Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...
Strides Newsletter - December 2020 - Issue 176
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
From Gita Bhalla's Desk
December arrived and brought with it the spirit of Christmas and all things bright and beautiful. Christmas brought us together with hope and purpose. Perhaps the only month in the year where the pandemic did not enslave us but KLC rose in response to the time of the year of spreading joy and goodwill amongst our communities.
This was done in many ways...
Christmas concerts:
A beautiful Christmas carol concert was held on 15th December with parents, children, friends, neighbours and staff from V-Excel where candles were lit and children and teachers sang their favourite Christmas carols in a spirit of joy and brotherhood.
Neha and Puja conducted four more concerts for a popular school in Bangalore, the National Public School for the kindergarten and montessori sections. These were held on 21st and 22nd of December and it was fulfilling to see so much Christmas spirit being shared far and near. In all these concerts, a little about V-Excel is shared so that some advocacy can happen in regular schools about the existence of students and schools beyond what they see. Also many such functions and events are true stepping stones and interactive events for inclusion in a very organic and natural way.
Sharing food:
It was decided by the staff that this Christmas they would thank, share and celebrate the custodial staff at Sharada to just appreciate their role in the whole scheme of caring for children with special needs. So a beautiful table was laid and the teachers of KLC cooked a wonderful meal for the Akkas and Annas and sang for them and gave them gifts. It was a memorable day. This happened on 18th December.
Sharing presents
The students who returned to the centre on 2nd of December got right into their vocations and one of the vocations which has restarted is candle making. Hundreds of candles were made which were then painstakingly packed in pouches of four. A beautiful message was added from Eashwar one of our vocational students. This beautiful light of Christmas was then sent to all homes of the children, staff, friends and other unit heads, admin staff and some alumni too. Delighted photos were sent back when children and parents received their gifts. The note was much appreciated.
The holy night:
A play which was adapted from a Christmas story was explored, acted and put together into a beautiful touching movie on the birth of Christ. This involved all students present in school, every teacher who through their imagination drew or painted an image from the story The Holy night by Selma Lagerlof. This was shared with all members of V-Excel and proved to be extremely therapeutic for the young adults who played the roles of Joseph, shepherds, angels and kings. It was a marvellous effort by Neha who put together the movie where teachers and students played their roles with deep understanding and authenticity and helped to soak into the Christmas spirit.
World disability day:
A small project was undertaken by the students who were asked the question to describe 'My Ideal world', which they could co-create with their teachers. This virtual exhibition was then aired on social media where the students shared in words and the teachers painted or drew the images.
Another video was aired entitled Brothers under the sun which again spoke of a message that the students so often give us of unity and brotherhood. Both were contributions from KLC shared on Facebook on the occasion of World Disability Day.
Vocational review and training
In the last fortnight of December , Neha, Shashi and Gita were part of a vocational review and restructuring meeting based on the anthroposophical view of what young adults of this age need and what is ideally suited for them. This was held over eight hours in four sessions and was an extremely useful, thought provoking and base setting program presented by Parimal Pandit who has taken long leave from V-Excel to attend to some personal issues. We place on record our immense gratitude towards Parimal who has always held the teachers and parents of KLC with care and wisdom and has been a guiding force through out. We also look forward to her return after a few months.
Quilt Exhibition
The quilts which have been in the making for the last three months finally were submitted for the online venture of India quilting association and is currently being exhibited there. Please do log in and encourage us . Quilt completed by 12th December and was submitted for registration on 13th December after which they were on the online forum. You could view out three entries, "Surprise of the Savannah", "The Diamond Within", and "Waters of a still storm".
V-Excel Educational Trust
Happy New Year
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.
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.
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.
Online Courses for Special Adults
Online courses for special adults
3 months programs - 5 days weekly
Computer basics, MS-Word, and introduction to the Internet
Vocational Academics
Measurements, time & money concepts
Career guidance, counseling and therapies are integral part of these programs
Facebook/YouTube e-Tarang
Live e-Tarang concerts was streamed on Friday, 18th December between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m with a concert by Playback Singer - Ashwath Narayanan and Bharat Sundar, where the theme was 'Star Udan - Star of the Month'.
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!
Interview of Dr. Vasudha Prakash
We are happy to share you all to listen to the interview of Dr. Vasudha Prakash Tuesday, 1st, Dec 2020 in the show Mersal Morning with Sulabha’ at 9.00 to 10.00 AM on Radio One 94.3 FM
World Disability Day 2020
Today - 3rd December - is a day of deep significance to many of us around the world. A day, that connects - all Human Beings, connected to people with special needs! Today, together, we make a circle around the world, and wake up to new dreams...
he Children of V-Excel Educational Trust, share their dream of brotherhood with you all today...with Brothers Under the Sun
Please join us and take the pledge
"I pledge to Accept, Include and Respect people of ALL abilities including those with special needs.
Inclusion starts with me!!!"
I Can! I Will! Include!!
"Join us in this AIR Pledge Challenge....'Say the Pledge, Give a Pledge Challenge'. Nominate and tag at least 3 or more of your friends to join.
Quilt Show - IIQF 2021
We are participating !!!!
Will showcase our work done by our students and trainees shortly.
A remarkable success story
We are thrilled to share with you that our trainee and alumnus, Deepa Ranganathan, was married today to S. Narayanan, in a ceremony held at Pallavaram, Chennai.
It is a happy culmination of a long and arduous journey for Deepa and it is a matter of great pride for us that she has achieved this memorable milestone. We wish her and Narayanan a long, happy and peaceful married life and they will always be in our thoughts and prayers.
We are grateful to all the staff who worked with her and particularly to the team in YES and a special word of gratitude to the counseling team who helped Deepa navigate this process and stood by her all along.
V-Excel Remedial Center
From Lekshmi Ramesh's Desk
Remedial Unit and Bridges Learning Academy
Greetings from VRC/BLA/EI !
The month of December happened to bring in a new change in our schedule. We started classes at the centre in a staggered way for the primary BLA students. The students came to school for three days a week for three hours per day. It was a welcome change for both the students and the teachers. The online classes for the NIOS students and others to continue.
Christmas Celebrations:
Christmas was celebrated at the centre in a simple way. The corridor was decorated with colourful miniatures of stars, bells, Christmas trees. The staff of Early Intervention (EI) used all their creativity to make the corridor fit to welcome baby Jesus. A beautifully decorated crib was the highlight. The students and teachers sang some carols. Then the children were given presents. It ended with distribution of healthy snacks. These celebrations help us to understand the essence of festivals - festivals are celebrated to show our brotherhood and bonding. It brings us joy and unlimited happiness.
2020 - A small recap
The year started on positive notes. We had an excursion to "Guindy Park" in January. Everything was going on fine when suddenly COVID forced us to shut school in mid March. It was in the beginning confusing, then worrisome... but we had to adapt and move on. So it was decided to go in for online classes. We understood that the need of the hour was to stick together and work together.
Let's look at the positive side:
Children and parents were supportive and cooperated well during the online classes. The teachers were quick to adapt their teaching methods to make online classes interesting. To put it in a line "some situations are not in our control, but to understand, adapt and move on is under our control". So with this positive note we wish to welcome 2021. We all hope and believe that we are going to continue to empower our students.
Sharing corner:
Games for a better learning experience:
Its lockdown and you are worried about the way things are going on in the academic side. Stop worrying and start incorporating games to make learning interesting. You know games can help in the following ways:
• It increases interest in the learning activity.
• Improves attention, concentration, and ability to think.
• Helps to improve reasoning skills and memory.
• Decision making skills.
• Creativity.
• Acquiring new skills
So parents, teachers think up some games use your creativity to make study hour more interesting and fruitful. Next month we will discuss some exciting games.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Vocational Training Unit
From Usha Rajagopal's Desk
This month being end of the year had been little different with a beautiful transition for our online trainee Divya, from Trichy with a farewell at VTU but was given admission at Srirrangam center, e final production of napkins at the sanitary napkin project, job orders from SNEH and Vivikta packaging and ended with brief New Year celebration with a difference.
Trainees activities went as scheduled Trainees busy with production of sanitary napkins, block printing, jute braiding and stitching, tailoring along with usual yoga, reading and functional academics.
It was an emotional but happy moment when trainee Divya, had transition from online class to join Srirangam center in person.
With all our staff and trainees, we had a online farewell to Divya. She will be joining Srirangam center from tomorrow. Divya (17 yrs) is basically from Trichy and started her online class with VTU since August 2020. She is a very enthusiastic and full of smile during online classes. These four months, she was always very happy to learn and able to observe all the activities (craft and snack making) very fast. Our technical team referred Ms. Lekshmi Ramesh and Lakshmi Sudhakar referred her to Srirangam center. Her parents initially wanted her to do NIOS and then after seeing Srirangam Center changed the mind to admit her for vocational training as she was much interested in her skill development than academics.
Supraja our new trainee was persuaded to learn the sanitary napkin learning procedure. Initially she was reluctant as she does not like to deviate from the fixed schedule. After integrating in her daily timetable, she learnt the process very quickly.
Charu attended YES trainee Deepa’s wedding along with Vasudha and Prakash.
Trainees Sai and Vishal stitched the handle for a gada tambulam bags.
Only 50% attendance due to the heavy rain. But with few trainees the production of sanitary napkins, block printing and other activities went as per schedule.
Charu and Usha attended the Vocational Guidance workshop conducted by Parimal. It gave a fresh perspective to look at VTU. It was very informative and useful.
Received a beautiful computer table donated by Dr. Srividya Venkataraman, Vasudha’s friend.
Reorganisation of counseling team for VTU was done by the team, where Radhika will continue to counsel the parents and teachers and Jayadevi for trainees.
Trainees watched via Zoom the Christmas celebrations of KLC.
Sanitary napkin unit made 4000 napkins between September to December 2020 with the available raw materials. Dialogue is on with our CSR partner Grundfos Pumps Ltd.,
Anand along with the admin team, visited Sevalaya, an orphanage home for needy to deliver the incinerator and 2000 sanitary pads for their girls unit.
Anikita, joined as Executive Assistant visited our center to observe VTU and also met Mr. Rajagopal, Trustee.
An order for jute bags with block printing was received from one of Vasudha’s friend. Trainees did the block printing and the bags were delivered on the same day.
Received order for 100 packets of sanitary napkins from Ms. Sangeetha Ranganathan which was delivered immediately.
Charu met Mr. Balamurugan, Proprietor of Adyar Departmental Stores, to explore placement/internship opportunities for our trainees. He was willing to offer job in their packing unit at their godown. Usha and Charu visited the godown, to verify the suitability of the environmental and safety aspects.
An orientation program was conducted by Usha, sharing the guidance given by Parimal. On the eve of New Year an oath was taken by all of to put in our best, keeping our health and mind calm and work to a healthy environment.
Trainees were busy with jute braiding, block printing for SNEH Job order, packaging Vivikta Naturals, tailoring, kitchen activities along with regular functional academics and sports.
NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS WITH A DIFFERENCE
On the eve of New Year, VTU organised a brief celebration of cake cutting and snacks for trainees and teachers. Charu organised a long drive for the trainees in the evening. The number of trainees were split between Charu and Pranav’s car. Drove down till Muttukadu, which they enjoyed along with the music played in the car.
Youth Empowerment Services
From Rama Nagarajan's Desk
Last month of the year 2020 was spent on exploring possibilities of bridging the gap between online and hands-on training and to strike a balance between them. As more trainees have started coming in to the centre, an effective program and schedule was put in action for the trainers and the trainees.
Key highlights of the month December 2020
• One of our alumni trainee Ms. Deepa got married.
• Our trainee R. Balambiga got placed in a hospital as front office assistant.
• Scheduled activities for the trainees attending the centre and online sessions for skill development were combined with the hands on training happening at the centre
• Vocational academics and computer skills online sessions were brought to a logical closure with assignments.
• OT online sessions were continued
• Celebrations – Christmas, New year eve
• Production – Kocoatrait, SNEH
• Pathways – Completion of pilot program by the trainees.
• Parent’s meeting
• Participation in the All Ladies League online meeting for networking.
Disability day
International World Disability day was celebrated on 03 December. A pledge was taken to support inclusion of individuals with special needs in the main stream. Video of the same was taken and posted on the social media to encourage more individuals to join the cause and to create awareness among the general public
One of our alumni trainee Ms. Deepa Ranganathan got married.
December 2020 started with a very pleasant and wonderful note as our trainee and alumnus Ms. Deepa Ranganathan was married to Mr. S. Narayanan on 04 December 2020. The wedding happened in Chennai and our founder director Dr. Vasudha Prakash and the managing trustee Dr. Prakash Natarajan went in person to bless the couple. Ms. Deepa was working with ITC Grand Chola prior to the lockdown. Special mention about Ms. Lalitha Mahadevan for her effective counselling sessions for Deepa that helped her achieve this milestone in her life.
Our trainee R. Balambiga got placed in a hospital as front office assistant.
Our trainee R.Balambiga got placed in Aakash Fertility Clinic as front office assistant on 24 December 2020. She will be assisting the front office manager in filing, data entry, attending phone calls and passing messages to various departments in the hospital. Before joining the duty, she was given counselling on personal grooming, personal hygiene and safety, job profile and social skills. Regular followups and continuous hand holding will be given to Bala till the time she settles down in her job.
Scheduled activities for the trainees attending the centre and online sessions for skill development were combined with the hands on training happening at the centre
For those trainees who have started coming to the centre, in order to keep them engaged thoroughly, suitable schedule was drawn. All the trainees start the day with a set of warm up exercises and then begin with the recap of vocational academic’s sessions concepts and the application of the same. Days also included vocational activities, production work, OT sessions and computer skills training.
Vocational academics and computer skills online sessions were brought to a logical closure.
During the month December 2020, in online vocational academic’s sessions, time concept was given a recap and covered completely. Trainees were given assignments to complete for reinforcements.
For the computer skills training sessions, this month was dedicated for recap of concepts learnt and practice. We also had doubt clearing sessions and practice sessions to make sure all the trainees are on the same end line.
OT online sessions were continued
As far as the online OT sessions are concerned, focus was given on daily life activities. It also included drawing and art activities. All the activities were in line with the celebrations and occasions of the month.
Celebrations
Christmas and New year
Christmas and New year eve were celebrated. Christmas tree was decorated. Trainees exchanged wishes with their peers.
On the eve of the new year, a special prayers were offered at the Lord Ganesha temple at the premise. Trainees sang devotional songs and welcomed the new year with divine blessings.
Production – Kocoatrait, SNEH
Screen printing was done Chocolate boxes for Kocoatrait. There were totally 8 designs and 220 boxes in each. This batch for a special edition called Madras collection that the brand is planning to launch soon.
For SNEH 66 printed mugs were sold for 3 different orders. We also completed polishing around 30 coconut shells. Cupcakes were also made and given as samples.
Pathways – Completion of pilot program by the trainees.
3 out of 4 of our trainees who enrolled in the pilot program of Sol’s ARC digital platform Pathways, completed their course on Retail Industry. This gave them a great exposure to this sector and all of them went through the course and it activities with a lot of enthusiasm and interest.
Participation in the All Ladies League online meeting for networking.
In order to build a network of like-minded people representative from YES participated in an online meeting organised by the Tamilnadu chapter of ALL Ladies League. V-Excel’s vision and its activities were shared with the other members.
Parent's meeting
An online meeting with all the parents was conducted on 30 December 2020. Feedback was taken on online sessions and the plan of actions for the new year 2021 were discussed. Plan to gradually wean off the online sessions was also conveyed to the parents as in to encourage more trainees to come to the centre. Changes in the reporting and update method were also decided.
With this we bid farewell to the year 2020, that was challenging, very different and at the same time was a great learning experience for all of us. We hope and pray that the dawn of the year 2021 will bring us peaceful and joyous days.
Happy New Year 2021.