Strides Newsletter || V-Excel Educational Trust

Strides Newsletter - June 2020 - Issue 170

Counseling & Assessments

The coronavirus (COVID19) outbreak has impacted everyone's daily lives. Yes the government is taking necessary steps to manage the outbreak, reduce transmission and treat those who need medical attention. It may be difficult, but by following guidance on Social Distancing and Staying at Home we are helping to protect ourselves, our family and our community at large.

During this time, we may get bored, frustrated or feel lonely. We also feel low, worried, anxious, or be concerned about your health or that of those close to us. Everyone reacts differently to events and changes in the way that we think, feel and behave vary between different people and over time. It's important that we take care of your mind as well as your body and to get further support if we need it.

Most of the students and families were able to cope with this demand and actually face it and overcome their own fears, anxiety in the process! It's also how they have formed new relationship to their children !

We have been holding weekly reading amongst the counselors! We conducted an online session on understanding biography !

At YES Following activities were undertaken.

There were online Departmental Meetings, wherein next course of actions were discussed. It was decided to call trainees and check about their well being on a daily basis. Also various reporting structures were developed and discussed.

An online class was conducted by Parimal Pandit for the parents on using Accupressure Points to calm down their minds and also to get away from somatic pains. This class was well received and much appreciated. Since the parents themselves were feeling tensed and anxious there were experience pains as well. So, attending this class made them feel comfortable and confident to look forward.

Also, counseling was given to 4 parents who needed most. The trainees of these 4 parents were having issues and they were acting violently. Counselling and follow up along with medication has helped them to handle the situation and currently, all 4 of them are ok.

Annual Report from the counseling point of view was prepared for all 32 YES trainees. The report is intensive covering the social aspect, emotional aspect, general behavior, strengths, weakness and recommendation.

Stay safe and take care

Kaleidoscope Learning Centre

From Gita Bhalla's Desk

The month of June which would have been the school reopening time, has been marked with the changing face of education all over the country and also in our centre. Online classes may still be not so compatible with our children but a number of online meetings with each child have been conducted. Children meet their teachers, get guided by their vocational teachers and this month began one of the routines of senior school. Every Friday of the month the children met in a zoom class where the songs of school were sung. Children beheld each other, and were delighted to have their teachers conduct the group music session for them. The children we noticed, had more gusto, more movement and definitely more smiles.

In one such meeting, we welcomed another child in our midst, Aryan a fifteen year old child who will be joining KLC in July 2020. Aryan we welcome you in senior school.

The reaction from parents has been mixed. Some parents have welcomed the ideas, classes, videos, stories from the teachers while others have preferred wanting their time to be freer where they can do what they wish to with their children. However, in June we did insist on some intervention and some sense of rhythm being set for the students.

Almost all the teachers have shown immense creativity in designing their lesson plans. Some have sung the stories, some told it, some acted it out and the children have responded through drawings, worksheets.

We have also been having a number of training sessions through webinars and case discussions. Mr. Milind Sonawane, a speech and language therapist based out of Ireland has been active in the month of June addressing the development of speech in children with special needs. Nitya our grade 3 teacher initiated a detailed case history of Victoria, and we received a lot of direction, concrete suggestions for taking communication forward. We really hope Mr. Sonawane will be able to help parents who will seek him and address issues of speech and communication and language with our students.

Some of our teachers are attending the Ira teacher training, some have enrolled in the Future learn Program of the British Council which is a five week program , helping teachers from all over the world on how to conduct online classes with more efficiency and with enhanced interaction with the students. We are really hoping that with all our efforts we have more meaningful interaction with our students.

Our academic coordinator Neha Bharadwaj compiled a beautiful film entitled , Changing Times-which captures not only the work that is happening in the homes of children but the hope, the forbearance, the dedication of the entire KLC community be it students, parents and teachers.

Changing Times

V-Excel Educational Trust

COVID-19 Emergency Relief Appeal

Lend a hand to special children* in the current crisis.

Your funds will be used to provide counseling, therapies and home education programs.

Donate Now - V-EXCEL EDUCATIONAL TRUST (INDIA)

Donate Now - ACADEMIC CONCEPTS, INC. (USA)

All donations are tax-exempt under section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

* Children with autism, ADHD, and developmental disorders.

Free Counseling Support for Health Workers

V-Excel provides free counseling support for health workers.

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.)

Choose "Academic Concepts, Inc" as your favorite charity on smile.amazon.com

If you shop at Amazon.com, you may already be aware of the online retail giant's feature that allows you to help a designated charity through your purchases. It's called AmazonSmile and it affords the shopper the opportunity to donate to a charity of his or her choice at no cost.

Register with smile.amazon.com and choose "Academic Concepts, Inc" as your favorite charity. This is our registered non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization in the USA. A small percentage of all your purchases will automatically go to sponsor our cause, at no additional cost to you.

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. One of the of these was called "Heart of Childhood".

Professionals from within V-Excel have agreed to offer several such webinars on a variety of topics. Please visit our webinar page on the website for more details.

Facebook e-Tarang

Live e-Tarang concerts was streamed on Friday, 05th June between 7.00 p.m. - 7.50 p.m. and featured a vocal concert by Maalavika Sundar accompanied by Ravi G. (Keyboard), Ramkumar Kanagarajan (Percussion)

We followed this up on Friday, 12th June with a concert by Ashwath Narayanan R. - Carnatic Vocalist where the them was 'Om Namo Narayana'

We followed this up on Friday, 19th June with a concert by Harikatha by Varsha Bhuvaneswari where the theme was 'Markandeya Charitharam'

We followed this up on Friday, 26th June with a concert by Madhu Iyer - Vocal where the theme was 'Navarasanayaki Hits'

Please visit our facebook page /freehearts for concert updates.

Music-for-a-cause

"As one person, I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person". Music-for-a-cause has been a big agent all my adult life. I have therefore chosen these extraordinary times, to engage the music inside me with one cause that has always been close to my heart - service towards individuals, especially children, with special needs. Please lend me a helping hand, please spread this message, please donate as much as you can, as much as you want. In thanks, I promise to sing my heart out!

Donate Now

Mr. Sudeep Sangameswaran on Facebook

V-Excel Remedial Center

From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk

Remedial Unit and Bridges Learning Academy

Greetings from VRC and BLA!

We certainly hope all are doing fine. June has come to an end but the Pandemic continues. This has not stopped us from staying connected to our students. It must have been a beginning of a new academic year. We are earnestly working towards making the learning experience more fruitful for our students. Online classes are going on for the NIOS and other students.

Apart from the classes, we are trying to keep the team spirit going . Weekly conference and zoom calls are held to discuss about the sessions . We do some training sessions, book reading and even sharing recipes! The webinars are also keeping us busy and help in learning a lot about varied topics.

Weekends are made lively with the Tarang programs and Mr.Sudeep’s singing sessions. All of us including our children and parents are enjoying them.

A small note about the online classes:

Usually the classes are conducted for an hour for the primary section of BLA. Based on the IEP of the student the teacher incorporates various strategies to teach the child. Some movement, singing, paper folding are also a part of the learning process. The students are taught language and Math skills based on their learning capacity. The students are given about ten minutes to discuss about their daily activities. The children feel happy when the teacher listens to them and acknowledge, understand their feelings and emotions. The classes not only help them to learn academics but also life skills and help in self grooming.

Nostalgic memories of Academic Year 2019-20 (Photos attached).

We wish you all health and energy. Let us stay together in thoughts and action.

BLA is offering online classes for children with learning difficulties, NIOS coaching for Secondary and Senior secondary exams. We would be glad to help the children to bridge the gap between learning and performance. V Excel office can be contacted for further details.

Satellite Centers

From Solapur

From 1st June we made whatsapp groups of one teacher and 8 children each.Started to give daily activities to parents through videos and photos and guiding supporting them daily through phone calls. Teachers took a follow up for every activity. Parents are very happy and they are cooperating with us very well.

On Sunday 7th June Organised one session for parents by Dr.Sunil Godbole (Developmental Pedestrian Pune) and Dr. Ashwini Godbole (Dietician and Counselor) through zoom meet. Topic was Managing Children during Lockdown - Tips and Tricks.

25 parents and all teachers participated in this session. It boosted and prepared parents for online sessions.

Started teletherapy sessions through video calls. Therapist plans OT, SI and Brain Gym activities as per need of child. Explains plan to parents, shows demo session and then observes videos and gives feedback. Parents follow it very sincerely.

We arranged individual consultation sessions for 15 children by Dr. Godbole for their medical problems. He also did counselling to parents. It was very helpful to parents because they couldn't go to Pune during this lockdown situation for their children's medical follow up.

Activities done by children at home during lockdown under teacher's guidance are in collage

Vocational Training Unit

From Usha Rajagopal's Desk

With the number of cases increasing especially in Tamil Nadu, the state continued to impose a lockdown this month as well, due to which we had to follow the previous month's schedule.

The key highlight of the month was the sale of masks, which received an overwhelming response, followed by a donation of Sanitizer for all the centres from ABHINAV CONSUCARE.

We shared a proposal with our Trustee Mr. Kandaswamy for the corporate mask order referred by him.

Teachers continued to be busy with their online classes and came up with more activities for the trainees. They also worked in the center before the 5th lockdown which started from June 19, 2020. They shared knowledge on the skills set to each other. Shanthi Nehru taught block printing to her peer group.

A financial meeting was held to discuss the budget and pay roll for the upcoming months keeping in mind the economy during this unprecedented time.

Whitewash and other maintenance work started at the centre.

Usha and Charu had a series of meetings with Lakshmi Sudhakar, the program director for therapy and intervention in which they discussed about a trainee and also her expertise and time given to the unit. Another meeting was held with the counseling team to discuss their services for the unit.

Lakshmi conducted a drill session for the VTU staff and teachers on Safety measures to be followed at home and at the unit.

We would like to show our gratitude to our donors Ms. Nirmala, Ms. Jamuna Swamy, Mr. Mukund Raghavan, Ms. Malathi and Mr. Ramanathan who supported us with their sponsorship for a few trainees even during such difficult times.

We would also like show our gratitude to Abhinav Consucare team, Mr. Vidyashankar, Managing Director, MM Forging & Mr. Venkat for donating standitizer and sanitizers for all the three centres.

Charu attended a webinar on ‘Speech and Communication in children with Development Disabilities’ by Milind Sonawane.

A meeting was held between all the teachers and staff of all our units with Mr. Milind Sonawane to discuss the case study of a trainee and a student. The trainee Pon Harish was from VTU and there was an interactive session between Mr. Milind and our teachers on how to improve his communication.

The annual report of Thozi, the sanitary pad project supported by Grundfus was submitted to them.

Specific products of VTU were shared with SNEH, Product Hub for them to create a product catalogue and market the same for us.

The VTU lockdown story video was made and shared with the V-Excel team.

Usha and Charu attended all the unit heads meeting every week.

In the last 2 months, online classes were one on one between a trainee and a teacher. Usha conducted a meeting with all the staff and teachers to ideate and formulate group activities and calls for the trainees. This was initiated for better social interaction amongst the trainees and also maintain productive throughout the lockdown.

We are happy to share that we have crossed the 1000 mark in the sale of masks in the last 2 months around 40 customers so far.

Trainees and teachers watched Tarang, a weekly musical program.

Usha Rajagopal conducted a webinar on ‘Special persons & Vocational training’ in Tamil.

Youth Empowerment Services

From Rama Nagarajan's Desk

June 2020, first month of the academic year 2020 – 21 began with a lot of positivity and hope. Though the uncertainties were still prevailing and posing a major challenge to the basic functioning, with the help of technology and resources we were able to make a very good progress with our training program.

Key highlights of the month June 2020
• Extension of time for the regular online sessions.
• Introduction of other skills and therapies through online sessions.
• Intense follow up with the parents on online sessions and in general.
• Conducting one on one meeting with parents.
• Making of video on Lockdown memories
• Decisions on systems and procedures for the new academic year.

Extension of time for the regular online sessions.

The regular online sessions that was happening for one hour got extended to 1.5 hours. This included 30 minutes of warm up activities. All the exercises were focussed on improving stamina, focus, concentration and coordination. Each session started with these exercises and followed by the topic of the day.

All the sessions are documented and the summary of each session is shared on the Facebook page with relevant pictures. This has brought in greater visibility and reach. During the month of June 2020, we covered various topics and the details are as given in the table below.

S.no.	Date	Topic	Targeted goals
1.	01 June 2020	Sequencing (Review), Communication	Logical thinking, Vocabulary, Observations skills, Social skills
2	03 June 2020	Kolam drawing - I, Following instructions	Fine motor, Hand coordination, Precision, Observation skills, Listening skills, Art and Drawing
3	05 June 2020	Kolam drawing – II, Following instructions	Fine motor, Hand coordination, Precision, Observation skills, Listening skills, Art and Drawing
4	08 June 2020	Dos and Don’ts in Public places – Lecture demo	Social skills, Vocabulary, Life skills
5	10 June 2020	Managing emotions	Understanding and managing emotions, Therapeutic, Social skills, Self-control, Observation skills,
6	12 June 2020	Hand sewing - I	Precision, Sitting tolerance, Focus and Concentration
7	15 June 2020	Hand sewing - II	Precision, Sitting tolerance, Focus and Concentration, Vocational skills
8	17 June 2020	Hand sewing – III Borders and shapes	Precision, Sitting tolerance, Focus and Concentration, Vocational skills
9	19 June 2020	Hand sewing – IV Patch work	Precision, Sitting tolerance, Focus and Concentration, Vocational skills
10	22 June 2020	Bringing it all together Kirigami, Stitching, Patch work	Precision, Sitting tolerance, Focus and Concentration, Vocational skills, Creativity
11	24 June 2020	Paper crafts – Basics Fan folding, Making rolls, Making crease folding	Fine motor, Hand coordination, Precision, Observation skills, Listening skills, Art and Craft
12	26 June 2020	Paper crafts Making Owl	Fine motor, Hand coordination, Precision, Observation skills, Listening skills, Art and Craft, Creativity
13	29 June 2020	Paper craft Making butterfly, Counselling session	Fine motor, Hand coordination, Precision, Observation skills, Listening skills, Art and Craft, Creativity.

Introduction of other skills and therapies through online sessions.

OT sessions

Sessions for OT/PT started in the month of June after the introduction class on 29 May 2020. All the trainees were grouped into 4 different groups depending on their therapy needs. Each session was focussed on aspects like Brain gym activating positive points, facial exercises, bilateral coordination, neck and shoulder exercises and lower limb exercises. Therapist demonstrated all the exercises during the session and the trainees followed his instructions with parental support wherever needed. This brought all the trainees back to their original routine in terms of their therapy after a gap of 2 months.

Sessions on Vocational academics

For selected few trainees online sessions on Vocational academics started in the month of June 2020. They are divided into 4 groups and they each group has 2 sessions per week. The topics covered are Length, Measurements and Capacity. Each session deals with a new topic after a recap of the previous session. Every topic is explained using a comprehensive presentation and appropriate examples which our trainees could easily relate to. Home assignments are also given. A very detailed goal sheet is defined and an evaluation sheet is maintained to assess their progress.

Intense follow up with the parents on online sessions.

The success and the outcome of these online sessions were made more effective with the intense follow up calls made by the trainers. Each trainer is allotted a few trainees and they make voice/video calls to these trainees to make sure they follow their recommended daily routine, their attendance to the online classes and to support them in their home assignments. These calls also help us keep in touch with those trainees who are not able to attend the online sessions for whatsoever reason.

Conducting one on one meeting with parents.

Individual meetings were conducted with all the parents to discuss their home program, both therapy and general. The therapy reports of the trainees were shared with their parents and recommendations were made accordingly. Parents also shared their challenges and difficulties for which professional suggestions were given.

Making of video on Lockdown memories

A video was made consolidating all the activities of YES during the Lock down period and the same was shared with other units and parents. The efforts and initiatives were much appreciated by all, particularly parents. The video is uploaded in Youtube and is open for public to view. Link

Decisions on systems and procedures for the new academic year.

Representatives of the YES unit had meetings with different departments like Counselling, Therapy and Finance to plan the program for the new academic year 2020-21. Though the current situation has few limitations for now, these meetings and the decisions taken subsequently will set the ground for the reopening and make the comeback easier and smoother.

On the whole, June 2020 was a productive month despite the prevailing uncertain situation. It has also opened up various options and new avenues for reaching out to trainees and to have uninterrupted training sessions.

Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...