Girishma got herself busy in the kitchen and learnt to cook some simple dishes, all by herself. Jay Jethwa built a small bird’s nest with the help of ice-cream sticks.
The parents of young adults of the Vocational Training Unit were requested to involve their wards in all kinds of household related activities, like mopping, arranging dishes and cutleries, dish-washing, cutting veggies and preparing pickles and wafers. (Photos enclosed)
We identified some families of students, whose parents were daily-wage earners, and extended support to them by providing food grains and other daily needs including medicines of the children. We were supported by Saksham, a Social Organization to carry out this activity on 24-April-2020.. (Photo enclosed)
Poem by Navneet
Navneet, our young friend from our Solapur Center wrote a heartfelt letter and poem to parents on World Autism Awareness Day...
From V-Excel - Solapur
Home Program
As precaution measure for COVID-19, nationwide lockdown happened. In this situation our priority is to keep our special children safe we have decided to provide support to our parents by using different options available like WhatsApp messaging and video calls, phone calls, etc. we have created program called Happy Home Program.
Happy Home Program included the daily home activities, therapy activities and few calming techniques which helped parents to take care of children and it did not disturb children daily schedule. The daily home activities had brushing, bathing, self-dressing and self-eating, etc. The Therapy Program included sensory activities, putting vegetables in plate, blowing candles, etc. The calming techniques included playing with clay, Rangoli and Its summer so asked children to enjoy in water, etc.
We received many positive feedbacks from parents saying this program helped them to take care of their child in this situation and our center staff is approachable for them.
Apart from this program our teachers are proactively creating awareness among parents to teach their children habits of hand washing, social distancing, wearing mask, staying at home, keeping handkerchief on mouth when coughing etc.
Vocational Training Unit
From Usha Rajagopal's Desk
The month continued with the Global Pandemic scare and Lockdown which kept extending every two weeks. But still we, as a team, were able to do so many interesting programs like virtual classrooms, successful home program, activities for trainees with help of teachers, work from home concept for all, distribution of Thozhi – low cost sanitary pad being used for a cause and production of reusuable masks with recycled material. Coordinating the logistics in collecting the old bedspreads and clothes during this period gave lots of amazing experiences.
After the lockdown on March 23, 2020 till 1st week of April, the teachers group become very active with showcasing their talents by doing lots on their culinary, arts, crafts, singing, dance and activities for trainees. Some of the art and craft works from all the teachers are in collage
Usha and Charu started calling all the trainees on a video call mode and interacted with them and parents. Also they could collect information regarding their day to day activities or for any meltdowns. It was very surprising for us to know that all the trainees were happy and busy doing activities at home and also calm and composed.
Charu and Usha had conference call with teachers and discussed about having the yoga class and two more activities using Whatsapp video calls for trainees. Teachers were very enthusiastic and those who could have good internet connection were assigned the online class activities. Teacher assistants Shoba and Jayanthi were made to come to the center and start with making of templates and jute products.
Rishi and Charu prepared list of group assigning trainees to teachers. Yoga teacher Priya did a video on yoga and Shanthi with the making of paper bags.
On trial basis Charu had yoga sessions for Sailakshmi and Pranav in coordination with parents. This was successful and teachers and parents were oriented how to go about with yoga class daily at 9.00 am.
Charu received a mail from Goonj requesting to support for their menstrual relief fund or products for the migrant women workers during the COVID-19 crisis. It was good opportunity to send our Thozhi – low cost sanitary pads which was actually done for the cause. Immediately coordinated with Manivannan for the stock and with the Goonj team for logistics of delivery. They connected us with the local office. Meanwhile well wishers of V-Excel, Ms. Jamuna Swamy and Ms. Srividhya Venkataraman came forward to sponsor the 2000 nos. of Sanitary pads which was in stock.
Videos on yoga and making of paper bags with task analysis were shared with the parents. Some trainees who need individual attention and guidance for this activity were assigned to do home chores with the help of parents.
Teachers started the online classes for their trainees assigned to them and they reported every evening in the group. It was amazing to see the full cooperation from the trainees and parents. Teachers were very happy to see trainees communicating to them and following instructions through Video calls. Thanks to the technology. The trainees wanted to come to the center which was expressed to the teachers.
The farm trainers Kali and Ramesh were doing amazing work, as they were staying close by, Ramesh would shoot the video, while Kali takes class and another friend of them will click their activities for report.
Manivannan our admin manager was also assigned with three trainees for yoga sessions every day. The trainees were happy and responded very well.
Charu and Usha had discussion with regarding the making of masks and materials to be collected. Charu created a What’s App message and started circulating in various groups. Varsha Mohan, well-wisher of V-Excel, sent us the Government manual for making masks in the used cloths. With the help of admin team Mani and Prakash, coordinated to collect material from various people who volunteered to donate them.
Shoba made a template and Sailakshmi, our trainee’s mother was willing to support by making her ward cut the clothes as per the template. She was staying close to our center. The clothes was washed, sundried and then made into masks.
Those teachers who had tailoring machines, were assigned to stitch masks and the marterial were sent to them with the help of admin team and house keeping staff.
Teachers were busy conducting classes. Three teachers Bhavani, Bhagawathy, Abhirami started stitching masks and it was collected at the our center
Charu , Mani organised the delivery of sanitary pads to the Goonj Chennai office. Inspite of the heavy restrictions on lockdown, Mani and our driver Mathi went to Kovilambakkam for delivery and police were cooperated as it was an essential commodity and for the cause.
Charu, Mani, Usha were busy preparing budget for the academic year.
With daily online classes for the trainees, their enthusiasm increased and everyday parents started updating with their household chores. It was indeed very happy moment to watch trainees who had challenges in doing these work started working with more involvement from the parents. Sowmya our trainee became more happy to serve her father lunch and dinner and mother training her in drying clothes, washing utensils and folding clothes. Gazali who had issues on social stigma of men work only on certain household chores, with teachers online class started sweeping, mopping, drying clothes and chopping vegetables. The lockdown has helped the family to have time to focus on applying our training methods at home. The stories goes on with each and every trainees house. Pranav was initially watching TV and Youtube, once we guided the parent, he does yoga with Bhagawathy teacher and does chopping vegetables, folding clothes and he started doing all his work on his own.
Trainee Adrian helped his mother as she is working from home and during that time she assigned him all the house hold chores. All these trainees are non-verbal but has picked up instructions and every day we receive videos and photos of their activities.
Chandra, Sailakshmi, Suprassana were very busy helping their mom in all activities.
Mahesh seems the busiest trainee of all. As he stays in a village in the outskirts of Chennai and in a joint family, his routine is hectic by doing yoga everyday morning with teacher online followed by chopping veggies, working in their garden, cycling, cleaning their water tank. He expresses that he is happy being with his entire family.
Shabaz became expert in deplucking the pudhina and helping his father in activites. Rishi enjoys doing yoga and some activities at home. Vishal is with busy with his routine work and especially a trainee who can do Sirasasanam with so much of ease and plays mrundagam apart from making of dosas and chopping vegetables.
Apart from all the above mentioned trainees, Nikil, Gazali, Saravana Prabu and Sriram are making paper bags every day apart from their yoga class and other household chores. They independently message or call the teacher and give updates. about their activity. The teachers Bhavani increases the target. However access to old newspaper so Saravana Prabu getting newspaper has become an issue.
Masks started getting ready and so beautifully it was collected in one center and in return material was handed over to make more.
Trainees Prashanth and Sailakshmi were involved in making of masks.
The first order received was from our trustees Mr. Kandaswamy and Mr. Radhakrishnan. It was very motivating and encouraging and based on the WhatsApp message went viral, we started receiving bedspreads and orders simultaneously.
Usha and Charu attended Units head meeting and also webinars organised on trial basis by Parimal, Lekshmi.
A reporter from YOCEE contacted with regard to the making of masks by our trainees. Charu has given the details and photos.
Tarang Music event has been organized on Facebook Live by Usha Suresh every week. We share invitation and link to all the parents and teachers and happy to share that trainees watching every week.
Youth Empowerment Services
From Rama Nagarajan's Desk
April 2020 put us all in a very different, difficult and an unusual situation. The national level lockdown got extended as the Covid-19 situation worsened across the nation. We took about one week, the first week of April to gauge the situation and look at alternate options. We decided to make best use of the internet communication.
Activities for trainees:
We started our online sessions from 09 April 2020. We scheduled it in such a way that we had a minimum of 3 sessions per week. We had 11 online sessions for our trainees and 1 online session exclusively for our parents for the month of April 2020.
|
S.No. |
Date |
Topic |
Trainer |
|
1 |
09 April 2020 |
Fireless cooking (Neermore, Lemon mint cooler) |
Ms. Lakshmi |
|
2 |
10 April 2020 |
Paperbag making |
Ms. Vijisha |
|
3 |
13 April 2020 |
Fireless cooking (sweet health balls, Kosambari) |
Ms. Divya |
|
4 |
15 April 2020 |
Paper folding (making pen stand) |
Ms. Girija |
|
5 |
16 April 2020 |
General Hygiene Practices |
Mr. Arun Kumar |
|
6 |
17 April 2020 |
Home gardening |
Ms. Lakshmi |
|
7 |
20 April 2020 |
Laundry (folding and ironing) |
Ms. Divya |
|
8 |
22 April 2020 |
Breathing Techniques and Origami |
Ms. Rama |
|
9 |
24 April 2020 |
Table manners |
Mr. Arun Kumar |
|
10 |
25 April 2020 |
Pressure points and its benefits |
Ms. Latha Kannan (for parents) |
|
11 |
27 April 2020 |
Social and communication skill |
Ms. Gayathri |
|
12 |
29 April 2020 |
Pencil Art |
Ms. Vijisha |
All the sessions were well received by the parents and the trainees. On an average for any session we had 18 participants and around 40 people as audience. After every session clear instruction and a summary was sent through whatsapp for their easy reference and recap. Every session had some kind of homework or assignment to keep them engaged at home.Trainees very enthusiastically participated in all the activities and shared their pictures and videos which was very encouraging.
We decided to continue this till the lockdown situation prevails and extend this further for few topics.
On the other hand, for those trainees who cannot participate in these sessions for reasons like connectivity issues, non-availability of a smart device, or so, we made videos of few workouts and ADLs and audio versions of many support documents and shared it with them. We have also put a day schedule for our trainees to be followed during the lockdown period and the same has been shared with the parents.
From 16 April 2020, our trainers have started talking to all our trainees on a daily basis to ensure they are following the schedule and also to see if they need any counselling or medical support. All the parents are very happy with this arrangement and this also has given us an opportunity to understand their issues and help resolve them immediately. Our counsellor Ms. Latha Kannan supported us in this gave counselling sessions over a telephonic call.
Report on staff activities:
At YES, we have started to have online staff meetings to coordinate our services and to plan further actions.
• Each trainer has been allotted 5 or 6 trainees and a template with pointers has been shared with them for data collection from the parents.
• This template is a weekly report and trainers fill it every Friday.
• Discussions were happening through con calls and online meetings to resolve any problems or issues being faced by the parents or trainees.
• All the trainers were actively involved in planning, preparing and conducting the online sessions.
• An intense training session on CAPS (Comprehensive Autism Planning System) template was given to all the staff. We had 5 sessions on this and to make sure each staff gets complete clarity on the components and basically to understand the need and importance of CAPS.
• Sample entries were made to this template for few selected trainees to understand its modalities and eventually to incorporate it in our training program.
For all of us at YES, the month of April was a very challenging month but the same time gave us all a very opportunity to revisit our training system, include changes and learn new things, redefine our activities and schedule accordingly. This month was also very gratifying and heartening as we were able to connect with all the parents and trainees in a very different and in an informal way. The feedback and suggestions from the parents were very encouraging and motivating and as a unit we will strive harder to keep up to those expectations and appreciations while we hope for better to come.