Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...

Early Intervention

At V-Excel Learning Centre in Nashik, we follow a classroom model to take care of Early Intervention children, having a wide range of special needs.

They include speech and language therapy, Nutrition services, Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, Behaviour management, Counselling services, and more.

Speaking about a child named Jay Verma, aged 6yrs, and having ADHD and mild autism. Jay joined the school in October 2019, had difficulty in speech, poor sitting tolerance, and a weak pincer grip. Over the past year and a half, we are noticing a lot of positive changes in him. His memory and learning skills have sharpened and are doing fairly well academically. His level of understanding and following instructions has improved.

He participated in a fancy dress competition on Independence Day last year (Organized by school online) he played the role of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and confidently narrated a few lines.

Bridges Learning Academy

Classes for BLA students began this Academic year, once again with both online and offline modes of learning. In June the results of the OBE-Level A and Level B were declared and we are happy to share the good news that all the students of BLA had passed the OBE exams with good grades in all the Subjects. Students were awarded the certificates issued from the NIOS – Pratham Study center in Mumbai. Few new students took admissions from the new Academic year. Registration has been done for new students for NIOS for both English and Marathi medium for all the three levels - A, B, and C.

Our student Vajra made a pineapple cake for her father on the occasion of Father's Day, on June 21. She made this day special by baking the cake all by herself and adding a spark, "SMILE BRIGHT" as she usually does.

Some of our students participated in an online contest with the theme 'Desh Rangila'. Astha Chauhan took part in story-telling and Dhruvi delivered a speech on Jhansi ki Rani Lakshmi Bai.

Ashadi Ekadashi is one of the most important religious festivals that is celebrated in Maharashtra in July. The Lord of the Universe Sri Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped by offering prayers in the form of songs called "Abhang". At our Centre, children planted the Tulsi plant and took part in some games and activities.

V-Excel Learning Centre

This school reopened for students on 14th June, after 7 weeks of summer break. Once again, we are following the hybrid model with 50% of students attending school on alternate days. We are very glad to share the development seen in our student Master Piyush. Being a slow learner, he was admitted in Jan 2018 to VLC. Initially, he was very slow in academics & all other areas. We noticed that he was fond of drumming and interested in playing the Musical percussion instruments- tabla & dholki. Two years back, we motivated him to take special classes to learn to play these instruments. Now he can play these instruments well. Simultaneously we are finding good progress in Academics too. Every year we celebrate Aashadhi Ekadashi. This year also we celebrate it virtually. Piyush came in the traditional costume of a Vaarkari (Pilgrim)& played the Dholki as an accompaniment to Devotional Marathi Music (Abhang)

Counseling

Parent counseling and behavior modification therapy of students is happening in full swing. Our counselor Mrs. Pradnya Apte has begun undertaking Grief-counseling sessions from this Academic Year. In May 2021, our Parent Sunita Kale lost her husband to COVID. As expected, her mental health was very disturbed and she was experiencing severe depression and insomnia with accompanied anxiety. Pradnya Apte started counseling sessions along with relaxation techniques. Every day just before bedtime, Mrs. Kale was given relaxation along with meditation. She took these sessions for approximately 6 weeks. Now Mrs. Kale feels better and has resumed her job at the bank and can sleep better. To help her maintain her mental health, Mrs. Apte sends her audio clips which impart meditation techniques, periodically.

Greetings from all of us at Erode center!

The center has started functioning full day. Most of the teachers have resumed duty. The students and all others follow strict safety measures. We make kaba sura kudineer and chukka kappi and distribute it to the staff.We have staff meeting every week for an hour and discuss about the children, share concerns and also have reading sessions.

We are having training sessions on Spoken English. This is done by Ms. Lekshmi Ramesh. One session is over and we have started to incorporate her suggestions in our own little ways. We have allotted an hour every week as the "English Hour" where we all try to converse in English as much as possible. The children are also getting motivated by this.

Sharing some happy moments:

Abhishek, aged 16 has been coming to us for the last one year. He is a slow learner and has stammering issues. He is an enthusiastic boy who tries new things .Every day we give some tongue twisters and this has helped in controlling his stammering. He is attending online sessions now.

As an activity we asked him to sow some seeds in two containers. One container was kept inside the house and the other one outside. He was asked to observe them and report how it grows. He was able to understand the idea behind this experiment. The need for sunlight water was taught. He is happy presenting it also.

The Rhytm and Diet chart

During the consultation and even for our existing students, we try to understand their Rhytm and diet-how their day is spent from the time they get up till they go to sleep. Ms. Lakshmi Sudhakaran has been guiding us with tips that would make the process easy. We compiled all the information and added on our ideas and have come out with a form. These helps us in understanding our child and plan our Program.

From 1^st July we started therapy and remedial classes at our center. 6 children for remedial and therapy, 2 for therapy and 4 children for school are now attending in person. We are continuing online sessions for remaining students. From July we have started implementing IEP.

We are maintaining COVID-19 precautions like using mask, sanitization. Also, we regularly check body temperature through non-contact thermometer.

All of our staff and almost all parents had both COVID-19 vaccination.

We celebrated Aashadhi Ekadashi virtually. Our staff and students participated in singing Vitthal bhajans. Some children were draped in traditional Warkari costumes and enjoyed the music. Ashadhi Ekadashi is a prominent festival of the Warkari community, predominantly found in Maharashtra. The day marks the culmination of a pilgrimage called called 'wari' that devotees undertake from across Maharashtra on foot to reach Pandharpur in Solapur district, which houses a famous temple dedicated to Lord Vitthal and Goddess Rukmini.

After Covid Lockdown, we started our Training Unit from June 30th, 2021.

At the time of starting the center,only four staff members and a few children came for the classes. After 5th July, the strength has increased.

Our services include Functional Academics Yoga, Remedial, and Craft Work.

We have resumed Areca Leaf Plate training for the Pre-Vocational Students.

From the second week we have started giving training on making Ilaivadaam and podis for the Vocational Children in Training Unit.

Our staff Ms. R Reka (Center Co-ordinator),and Ms. P. Vidhya (Special Educator) support the Special Education & Craftwork.

Mr. Kishore (Skill Trainer) supports Special Education and Areca Leaf Plate Training.

Ms. A. Sumitha ( Yoga Teacher) helps with our yoga class.

Ms. K. Pavithra (Special Educator) helps with Remedial sessions.

Ms. Sangeetha (Skill Trainer) supports to make podi items and Ilaivadaam .

Mr.Prabu helps us with the Administrative work. He supports the Production unit in procuring the necessary materials, packing and marketing of our finished products. He also handles the computer training for those who need.

Ms. Poongodi S supports with cleaning the premise. Online sessions are given to those who are not able to come to the center.

The staff members have been given training for improving their Language skills. This is done on Saturdays through zoom by Ms. Lekshmi Ramesh.

The staffs has been initiated to Yoga sessions. They are given training every Friday evening by our yoga teacher. Vaccination drive is also carried on by the staff members .This is done by informing the parents about the medical camps and encouraging the parents and the trainees to get it done.

Sharing happy moments of our special educator Vidya.

Rupa Sri is a 15 year old girl with ASD. She had become very adamant and non-cooperative at home to the extent that she refused to even go to the toilet for her needs. When the online classes started, she resisted initially but got interested when I started conversing with her regulary. Slowly I made her realise the need to be responsible and also love her sister. She started helping the mother in the kitchen along with her sister. Now she helps in making dosa, cleaning the house and even folding the clothes. The positive strokes given have really given a boost.

We cannot still be happy that the center has started functioning in full swing. Challenges come in the way of the teachers and trainees falling sick and the trainees being managed by the available staff. But physical sessions are definitely helping our trainees and hopefully we will be able to serve more in the coming months.

This month was cheerful and happy as the Government relaxed the lockdown with minimum restrictions and the center reopened on July 1st week. Trainees started coming in two batches and with full-fledged activities.

Trainees started settling and were cheerful with the routine of yoga, prayer, reading, functional academics, vocational activities.

In vocational activities one group of trainees were busy stitching Eco friendly bags and non-woven prasadam bags for Sringeri Sri Sarada Mutt, which we received as orders. Other trainees were making paper bags, jute bowls and pen stand, kitchen activities, block printing, scanning and computer data entry and bead work. Regular yoga, functional academics, Zumba Fitness class and games started from the day one. Counselling sessions for trainees and parents were fixed and they started the sessions in person at the center.

More trainees will be joining by August after their second vaccination.

Trainee Sriram, Gazali and Saravana Prabu started their internship at their respective employers Adyar Department Stores, Sheriff Automobiles and SNEH – Product Hub respectively.

Charu and Usha attended rhythmic movement workshop.

Founder's Day of ESVI Sarada Foundation, Late Shri. S. Viswanathan was celebrated in a very brief way at the center. Trainees were explained about him and played his favorite slokas and thanked for providing us a beautiful place to run the center.

Therapist Vasanth started sessions for trainees Siddharth, Hariharan and Sailakshami.