Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...
Strides Newsletter - September 2020 - Issue 173
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
Another month in the history of the lock down in Chennai. With a few stirrings and a few murmurs. Some therapists and a couple of teachers from a few units began to visit Sharada this month and about six students started on a therapy program. A new student Aryan Ram joined the school going children and he comes, three times a week for therapy as well as some academic work with Mahalakshmi from VRC. We are grateful to Maha for executing so well the program designed by the class teacher in KLC.
The senior students have proceeded from individual zoom sessions to a group circle time along with group music lessons. The other development has been the beginning of the google classroom which has been inaugurated with Grade 7. Worksheets are uploaded regularly, and parents upload the completed worksheets and post it in google classroom. It is heartening to see the growing interest the children have in understanding and following a story through. They have been reading a short novel by Gita Wolf called The Tree Girl!
Six teachers from KLC were asked to make simple educational videos which were based on thinking and reasoning skills, math concepts and early learning concepts. Muthu, Meena, Arul, Nandini, Aditi and Priya all tried their skills at making these videos which will be soon available in the V-Excel library of videos.
We have had many visitors who have been browsing through our video library and gaining input for their classes. The integrated classroom being one such avenue where the participants have accessed the videos and have found them very useful in their work with their children.
As a part of the international quilt festival that we were introduced by Varsha Sundararajan, some students from every unit made patches of quilting work and have submitted it in school. These have now to be designed and put together in our entry from V-Excel for this event. We hope to use this quilt to represent young adults with special needs as an entry for the exhibition cum auction. We are halfway through this process and hope to be able to put this together in the month of October. A big round of applause to all teachers from all three units who supervised and encouraged the students to make their hand work pieces.
The entire staff participated in the Teachers day celebrations and it was a great day for interaction, catching up, celebrating and touching base. Staff meetings and parent meetings have happened regularly as well. Counselling has restarted for parents and teachers with Radhika and Parimal.
Skating has started as a support to some of the parents needing a reprieve. Some students have also been coming to Sharada for therapy sessions and the numbers seem to be on the rise.
Our deepest condolences to Parimal Pandit as her father crossed the threshold on the 10th of September in Pune. We wish her and her mother lots of courage and strength in this hour. Meena Anantharaman our teacher of Grade 6 also lost her father in law. We wish the family including our student Keshaav strength and peace to bear the loss of their beloved family elders.
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.
Hounoured by HDFC Bank
Ms. Jayanthi Viswanath, Regional Program Director, Nashik center has been hounoured for her dedication and commitment towards building an educated society by HDFC Bank, Nashik Branch on the Teacher's Day 2020
Free Online Screening Camp
Free online screening camp, tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for children with development disabilities aged 7 or under. For appointments, call 044-24956373/9884491986.
Teachers Day
V -Excel Educational Trust celebrated 5 September- Teachers Day in a brand new avatar. In our attempt not to be defeated by the ‘stay away’ situation in Chennai, the entire organisation comprising of therapists, special educators, counsellors, and admin staff came together for two hours in the popular new meeting place- the zoom room! It proved to be an excellent opportunity to connect, celebrate and collectively reaffirm our intentions of serving the children in need of special care.
Gita Bhalla, Usha Rajagopal, Ajita Panishkar, Rama Nagarajan were the main hostesses in planning and executing the event via Zoom on Saturday, Sept 05, 2020 between 3.00 to 5.00 pm.
Everyone was logged in at 2.50 pm and each unit was given a dress code with contrast accessories. Each one to be ready with their health drink for the toast to be raised to teachers all over the world, and ready with Tambola tickets to be played later. The event started with Usha’s Welcome Address followed by raising a toast. The first game was to show the accessories by whichever unit is called and all others voted for the best accessory. It was very interesting to see lemon slices for earrings, masks and gloves of lilac colour, orange sanitizer bottle used as a pendant, elaborate hair dos with beads and strings! The Housie game was played and it was interspersed with rapid fire questions based on the V-Excel family. It was very interesting and fun for all the participants and everyone enjoyed thoroughly. The final event was to read out a message for any other participant in the organisation. This was very beautiful game were everyone had the opportunity to surprise others with lovely messages and from the heart.
The day had all the right ingredients... joy, fun, bonhomie, emotions and a spirit of unity!
Teachers Day at Sreyes
VTU celebrated the Teacher’s day yesterday at the center along with the ESVI Sarada Foundation team by having potluck lunch. All the teachers and staff prepared their signature dishes and enjoyed the delicacies. Usha Rajagopal wished the teachers and shared about Shanthi Nehru being nominated and awarded for her work by the Rotary Club of Chennai Royals. The event will be held on Sunday, Sept 6, 2020 at 7.30 pm through Zoom.
Rotary Life Changer Award 2020
We are extremely happy to share with you that the Rotary Club of Chennai Royals has conferred this year's Rotary Life Changer Award 2020 to two skill-trainers from V-Excel.
1) Ms. Shanthi Nehru, Skill Trainer, Vocational Training Unit, Sastrinagar and
2) Mr. Yuvaraj Vijayaraghavan, Skill Trainer, Youth Empowerment Services, Mylapore.
The winners were announced in an award function held by RCCR yesterday evening at 7.30 pm on Zoom.
We are grateful to Rtn. President Ruckmani Sekar and Rtn. Jeyalatha Martin (Secretary) of the Rotary Club of Chennai Royals and also to our Trustee, Radhakrishnan Iyer.
Rotary Teaching Excellence Award 2020
We are extremely happy to share with you that the Rotary Club of Chennai ECR has conferred this year's Rotary Teaching Excellence Award on our own Ramesh Gopalakrishnan. It is richly deserved, well-earned and feels special. He collected the citation today from Mr Deepak Sanghi, President Rotary Club Chennai ECR.
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 "Sensory Integration - Proprioceptive System".
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/YouTube e-Tarang
Live e-Tarang concerts was streamed on Saturday, 5th September between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m with a concert by Sai Sisters: Kiran and Nivi, where the theme was 'Bhajans'.
We followed this up on Friday, 11th September with a concert by Swarathmika S. on Vocals and Sarvesh Karthik on Mridangam, where the theme was 'Bharathiyar'.
We followed this up on Friday, 18th September with a concert by Airtel Super Singer Fame: Krishnan, where the theme was 'K. J. Yesudass 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!
V-Excel Remedial Center
From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk
Remedial Unit and Bridges Learning Academy
It is wonderful to be meeting you all once again with our strides. Though the pandemic has thrown us off our routines, we have been earnestly and consistently taking baby steps to keep the good work and spirits of our dear students going.
The month of September marks the end of the first term and the beginning of a new term in October. The online classes have given us a new gamut of experiences which we plan to share with you in our forthcoming issues.
BLA’s coaching for board exams.
One of the BLA students appeared for the tenth standard exam conducted by the Tamil Nadu Government. He was regularly coached by the NIOS teachers to appear for the Tamil and Math exams. He has done his exams well and we are sure he will come out with flying colours. BLA also coaches students who want to appear privately for the State Board tenth exams apart from the coaching we provide for secondary and senior secondary exams of NIOS.
Teacher’s day celebrations:
“A teacher is a person who does not stop with teaching she goes on to make you think, act and also bring out the best in you”. Our students made us feel proud by sending wishes through voice and video messages. It’s a pleasure to watch our students using technology to stay connected and at the same time use it in an appropriate way.
Last year this month:
A few pics to bring back memories of September 2019 and the happiness that filled the air at school
Anandam Satellite Centre:
Anandam Satellite Centre as you are aware of is now unable to teach in a physical setting. As many students do not have access to smart phones or computers they are not able to take up online classes. So, the teachers are keeping their good work going by talking to the students over phone, guiding the parents and also sending across worksheets and other study materials to keep the students engaged.
Tip of the month: “Effective Communication”
In the journey of life we are a student, a parent and a teacher. What is it that makes this journey fruitful?
The first and foremost quality is good communication. For the communication to be effective follow the 3S. Keep it simple, strong, sincere.
Communication has to be simple in the sense talk in way that the other person can understand what you wish to convey. It must also give a scope for the other person to clarify their doubts. This way the communication is effective.
Communication has to be strong. Reason out the issues, brainstorm them and draw a plan to suit the need. Being assertive is the need of the hour.
Communication has to be sincere – being genuine and true helps us to move forward confidently. So while communicating move on, you don’t have to beat around the bush, speak with concern, speak with empathy, use words of assurance, put out the facts in such a way that each one is able to understand what is going on.
Now remember to use the 3S when you are talking to your child or the teacher and the teacher has to use it with her student and the parent. So parents and teachers teach your children how to use the 3S by becoming a role model for them.
Thank you, parents. friends and donors for being with us during these difficult times. Praying, for a healthy environment and a wonderful month ahead.
A visit to Ramakrishna Mutt - VRC/BLA
Teacher’s Day celebrations at Anandam Satellite Centre.
Vocational Training Unit
From Usha Rajagopal's Desk
The month begin with a happy news of lifting the lockdown after 6 months though with some restrictions and SOP guidelines and procedures to be followed. It was happy moment for all that it started with celebration of Teacher’s Day, reopening for trainees, new admission and with activities both virtual and in center. The month ended with an emotional but a successful story of the senior most trainee of V-Excel, farewell to Mr. Vaidhyanathan.
Online classes went as schedule with full attendance. Few videos were shown and interactive sessions followed. The non-verbal trainees came to be part of it since they related to the visuals. They were encouraged to reply with gestures when raised any questions.
VTU along with ESVI Sarada Foundation team celebrated the Teacher's Day by having a small gettogether at the center.
VTU team participated in virtual V-Excel Teacher's Day Celebration on Sept 5, 2020.
All the Chennai centers participated and had fun filled games, puzzles which was very interactive. The main host for the event was Gita Bhalla, Ajita Panshikar, Usha Rajagopal and Rama Nagarajan. Teachers and staff of V-Excel participated and won prizes on Housie and other games. It was a different experience altogether and each one was able to connect and participated with full enthusiasm.
It was happy moment to VTU team, as Shanthi Nehru our senior teacher was selected as Best Skill Trainer - Rotary Life Changer Award 2020 conducted by Rotary Club of Chennai. Two from V-Excel have been nominated and the award was announced on Sunday, Sept 6, 2020 by organizing the event via Zoom. It was proud moment for V-Excel family.
The center finally reopened for trainees on batch by batch after a long lockdown period since March 2020. Chandra and Gazali were the first one to start followed by other trainees in the following week. They were so happy to attend and were able to adapt to their sessions for full day with enthusiasm.
Sessions were conducted online for other trainees as scheduled.
The marketing organisation SNEH – Product Hub started enquiring for their orders to be done at our end as the trainees started coming. Enquiry to stitch Jute Tambulam bags were received and the costing was worked out and the quantities to be committed by our team were discussed.
Usha and Charu conducted teachers meeting to plan and organise the time-table for both online and in person activities.
This week three more trainees started to come to the center. They all were engaged in both zoom class as well as activities at center by making paper bags, painting, carpentry, tailoring and block printing.
VTU staff, teachers along with Usha and Charu attended one hour interview of Gita Bhalla, Neha Bhalla and Puja conducted by Desk Doodle and the topic was ‘How can we create a positive environmnet for ASD?’ It was a beautiful program to watch and so many insights were given to the interveiwer and also for the teachers to listen the family speak and express about their experiences.
Four more trainees started from this week and joined the activities both online sessions for Functional Academics and reading. One teacher was assigned for online trainees and balance trainees were assigned with activities at the center of tailoring, groundnut deseeding, paper bags and paper products and culinary.
Usha and Charu attended the online Unit Heads Meeting. For the International Quilling Exhibition, patchwork done by our trainees were sent to Ms. Varsha Mohan.
The month ended with a beautiful farewell to our senior most trainee Mr. Vaidhyanathan.
Vaithy, as he is called by all, joined us on March 22, 2016 at the Vocational Training Center Shastrinagar Branch. He was 53 yrs when he joined us as trainee, though he had tried very short stints in other places. He had certain OCD issues which were worked upon. Gradually, with a consistent and holistic program he could settle down and started learning all the activities at the unit. In 2 years time he could get well-versed in all the vocations and he became the “goto” person. He was enthusiastic and willingn to work. He travelled independently and he was later made mentor for another one being trained in independent travel.
In 2019 April, he graduated to be employed at the Sreyes Farm sales outlet at the same premises of VTU. Sreyes Farm was started by our partner ESVI Sarada Foundation. The vegetables were received from the farm, where he could segregate and display for sale at the outlet. He also delivered with the help of staff to the nearby houses. It was a successful program and he was well received by the neighbourhood. He would greet them and sometimes engage in conversation too. He was very happy to work at the outlet till the lockdown started.
During the lockdown, unfortunately he lost both his parents. Vaithy took the initiative to do the rituals on his own with the help of his neighbours and the nephew. His elder brother who was taking care of them was in stuck in USA at that time.
Now Vaithy is 58 yrs and the family after discussing with him decided to move him to a senior citizens facility at Sriperumbadur. Vaithy wanted to meet his mentors and peer group before he joins the Home, so visited us on Sept 28, 2020 and met Mr. Rajagopal and Usha Rajagopal and thanked them. He was very positive and said he is happy to go to the Senior Citizen Home and will be in touch with us regularly. Usha Rajagopal gave him some activities to be followed at the home and promised to visit him once. VTU staff and trainees wished him and gave him a momento.
It was a happy moment for us as seeing our trainee going through phases because of the program and where he was empowered to take his own decision in his life journey to the next level.
We thank all the teachers, staff and the family without them we couldn’t have achieved this journey for Vaithy and best wishes to him to settle in life in Viswa Shanthi Senior Home, Sriperumbadur.
Youth Empowerment Services
From Rama Nagarajan's Desk
During September 2020 at YES we slowly started limping back to normalcy with great hope and enthusiasm. With the dedicated support of all the staff and admin team, the centre was sanitised, maintained and was kept ready to receive our trainees who showed willingness to come the centre. It gave us a lot of energy and positivity to have our trainees back at the centre and to work with them face to face.
Key highlights of the month September 2020
• Best Teacher Award for YES trainer Mr. Yuvaraj
• Trainee S. Ramanathan got the Special Art Award from USO.
• Trainees started attending the centre.
• Continuation of incorporating core Vocational skills along with Social, Life and communication skills training through our regular online
sessions and introduction of pretend play and role play method.
• Training and assessment through online sessions on computer skills
• Continuation of online sessions on therapy and vocational academics
• Group counselling sessions for trainees
• Continuation of one on one session for a couple of trainees who are not able to attend regular online sessions.
• Celebrations – Teacher's day
• Talk about Autism – Orientation about Autism by Ms. Gita Bhalla, Ms. Puja and Ms. Neha
Online sessions on vocational skills, social skills, communication skills and life skills.
Following is the list of online sessions held in the month of September 2020. These sessions are held thrice a week.
|
Date |
Topics |
Summary of the session |
|
02-Sep-20 |
Time concept - Calendar Year, month, week |
Vocational skills, Vocational academics, Life skills, Social skills
|
|
04-Sep-20 |
Time concept, Play - 1 |
Vocational skills, Vocational academics, Life skills ,Social skills, Communication skills, Creative skills |
|
07-Sep-20 |
Time concept - Days, Date format |
Vocational skills, Vocational academics, Life skills, Social skills
|
|
09-Sep-20 |
Time concept - birthdays, important dates |
Vocational skills, Vocational academics, Life skills, Social skills
|
|
11-Sep-20 |
First aid |
Life skills, social skills, communication skills, music, listening and observation skills and therapeutic |
|
14-Sep-20 |
Arts & Crafts - part 1 |
Vocational skills, creative skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination skills |
|
16-Sep-20 |
Arts & Crafts - part 2 |
Vocational skills, creative skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination skills |
|
18-Sep-20 |
Role play - shopping |
Social skills, observation and listening skills, creative skills, Communication skills, Application of concept, Vocational acdemics |
|
21-Sep-20 |
Stitching part 1 |
Vocational skills, creative skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination skills, Sitting tolerance, focus and concentration |
|
23-Sep-20 |
Stitching part 2 |
Vocational skills, creative skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination skills, Sitting tolerance, focus and concentration |
|
25-Sep-20 |
Stitching part 3 |
Vocational skills, creative skills, fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination skills, Sitting tolerance, focus and concentration |
|
28-Sep-20 |
Kitchen activities |
Vocational skills, life skills, fine motor skills |
|
30-Sep-20 |
Application of Time concept |
Alertness, listening skills, observation, social skills Life skills, application of concept |
Life Changer Award 2020 for YES trainer Mr. Yuvaraj
September 2020 saw a great recognition for one of our staff members Mr. Yuvaraj. Rotary Club of Chennai Royals had chosen Mr. Yuvaraj for the Life Changer Award in Special needs category. He was felicitated in an online event conducted during the Teacher’s Day celebrations. He was awarded with a memento, cash prize and a certificate. Whole of V-Excel joined YES team in congratulating and wishing him.
Trainee S. Ramanathan got the Special Art Award from USO.
Our trainee S. Ramanathan who along with 3 others from YES participated in the poster making competition conducted by USO, Delhi got selected for the Special Art Award category. He got a medal, a certificate and a few goodies as gifts.
Trainees started attending the centre.
As a first step towards getting back to the normal routine, YES welcomed a couple of its trainees whose parents were willing to send. We drafted a detailed SOP and thorough preparation was done with our staff. All the staff members were allocated a task and given a responsibility to make sure all the points mentioned in the SOP are well implemented. One staff member was completely dedicated to work with the trainees with a given program schedule. Hoping to include and welcome more trainees in the coming months.
Training and assessment through online sessions on computer skills
In our computer skills training sessions, for the month of September, we graduated to sentences and paragraphs for 2 groups and words and sentences for the other 2 groups. With regular assignments and practice now almost all the trainees are following the 10-finger typing method efficiently. The focus of September month was to increase the speed of typing and accuracy. Different useful paragraphs on various topics are taken for practice. End of the month we had the individual assessment done and number of words per minute was noted down for each trainee.
Continuation of online sessions on therapy and Vocational academics
OT/PT session
OT/PT sessions for this month focussed on coordination, body posture, upper and lower limbs, body balancing and orientation. For this month each session, very limited number of activities/exercises were chosen and during the end of every session each trainee was asked to perform all the activities. This way each activity was finetuned and it was made sure the right method was followed by everyone.
Vocational academics
September 2020, vocational academics focussed on the extension of money concept and application of the same. As the trainees were now aware of the currency and concept of transaction, this month's curriculum included purchase of more than one item, calculating the total amount using a calculator, giving the money and taking back the balance amount if any. It was done very gradually over the sessions and the number of items purchased also was increased by one count every session, Each session was made very interactive and interesting.
Group counselling sessions for trainees
In the month September 2020, the Yes Trainees were divided into 4 groups and each group had an hour of counselling session in which stories were taken as a form to counsel them. The reason to choose stories for counselling is because stories play a major role in shaping the thought process of the people especially children. They have been used to impart values of living, to teach right conduct and also help people to cope with various personal as well as social problems. The right story at the right time can facilitate psychological and even physical healing. Moreover, stories are more appealing so naturally the attention fixation was naturally there.
Continuation of one on one session for a couple of trainees who are not able to attend regular online sessions.
The one on one online sessions for a couple trainees continue to happen and the parents are also very happy with the progress. One on one session provides individual attention for those trainees who cannot participate in group activities or for those who have specific issues to be addressed.
Continuation of services
Our laundry services, screen printing services are happening continuously. The manpower issue in the screen-printing unit has also been addressed and a suitable candidate is found to make sure uninterrupted services. As the trainees have started coming to the centre, paper bags making has also started.
Celebrations – Teacher’s day
YES unit participated in the Teacher’s Day celebrations conducted by the organising committee. All the staff members participated with great enthusiasm and energy that YES team won a couple of prizes in different games organised as part of the event. We all followed the colour code suggested for the unit and looked very pleasant and beautiful in different shades of blue.
Participation in the review meeting with SNEH
On 23 September 2020, a review meeting was organised by the SNEH group to review the process of allotting and allocating different activities for each unit.Ms. Rama Nagarajan and Ms. Gayathri Suryanarayanan represented YES team and shared their respective views and ideas.
Participation in the orientation program
All the staff participated in the orientation program conducted by Ms. Gita Bhalla, Ms. Neha and Ms. Puja on Autism on 17 September 2020. They shared the video of their chat in Desk Doodles in which 3 of them spoke about Special education, Autism and understanding of the same. This was a very beneficial for it gave us all a clearer picture about the disability sector and ways of understanding them.
Periodical staff meetings
Online staff meeting routine was continued in the month of September also. All the achievements, schedule, challenges, feedback from the parents and trainees progress are discussed in these meetings. Based on the discussions further course of action is decided and conveyed. September 2020 had indeed given us a lot of hope and we strongly trust that coming month of October we will be able to gradually come back to normal operations of the centre