Strides Newsletter - April 2023 - Issue 202
- Early Intervention & V-Excel Remedial Center
- Kaleidoscope Learning Center
- V-Excel Educational Trust
- Satellite Centers
- Vocational Training Unit
- Youth Empowerment Services
Counseling & Assessments
From Radhika Sasankh's Desk
....
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!
5th April - Tarang- The last show of Tarang for the academic year 2022-2023 was conducted in a grand manner. As part of our Music therapy, our children attended the program. The children enjoyed a lot as it was a dance program and songs familiar to them were performed.
8th April - Ananya Srinivasan & Vijayashri, young girls with a Bachelor's degree in psychology & Honours in Biotech and keen in pursuing their Masters in Neuroscience joined the Early Intervention unit of V-Excel as volunteers . Their ambition was to gain awareness of the social, physiological and psychological aspects of special needs children. They have been working for 6 months with us and engaged in a variety of activities. They also supported Early Intervention unit and raised funds for around 3 underprivileged children who needed sponsors. We wish them all the best for their future endeavours and continue serving the community.
15th April - We started our summer Camp session with 10 students. The theme of the Summer Camp is "Power of Play". The day starts with Circle time followed by that days activities as per the schedule. Activities like Dots and splashes for Fine motor, Number Games, On the Floor(Movement), traditional Games for Gross motor, Focus and Attention and Therapy related games were played. Life skills were part of the sessions as well.
13th April - We are happy that 5 of our children got placed in our KLC special school.
13th April - As part of Employee engagement program, the birth days of the staff were celebrated in the unit along with the children.
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
From Shashikala Subramaniam's Desk
Kadambari - the after effects of the play - the deep emotions that it arose, feelings, feedback, reviews, and the practical things like cleaning up, putting together, and packing up the costumes, props for storage took the better part of the first week of April. KLC went back to its normal routine for the students in the initial days and the teachers worked on clearing up later in the evening without disturbing the schedule.
Enclosed is the link to the final recording of Kadambari, for those who were not able to be present physically at Narada Gana Saba.
Dearest Friends,
Kadambari is the story of a young forest girl who struggles with her disillusionment of mankind and gradually overcomes it, to emerge as a catalyst of transformation. V-Excel Educational Trust brings to you "Kadambari", an original artistic creation, collaboratively presented by persons with special needs and their teachers. As you see Kadambari journey through her life, you see her constantly work towards what it means to be truly human...
In keeping with the mood of Kadambari, our notice white board boasted a beautiful picture of a scene from it, made with natural materials like - green moong dal, wood, cloth … arranged together brilliantly by Karthika, one of our teachers.
Though the teachers felt and heard the feedback, we made time for the students to hear it from their teachers. Each Senior school Student listened to their personal review from Kadambari's Director - Neha, and other teachers, about their part, effort, and work in the play, sitting together in a group. These recorded reviews were sent to their parents too.
The last Tarang programme for this academic year had Deepthi Ravichandran along with "The Natya Goshti" performing Natya Kadambam on April 5th at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The students were mesmerised with the performance.The highlight was the KLC students who played the main characters in Kadambari, giving small tokens of appreciation to the dancers.
The second week of April, being the last week of the academic year for the students, it was a fun week. The week started with whole school music with Neha and Puja, the last one for the year.
It was time to go out on a trip. All teachers and students visited Guindy children's park on the 12th and had lots of fun. They watched the birds and animals in the cages, played in the park, climbed the jungle gym, used the slide, the swings and had lunch in the park too. The older adventurous students climbed the trees under the supervision of the teachers and enjoyed themselves.
It was time for new admissions - to meet the parents and children. We had 6 students moving from VRC/ EI to KLC, ranging between 7 - 15 years of age. Thank you, team VRC/EI, for the initial work with these students, so that their movement into KLC is made easier.
This year in KLC, we celebrated Tamizh New Year in a unique way on April 13th. Children and teachers gathered and sang songs together with Neha. The center "Kani" was arranged with flowers and Mirror. A prasadam was made with six ingredients with the ingredients representing the six tastes that life brings to us throughout the year. Neem flowers for its bitterness, Jaggery for its sweetness, unripe mango for its astringent taste, pepper powder for its pungent(spicy/hot), salt, and a very small quantity of tamarind for its sourness. As the calm singing time with Neha concluded, a lamp was lit in the center, and everyone had the prasadam drink followed by Kanji and came back to their classroom. It was the last celebration of the academic year in KLC, and it turned out to be a short and quiet celebration.
School closed for students on 13th April, and every student received a Year End Report, in a hand decorated cover, from their teachers.They were prepared about the holidays and told that school would open for them in the month of June for the new Academic Year.
It was time for the teachers and staff of KLC to be together, watching, enjoying, having a good laugh at the antics, goof-ups, and the stellar performance of the students in the final recording of our Annual Day play Kadambari, in the computer room. It was family time and a good time together.
Swathi, one of our ex-teachers, who has still been a part of many of our projects, plays even now, is getting married. Her relationship with all of us is very deep and strong. Her parents consider us part of her family and came to school to invite us to the wedding in May at Coimbatore. Many of us will be attending it.
A visit to Sundari aunty's home by Vasanthi aunty and Shashi was long overdue and it brought back good memories, shared emotions, lot of conversation, deep bonds reinforced and happy times.Sundari aunty was very happy to see and be with them. A few commitments were also made
KLC has organised a Summer Camp for its students from April 18th - May 12th with the physical help of Karthick, Priya, Avila, Priyanka, and Ananthi, under the guidance for the content from Gita, Kavitha and Nitya.There are 9 students participating in this camp. We are watching some amazing changes in the students with the structure, work and care given by the teachers.
As a bonding, together and happy time all staff of KLC went out for lunch to Mathsya Restaurant at Adyar on 19th April. It was a wonderful experience
Micha, one of the German volunteers who had worked with us and the students for a year, came back to visit all of us.Her bond with the teachers and children is deep and strong.Though she could not meet with the students she spent time with the teachers and painted with them.
As a closure to Kadambari for all teachers and therapists, a painting session on Gaada cloth with acrylic paints was organised by Mahalakshmi, one of our teachers and the main person who worked mostly on the forest backdrop in the play Kadambari. The teacher's painting had to depict - how the forest was, Kadambari's hut and their hut in the forest. Beautiful paintings emerged.
Individual parents' year end meeting for the students are being conducted online with Neha, Nitya, Kavitha, the class teacher, and Shashi. A review of how the Year was, what were the concerns of the parents, was any improvement seen in the child and what were the goals of the parents for the child in the coming academic year for the child were discussed.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Early identification of children with developmental delays and disabilities
Early identification of children with developmental delays and disabilities is critical for ensuring that they meet their potential and have a bright future. Doctors, especially Pediatricians and Neurologists, play a very important role in this process as parents approach them when their child does not meet the development milestones in areas such as speech, response, motor control, communication, and social skills. Recognizing this, V-Excel's Solapur Center had organized a significant event on Sunday, 9th of April.This was a Doctors Conference with all topics relevant for Autism, in lieu of the Autism Awareness month.
Autism Awareness Month @ V-Excel, Nashik
Commemorating Autism Awareness Month - Nashik Centre of V-Excel: we are very happy to share that the health checkup camp of V- Excel, Nashik's students wasp held at Ashoka Medicover hospital today. Students with special needs came in large numbers with their parents and availed this facility. Many more students were to come the next day too.(14th -15th April). The Power point presentation made by the Psychiatrist Dr.Sule, on Autism was well taken. The lecture on Seizure disorders by the Neurologist Dr. Tejas Sakle was also appreciated. Both the doctors patiently answered the questions raised by the parents, at the end of their sessions.
Many thanks to Mrs, Astha Kataria, Director of Ashoka Medicover hospital and her vibrant team for making this possible.
CAF International Validated Organization
V-Excel Educational Trust is now a CAF International Validated Organization and has been vetted through an extensive review to ensure against the risk of fraud, money laundering, or other illicit activities.
An Exclusive Darshan
On 25 April, 19 members (trainees, parents and staff) from YES visited the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati for an exclusive darshan. The trip was organised by RYA (Rajasthan Youth Association) Metro Food Bank Trust. They were provided comfortable T-shirts and caps for easy identification.
A special train was chartered with entertainment on board, timely meals, and special arrangements were made for a quick yet undisturbed darshan.
All the participants of this trip were extremely thrilled and a few parents were overwhelmed with joy and satisfaction. They were also given a bag loaded with gifts and prasadh as takeaways.
Many, many, thanks from Team V-Excel to the organisers for initiating this and for ensuring a smooth process and impeccable execution
YES Newsletter
As we all remember, on October 11, 2022, YES released its first newsletter commemorating the 9th anniversary of the center. Mr. V. Nandakumar IRS received the first copy.
The second edition of YES newsletter was released on 29 April during the employee engagement session of Hexaware Technologies. The CSR coordinator of Hexaware, Mr. Logabiraman Sekar, received the first copy and copies were also distributed to all volunteers who attended.
Satellite Centers
From Jayanthi Vishwanath in Nashik
3rd April:
This year WAAD, World Autism Awareness Day was observed on 3rd April with playful activities and competitions like memory test. Students at all the three centres enjoyed these activities.
On 8th April, Open house was held and evaluation reports shared with parents. Teachers and parents shared daily experience and observation of the child to prepare and execute planning for better learning outcome of the child.
8th April
Orientation program for parents by Mr. Vaibhav Sonawane
Orientation program aimed for the utilization of social welfare scheme like Niramaya Health Insurance was taken and parents were explained the procedure of making UDID CARD.
11th April:
Jyotiba Phule Jayanti was celebrated on 11th April
The children were enlightened with information about social reformer, anti-caste activist, thinker and writer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. He dedicated his life towards education and upliftment of oppressed, untouchability and caste system.
12th April:
On 12th April, the three centers took combined reading of constitution to popularize the contributions of Dr B R Ambedkar, Father of Indian Constitution.
On 13th April Ambedkar Jayanti was celebrated to pay tribute to his contributions.
On 14th April, medical health checkup camp was organized at Ashoka Medicover Hospital on 14th and 15th April.
This health camps helps to inherit the habit of health checkup for early detection and prevention of disease.
26th April to 29th April
Four days training program for staff members
1. Orientation on occupational therapy by former occupational therapist Anjali Marwa
The session focused on sensory processing difficulties in the way of child’s ability to learn basic skills and how to maximize functional ability to improve activities of daily living.
2. Session by Uma Suryanarayan
The session offered a new perspective to transform perceived hurdles into challenges to overcome.
3. Presentation and interactive session by Armin Shroff
Interactive session was taken on Growth Mindset.
The session began with a brief self-assessment on present mindset. It then discussed how every aspect of one’s personality is shaped by our Mindset. Teachers were encouraged to think about whether their daily choices reflected a fixed or growth mindset. The session incorporated a fun activity on the power of words, on how other’s words and our self-talk impact our Mindset. This was followed by a brainstorming session on finding ways to promote growth Mindset in the students.
4. Computer training workshop by Mr. Vaibhav Sonawane
The workshop was helpful to improve computer skills of teachers and in using these tools for the advantages of students.
5. Presentation by Jayanti Vishwanath madam on Stress Management
The interactive session offered strategies to help to deal with stress and adversity of life. Managing stress can help us lead a more balanced, healthier life.
Erode
With summer at its peak and also vacation months for schools, there has been a dip in the attendance of students in both our centers. In order to facilitate continuity of therapies, home programs were made for every student and handed over to the parents with clear instructions to follow them. The teachers were also engaged in planning for the coming academic year, cleaning the classrooms etc. The year-end evaluation of the trainees in Srirangam was done to understand their current level of performance.
We shall be back with more updates and plans for the coming academic year.
Solapur
On the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day we conducted many programmes.
On Sunday, 2nd of April, 95 Big FM conducted an interview about Autism. Sunita Vaidya, Radhika Honap and Ashwini Andhare gave an interview and spread awareness about Autism.
On 3rd April we organised dental health check up camp for our children. Dr. Vishaka and her assistant examined 60 children and gave free consultation to them. She also guided parents about Dental hygiene and care.
On 8th April, we conducted a Naturopathic Workshop with Dr. Sonali Ghongade, a dietician and Naturopathic doctor.
Mrs. Sumedha Patavardhan was present as a chief guest for this event.
In this workshop children and parents participated and enjoyed Prayer and Shlok, Zumba, vegetable cutting and salad decorations, mud play and making different objects with clay, pot painting, plantation and many more activities.
Dr. Sonali Ghongade guided about diet to our parents.
65 children and some parents participated in this workshop.
Early identification of children with developmental delays and disabilities is critical for ensuring that they meet their potential and have a bright future. Doctors, especially pediatricians and neurologists, play a very important role in this process as parents approach them when their child does not meet the development milestones in areas such as speech, response, motor control, communication, and social skills. Recognizing this, we V-Excel's Solapur Center had organized a significant event on Sunday, the 9th of April, a Doctors Conference with all topics relevant for Autism, in lieu of the Autism Awareness month in association with Solapur Academy of Pediatrics.
40 to 45 doctors and our teachers participated in this seminar.
On 15th of April, Dr. Shrutika Choudhary and her team took a workshop on Mindfulness and stress management for our parents and teachers.She told some easy exercises for stress management. 15 to 20 parents and 15 teachers participated in this activity.
From 17th to 28th April, we organised 10 days summer camp in our school.
Every day was full of learning through experience, lots of exposure to children and lots of enjoyment.
Market day, Movie Day, Pool party, Master Chief, Doll's Marriage and many more activities were planned by teachers and everyone was taking efforts towards a successful summer camp. All children enjoyed and parents were very happy to see real feel of Movie, Marriage, and pool party.
On 18th of April Shikshan Prasarak Mandal's Nutan Marathi School organised awareness program for Pre primary and Primary teachers. Mrs. Sunita Vaidya and Dr.Radhika Honap spoke about different types of disabilities, symptoms of Autism, ADHD and LD. How to identify these children at different age group and how could a teacher help them or take other professional help to accommodate the child in their school.
28th April was last worKing day for children.Teachers gave the progress reports to their parents and on 29th of April we closed for summer vacation.
Abhyasa Kendra, Srirangam
With summer at its peak and also vacation months for schools, there has been a dip in the attendance of students in both our centers. In order to facilitate continuity of therapies, home programs were made for every student and handed over to the parents with clear instructions to follow them. The teachers were also engaged in planning for the coming academic year, cleaning the classrooms etc. The year-end evaluation of the trainees in Srirangam was done to understand their current level of performance.
We shall be back with more updates and plans for the coming academic year.
From Outreach Remedial Center, Pollachi
Musical event on world Autism Month April 2023.
OutReach Learning Center for Exceptional Children,Pollachi (In association with V- Excel Educational Trust,Chennai) organized a musical event to create awareness among common public to accept and accommodate children and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders on 25 April 2023. Our Alumni Mr.Kashyap Kanna (18 years) now pursuing his Diploma in Music (vocal and violin) performed on stage. It was a program to sensitize our community about how, children with Autism also have hidden talents, we could identify his interest in music when he was our student in the year 2018 and his parents were supportive. Today he is a happy individual pursuing his passion in Music. Mr.Kashyap is one among many young adults with special needs, having hidden talents and struggling hard to overcome the challenges of ASD.
A small initiative by OutReach, supported by Lions club of Pollachi Pride and Ist Harmonic Music Store, Pollachi to support the needy.
Embracing Differences!!!
Vocational Training Unit
From Charumathi Sriram's Desk
April month started with our routine activities after the successful Annual Day play 'Kadambari' , Tarang with spectacular Dance performance, report meeting with parents and ended with Experience Learning Field trip to 5 Star Restaurant with a dance party.
Tarang On 5th April 2023 @ BVB - Dance Performance By Deepthi Ravichandran & The Natya Goshti
VTU trainees, staff and teachers attended Tarang and enjoyed the spectacular dance performance by Deepthi and her team. They danced on the best melody and peppy numbers from the movies of various languages. It was very innovative and interesting fusion dance in Bharatanatyam style and costume.
Training Program @ NIFT For Trainers
Bhagavathy our teacher attended the training program on product making at NIFT Institute, Taramani along with other unit's teachers. They all learnt a different variety of bag.
Charumathi Sriram and Usha Rajagopal started the Annual Report meeting for parents.
Shanthi our senior skill trainer has taken a break and we had a small farewell and all trainees and staff spoke about her journey at V-Excel.
Vocational And Functional Academics
Uma our Senior consultant holds non-fire cooking class for our trainees. Trainees were made shop salad related veggies, wash, peel, cut and make delicious salad for the day. They all have it with their lunch. She oriented them the importance of having salads.
Two days every week, she makes them prepare different items like Lemon juice, sprouts salad sandwiches etc.
Rishi our Student Coordinator had a group activity of making papier mache' products with trainees.
Browsing, Downloading Image And Photo Collage
With Narayanan he had individual session in computer by making him browse images, make a collage and save. He was made to choose the topics which he enjoyed by selecting animals, buses, birds, festivals etc., He enjoyed browsing but had difficulty in recognising alphabets. This activity helped him orient with sight reading a bit. He was also made to click candid photos of his peers in Rishi's professional camera which came out very well. He downloaded them and created a collage.
Coconut Shell Agarbathi Stand
Coworker Kali made the agarbathi stands using coconut shells with the trainees. He made them to scrape the shell with sandpaper, created different shapes with use of axe blade, and varnished to bring it to a final product.
VTU Clubbing And Dance Party @ Bikes And Barrels On Saturday 29th April 2023
Trainees, during their Functional Academics sessions on topic about related to hobbies and fun, they expressed that they miss having friends like their siblings and miss socialising at party and dance in Restobars. Mr. Ishwar Gopinath, a friend, (son of Mr. Gopinath, CEO of Residency Group of Hotels.) offered to host our trainees at a 'Special Space' at their restaurant 'Bikes and Barrel' on Saturday 29th April 2023 from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Parents were asked to drop them at 5.15 pm. A circular with dress code was shared and an orientation was given by our senior FA consultant Uma about the lighting, music, and the menu. Trainees came with enthusiasm and soon took to the floor, so irresistible was the music and ambiance. Even while the starter snacks were served trainees and volunteers started hitting the dance floor and after that it was nonstop dancing for 2.5 hours. Usha started literally feeding in between. They had a blast and enjoyed every moment, and the DJ knew the pulse of our trainees and played the best numbers of Bollywood and English songs. General public also joined and admired the way Margaret, our senior most volunteer who is 86 yrs danced and motivated all. All the staff of the restaurant were so happy seeing the way all were enjoying and a different crowd all together. It was a fun-filled evening and a very different experience for all our trainees. We asked few parents to come in between and watch their wards enjoying. It was such a emotional and happy moment for them. Click here to view the video.
Youth Empowerment Services
From Gayathri Suryanarayanan's Desk
Key highlights for the month of April 2023
• Vocational training program, Counselling and Therapy services.
• Annual group parents review meeting
• Release of the second edition of YES newsletter
• Tirupati trip
• Participation in the National level painting competition organized by USO
• Volunteers visit
• Production
Vocational training program, Counselling and Therapy services
After the busy month with Kadambari practice and program, April month brought us all back to the routine of vocational training and the usual production schedule. It took about a week for us to settle down and put things back on track. Regular training began from 10 April in all the vocations. In kitchen, bread making got fine tuned and in Arts and Crafts, coaster design got finalized.
Counselling was going on a regular basis. Group sessions, individual sessions and placement hand holding were done need based.
Therapy sessions went without any interruptions.
Annual group parents review meeting
On 15 April 2023, a group parents meeting was organised to address and share common concerns and feedback. All the parents were informed much in advance and a clear-cut agenda was prepared. Whole thing was put together in a presentation and all the updates were presented in the form of videos as part of the ppt. All the points that were discussed were noted down by a parent and the minutes of the meeting was shared in the group for the benefit of the others. The meeting also had our counselor Ms. Jayadevi, and she guided the group to do a few brain exercises and stretches.
Release of the second edition of the YES newsletter
The second edition of YES newsletter was released on 29 April during the employee engagement session of Hexaware Technologies. The CSR coordinator of Hexaware, Mr. Logabiraman Sekar, received the first copy and copies were also distributed to all volunteers who attended.
Tirupati trip
On 25 April, 19 members (trainees, parents and staff) from YES visited the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati for an exclusive darshan. From YES, 2 staff members, Divya and Yuvaraj took the lead and accompanied the group. The trip was organised by RYA Metro Food bank Trust. They were provided with comfortable T-shirts and caps for easy identification. A chartered train was arranged with entertainment on board, timely meals, and special arrangements were made for a quick yet undisturbed darshan. All the participants of this trip were extremely thrilled, and a few parents were overwhelmed with joy and satisfaction. They were also given a bag loaded with gifts and prasadham as takeaways.
Participation in the National level painting competition organised by USO, New Delhi
Six trainees from YES participated in the National level painting competition organised by United School Organisation (USO), New Delhi in the month of March 2023. The theme set was ‘Woman who made an impact in my life. Most of our trainees chose their mother while one trainee had chosen Mother Teresa. The results and the certificates came in the month of April. Our trainee Arpith Ashok received the special mention award for his artwork. Arpith got a medal along with a certificate while all the other participants received badges and certificates.
Volunteer visits
Take A Step volunteers are visiting every Friday.
Hexaware volunteers visited YES on Saturday.
Both the volunteer groups are very active and supportive. They make sure to be on time, interact with all the trainees and spend quality time with them. They help them with Arts, music, dance, sports and communication.
Production
We completed an order for 25 wiro notebooks and 20 water bottles for SNEH. We also delivered 1 kg of millet laddoos and a few small orders for kanji maavu, cookies and idli melagai podi. Cut vegetables sale is going on every week .
Laundry services are going on regularly.