Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...

The month of July dawned with heavy rains, bringing forth an array of festivities and celebration on one hand and important Inspections on the other hand.

Ashad Ekadashi was celebrated with renewed enthusiasm amidst Music (Abang's) and spirituality. The women trainees of our Vocational Center carried a sapling of Tulsi on their heads and went around the place like the Vaarkaris who walk to the Vittal temple at Pandharpur.

Guru Poornima was celebrated on 13th July. All the students greeted and paid respect to their teachers by presenting roses to them.

The Nashik District's Social Welfare department conducted the inspection of our Special school on 14th July. The inspection committee comprised of the Assistant Commissioner of the Social Welfare department and a Medical- Social worker. The inspectors were happy with the school set-up and have recommended us to receive the new Government Registration under the Special School Category from this Year.

The monthly Teachers meeting was held on 15th July, to discuss the various measures to be taken for the effective implementation of the New Disha curriculum.

All parents attended the individual IEP meetings that were held throughout the month of July, in all the 4 units.

The Nashik District's Disha curriculum implementation committee conducted an inspection of all the 3 Centers on 27th July. The committee members expressed extreme satisfaction with the manner in which the new curriculum was being followed and gave our Center a Remark of Excellence.

As advised by the Disha committee, a Care takers training program was conducted on 30th July, for the Support staff of the special school.

Greetings from all of us at the Erode Center!

Every child is unique and so every child’s Program is also tailor made. The success of any Program depends on the small improvement that is brought in and it is indeed a proud a joyous moment for all those who work with the child to see these positive changes . Happy to share about a twin who came to us in April 2022.

Tharani Selvan and Thanishka , five and a half year old with ASD and development delays got admitted and were observed to be having the following difficulties:

They had speech delay, hyperactivity behavioural concerns, social skills concerns and sensory issues.

We selected the most important ones like the ADL training, social skills and the sitting tolerance. We have been working on them for the last three months and got a feed back from the mother also.

It was reported that these children have been showing signs of improvement especially while they had an opportunity to be in a group of relatives. The children were able to mingle well and this was a welcome change. We have started working on the other areas.

We are getting ready for the August celebrations with lots of plans for the Independence day. Shall update in our August strides.

On Friday 8th July we celebrated 'Ashadhi Ekadashi' in our center. Ashadhi Ekadashi is one of the most important religious festivals that is celebrated in Maharashtra. This ceremony is generally held at Pandharpur where a huge number of devotees gather to celebrate the festival. It is a religious procession festival which is held every year during the Aashaadh Shukla paksha. This day our children came in warkari dress. They dressed in ethnic wear, like dhoti and kurta and sang Vitthal Bhajan, played traditional games like Fugadi, and Ringan. Some Children played role of Vitthal Rukmini. Children made Dindi and sang bhajan. spectacular to see this tradition of Maharashtra which is very colorful and energetic.

On 13th of July we celebrated Guru Pournima.

Guru Purnima is a festival that celebrates this guru-shishya relationship. It is a day wherein people find different ways to show gratitude, appreciation and love for their gurus. Our teachers and children did 'Swami Samarth' idol pooja. Sang swami's bhajans. Then all children felicitated their teacher by giving them a rose flower. Sweet was distributed to children.

On 19th July our teachers Ashwini and Deepamala attended a meeting organised by Disha Portal Team at Jivala special school.

The Goal of Project Disha is to build and disseminate an Assessment Checklist for IEP and a Uniform Curriculum in Special Schools to transform education for Children with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and provide training for the implementation of the same. The Assessment checklist for IEP and the Curriculum for the age group 3-14 years & 14-18 years are certified by National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disability (NIEPID). This meeting was held for Solapur district. All special school teachers participated in this meeting.

Saturday 6th August 2022 afternoon, Ms. Reka. R, center coordinator gave the brief introduction about Vocational Training, Activities and How to use the VAPS and scale.... To all our Special Educators.

On 18th July 2022, ten students from the Spastics Society of Tiruchirappalli including their co-ordinator, Ms.Vasukidevi visited us to spend a day and observe our sessions and activities.

As a part of our covid protocol once they entered the campus, they were given a sanitiser and their temperature was checked . Their attendance was also marked.

Then they met our co-ordinator, Ms. Reka Rajakannu who greeted them and briefed them about the center and also about the Special Children, Special School, Vocational Children, and Vocational Activities.

Then they started their observations of our trainee’s activities in Functional Academic, Area Leaf Plate making - full process, Therapy activities, Podi, Vadam , tea making and Greeting card making Process. They interacted with the children and the staff and had questions about all the activities which were clarified.

Finally, we gave all the students feedback forms to understand about the sessions. It was heartening to get positive feedback which they also expressed through their messages. They were very eager to take a group picture.

Our trainees were a very well-behaved group who felt proud to show their activities. It was a day that left all of us with good feeling and contentment. All of them promised that they would spread information about our work and the center.

As we move on, we are getting more enquiries and consultations. Our trainees are well trained to take up the production activities effectively and independently. We look forward to getting more orders in the coming months.

As a part of extension activity, for teachers at Anandham Home, Chennai, an orientation programme was organised by V-Excel Educational Trust in association with OutReach Trust on 25-July-2022 at Anandham Home, Chennai. Prof. Anand, Shri. P. Bala and Dr. S. Manju represented V-Excel Educational Trust and OutReach Trust. Smt. Bageerathy, Founder Trustee of Anandham Home and 20 teachers (05 special educators and 15 inmates of Anandham home turned remedial teachers) attended the session. The session was planned in such a way that, during fore noon session Dr. Manju, shared her experience, activities, case studies of students at OutReach, Pollachi and post lunch, a presentation on need and importance of counselling parents of children with special needs, followed by interactive session with the teachers and inmates of home about their experience of handling children with special needs and the positive impact of involving elderly inmates as remedial teachers for students with special needs were discussed.

School Adoption Programme – July 2022

Renewed Project for 2022-23:

Adopted two government schools at Pollachi to begin with and subsequently adopt five schools in the coming months to provide remedial education for students with specific learning disabilities at free of cost.

Student's strength: 60 students (approx.)

Age group of students: 07 to 12 years

Classes: Students studying in class 02 to class 07

Resource team: Comprises of 03 Remedial Teacher's, 01 Counsellor, 01Educational Psychologist, 01 Music teacher, 01 Story telling teacher.

Teacher/ Student Ratio: 1: 10

Venue: School Premises

Time: 9am to 1 pm

Sessions: 05 days a week on rotation basis.

Funds: Self-funded (Out Reach Educational and Charitable Trust)

Greetings from Anandam Learning Center

We are happy to update about Anandam Learning Centre. Under the guidance of V-Excel, we have started the academic year last month at our existing premises with 35 students with special needs. Students( 29 boys and 6 girls) are in the age group of 5-16 years and with SLD,ID,ASD and Down Syndrome impairments, served by a Senior Special Educator as Coordinator, supported by 6 teachers, one therapist, two Care Givers and few elders from Home as Shadow Teachers.

As you might be aware, all the students are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and we are providing free education and therapeutic rehabilitation services.

Presently our time-table provides for the following functional activities.

Functional Academics(Basic Language, Arithmetic, reading, writing skills), Music, Yoga, Play, Artwork (sketching, painting), ADLs, Brain Gym, Physical Exercises training. Few photos attached for your reference.

We have planned to inaugurate the newly built complex by end September/early October and will keep you posted on the developments. We will send you a formal invitation when the date is finalized and request you to be present on the occasion.

Thank you for all your support and guidance.

Jute table runner and jute bags were stitched for the stall at The Market Place.

VTU along with other units participated in "The Market Place" at FIKA on Saturday 2nd July. Trainees and teachers manned the stall and we had good sales. The trainees interacted with the customers and explained about the products they made.

Sreyes Farm, independent living program started for this academic year. Saravanaprabu got placement as Assistant Caregiver at the Sreyes Farm.

Teachers and trainees were busy packing products for Grundfos stall.

VTU had stall along with other units at Grundfos, our CSR partner. Charu went along with Margaret and trainees, Supraja, Chandra and Manivannan. We had a very good sale and received few orders also. Received order for Jute file folders.

Ladies of Sakthi Club, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited visited our center, and had craft activity based on five elements and how important was it to keep that clean. Trainees were enjoying the session and completed the task with the help of the trainers and therapist Vasant. Uma explained each process. They distributed plants, sanitary pads for girls and garbage bags for boys. They also contributed some fund for the unit.

Charu attended meeting with ALUT school, Israel and spoke about inclusion regarding self-employment. She spoke about the success story of Devodhyog.

Founder's Day celebration. On 22-July-2022, trainees did invocation prayer, documentary on S. Vishwanath Sir was played and explained by Rajagopal Sir. Anand, Maragret and Saraswathy Sarathy were present for the function.

Field trip to Vijay Sekar Sculpture and Temple Architecture, Mahabalipuram

VTU along with Sreyes Farm group had monthly field trip yesterday, Friday, July 22, 2022 to Vijay Sekar Temple Architecture and Sculpture Center, (Manufacturer and Exporter), Mahabalipuram.

Trainees had orientation regarding the architecture and sculpture of the temples and saw how the idols were made.

Mr. Sekar, and his son Mr. Satish explained from scratch about where the stones are sourced from and the process of checking its quality. "Orders when received, the specific size and finish of various God and Goddesses is started by making a simple drawing on the stone identified," said Mr. Sekar the master sculptor. There were around 10-15 sculptors at work and each artitstic hand worked on the stone and brought out beautiful statues to life.

Trainees tried their hands at chipping the stone.

While returning, we visited the Arjuna cave, Butter Rock and Tiger Caves on the way It was a very different and fun-filled experience.

Charu, Usha and teachers attended the webinar on Gynecological concerns in girls with Autism.

Charu and Siva attended the 40th Anniversay function of Amar Seva Sangam.

Officials from NIFT visited along with Ms. Sandhya of Inner Wheel. They saw our products and were very happy. Vasudha and Aparna were present in the meeting. NIFT will help us design products based on the skills our trainees have.

Apart from the above events for the month, trainees were busy with usual regular programs of vocation activities of tailoring, block printing and Jute products with SNEH order, paper bags, and kitchen activities.

Counsellor Jayadevi had individual sessions for trainees, staff, teacher and parent. She also started group therapy for girls along with Uma. They discussed about the handling menstural cycle and other related issues, personality development, mood swings etc., There will be a series of group session for the girls in the coming months.

Therapist Vasanth had sessions with trainees, both individual and group therapy.

Review Meeting with new trainees' parents were conducted by Usha and Charu.

Vegetable packing project went as scheduled. Salary was distributed. Their speed has improved and are able to finish the packing by 11.00 am instead of 12.30 pm.

Orders received from Grundfos HR - 50 folders and thank you cards. Trainee Supraja was able to stitch independently and Lokesh designed the Thank you cards with the help of Margaret Buch.