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Strides Newsletter - September 2022 - Issue 195

Counseling & Assessments

From Radhika Sasankh's Desk

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Early Intervention and V-Excel Remedial Centre

From the staff of Early Intervention and V-Excel Remedial Centre

Greetings from Early Intervention and the Remedial Unit!

Training Programs

Training is very important as it represents a good opportunity for the staff to grow their knowledge base and improve their job skills to become more effective in the workplace. In house training is to have experienced members of the organization serve as facilitators to help teach specific skills or abilities. This month as a part of the inhouse training, Ms. Gita Bhalla and Ms. Neha conducted workshop on 2nd and 9th September 2022. The workshop was on three folded ness of body, soul and spirit as explained by Rudolf Steiner, founder of Anthroposophy. The points discussed were:

• Harmonizing all the threefold, through activities
• Importance of connecting and rapport building using touch when the child enters the space
• The child needs to connect with objects and people and how our touch and singing and having fun brings the presence of the child into the activity.
• Inhale and Exhale -Two Folded ness of body and Spirit.

Fund Raising Event

This month Mr. Ram, a donor from Portland USA had agreed to raise funds for our unit through his son Master Sriram Vaidyanathan's Mridangam Arangetram that was conducted in Portland. On behalf of the entire staff of V-Excel we extend our gratitude for this wonderful gesture of Mr. Ram and his family.

A brief note on Master Sriram

Sriram is an architecture major at the University of Oregon in his sophomore year. He began learning mridangam at the age of 6 under Guru Sri. Shriram Brahmanandam. He continued his Mridangam education under Gurus Sri. Vijayan Bhaskar and Sri. B.S. Anand. He has since been training under Guru Sri. Neyveli Narayanan. In addition to percussion, Sriram enjoys movies, listening to music, painting, and learning Carnatic music.

Training Programs by Mrs. Gita Bhalla

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Master Sriram Vaidyanathan's Mridangam Arangetram

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Kaleidoscope Learning Centre

From Gita Bhalla's Desk

Come September, and it is time to celebrate the teachers, every kind – children themselves, mothers, parents, our seniors, and everyone who has taught us to be who we are, on Teacher's Day, September 5th. After 3 years, all staff of V-Excel went out to celebrate Teacher's Day at Golden Sun Hotel and Beach Resort. A whole day of fun, games, music, dance, food and being together and bonding was the itinerary and everyone enjoyed the day.

Teachers Day was also the day of recognising deserving teachers to be awarded for their untiring work. The International Association of Lions Clubs celebrated Teachers Day, and 2 of KLC's teachers were awarded – Latha Kannan and Nitya Venkatesh.

Inner Wheel Club of Madras awarded Usha Suresh.

The Inner Wheel of Madras held a Bazaar at Ramee Mall, Anna Salai, where all Units of V-Excel had participated. KLC's products were also displayed and sold there. Priya and Karthick manned the stall for a few hours during the day. Our Pot Holders from recycled cloth material was popular and many of them were sold.

In some children with autism, the need to seek heights, climb and then jump down is a common occurrence. This is due to their sensory needs of Proprioception and Vestibular dysfunction. To make this a fun activity, we had a climbing wall constructed and put up in the sand area of our school. Nikhil and his friends from Bangalore were instrumental in getting this done. As soon as the wall was inaugurated by our therapist Monesh, children both small and big took turns in climbing it with help. The children had fun climbing . This wall will be a valuable addition to our therapy needs.

Onam, the visit of King Bali to Earth, celebrated with Poo Kolam, Music, Dance and Sweet Ragi was celebrated by us. Every student took turns decorating the Kolam with different coloured flowers with the help of the teachers.

Tarang at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, this month was by Sai Vignesh and Rishipriya, rendering out a Tribute to S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. Melodious songs and a few fast-paced songs kept the students enthralled and also dancing, sometimes on the stage too, along with the artists and time flew while they were enjoying the songs. The artists who have performed earlier for us were happy and moved by the students' enthusiasm and promised to perform for us any time that we asked them to in future. They talked about their special bond with our students.

Music as therapy forms an important part of our curriculum. Mondays are Group Music therapy day, combined with, it happening in the Sand Pit, was double therapy for some of our students. Some of them enjoyed this by just sitting and singing in place around the singers, some made use of it to cater to their sensory need of playing with sand and listening to the songs. The students had a great time.

Kavitha and Nitya, 2 of our teachers have joined Neha and Gita in the quest of educating mainstream teachers about the process of child development, its various stages, by being part of workshops in regular schools. One of them was held in Chrompet and another in Vellore.

On 29-Sep-2022, workshop named Heart of the matter was conducted by faculty Parimal Pandit.

On 30-Sep-2022, workshop named Play, Image and Learn was conducted by faculty Neha Bharadwaj and Gita Bhalla.

A Poem on Rain – by Divyansh a 13-year-old student of our school, took us by surprise. He joined school in June 2002. He had been visiting the staff room frequently in the last few weeks, looking at Neha and watching her. One day when she asked him if he wanted to talk, he sat down with her and penned down this poem. He usually writes with his mother at home, but this was his first attempt to write with teachers in school.

The last 3 months of the first term had been utilised by the Senior School Trainees to work on the vocations to make products. These products were put up in our Navarathri Bazaar on 22nd September, which was opened mostly to the parents of our school students and a few families and well-wishers. The parents got a chance to touch, see and buy the products on which their children had worked hard on. It was a pleasure to see the joy in the parents' faces when they were shown and told about their child's work on these products. Students from Nandavanam, another special school visited us and participated in the music and dance.

Dussehra and its beginning, was celebrated on 23rd September. The “Golu" was arranged beautifully, songs sung, dances were arranged and performed by the students and teachers. Pooja was done by Latha Kannan and Sundal was made as offering to the Gods and the students.

We have come to the end of the First term and in connection with this, teachers had a meeting with all the parents of the students, to discuss the improvements, goals, requirements from their side. Along with this the end term reports are being completed and sent to the parents. School will close for the First Term Break and reopen on October 5th Vijayadashami day.

In an exclusive story of inclusion and empowerment of our students, Akshay Nathan a student of KLC, went independently to his teachers (Sowmya) home in Bombay. He was accompanied by another teacher Puja and he stayed as a guest for five days, travelled by air and went through a whole plethora of first times with courage and fortitude. Life skills, independent living and an openness to a changed environment, enjoyment, gratitude, missing parents, all a part of his first time ever story is being celebrated by all of us at KLC. Please read about this in our fb and Instagram account!

Teacher's Dayimage
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Tarang
Recognizing deserving teachers awardedimage
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Inner Wheel Club of Madras awardedimage
Bazaar at Ramee Mall, Anna Salaiimage
Climbing wallimage
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Onam celebrationimage
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Tarang @ BVB Mylaporeimage
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Group Music therapy dayimage
Workshops in regular schoolsimage
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Poem on Rain – by Divyansh image
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Navarathri Bazaar image
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Dussehra celebrationimage
Inclusion and empowerment of our student, Akshay Nathanimage
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Satellite Centers

From Jayanthi Vishwanath in Nashik

Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayak Chaturthi, is one of the popular Hindu festivals observed in Maharashtra. It is a joyous occasion for the young and the old. It is said that every year Lord Ganesha visits Earth to bless his devotees during the 10-day Ganeshotsav celebrations and on the last day, which is also known as Ganesh Visarjan or Anant Chaturdashi, returns to Mount Kailash to his parents Lord Shiva and Parvati. This year too, the teachers and children made small idols of Ganesh with clay and coloured and embellished the idols on September 1st, Ganesh Chaturti was celebrated when the little Ganesha's were adorned with flowers, Arti was performed and sweets were distributed to all. On September 2nd, all the little Ganesh idols were immersed in a big pot of water, in a ritual called "Visarjan" and that culminated the festival.

On September 5, Teachers Day was celebrated in the school to mark the Birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. Many children presented flowers and small gifts to their teachers to express their gratitude and love. In the afternoon a small gathering was organized to celebrate and appreciate the efforts taken by the teachers of the school.

On 24th September, all the teachers and staff went on an excursion to Shivaneri Hill fort, which is about 135km from Nashik. This fort is a 17th-century military fortification located near Junnar in Pune district in Maharashtra. It is the birthplace of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the emperor and founder of Maratha Empire. Shivaji was born at the fort on 19 February 1630 and spent his childhood there. Inside the fort is a small temple dedicated to the goddess Shivai Devi, after whom Shivaji was named.

In the afternoon, the staff visited the picturesque Malshej Ghat. This Ghat is a spectacular mountain pass in the Western Ghats. It had numerous lakes, waterfalls, mountains, and flourishing flora and fauna. It was a perfectly enjoyable trip, with beautiful, cool and rainy weather that added to the fun.

On 28th & 29th September, our VTU students participated in the exhibition organized by Rajasthan Ladies club. They displayed products made at the center in connection with the ongoing festival season. Many of the products were sold out, as we received very good response from the public.

Erode

Greetings from all of us at the Erode Center!

India is a land of rich and varied culture and heritage. Festivals and celebrations are an integral part and there is always some reason or story behind each of them. In India the birthday of India's second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, 5th September is celebrated as teacher's day while Guru Purnima has been traditionally observed as a day to worship teachers/gurus by Hindus. A teacher's influence on their student's lives is undeniable.A teacher who caters to special needs children should be especially tolerant towards them and also help them mould their personality. As a mark of respect and gratitude to all our teachers, a lunch was arranged on that day and small gifts for the team members were also given.

Onam is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly by the Hindus of Kerala. Onam commemorates Vamana, the incarnation of Vishnu and Mahabali who ruled Kerala. Since floral decorations called Pookalam is an important decoration,we in our center made a Rangoli and Pookalam involving all the children and staff. The whole place was filled with laughter and colours and we could really feel the festive spirit.

Trainings

We conduct in house training programs on Saturdays and this month, our Physiotherapist Nandini dealt on the topic 'Joint Compression'. This is a therapaeutic strategy and can be helpful and provide proprioceptive input that helps children know where their body is in their environment. Joint compression can be used for children having sensory processing difficulties and those who have difficulty in self-regulation. Ms. Nandini showed us some activities and it was indeed a very useful session.

We also had a training session by our co ordiantor Ms.Priya . She explained how to assess a child based on the four body observation method-as guided by Rudolf Steiner. The various aspects of the checklist was also discussed and explained.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali in advance!!!!!!

Solapur

Teacher's day celebration at our center. Beautiful poster with all teacher's picture was made by our children. They made bouquet and cards too. It is really amazing to be a teacher. Some kids chanted "Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu" and some kids wished us - Happy Teacher's Day to all.

On 8th September 2022, Dr. Suneel Godbole (Developmental pediatrician) and Dr. Ashwini Godbole visited V-Excel Early Intervention Center. Solapur.

They did assessment, follow up and consultation of nearly 20 - 25 kids from and near Solapur. Both of them were experts in dealing with kids on the Autism spectrum and parental guidance. They shared their experiences of dealing with very young kids to adolescents n even adults on spectrum. Sir/Madam shared many valuable tips and methods with parents as well as guided our teachers in handling some issues more competently. Handy dietary measures n home remedies that could be done by the parent were a blessing.

Mr. Shubham Sawale , the Solapur District's Disha curriculum implementation coordinator conducted an inspection of our Center on 13th Sept. He observed our classes, one to one and group sessions. Checked IEPs and children's files. Gave some suggestions about implementation of Disha curriculum. He was satisfied with our services and work, with hopes that we could be selected to be a Model school.

On 17th Dr. Ravindra Shinde Homeopathic practitioner visited our center. He shared his result oriented experiences through homeopathic medicine. Our parents asked many questions and he gave satisfactory answers.

Abhyasa Kendra, Srirangam

Happy to share our success story of one of our trainees - Master Balaji Ramesh.

Balaji Ramesh is a student of the Vocational Training Unit at Srirangam, who joined V-Excel Educational Trust in 2019. Initially, he was in the Pre-Vocational Training Unit. In this unit, Teachers and skill Trainers gave him a lot of inputs in Areca Leaf Plate making with the goal of making him independently do it.

Teachers and skills trainers gave step-by-step instructions as mentioned below:

• Collecting the Areca Leaf
• Separating by Small and Big Size
• Soaking the leaves
• Drying the leaves
• Switch on the Leaf Plate Making Machine
• Setting up the temperature
• How to insert the leaf?
• How to press the pedal and lock the heated plates?
• When to switch on the timer?
• How much time do wait to take the plate out?

He followed all the instructions one by one,and now he is making Areca Leaf Plates Independently and is very confident. We are happy the way our trainee has progressed.

From Anandam Learning Center, Ambattur

Greetings from Anandam Learning Center!

V-Excel Remedial Unit has always been supporting Anandam Learning Center and guiding them wherever necessary. As a part of our ongoing training program, we had our workshop in Sharada which was attended by nine members of Anandam. Mr. Mujibur Rahman conducted this and these were the following topics:

• Identification of children with developmental disabilities
• Understanding the child with special needs through observation and assessment on the various modalities

A brainstorming session and case studies of children who need interventions were the highlights of this workshop. Looking forward to more interesting workshops and mutual learning.

Shall be back with more updates on our October month celebrations. Wishing you all a happy Diwali!!!

Vocational Training Unit

From Charumathi Sriram's Desk

September month being full of festivities, we started with showcasing all our products and sale at Symphony Bazaar ,an article in Adyar Times, Teacher's Day, then Onam celeberations. ending with Navarathri.

Stall At Symphony Bazaar Inner Wheel On 2nd Sept 2022 @ Ramee Mall

VTU participated along with other units in the Symphony Bazaar organised by Inner Wheel at Ramee Mall. All the units participated, and we had very good response. Trainee Ashwin manned the stall along with Manivannan.

Article About Activities Of VTU In Adyar Times

An article about our activities was published in Adyar Times on Sunday, Sept 4, 2022.

Teacher's Day Celebration At Golden Sun Resort, On 5th Sept 2022

Teacher's day celebration at Golden Sun Resort was organised for all V-Excel staff. They were taken by bus, and some reached by their own vehicles. It was fun filled program, with playing in the beach, dance, music, Cricket, Volleyball and football followed with delicious lunch and snacks.

Onam Celebration On 8th Sept 2022, Thursday

Celebrated ONAM festival by drawing rangoli with flowers and danced around it. Trainees got flowers from their home. Uma explained the story and the importance of the festival. Vasanth helped in creating a beautiful rangoli in a peacock model. Trainees and teachers danced around the flower Rangoli for the Onam based song. The activity was not only a celebration, it lent a full time of skill building in a therapeutic manner.

Recognition As Best Teacher By Lion Club On 11th Sept 2022, Friday

Uma Swaminathan was recognised as Best Teacher's Award 2022 by Lion's club along with KLC and EI teachers.

Tarang At BVB On 15th Sept, 2022

Tarang program at BVB was attended by all the VTU trainees and staff. It was tribute to SPB performed by SaiVignesh and Rishipriya. It was well received by all the students, trainees, teachers,staff, support staff of V-Excel including the parents. It was a 1.5 hrs performance and trainees moved and danced for few peppy numbers.

Summer Bazaar At KLC

Trainees along with Charu, Uma, Usha and Margaret visited KLC Navarathri Bazaar. Trainees played games and visited the stalls.

Guests Visit

Ms. Hema Iyer, Head of Marketing and Mr. Akil, Marketing, from Valeo Auto Parts India Ltd., visited VTU and all center to see some products and also bought few items. Charu took them to YES, Sharada and SNEH. They bought few products and samples. They will get back to us about the order and logo to be printed.

Functional Academics

In the functional academics session, Uma started practical shopping experience for two trainees Supraja and Vyoma. It will be continued to other trainees also. They have to bring a list of their personal care and will be taken to the near by retail showroom, identify the brand, go to the billing counter, handle the money and whether they are able to take the balance with the help of calculator.

Therapy

Vasanth therapist had his sessions for the trainees in group for the month.

Counselling

Initial month the counsellor was on leave due to health reason and she joined back 3rd week of the month and had sessions for the trainees and parents. started her session after prolonged leave due to her health issues. She had sessions with trainees and parents.

Vocations

Trainees were busy with stitching lunch bags, jute pen stand, block printing for orders received.

Vegetable Packing Project

Vegetable packing project was on all Saturdays and trainees enjoy attending the project. They received their stipend and Nehal received her first time. She was very curious and happy and was holding the cover the whole day.

Preparations For Navarathri

•Trainees and teachers started cleaning and setting up the steps and the dolls on the steps and decorations.

• Trainees helped in decoration of setting up of village and Mahabalipuram set.

• Charu prepared the invite for Navarathri and shared it to all the unit heads, parents and wellwishers.

• Planning for next day golu celebration was in full swing by the teachers and trainees by packing the thambulam bags, gifts, pre preparation for sundal and payasam.

Navarathri Celebration At VTU on 30th Sept 2022

VTU celebrated Navarathri by setting up dolls on 7 steps with traditional way and invited on the unit heads and trainees of YES on 30th September. On all 9 days we prepared sundal and sang bhajans. Everyday trainees wore dress on the color code based on the Navarathri days 2022.

YES, trainees along with 2 staff visited our golu and sang songs. VTU trainees Chandra and Supraja gave thambulam to them. Prarents, Unit heads, Counselor Jayadevi and Dr. Vasudha Prakash visited our Golu and took the thambulam bags.

Performance of Bhajans by Rama's Bala Vikas students were rendered along with Chandra's dance. Everyone were offered payasam and sundal as prasad and our girl trainees gave thambulam for all.

Youth Empowerment Services

From Gayathri Suryanarayanan's Desk

Key highlights for the month of September 2022

• Vocational training program, Counselling and Therapy services.
• Commencement of Archery training
• Participation in the Inner Wheel exhibition
• HR staff meeting
• Field trip
• Celebrations
     o Teacher's Day
     o Navratri
• Participation in CSR workshop conducted by MCCI
• Production

Vocational training program, Counselling and Therapy services

Vocational skill development training has been happening regularly. Day schedule is strictly adhered to and all the activities are made interesting and interactive. Warm up, chanting, yoga, archery, music, YES market and volunteer's visits are happening without any interruption. Trainees were also given group sessions on social skills and communication skills.

Counselling and therapy sessions are also happening regularly. Focused group counselling sessions were conducted for female trainees on personal hygiene, relationships and personal grooming.

Progress in Archery training

Archery sessions have been happening on all Mondays at 9 am. Mr. Balakrishnan along with his colleague conducts these training sessions. September was the second month of this archery training and it was wonderful to see the progress in most of the trainees. 6 trainees are almost independent and they have progressed to the next level in the training. Other 5 trainees are also catching up and still require support.

Participation in the exhibition organized by Inner Wheel club

On 01 September 2022, YES participated in the V-Excel stall at the exhibition organised by the Inner Wheel club at Ramee mall. YES, trainees Shreeman and Durga along with the trainer Ms. Sujanya took care of the sales at the stall before handing it over to the KLC team. YES products received good appreciation and feedback.

HR – YES staff meeting

On 13 September, V-Excel Admin /HR head Mr. Sivaprakash met YES staff members for an informal meeting. The agenda of the meeting was to reinforce the V-Excel HR policies and to make sure all the team members follow the system and procedures. This also gave an opportunity to the team to clarify their doubts regarding HR related issues.

Field trip

YES trainees visited the traffic park chennai and the museum of possibilities on 14 september 2022.

The Traffic Park Chennai is exclusively for teaching road safety rules for all. The facility is very good and well organised. The official there took great interest in explaining the road safety rules to our trainees, conducted a quiz and did practical demos also. This is part of our independent living skill training. We have to mention that our trainees participated with super interest. Museum of possibilities is a museum for disability sector and covers everything to make things accessible for all. Games, technology and other activities are part of this museum. We also had the chance to spend some time in the cafe there, which too was run by people with special needs and supported by Vidya Sagar. Had cookies and cucumber mint juice there.

Participation in the CSR workshop conducted by MCCI

Gayathri Suryanarayanan participated in the CSR workshop conducted by MCCI, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This 40-hour workshop spanned 3 weekends starting from 02 September to 17 September 2022 and included a field visit. Participants were from both corporates and NGOs. The workshop covered all the essential components of a CSR project, including proposal writing, document templates, legal compliances, employee engagement and evaluation processes. CSR heads, subject-area experts and coordinators from leading corporate sectors delivered the lectures. The workshop also included group discussions and assignments which made it very interesting and interactive. Participants had a chance to network and listen to people from other focus areas.

All participants were awarded certificates. The field visit covered a rural development project site run under the aegis of the National Agro Foundation.

Celebrations

Teacher's Day

V-Excel's teacher's day celebrations is a much awaited one for all the units. After a gap of 2 years, this year's celebration was a grand and memorable one. All the staff members of YES participated. It was a day long celebration at Golden Sun beach resort near Mahabalipuram. That whole day was filled with music, dance, food, fun and laughter. It was a great team outing and YES team enjoyed every bit of it.

Onam

Onam was celebrated at YES with a beautiful pookalam.

Birthdays

YES trainees Eshvar, Shreeman and Srinivasan celebrated their birthdays at the centre with their friends.

Navratri 2022

Like last year, this year also, YES had a lovely golu setup at the centre. With the help of donors, we got enough number of dolls and the golu steps as well. Golu was setup beautifully and all the trainees participated in all the activities. There was a lot of enthusiasm and energy at the centre. On 26 September, first day, YES started Navratri pooja. Every day we had special chanting, sundal offering and flower decorations. On 27 September, team from the local newspaper, Mylapore Times, covered YES golu and an article was published regarding the same. On 29 September, children from Balavikas visited YES golu and sang bhajans along with YES trainees and volunteer Ms. Rama. On 30 September, 7 YES trainees along with 3 staff members visited the Adyar vocational training centre for golu. 03 October and 05 October YES team is planning to have special celebrations and have invited parents, members from other units, well-wishers and friends of V-Excel.

Production

We completed orders for a few mugs, water bottles and soaps.

We completed an order of 90 gift hampers of chocolates and idli podi for an advocate conference and 50 chocolate goodie bags as part of a gift hamper for Ms. Shubha.

Laundry services are going full-fledged and our client list has grown over the period of last few months.