"There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the mind's immobility and thought-free stillness. When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence......"
Sri Aurobindo
V-Excel News
June is the buzzing month with children returning enthusiastically back from their summer break. This is that time of the year when children meet their friends again, share and communicate the joy of meeting each other and the teachers in their own way! The teachers generally come in a few days ahead of their children to prepare their classrooms before they welcome the children and see that they all settle in well.
Our entire staff assembled for a motivating and thought-provoking talk by Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna. She emphasized the need for self-reflection and thereby the need to keep asking what every situation, every personal encounter we have with children or their parents, has as lessons for us to learn and grow as an individual. The talk was relevant to not just our teachers, therapists and counselors who work directly with the children, but also all others who are also committed to seeing that we offer sincere service to this special community.
This month we conducted the second module of our signature workshop series 'A Class Apart' for regular school teachers. This training program is planned jointly with Kuruvilla Jacob Initiative and is designed to see how teachers can bring life into teaching. We also highlight the significant the role of a teacher, and how her commitment, deep interest and creativity enables her to effectively reach every child in the classroom. Many schools in Chennai have found the program extremely useful and have sent their teachers for participation.
Kaleidoscope Learning Centre
'Back to school' was the theme for the month and teachers and children were seen happily engaged in related activities. The first week starting from 1st of June saw teachers attending the orientation by Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna. This served as both an inspiration for the soul, as well as a practical start to the new year by collecting our intentions and translating them into realistic goals for the children.
The children joined on the 10th June and they were welcomed back to school with a beautiful poster made by their teachers Kavitha and Puja addressing all children saying - "Who are you? What can I do for you? And what do you bring for me?" These were the three questions that we need to keep in our heart every time we meet a child.
With four new children admitted, and one of our teachers Aparna Satyam rejoining school to take over Grade 1, it was a wonderful start. Thanks to sponsorship by United Way of Chennai, our teachers and students saw a beautiful global acrobatic show by Extra Terrestrials presented in the Music Academy on the 13th of June. The raving reports of the show indicated how every minute of the planning and organizing process was worthwhile!
The Founders day artwork which commenced on 10 June, which is a whole school contribution began with classes painting beautiful heavenly colours. The mural was done under the guidance of Puja Bhalla who just returned after her second round of training on Art therapy in Australia. The poster came alive with pictures of children gaily playing around a colourful pole with ribbons. The poster represents the world of a child and says, "All we need is joy, a little hope and someone to believe in us". This was completed by Vatsala, Sowmya and Poorni and is this year's theme for KLC.
The Friday meetings have begun in earnest - reading has begun from the book 'Journey of a school', the counseling department had group art therapy on the second Friday where painting magenta was the theme, Parimal, our Counseling Head, will be conducting the first in-service elaborating the right way of conducting child study on the 28th of June.
28th June also marked the annual summer delight for children in the form of Water day.
The new parents were met and welcomed into the school fraternity by Gita Bhalla, the Principal, and Janaki, the Coordinator. Intake forms were completed and detailed planning with the OT department is under way. We are looking forward to a fruitful and enlightening year ahead.
Academy for Teacher Excellence
IGNOU and RCI affiliated course -"Certificate in Early Childhood Special Education Enabling Inclusion- MR" through Distance Mode, has been successfully going on from January '13. Contact classes were held on two Saturdays in a month consecutively.
Here is feedback from some of our students. A fitting start to V-Excel's maiden collaboration with IGNOU!
Deepa Narayanan says, "This one year certificate program from IGNOU is comprehensive in its scope and intensive in its methodology and approach. Clearly, a lot of work has gone in from the experts in special education across the country. The theory and the practical sessions together will suitably equip any aspiring and diligent student for a career as a special educator. Any distance education program is only as successful as the team of facilitators (teaching faculty) driving it. Ably spear-headed by Ms. Maria Josephine, the Program Co-ordinator from V-Excel, the facilitators have provided invaluable guidance through examples drawn from life, demos and audio-video sessions. Their commitment to excellence in program delivery is reflected in their preparation ahead of the contact classes, the input itself - which is relevant and engaging, and their enthusiasm in hand-holding students towards successful completion of the program."
Radha Gokul said, "I am student of IGNOU University and doing 'Early Childhood Special Education in V-Excel. It's my pleasure to bring to your attention that this course is conducted in a well planned and very informative way. We can feel the trainers' in-depth information not only related to the books; the practical and problem solving experiences shared would definitely make us excel in the field of special education and do wonderful service to the children with special needs. Maria is a very empathetic trainer who understands our needs very well and trains us in every aspect. She is very approachable and takes that extra effort to clarify our doubts and guides us through our journey. I would like working forward with her in a few more courses and gain that extra knowledge."
We have to make a special mention of our 8 students from Solapur Center who are doing this course. Our Coordinator Maria had been to Solapur and conducted the contact sessions from 5th to 12th of June 2013. With every visit, we realize the immense need for such courses in that part of India, not only to equip teachers but also to help the parents and children with various disabilities. Many parents brought in their children for assessment and hope to join our Solapur Satellite Center for further intervention.
Early Intervention Unit
The year has started with few of our children getting admission to regular schools and new children been initiated into the early intervention program. Review and assessments of children continuing early intervention this year has been done. The facilitators are in the process of planning and structuring customized program for each child.
This year we are in the process of starting a communication and social group program, group program for cerebral palsy children, and an infant stimulation program to address the needs of each of these specific segments. Infant stimulation program will be conducted for children below one year of age and will involve development facilitation for the child and training for the mother. This program will focus on feeding, sleeping, and stimulating the child at home. On reaching certain level of development, the child will be shifted to regular early intervention program.
V-Excel Satellite Centres
The demand for specialized services for children with Autism, Mental Retardation and similar conditions is very high in all tier two cities, and Nashik is no exception. Parents from some of our remedial group and some others who wanted a special school for their children urged us to start one there. We therefore launched our special school services in Nashik from this academic year and have enrolled 16 students to begin with. We have taken in trained resources for the purpose and hope to be a support for children and their parents.
We shifted to new premises in Tirunelveli and children are settling in there after the summer break. Given the profile and background of the children coming for therapy and educational inputs, we have subsidized many services for their benefit.
Our Erode center continues to get many children for consultations each time our professionals visit. While this is a result of word-of-moth awareness of quality services provided by us, it again speaks of the intense need for good special education and therapies in these towns. As an organization policy, we recognize this and plan to be present in such places where the need is high.
V-Excel Remedial Centre
Schools reopened in June and most parents of our children were happy to report that their children have done reasonably well and moved on to higher classes without any adverse remarks from their respective schools. It was heartening to hear parents thanking us for the consolidated efforts put in by our remedial team resulting in children's steady progress.
We have started four new assessments this month and as a normal pattern see this increasing in the months of July-August when the schools find some children consistently lagging in academics or have behavioural issues.
Three children from our morning sessions have shown improvement in their school readiness skills and have been admitted to KLC. One child with development delay who was attending morning session left for Pune, due to her father's transfer. This child was a challenge to VRC. She was 8 years when she joined and had not attended any structured program till then and so came with little readiness or skills combined with aggressive behaviour. Our program of exploratory activities, along with rhythmical body awareness movements, action songs and finger rhymes, art, free play enhanced her engaging with the environment and then onwards there was steady progress in her skills. Her mother, Priyanka, was very happy with her program due to her progress and was very appreciative of our organisation. Her testimonial in writing is scanned and attached.
Vocational Training Unit
The vocational unit began on the 10th of June for the trainees after the summer break. They were very happy to be back rejuvenated. The first two days were planned as fun activities; we also had art therapy sessions. The unit has three more new students, admitted for the forthcoming academic year. The Unit will now work on two Saturdays a month, with physical fitness and sports related activities being the focus on these weekends.
The vocational unit has planned to open a new section to graduate the trainees who have gained a certain amount of independence in the skills that they have been learning. The objective of this section is to show parents the strengths and potential of their wards and to empower parents to start a new unit of their own. The students would work in this unit and take back home a small sum as stipend towards their production activity.
The Counselor has resumed the group therapy sessions for teaching appropriate social behaviour. The support group for parents is also falling in place. We have also begun counseling through individual sessions.
Counseling and Assessment Unit
School reopened on 3rd June and set of all the activities started immediately! Two of our psychologists conducted team building activities in the orientation workshop for all V-Excel staff. They also introduced child observation to the teachers in that workshop.
On 2nd Friday of the month, our department conducted in-service program for the teachers. Painting using magenta colour and a shell observation exercise were done, linking the main topic of 'Child Study' started on the previous Friday.
We have started meeting teachers, parents as a part of our staff welfare work. Corporate counseling desk, where we see company associates, has also begun in full swing. Overall, we were able to meet 24 people through this during the month; people we had seen also referred to us other people for counseling.
Parent Art therapy will begin next month. This time the parents of children from a class will be grouped together in a batch for art therapy. Parents have found these sessions extremely de-stressing and are happy to have more sessions.
All in all, June has been a full month with regular work, follow ups and a few new consultations.
Contact Information
V-Excel Educational Trust
#1 Norton 2nd Street
Mandaveli Chennai 600 028
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24620243
91 - 44 - 24956373 E-mail us or visit us at www.v-excel.org
V-Excel Center for Research and Rehabilitation
(In assocation with S.V. Sarada Foundation)
50 Sreyes, M.G. Road
Shastri Nagar, Chennai 600 041
Tel: 91 - 44 - 24522061
91 - 44 - 24521986 E-mail us
Academic Concepts, Inc.
33 Pine Street
East Brunswick New Jersey 08818
Tel: (732) 619-7944
Tax ID: 22-3632715 E-mail us
