Providing lifespan services to individuals with special needs...
Strides Newsletter - May 2024 - Issue 215
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!
Mother's Day meet:
Mother's Day in the month of May, a small celebratory event was planned for the mothers of children coming to EI-VRC on 6th April 2024. The day began with a welcome address, by Ms. Lekshmi Ramesh, Unit Head, Early Intervention and Remedial Unit, welcoming all the participants for the day's events, the first of which was an art and craft activity.
Followed by the art and craft activity, Ms. Lekshmi Ramesh introduced the participants to transaction analysis. She explained how communication, as a transaction, takes place from various 'ego states'. She explained how they get developed right from childhood, through our life experiences. The three ego states, namely, the child, the parent, and the adult emerge unconsciously during a transaction (communication) without us ever realizing as to why we take stance in a particular ego state. Understanding the ego state from where we are functioning and from where the person opposite is functioning from helps make the communication take place in manner free of friction. The participants shared their feedback and were very interested to know more.
This was followed by planned game activities conducted by Ms. Saranya Murugan, Occupational Therapist, Early Intervention and Remedial Unit. She had planned three games for the participants - a communication game, a dumb charades and a word building game.
At the end of the activities, feedback cards were given to understand on the events planned and how they felt engaging in the same. The participants shared that they had fun, that the activities were nostalgic (painting), for some, this being the first time that they had painted. They also shared that they would be interested in taking part in games along with their children. The event took place from 10:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. and a total of 20 participants took part in it.
Observation and Review:
The review of the progress of the children who are currently taking intervention with us at the center took place from the 1st to the 5th of April 2024. The parents first got to have an observation of the intervention for their child, followed by a meeting with our unit head to discuss the child's progress for that quarter and the plan of action for the next quarter.
Testimonials:
Master Jaidev has been coming to us for interventions for his Academic difficulties. He has come a long way and now it is shown in his scores at school.
o Jaidev: His parents were pleased to share with us that Jaidev has been promoted to the next grade level and that they are happy with how much he has improved over the last academic year.
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
From Shashikala Subramaniam's Desk
May, the hottest summer month in Chennai, brings a break to the students and teachers at school after a hectic academic year. It is also the month when our parents need help in keeping the children occupied!
Summer Camp at KLC:
The school offered a summer camp from the 3rd week of April till 18th May, with a well-designed activity schedule, suited to the individual needs of the students who attended. It was planned and conducted by teachers, Priya and Avila. We saw great improvement in many of the children - with the individual care, love, and attention given to them during these days.
Srinath, a 7-year-old, who resists anyone touching him, or applying oil on his head or body for a massage, left the camp every day after asking and getting a full body oil massage, which calmed him. He ate his food independently and even allowed his parents to feed him lunch at school. This continued at home too. He had earlier refused to eat any healthy solid food at home.
The children were independent in all activities planned for them - juice making, cooking, painting, setting up and clearing the space for lunch or any activity, occupational therapy activities, and were fully engaged the whole time there.
Feedback:
Hamsini happily attended her summer camp. She would love to get ready and leave for school. Teachers said she took part in almost all the activities with joy. She ate her lunch herself. The special thing about the camp was she re-started skating.
Summer at Home:
From parents:
Sai Nikhil: I would like to share the time we spent with Sai Nikhil during his summer vacations. We took him to the park, to Birla planetarium and most of the time we took him to the beach, and he enjoyed it a lot. We re-started swimming classes, which he is enjoying. We took him to his grandfather's house. We started a few academics for him, like money concept, basic recognition of money, in Math's subtraction, addition and in Tamil recognition of letters. The rest of the time, he enjoyed playing with puzzles.
Srinath: We started the summer with a trip to Munnar. Our primary focus for the kids to have fun but with Srinath he was sick travelling in the winding ghat roads. But as the camp started, he was happy to get into routine and was eating rice at school. Teachers helped transition him to eat lunch at home by making us part of his lunchtime in the last 3-4 days of camp. Srinath went swimming twice a week since April. Every evening, he would go walking or cycling with his father and sister. Srinath loves to go on the bike, so I took him wherever I went. He's addicted to cell phones, and so we switched to an old Nokia bar phone. Srinath is a very loving and affectionate child, we spend a lot of time cuddling and hugging.
Completion of Training and Employment
In our earlier newsletter, we had mentioned Rekha, a senior school trainee who was undergoing a 6-month training program with Writer's Cafe, Egmore. She completed the course; end of May and a felicitation program was organised for all the trainees from V-Excel. We received confirmation of Rekha being appointed as a regular employee from June 10th at Writer's Cafe. All of us are very happy for Rekha and her family.
The school is getting ready for the coming academic year, with pest control being done, repairs and maintenance, cleaning up and complete upkeep of the school.
We are looking forward to opening the school in the first week of June, for the new academic year 2024-2025.
V-Excel Educational Trust
Inauguration of Bhagavan Ramana Center for Specially-Abled Children @ Tiruvannamalai
Sri Ramanasramam in association with V-Excel Educational Trust inaugurated the Bhagavan Ramana Center for Specially-Abled Children (BRC-SAC) in Tiruvannamalai on 6th May 2024 to provide special education and therapeutic rehabilitation services, free of cost, to children with special needs from a lower socio-economic backgrounds. The services include early intervention for children with 'at-risk' developmental delays in the age group 0+ to 8 years, remedial education for school-going children with specific learning disabilities in the age group 3+ to 14 years, lunch, and transportation.
The initiative is supported by Smt. Usha Rajagopal & Shri. CA. Rajagopal of ESVI Sarada Foundation & V-Excel, and Dr. Nithya Anand, Pediatrician, Dr. Venkata Ramanan, Shri. S. Krishnan of Sri Ramanasramam.
Gratitude to FICCI FLO's initiative
Gratitude to FICCI FLO's initiative to think of V-Excel and choose some students to train them in different skills at Writer's Cafe. Special mention to Ms. Subha Srikant and Ms. Meera to connecting with us constantly, guiding and updating at every step and helping with smooth sails. Grateful to Mr. Tarun Mahadevan, Director, Advantage Food to plan a interesting and extensive training programme for our trainees. Was an enriching experience for all. Ms. Sharada too was very helpful and supported continuously.
When there are so many well wishers and supporters the outcome has to be miraculous. Very happy to inform the successful completion of the training course by four of the V-Excel trainees - Lokesh, Rekha, Akshaya, Srinivasan. The proud parents were invited to be a part of the celebrations too where the four trainees received their certificates for the training they underwent. These were given out by Ms. Subha, Mr. Mahadevan,the current Chairperson of FLO, Ms. Divya Sukumar. Ms. Niyati Mehta, Vice Chairperson, FLO.
Few trainees might get recruited too and would join work from June. This would surely mean to them a adventurous journey ahead with many more new learning and experiences. Looking forward to many more opportunities for our trainees.
YES participation in Equitas - CSR Initiatives
Two trainees from Youth Empowerment Services (YES) started their internship on 30 April 2024 at Equitas, Chennai. This would give both of them a headstart to their professional lives as they will get an opportunity to work data entry, scanning and printing in a professional, mainstream environment. They will be under the guidance and mentorship of the HR and CSR teams at Equitas.
Equitas, extended an invitation to YES to participate in their Summer Sale that was organised on their premises on 11 May 2024. The YES product stall was visited by Mr. John Alex, CSR Head, ED & CEO of Equitas Holding Ltd, and Dr. G.N. Hariharan, ED, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation along with the Equitas CSR team. The products were well appreciated and the event was successful. V-Excel is grateful to Equitas for the opportunity and we look forward to an enduring partnership.
V-Excel - Nashik - 3rd Annual Play
On 20th April, 2024, V-Excel, Nashik, had their 3rd Annual play. This began with the Marathi prayer 'Hich Amchi Praarthana,' followed by guest introductions and the lighting of the lamp with the inauguration of UDIT Rehabilitation foundation symbolizing a new era of hope and empowerment. The Ramleela performance by the students showcased various scenes, including the formation of the Ayodhya temple, Sita Swayamvar, 'Sita Haran' by Ravan, Hanuman Chalisa dance, and a depiction of the war between Ravan and Ram's forces.
From the enchanting formation of the Ayodhya temple to the gripping 'Sita Haran' by Ravan, every scene was brought to life with passion and precision by our students. The grand finale saw all students unite in a jubilant dance, echoing 'Bharat ka Baccha Baccha Jai Sri Ram Bolega.'
Unique Bouquets prepared with napkins were presented to our esteemed guests, whose heartfelt speeches resonated with the spirit of the day. The resounding success of the event left the audience spellbound, with parents showering messages of appreciation and praise. This was a testament to the dedication and excellence of our students, teachers, and staff.
Satellite Centers
From Outreach Remedial Center, Pollachi
Games for Therapy
Our Remedial students during summer classes were given Stone Seperation Activity, rolling the smiley balls, jumping activities to improve their eye-hand coordination, concenteration and mood swings. Further, these games help to improve their gross motor skills, posture and increase the flexibility, strength, muscle tone, balance and coordination.
Canvas Painting
Faculty of Remedial center Miss. Pavithra, gifted a canvas painting made by her, to our parent as apart of our parent support group.
Speech Therapy
Summer class speech therapy sessions were held for school going children with communication delays like stuttering and stammering.
Respite Care
We initiated our respite care services, for a young adult with ASD for ten days at OutReach in the month of May 2024. The iniative was to provide, short term, guilt free relief to caregivers / parents. This helps the person with special needs for socialisation, stress relief and mental health support.
From Anandam Special School, Ambattur
Greetings from Anandam Special School!
MAY 02 - MAY 12
SUMMER CAMP
“Unplug, explore, grow “that's the summer camp motto. To prove these words we conducted all activities in our summer camp like special sports, skating, yoga, western dance, band music, mat making, pot painting, diya painting, computer class for visually impaired students, snack preparation independently with lot of joy and fun for our students.
APRIL 22 - MAY 22
NIOS Exam:
7 of our students went for NIOS secondary board exam and 2 of our students went for NIOS senior secondary board exam. Out of 9 students we sent scribe for only 2 students, other students were confident to wite their exam independently. These self - confident students are another milestone achieved for our school.
MAY 17 - 20
Admission:
18 students joined our school this year with various conditions like ID/ASD/SLD. Admission & certificate verification process were successfully completed.
MAY 17
Uniform:
Uniform measurements were taken for old & new students in our school.
MAY 15
Parents empowerment:
Successfully second batch of computer, tailoring & aari work classes were completed by our parents & teachers.
Vocational Training Unit
From Charumathi Sriram's Desk
Hottest month of the year May began with Grundfos Global Graduates visit followed by activities on executing orders placed from Australia Tamil Penngal group, a fun filled outing and then ended with the summer break by 2nd week.
Grundfos had series of events since last month with our unit commemorating the World Autism month. The first one was Roundtable Discussion at Grundfos premises, 2nd visit VTU by their Global HR leaders center, 3rd was employee engagement event at the beach and Global Graduates’ Volunteering Engagement program which was scheduled on 3rd May 2024.
Event – 4 / Grundfos Global Graduates Volunteering Engagement Program At VTU on 3rd May 2024
The last event of the Grundfos employee engagement was visit of their Global Graduates from top B-Schools who were assigned to our NGO in volunteering and engagement program. There were 7 Graduates along with Ms. Apoorva, CSR Consultant. They were introduced to all the trainees and then were split into groups to engage in vocational activities. Trainees taught the groups bead work, quilling art, jute braiding, tailoring, block printing and scanning of documents. It was a new experience for them and they enjoyed it thoroughly. They interacted well with the trainees All of them expressed that the activities were very therapeutic and said, were difficult in implementing. They also played some therapeutic games related to eye hand coordination, bilateral function, focus and attention.
Inaugaration Of New Center At Tiruvanamalai
Charu along with Managing Trustee Dr. Prakash attended the inaugruation of new Satellite center at Sri Ramana Ashram, Tiruvanamalai. President of Ramana Ashram Shri Anand, First Lady Dr. Nithya Anand, Sri. Krishnan and others from V-Excel.
Shri Anand, Dr. Prakash Natarajan, Sivaprakash, Lekshmi Ramesh, Lavanya and EI staff were present. New appointed special educators and parents were present along with children who came in for consultation. A brief puja was performed by the ashram priest and it was followed by lunch for all as it was Ramana Aradhana.
Writer's Café's Internship Training Completion Event
Trainee Lokesh was invited along with other center trainees who all were interning at Writer’s Café at various branches for the past six months. Writer’s Café organised an event to distribute certificate for course completion. Lokesh collected his certificate along with his parents. Based on the performance of the trainees they will give employment to them after discussing with their team.
Field Trip To Resturant And Movie On 10th May 2024
As the Academic year came to an end our last monthly field trip was decided to be fun and experiential learning. We planned to take them to a restaurant and one of the parents supported through their membership at The Mylapore Club. A special hall was organised with delicious starter, lunch, and dessert. From there we took all the trainees to their favourite movie ‘Ghilli’ as chosen by the them, at Sathyam Theatre. We had overwhelming hospitality by the Sathyam theatre team. Trainees enjoyed and danced for the songs and looking at them the public too were motivated and started dancing. It was a wonderful day, and each trainee was happy. We could see and learn so much from them.
Guest Visit At VTU On 13th And 17th May 2024
We had two guests visiting VTU from State Bank India, Branch manager and her team and Mr. Adityan, Secretary to MD from Cholayil group of companies to know about our organisation and activities.
Last Working Day On 17th May 2024
Interns Divya and Sandhya taught the trainees to make cupcakes and distributed them as snacks.
Adrian Mother had sent a delicious cake thanking all the teachers and staff. The trainees cut that and celebrated the end of the academic year. There were wishes for a great summer break.
Two trainees Hari and Adrain continued coming to the center during the summer break. They were taken care of by ESVI Sarada Foundation staff and were given activities for two weeks.
Usual cleaning and maintenance activities were taken care by Manivannan and the housekeeper.
Vocational Activities/Functional Academics/Therapy/Counselling/Movement Dance Therapy
Vocational Activities
• All the Australian orders received were completed and delivered to the respective places and we received feedback.
Functional Academics
• Uma gave sessions on how to take care of the health during the scorching heat, help parents at home and keep themselves busy during the summer break.
Counselling/therapy/movement
• Counsellor had sessions with trainees, teachers, and parents
• Vasanth did therapy, both individual and group.
Youth Empowerment Services
From Gayathri Suryanarayanan's Desk
Key highlights for the month of May 2024
• Vocational training, Counselling, Therapy and other fitness activities
• Completion of training at Writer's Cafe
• Product stall at Equitas
• Hexaware volunteer visit
• Group parents meeting
o ADLs for male trainees
o ADLs for female trainees
• Team lunch and Movie Day
Vocational training, Counselling, Therapy and other fitness activities
May brings us to the closure of the academic year 2023 - 24. As every year, we have planned a 2-week maintenance break at YES and hence during May we had only 2 working weeks.
Vocational training program happened as per schedule despite the attendance being sporadic due to the summer heat.
For Archery, to mark the end of the academic year, relay shooting was tried. Trainees did a very good job and enjoyed the game as well.
Silambam, Yoga and Fitness were happening as usual.
Counselling sessions and therapy sessions were going on uninterrupted.
Completion of the training at Writer's Cafe
2 trainees from YES, Akshaya and Srinivasan, who were part of the training program at Writer's Cafe along with a couple of other trainees from the other units of V-Excel, completed their training successfully and were awarded with the completion certificate. The felicitation event happened on 07 May 2024, at Peter's Road Writer's Cafe. A team from FICCI FLO, who initiated this project along with the Writer's Cafe team including Mr. Tarun Mahadevan, Director Hot Breads, participated in the event and felicitated the trainees.
Product stall at Equitas
YES, was invited to participate in the Summer Sale organised by Equitas at their office premises on 10 May 2024. Women entrepreneurs who are empowered and supported by Equitas CSR team had stalls and YES team got a stall to display the products made by the trainees. Products were much appreciated, and decent sales happened as well. Along with the trainers Divya, Sujanya and Srinivasan, trainees Dhennussa and Vijayasarathy helped with setting up the stall and managing the sales. The event had Dr. Hariharan, ED, MSSRF as the guest of honour. We also got the chance to visit our trainees Srinidhi and Hariharan at Equitas.
Course Completion
Gayathri Suryanarayanan, the Center Coordinator of YES, successfully completed a 10-week online course on CSR Funding. The course was organized and conducted by ImpactYog and Metapram
Hexaware volunteer visit
On 11 May, a small volunteer team of 12 members from Hexaware visited YES with their families. This was part of the Employee engagement program, a part of the Hexaware CSR activities. The day started with an orientation session for them on special needs and special adults. They brought games and fruits as gifts for the trainees. Volunteers spent about 4 hours with our trainees- interacting, singing and dancing with them. They also had group art activities and indoor games. Volunteers had lunch with the YES team during which they shared the lovely experiences they had with our trainees.
Group Parents Meeting
IAs part of our year-end activity, group parents' meetings were organised. This year to make it more impactful and useful, separate meetings were arranged for male and female trainees of YES. There were a few things in common that were discussed, and suggestions were shared with the parents.
Spatial awareness, personal hygiene and grooming were discussed. Suggestions for age-appropriate calming down activities were given. For example, chanting, listening to instrumental music, mandala art/colouring and simple artwork. Parents were requested to keep up the diet and sleep routine even during the break time, to keep the gadget/screen time at very minimal. They were suggested to give the trainees small responsibilities and at least one of the parents to spend quality time with the trainee to actively/productively engage them.
ADLs for male trainees - 15 May 2024
Challenges faced by parents with respect to ADLs, behaviour and social skills were shared by each parent and the same was noted down. Following that, recommendations and suggestions to manage/overcome these were shared by our therapist Mr. Vasanth. He also shared a few tips about physical activities that could be incorporated into their everyday routine and those that could be done at home. They were requested to treat them as adults and to have a decent conversation with them. Suggestions were given on how to train them in grooming and self-awareness.
Furthermore, a few challenges were noted down separately and those would be handled by us during our social skills sessions.
ADLs for female trainees - 16 May 2024
Addressing challenges in ADLs and personal hygiene are crucial for our trainees, female trainees in particular. This topic was discussed during the meeting and ideas and suggestions were shared to overcome these challenges. Personal grooming, period management and independent living were also discussed in detail. Parents also shared their challenges and the areas where they see a lot of progress. Our Counsellor Ms. Jayadevi shared a few thoughts on how to handle their mood swings and age-related challenges.
Team Lunch and Movie Day
On our last working day of the academic year, 17 May 2024, lunch was organised for all the trainees and the trainers at YES. A healthy, yummy meal was ordered, and the trainees helped each other in setting up tables for lunch, serving and cleaning up the place. This was followed by watching a movie. Therapy space was converted into a theatre like set up with projector screen. Kungfu Panda 4 was the movie that was chosen, and all enjoyed the movie thoroughly. Popcorn was distributed as snacks.
After the movie, Take A Step took over and conducted interesting educative puzzle games. We also celebrated the birthdays of trainees Mithran and Vijayasarathy by singing and distributing sweets.
The day ended with a breathing exercise, chanting and a prayer with wishes for a great new academic year 2024-25.
