Warm Touch!!!

Down’s Syndrome-Sneha Verma

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 09:31:00 +0000

Sneha Verma is 28years old, Down’s Syndrome adult, placed in the vocational unit of SBP, School for PWID at CBD, Navi Mumbai

Sneha Verma is trained in many skills. Main focus is Home science and housekeeping skills. She is learning Crochet, she is good in Painting she paints Diya, makes greeting cards, envelopes etc. This year onwards candle/ soap making and packaging has been introduced in her training program. She also makes Tea for the school staff at 3:00pm. She is a very good in dancing.

In 2015, she made India proud by winning a Golf medal for Swimming at Special Olympics World Games held at Los Angeles.

Sneha was admitted in SBP in 2005 when she was 11years old. She attended two schools previous to joining SBP.

“SBP has helped our child to be confident and more outgoing.” Says her mother Madhu Verma. “She has lost fear of the stage. Even in areas of her weakness like speech she is not apprehensive of facing the audience.”

During pandemic, Sneha Verma was kept engaged in different activities through online virtual classes and on her own efforts she kept herself occupied with music and art n craft. She helped with household chores and did a lot of crochet.

As soon as Sneha was born Madhu’s gynecologist informed her husband. She was informed two days later but she refused to believe till her blood test results were done. Being a psychology student herself, Madhu was aware what Down syndrome entailed.

“Acceptance came immediately to me.” She says.

She was aware that Downs Syndrome has mongoloid feature, flattened face, small head, slanting eyes, small snub nose. Sneha had all of them. Most Downs children have some heart complication and within a few days of her birth, they were running to various cardiologists.

“Our child was different, she was special so we needed to take special care of her” says Madhu Verma

Sneha's speech is not clear so at time its difficult to understand what she is saying especially for those with whom she interacts infrequently. Due to swimming she has developed auricular problems so there is no more swimming for her.

“Her health is a major concern for us. She is a very friendly, cheerful and social person. Helping is her second nature. She is very out going always very disciplined in her day-to-day life. She likes to learn new things.” Informs Madhu

Basic awareness of Down’s syndrome amongst Parents of such children is high, but for the rest of the population they are one amongst many children with disability.

Madhu feels that there should be acceptance of these children in society. On observing prominent features of Down syndrome like Mongoloid features, palm lines she advises parents to consult Doctors. They should be vigilant about heart, eye, and speech problems, They even have weight issues. They should be aware that these children are slow learners.

Down syndrome children can lead a near normal life if they are engaged in a social or economic enterprise with a strong support system from the society and the government.

Sharing some of the clippings during her road to fame

Harshad Pajwe Starts Work

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 15:57:00 +0000

Many parents are disheartened when they have children, physically or mentally challenged. They need extra care, no doubt, but every person can contribute their bit to the society if their energies are directed towards a particular goal.

Harshad Pajwe, 27 years old person with downs syndrome was admitted at Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, Center for PWID at Belapur in 2005. The main aim at this special school is make the person independent and the training is given accordingly, as per their ability.

It gives great joy to their teachers and family when their students show success, however small/big it may be, at least they try..and if they have somebody who have faith in them, then they can cross many hurdles.

Harshad has started his journey as vegetables vendor with the support of his family members. His shop address is Harshad Traders near Vidya Prasarak high school, shahabaz gaon sec 19  Belapur, NaviMumbai



His brother Dattaray was working in AGS PVT. LTD. His profile was ATM re-consolidation. Due to Covid infection, he suffered health problems therefore he quit his job, and started his own auto rickshaw service. His sister-in-law sells organic sanitary pads. His mother is housewife.

The family has got together and has opened a shop that will sell onions, potatoes, garlic, coconut and dry coconut, while his SIL will continue her own business from the same venue.. The products are kept outside the shop for easy display for passerby.

Harshad has severe disability, limited speech and poor money concept, so what can he do???

"He is severe but independent in personal skills. quiet, sincere and a good worker, he can work under supervision. Once learnt he can do simple task." Says Shirish Poojari, the founder of the institution.

Family is happy that they have found a suitable job for him to keep busy. Instead of concentrating on what he cannot do, it is better to concentrate on what he can do.

"He can help open and close the shop, clean the store. He can fill the baskets with onions and other things. He is able to do money transactions but under supervision. He can assist very well." Says Sukanya Venkataraman, Principal of SBP.

As a matter of fact, the family has no experience in selling vegetables but they found this an apt business for Harshad who will come and sit at store with his mother and SIL, he may not have much speech but he understands the given instructions

while at the vocational unit at school, he took part in many vocational activities such as painting diyas during Diwali season, making paper bags, he is good at drawing and coloring.

"He follows instructions very well. Once he perfects a skill, he carries it out to the T. The only problem is that he is slow in his work." Says Sunt Marwah, his class teacher.

And now , as a proud owner of his vegetable shop, he will learn to manage it since his family has full faith in him.

His life is set.

Down's Syndrome - Nevan

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 10:35:00 +0000

Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disability, and characteristic facial features. The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental ability of an eight- or nine-year-old child, but this can vary widely.

Source:

Nevan is 8years child with down’s syndrome, student at Swami Brahmanand Pratisthan, centre for PWID at CBD, Belapur, Navi Mumbai. He was admitted in Special school when he was seven years old before that he attended normal play school for two years. Physically he is weaker compared to an 8-yr old child, mentally his growth stands at 55% in comparison to his age. He is extremely alert and has a very good memory and imitation skills. He learns very fast from seeing and observing and will always want to try new activities. Memory and imitation with understanding are his strongest skills

His parents had read about Down’s Syndrome before Nevan was born, so they were aware of hyptonia, weak heart and vision, slow digestion system and slower growth. From their studies, they knew about the external points like facial features, eyes, softer muscles, etc. As for the health situations, they are also aware about points like weak heart, hypotonia, defective vision, slower mental ability, slight impairment in hearing, etc.

“The test was conducted as soon as he was born and we knew about it.” says his mom, Patricia. “We celebrated his birth with as much joy as we did for my first-born son. He showed signs of alertness and emotions. Our reaction was joyful to have him born to us and we would do anything to keep him healthy.”

Nevan’s mom Patricia is confident that children with Down’s syndrome can lead a near-to-normal life with positive social assistance and understanding from family and society. As a parent, she advises that parents must be vigilant about proper food and nutrition as that combats the weak digestion and improves muscles. She recommends that the child gets eyes, ears and speech checked regularly, to use proper equipment for the child right from when they are one year old and has continuous physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Patricia is very happy with the improvement that Nevan has shown after being admitted at Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan. “He learnt to use the wash-room when in need, learnt playing physical games and also has a liking for swimming, his eating habits have improved, he has started saying a few words, maintains erect posture, running, walking and definitely dancing are his strong improvement points”

She feels the school’s complete holistic learning has put Nevan in a progressive mode. “The activities like sports activities have helped him to now love football and the occupational and physio therapies have helped him to be more in control of his body and his daily routine. The teachers attention and care and constant motivation for all students including Nevan has been a very big step for his progress.” Says proud mom.

During Pandemic, there has been regular virtual classroom throughout the year, thanks to good interaction between parents and class teachers that include professionals like physiotherapists, art, craft, music, sports teachers, children have shown great improvements.. Nevan is too young to understand much about pandemic but he definitely has learnt to wash hands and legs as soon as he comes home. He has understood that there is a need for washing hands, taking a bath, wiping a plate before eating, etc. he spends his time observing and imitating his older brother and thereby learning it thus.

Patricia feels that there is not much awareness about Down’s syndrome. “I think the general public is more aware of a physical disability than mental / emotional situations. In this case this is a genetic disorder and to understand and accept DS will require more awareness among public.”

She expects society to be more inclusive and not being exclusive when noticing a differently abled persons. “The people or children who are specially-abled are able to do the routine activities but they may be slower or may do it differently. The society needs to assist and not over-help. People must be aware of the good side of the differently abled and not think of it as a burden or “some ‘thing’ from the previous life” mythology.”

We have many students who are in the area of studies through which they are learning psychology, therapeutic studies, medicine, etc. “The institutes of the type could set up co-learning and teaching for DS students to learn to live and/or learn techniques through which they can also be of assistance to therapeutic practices.” she adds

Now, to spread the Down’s syndrome awareness, ‘The Lucky Few’ movement has spread; anyone who feels lucky to know someone with Down syndrome is getting the tattoo of 3 arrow. The tattoo is meant to be placed in an obvious spot to start a conversation about Down syndrome. This allows The Lucky Few to spread awareness, promote inclusion and educate others about Down syndrome. 21st March is recognised as Down'e syndrome awareness day.

Sukanya Venkatraman – Principal at Special School in Navi Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:50:00 +0000

Behind every successful person there is hard work involved, there is honesty and commitment. Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan Centre for PWID is an organisation, everybody is proud to be associated with, and why not? Special children of this school show great results, they are always smiling, most of their needs are fulfilled, it is managed by team of dedicated staff and well wishers and is headed by Shirish Poojari and Sukanya Venkatraman.

Sukanya Venkataraman is the Principal of Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan, Centre for PWID at Belapur, CBD, Navi Mumbai.

“I have worked with sincerity and dedication all through out my life at SBP. I have seen the school grow and take a unique place in the community. I have always worked jointly with the management, staff and parents as I know we can never be successful working alone.” Says Sukanya.

Sukanya’s journey in this Special field began all of a sudden when her father, who was working for Sri. S.K.Birla as his personal secretary, introduced her to a special school supported by them. There was a training going on during that time and since she had just completed her graduation, her dad felt that she could benefit from the training program. “I was apprehensive,”she says, “as I had no experience of ever being with people with special needs. But his words still ring in my ears, ‘Sukanya , I think you will do well in this field as you are very calm and patient’. I have always trusted my father and with no other thoughts on my mind, I enrolled in the training program at Kolkata in the year 1987. Since then till now there has been no looking back as I realised that my father was right.”

When she joined SBP in the year 1992 the post graduation course that she had done in Kolkata, was enough to handle the class and work as a teacher. In the year 1998 some rules were made mandatory by the Central Govt and all teachers were expected to enrol with the RCI. Her certificate course was not considered valid at that time hence she had to undergo a bridge course to get certified as a professional working in the field of special education. She realised that she had to keep herself updated with the latest techniques and that her certificates were not enough.

In the year 2007 she enrolled in the BED correspondence course offered by MP Bhoj Open University and NIMH. She completed B Ed. in 2009. Feeling the need to understand and empower herself with organisational skills she joined the PG Diploma course in Education Management and completed it successfully.

Her main challenge was her inexperience and lack of confidence but when she began to work as a teacher at SBP, she learnt to take each day at a time and was not shy to ask for help when she did not know something .

“My mentor, Shirish Poojari, was always very patient with me. Her vision and dedication to the field motivated me to take her on as my role model. Best way of learning is by doing what we all did at SBP. We supported each other and gradually I gained confidence.” Says Sukanya. “In order to motivate others I needed to be motivated, it was difficult initially as I moved from the post of a teacher to the post of Principal. My own experience was limited. Thanks to Shirish who guided me in this journey. As I started assessing the work of the staff I noted many loopholes. After discussing with Shirish mam I took steps to fill those gaps. Another mentor Ms. Pranita also greatly helped me during this period. I learnt many things from her. I started implementing whatever I learnt from shirish, Pranita and from my collegues.”

Sukanya joined SBP in the year 1992 and served till 2006 as a teacher. Since then she has been serving as the Principal of the school. She has completed 28 years of service.

As a principal her challenges were different. She possessed good skill sets for a class teacher but lacked managerial skills. She was often indecisive. She could not take the right decisions at the right time. Often she depended on the opinions of others. The other main challenge as a Principal were her colleagues. The transition from teacher to principal was tough. Initially her staff did not take her seriously. But as she moved ahead steadfast with the support of all the Trustees, they took her more seriously. They started looking up to her for support.

But she realised that did not help her much. At that time, she got the opportunity to update her knowledge through PGDEM course at Jankidevi Bajaj institute of management studies, SNDT. She did the course with ten experienced people, most of them leaders or heads of organizations. Her time spent was worth while as their experiences and knowledge helped her a lot.

“There was good sharing of ideas. This helped me a lot to gain confidence and also initiate new working strategies at school.” She says

She organised an annual planning workshop where she took the views of all staff members while planning the years' program. This was taken as a positive step that bridged the gap between her and the staff . “I was a good listener and was keen to listen to the problems of the staff even though I could not solve all their issues...but at least I had taken a step forward. We decided to elevate some senior staff members as coordinators. This helped motivate them to a great extent.”

As a Principal, she has good rapport with the parents of the children because she believes that they are the strong pillars of the school and that they have major role in training their children and also are important resources for the school.

“Although sometimes they don't realise their worth, the institution can greatly use the knowledge and expertise of parents instead of hiring people from outside to do a particular task.” She says “First and foremost is openness, transparency and straightforwardness. The parent-staff rapport is very crucial for the organisation as it will either make or break it. We need to handle parents with delicate care, at the same time we have to be realistic too. We need to have very good understanding of their needs, strengths and weaknesses. All communication channels have to be kept open. We need to be open minded as sometimes parents are better teachers. We can learn from them. The school, teachers and parents have to build a strong foundation for the child to develop in to a productive citizen.”she emphasises

She would like more youngster to follow this teaching profession. “It will be wonderful to have youngsters take up this most challenging profession. They bring in new ideas and innovations and the field of special education will be much benefitted by new technologies and strategies. I would advise them to be bold and follow their dreams. This field may not be rewarding in terms of money or position but what we get from the children and parents is unconditional. It leaves us with a feeling of satisfaction and self worth.”

Sukanya received the Best Teacher Award in the year 2009 from the District Social Welfare Department, Zilla Parishad Thane, for her dedicated service. For Sukanya, job satisfaction is not in winning unlimited awards but in seeing the progress in her school“ Job satisfaction for me is when I see my students accomplishing even the most simple tasks. When I see them smile with confidence. When I see the parents empowered and taking a keen role in their child's development. When I see my confident staff take up challenging roles.” She smiles proudly. “As a Principal, pride is to see that my school is high on safety issues for the special children. I have an important job of empowering the staff and parents for sustaining the good work that the school has been putting in all these years.”

With her retirement round the corner, her main focus is to train and empower the senior teachers. She has started Staff Development programs, Parent Development programs and Training of the senior staff to develop organization skills. The most efficient and dedicated teacher will be given the baton to carry on the service and take up the post of Principal after her. She has taken the responsibility of training the teachers for managerial skills and will select only the best.

“I will be retiring from the post of Principal in the year 2023 but I don't think I will ever retire from my service to Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan. I look forward to being in the next project of SBP called Brahmagiri” she says

Autistic Child – Aditya Prabhakar

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:57:00 +0000

Every year, April is observed as Autism Awareness month. It is during this month that all the important monuments in the city are lighted up as in Blue Campaign.

But painting the city in blue is not just what is needed, public should be educated on the intense challenges of the diagnosis and the tough aspect of living with disability. It should not be just committed to creating awareness, there should also be critical help given to the autistic persons in the form of social programs, education safety and employment opportunities.

Many people do not know anything about autism.

“We discovered it after 3 1/2 years because till then he did not speak. Then one of our Doctor friend who is a paediatrician guided us to go to UMEED and NIMH for evaluation followed by the therapy and our journey with Autistic child started.” Says Vaishali Prabhakar, mother of 14 years old Aditya Prabhakar. “We were shocked and shattered to know that we have a special child and he has to go to the special school. Because till then we were not aware about Autism. “

As a child, Aditya Prabhakar did not have eye contact, his speech was limited and he had no social interaction with other children. He was reserved and in his own world.

Aditya was admitted in Swami Brahmanand School at Navi Mumbai, Belapur, at the age of 6years. Over the nine years in school he has shown marked progress.

His Mom, Vaishali Prabhakar, is very grateful with the improvement shown by him at school “We consider ourself lucky to admit our child in SBP. Thanks to the support of the management, teaching staff and support staff. They really made him independent, his academic potential was identified and improved upon. His talent of singing, skating, swimming, table tennis and cricket was motivated encouraged and brought to the competitive level by the entire staff of SBP. And this is all possible because of the support and guidance of our founder trustee Ms Shirish Poojari ma’am”

Aditya is very sensitive, understands the pain of others. He is a very good audio leaner, his memory is good, he reads and writes, he is an excellent singer he learns the lyrics through audio, understands the background music and sings perfect karaoke songs without reading the lyrics on the screen. He is good in numbers.

“Level of awareness of Autism in India is very low that's why society doesn't accept them easily and look at them as an ALIEN.” Says Vaishali, “Society should accept them the way they are and support them and help them to lead a normal life. Wherever we find such children's we tell them our experience and guide them. They should be vigilant about any abnormal changes in the behaviour pattern from day one. “ she continues

Aditya did not go to any other school before joining SBP. He joined school in 2012. He has learnt to perform his day to day activities. He has started talking and mingling with people. He has won many awards and certificates over the years that include singing, sports, drama, yoga, cooking competition, Aditya had also participated in a ‘Quizabled Knowledge’ for all in which he won cash prize and a gift

During the pandemic, the online sessions were regular. Due to the perseverance dedication of the management and teacher's he started liking online sessions in academic, sports, art and craft, singing.

“Autistic children's leading a normal life totally depends on the support and acceptance by the society. “ says Vaishali Prabhakar

Autistic Child - Khushi Malve

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 17:52:00 +0000

April 2nd is the day observed all over the world as ‘World Awareness Day’

It is day to make people understand and accept people with autism. It is the day to spread kindness and autism awareness.

Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder characterised by deficits in social and language communication, as well as repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have a wide range of abilities. Some people cannot speak at all and many have delayed or limited verbal communication. Some are greatly impaired in their cognitive thinking while others are extremely gifted. Source:

Khushi Malve is an autistic student at Swami Brahmanand Pratisthan, Centre for PWID. She has shown marked progress since she joined the school, (eleven years now). Sports teachers at school have enhanced and recognised her skill in swimming and skating.

“They supported us in every possible way they could. She participated in swimming competition and made the school proud of their efforts.” Says her mother Geeta Malve

Khushi has won several medals and certificates for swimming. She won gold in Thane Samaj Kalyan Swimming competition, won bronze in National Swimming competition held in Pune.

Geeta Malve is the mother of 17 years old Khushi.

Khushi was diagnosed with autism and MR at the age of 9months. It was very difficult for her to accept the truth as she was hearing the word ‘autism’ the first time.

“When doctor explained what symptoms are and how we could cope up with, we said our child can't be autistic”Says Geeta Malve,

She felt that doctor had not diagnosed it properly. But as an autistic child, she had clear symptoms. It was observed that Khushi had no eye contact, no reaction to sound, she was totally in isolation, had no feeling of pain, no toilet control, a delay in development milestone was observed, there was no motor coordination. For many months, Geeta couldn’t cope with this situation and went into depression.

Gradually, day by day , year by year, she accepted the truth and heard many stories of success. She realised that the main motto is to make her child independent in daily life skills and understood that many are leading dignified life. She advises other parents to not underestimate the power of their kids Consistency and encouragement is the key to success. Patience is very important. She feels.

“Initially it was very difficult to make the people to understand,” she says, “ Nobody cooperates. Wherever I would take Khushi along with me, some people showed sympathy, others would take away their kids, I just wanted to tell everybody that these kids also have the right to education, right to live independently. You must see their abilities, focus on what they can, not they cannot. Give them opportunities.”

Geeta is really proud of her daughter's abilities and proudly shares the certificates and medals collected by Khushi.

Khushi has always loved music since childhood. Even though she is sitting socially isolated as soon as she hears some particular music she brightens up

Pandemic has been very stressful for parents of special children. With no activity to do at home, many children had behavior problems, but online education was started immediately and the good interaction between the staff members and the parents have shown lot of progress in children.

“Initially, during pandemic Khushi was asking many questions such as why schools are closed, and why must she wear mask. School shutdown affected a lot, she is in meltdown since 6 months. Lots of behaviours changes have been observed. Hoping for the best.” Says Geeta.

Geeta advises the parents to attend empowerment program,

“Give emotional support to the families sailing in same boat, go for early intervention, meet development paediatric for more clarification. Now-a-days lot of awareness is there in young parents, you can join support from support group.”

You can join Forum for Autism. This is is a parent support group which caters to the needs of families touched by Autism Spectrum Disorder. The primary aim of setting up FFA was to create awareness

Home Visiting Special Children…Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:50:00 +0000

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Home visits are important to understand children’s behavior at school and it becomes easier to interact with the parents if they are able to communicate with the staff of the school on daily basis. Home visitations by teachers gets parents involved in their child’s education and they let parents and children know how much the teachers care.

On 18th July 2019 a home visit was made to three students’ homes at Uran (in Raighad district) by Madhuri, Charu and Pushpa. The students whose homes were visited were Arafat (12yrs) Shravani (14yrs) and Rishikesh (17yrs. ). They are the students of our Uran Centre called Seabird Special School. About twenty minutes were spent in each home.

Two of the students, Arafat and Shravani, had not come to school for few days because they were not well but the children were very happy to see their teachers visit them at their home.

All three live in very tiny sparsely furnished house. The children live under constant supervision of their parents.

Arafat lives alone with his mother, His father works as driver in Dubai (presently, he has not been keeping well, hence has taken temporary job in the city). His two sisters live at Madrasa at Ratnagiri and are doing Islamic studies. During their holidays, mother makes a trip to visits them. Arafat is encouraged to do his own work like washing his own plate, keeping the house tidy and other such small odd jobs at home. He spends most of his time at home. He does not have many friends in the community because of his limited speech and his quiet nature. However mother plays indoor games like dominos and lego with him, whenever she gets time. He goes for prayers regularly, three times a day, in the community meeting where he is taught to read and pray. He even kept fast during Ramzam for 16 days this year. Mother is quite alert and takes interest in her child’s activities. Arafat is a happy child and is well looked after at home.

Shravani lives with her mother and her younger sister. Father is a labourer and works on contract basis. She had not come to school for few days because she was suffering from psoriasis (she showed us her arm that was darkened and bruised). The road leading to her house is muddy and steep and there is too much filth and garbage everywhere, which is unhealthy for all residents living there. The school bus drops Shravani at quite a distance and she walks alone toward her house through the sleep hill. Shravani lives on second floor. However the interior of the house, although small, it was quite tidy. Mother was busy cleaning the floor. There were only two chairs in the room, one TV, one side table and one small shelf of God idols for prayers. Otherwise the room was completely empty. Shravani helps in the house with housework like cleaning; folding clothes, swabbing, etc., but mother is quite protective and does not allow her to do any housework.

Rishikesh lives in row house of one room kitchen. The road leading to his house is very filthy, dirty mud dug up and infested with mosquitos. His house was very suffocating due to poor ventilation and tin roof. Room was bare except for one TV and a bed. Rishikesh”s two medal (that were won during his sporting events) were showcased on the shelf along with other memorable things. Mother is very gentle and caring. Father has vices and is sometimes irresponsible towards family needs but is now trying to be off liquor. He is State transport driver.

Rishikesh has one sister who is married. He has one elder brother who is studying in another city but comes home during his holidays. The brothers interact well with each other and have a good rapport. Rishikesh does a lots of house work like filling the drinking water, cleaning, sweeping the floor, also makes bed and runs errands for the family like buying small things from the shop...his mother however told us that he needs to be told softly and peacefully otherwise he refuses to do anything. He does not go out or have friends in the vicinity. Post long vacation, it is difficult to get him to go back to school. He loves watching TV and is interested in sports activities conducted in school and also at inter-school competitions. He doesn't want his father to come to school because he is ashamed of him being alcoholic. Otherwise he is happy to be part of school.

All the three families were loving and caring .

Theatre Workshop At SBP

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 10:54:00 +0000

We are proud to believe that our school is the most sought after school at Navi Mumbai.

And why not?

Our management takes every effort to make the education of special children entertaining and fun. The meetings with the staff are held regularly whereby teachers are guiding in correct teaching methods to be carried out at school.

Every festival and every event is celebrated at school as a hands-on learning experience. On the days when children have public holidays, teachers are expected to report to school. During those days, some workshops or lectures by experience personals are organised at school to enrich the teaching methods of the staff.

This week too, while children were enjoying their Ganesha festivals, teachers attended a “Theatre Workshop” organised at school by dramatist Mr. Shivdas Ghodke on 14^th September from 1pm to 4pm.

“Todays session was good, it was full of practical inputs that help to develop children’s physical mobility and the thinking ability. (cognitive abilities)” said Rupali, the teacher of secondary class. “This session focused on developing students leadership qualities too”

Sixteen teachers took part in this workshop and each one was having a very good time. There was no inhibition in performing any activity at all. They walked with bent knees, they crawled on the floor, they even mimed. Teaching special children can be fun, they need not struggle to write alphabets, memorise long paragraphs or solve difficult problems, learning can be done informally through play and drama and that was all this workshop was about.

“Truly! It was an excellent workshop for teachers. Today’s workshop was fun but indirectly we learnt many things. Through different activities, we can use it for our students development, we can teach them different concepts using very simple material.” Said Grace, the teacher of pre-vocational group. “Through these activities we can develop students imagination, creativity, imitation skills, they can improve their leadership qualities, enhance their confidence level and learn about team work.”

Different aids were used for team activities that need large spaces. Bamboo rods were used to form designs on the floor and to imagine what activity can be performed using the stick. (for example..rods can be used for drying clothes, shooting like rifle or using as stump for playing snookers). Teachers used bamboo sticks to design a star shape. Collectively they lifted it horizontally and child was made to hop on the shape.

Such big bamboo stick needs larger space to perform such activities, although it can be incorporated in dance and drama with background music. But a smaller stick can in used in the classrooms too and some teachers are using it in their lesson plans.

“I give my students ice cream sticks for making shapes and alphabets and let them imagine things like ice cream and other things, but I normally use it on individual level. But today’s stick therapy is good for group activity. We will reduce the size of the stick to make the activity easier in the class level” said Vidya, teacher of Primary 1.

Luckily there were two children who were also the part of the group. They too participated in many activities and helped us understand how far can we stretch an activity with special children.

Some activities were shown with a rope, 15 meters long and 3 inches thick. It helped us understand the limited force that would be required to form designs with the rope by swinging one end of the rope in different directions.

Charushila found the use of rope in her therapy class as very useful aid. “This exercise is good to channelize energy and also for dissociation of joints.” She said.

Spreading the rope on the floor and making the teachers walk on the rope was a clever idea.

“I liked walking activity. This is helpful for balancing, coordination and muscle strength” said Smita.

Using long ropes in smaller classrooms is impractical but using duppattas, colorful tape or sari fall (as suggested by Grace and Smita Vartak ) would be more logical.

The session went on till 4:30 but nobody complained of the extended hour. In fact some teachers wanted one more session.

“I would personally request Shirish Tr and Sukanya Tr. to arrange more sessions by Sir in which he will give us input on voice modulations, making masks etc. Sir is very experience person who has worked with special children from many years .So his sessions will definitely be helpful for us....” said Vidya teacher of Primary 1 class.

more pictures of this workshop can be found on our school blog.

Empowering Parents

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 19:17:00 +0000

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Life can be very lonely if you have differently abled child.

Many parents don't have time to seek their own space. The simple pleasures of watching a film in the cinema hall or visiting a salon for a new haircut or simply strolling through the mall for window shopping is the luxury they cannot afford. Differently abled children need lot of attention, some parents are over protective of their children, they will not let them undertake any chores at home for the fear of some accidents.

Such stories and many more were discussed at the workshop on ‘Empowering Parents’ by Gulshan Kavarana on 7th August 2018.

The program started with the brief introduction by one of the parents.

"Gulshan Kavarana is the founding member of SFS (Special Families Support group) a support group for families with children with special needs and the Art Mentor at Mawaheb, an art studio for adults with special needs. It is safe to say that Gulshan’s life changed drastically when her second daughter Zara was born in 1997. Zara has been diagnosed with Dravets Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy she also in the Autism spectrum which was triggered by a vaccine. When Gulshan found out about her condition she went desperately seeking help and advise from other parents in similar situations, as she was a new resident of Dubai. She felt as though she was drowning in self pity and felt she was the only one going through the stages of acceptance: guilt, denial, self pity, anger, hopelessness and finally, the best stage of all acceptance… Thus SFS was born. SFS or Special Families Support Group, started in 1999 with a dozen families in Gulshan’s living room. The motivation behind the group’s initiation was to bring together and uplift children with special needs and most importantly their families."

Gulshan expressed the fact that nobody is prepared for a special child and when she was faced with the problems of dealing with the daughter who had Dravets Syndrome, she was confused and looked desperately for support. Not finding much information on the net, she invited six families with similar problems and formed a support group. it is then she realised that the support group is like a special close knit family who are more helpful than the doctors, teachers or any other professionals. They are the ones who narrow the gap of loneliness and are supportive in giving advice and solutions from their own experiences. In a support group, parents with older children can give better advise.

Gulshan raised the question about how they felt when they took their child for an outing?

The stories that poured out about the challenges that the parents faced were heart breaking. Parents complained that their children did not get respect in the community and they were always cast aside, about how people stood and stared at their differently abled persons, about their trips at restaurants where people complained about the noise that their children made and how they are forced to leave the restaurant, as the result they hardly ever went out.

During the interaction, many parents then came up with solutions on how to deal with such situations.

One parent suggested that there are two choices to every situation, you can either cry or laugh. She said that her happiness comes first and therefore what she will experience will depend on choices that she makes. She had to make decision and do what she feels is right.

Gulshan stressed on the idea that everybody has right to enjoy their life and that one should not feel guilty of leaving their child at home or with a friend to enjoy some moments with their spouse or with friends. She encouraged parents to meet regularly and socialise freely- organising pot luck lunches, movies or outings.

She believes that support group is one large family who will understand your problems and will be willingly to help you without judging you.

She advised parents to make their children independent so that it will get easier in their later life. They must be given time, space and exposure, to let them grow independently on their own strength and capability. There is need to plan for their future and arrange a residential home (If required) so that sibling do not have to take responsibility of taking care of them all life.

By the end of the workshop the parents were in good spirit and promised to keep in touch with each other.

It ended with game of free expression of introducing each other in Bollywood style and the room was filled with laughter....Parents were asked to stand in a circle facing each other, each person introduced themselves in the most innovative manner…Bollywood style

The workshop by Gulshan Kavarana was very enlightening and she encouraged parents to form a self support group where they could socialise and help each other. Parents returned home with a beautiful smile and must have remained cheerful for the rest of the day.

Arvind Saurabh -Residential Home for Intellectually Challenged

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 18:20:00 +0000

Every parent’s main worry is what will happen to their child after they are there no more. The siblings have a life of their own and it becomes difficult for them to take care of their intellectually challenged persons. There is dire need for residential homes.

I had privilege to visit one such home at Pune called Arvind Saurabh, also known as Umed Pariwar. Founded in 1990, Arvind Saurabh is Pune based Parent’s organisation that works for the specialised needs and betterment of Mentally Challenged and Cerebral Palsy persons. This home is located at Wadaki Nala, on Hadapsar Saswad Road on the foothills of Kanifnath temple. It is located at 25kms from Pune.

We drove through barren land, through the mud path to arrive at beautiful 10-acres wide campus in the midst of large open landscape.

We were greeted by Jyoti Nahar, one of the parents, who is the resident at the campus. She took us around showing us the facilities at the home.

At the vocational room, lots of activities are carried out such as paper bag making, making office files, envelops, handmade paper articles, gift articles and many such activities.

The building is very neat with a large courtyard in the centre where children can play outdoor activities, surrounded on all sides with large bright rooms. The dormitory had 6-8 beds in a room, fairly distant with beds and cupboards. The bathrooms are large enough to accommodate a wheelchair and designed to cater to their special needs. There are smaller private rooms upstairs for children who are independent or wish to stay with their live-in parents.

We were then invited for lunch. The campus has in-house vegetable gardening and diary facility. The food was nutritious and very tasty.

I was quite impressed with the facilities at this place. There was solar and windmill energy, a swimming pool with hydrotherapy, modern kitchen facility with dinning hall, polyclinic facility for health check up, gymnasium facilities and guest house for parents, so that they can come and stay with their children.

The intellectually challenged adults looked quite content and cheerful and were quite happy to meet us and click pictures with us.

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Aditi Verma – Entrepreneur With Down Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 14:48:00 +0000

The greatest happiness that any teacher feels is when her students achieves success in life. When the student is special with downs syndrome, the happiness is ten fold.

Normally the first reaction that the parents get when they get a special child with down syndrome is one of shock and confusion. They feel their world has fallen apart, they are frightened for the future. But after few years, they begin to understand their child and learn that children with down syndrome are really very talented. If trained under special care, they are as capable of leading a normal life as any other normal person, only a little bit slower and may need supervision.

Aditi Verma beat disability and became entrepreneur when her parents gifted her with eatery on new year’s day last year.

On my recent visit to school at CBD, Belapur, I decided to spend one afternoon at Bhoomi Mall at CBD after school hours. Bhoomi mall is still new, with many shops waiting to find its owner, but three floors upstairs is a small eatery called ‘Aditi’s Corner’ that sells chocolates, drinks and snacks and is run by Aditi Verma who has Down Syndrome.

“What will you have?” She asks as soon as we settle on the chair outside the eatery. I want to give her business so I ask her what on menu. The dish of the day is ‘Vegetarian Briyani’

“Everyday is different lunch” she explains. The food is cooked at home and the servings are just heated in microwave at the stall. There are many offices in this mall that patronise her café.

I glance into her eatery and see chocolates, wafers, biscuits, Maggi packets, soft drinks along with sandwiches. There is a small fridge in one corner, a coffee and tea making machine on the other side. I am not really hungry and cannot decide what to order.

“Will you have corn pattice?” she offers. I order for one dish that I share with my friend. The frozen corn pattice are removed from fridge and heated on hot grill and served with tomato sauce and mint chutney. It tastes good. She has two staff members, Sardar Paramjit who takes care of cooking at the café and Ram, the delivery boy, who carries the deliveries to the offices in the mall.

She sits down with us for a friendly chat and I am impressed. During her days at our school at Swami Brahmamand Prathisthan, Maths was her favorite subject, and she had won the ‘Best Student Award’ in 2010 for her overall performance. Besides academics, Aditi loved dancing and dramatics and in an inter-school competition in 2012, won the ‘Best Actress Award’

Phone rings and she takes pen and jots down the order. Some one in the mall wants sandwiches and coffee. She repeats the order to her delivery boy and then turns her attention back to us and talks about herself. At 6pm she will go home.

“Will you go home alone? I ask

“Yes, I will take autorickshaw” she says

She is quite independent and confident. Aditi Verma has taken her initiative further. She represented Maharastra as an entrepreneur in the Self Advocate Forum of India (SAFI) at Bangaluru on December 9, 2016

“I even gave a lecture on my initiative and my desire to expand it.” she has been nominated as the State representative for SAFI

Later, we go one floor down the mall to meet her father who owns an office in the same building. He is one proud father who speak fondly of her achievements.

Hope is re-kindled for other special children too.

Autism Awareness Month

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Sun, 10 Apr 2016 06:12:00 +0000

Autism Awareness Day falls on 2nd April. This is the day when people from all walks of life come together to spread the awareness about limitations of special children, the problems faced by their parents, teachers and their care takers and how they can overcome it to help their child to lead a normal life.

Social media plays a big role in spreading awareness, its by sharing, we can find light.

This year too, April being the 'National Poetry Writing Month' (#NaPoWriMo), a private poets' group on Facebook called 'The Significant League' encouraged the poets to submit the poems on Autism under the prompt 'Blue and Gold'

There was a huge response, such that Dr Koshi AV and Nalinili Srivastava, compiled

A Poetic Journey: An Insight into the world of Autism From the Poet’s Point of View.

Here is my poem that also appears in this anthology

A Graceful Dance

Pushpa Moorjani

There is breathless
Hush in the close
I see you move
Unaware of
Sound and fury of
My pride

Effortlessly
Like a peacock
Spreading its wings
You dance to the rhythm

Nobody guessed
your struggle of
Stiff bones
And unstable mind

It was not easy
Many times
I almost died
To see you fall
After few graceful steps
On the floor
Unable to arise

Remember I said
“You cannot do
Leave it,
This art is not for you”
You blinked, confused when
I packed your anklets
Kept them aside

I blamed myself
For dreaming on a star
Guilt stung me like a thorn
I could not mould you
Into perfection
Of a happy child

But today,
Wide-eyed I watched
Through my night-smudged vision
You moved
Twisted and twirled
To a rhythm of your soul
Pulsing my heart
With melody
that cut like a knife

I could only hear
Audience around me
Applaud many times.

Tears blind me I see you shine

© Pushpa Moorjani. All rights reserved.

To read the poems by other poets you can visit their site at 'DIFFERENT TRUTHS"

Films On Cerebral Palsy

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:16:00 +0000

Some years ago, I had met Malini at the bookstore. I was more fascinated by her independence specially when she communicated using her ipad with a voice. She seemed quite intelligent although she had difficulty in controlling her stiff limbs.

Malini suffers from cerebral palsy characterized by an abnormal muscle tone, reflexes or motor development and coordination. The classical symptoms are spasms, other involuntary movements (eg. Facial gestures), unsteady gait, problems with balance. The body refuses to obey the mind and it is difficult to even reach for a drink without spilling it.

The new Bollywood film ‘Margarita with a Straw’ is inspired by Malini but focuses more on the intelligence and the emotions of a teenager.

Kalki who plays the wheelchair bound spastic person, has done a brilliant acting of living in a trapped body, dealing with her sexual urges through masturbation, love affairs and disappointments.

I was however surprised to see the reaction of people who saw the film. There was certain kind of discomfort and embarrassment, as if handicap people are not supposed to have such emotions. I am not sure if handicap people are too sex starved that they will indulge with every person (man or woman) who shows affection to them,(the impression that some people get while watching this film) but even if they do, it cannot be used as yardstick for judging other handicapped people.

Many films have been made on spastic people.

In 2012 Spandan, a Marathi film with English sub titles by Vegitha Reddy and Aman Tripathi, focuses on the frustration of parents of spastic child, who have to deal with the stigma associated with this condition.

Image Source

In 1989, My Left Foot, a drama film by Jim Sheridan tells the real life story of Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy, who could control only his left foot. He grew up in poor working class family but became a writer and painter.

Image source

1972, documentary film Goodbye CP by Kazoa Hara is another heart wrenching film on CP that makes you hate God for creating so much suffering. It focuses on how these people are ignored and disregarded in Japan. In one part of the film, the other men in the group tell about how and when they first had sex and what problem having CP has played in their lives.

Image Source

From time to time, films are made on Special Persons who are differently abled to bring home the awareness that such problems exists and compassion is necessary to help them live as normal as possible without making too much fuss about it.

Living with Special Needs In India

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:08:00 +0000

A lot has to be done to make 'persons with special needs' life more comfortable.

Every change happens with just one short step, a step of care and concern, a step to make a difference in somebody's life, a step towards progress.

Recently I have joined Local Circle. Various communities are being formed with common goals where people are eager to give in their support. Remember Modi government has promised 'Achey Din' but he cannot do anything alone. right? We, as citizens have to come forward to help india achieve 'Achey din'

For that purpose I have stumbled upon this page on Local Circle that discusses how we can contribute in making persons with special needs life simpler.

All of us would agree to the fact that life of people with special needs or disability is very tough in India. A lot needs to be done to bring the facilities at par with the international standards. The 165,000+ strong “Transform India with Modi” online community has come together to collectively identify the key issues, the root causes and solutions for people Living with Special Needs in India. This submission is being made to the Government Leaders and the citizen community hopes that the Government will implement the identified solutions to make life for Special Needs Citizens of India, easier and better.

Only the people who live with special children understand the problems these children are facing when they venture out on the road.

Mentally challenged people shall have to be provided privileges like health insurance coverage and specialized hospitals to be provided. Parks for children and common/general at places near colonies to be built. Traffic jams to be controlled to make pedestrians to walk freely on foot paths. Medical facilities to be provided at reasonable cost – says Gedela Naidu

Parents of the special children spend too much money on the treatment for physical and occupational therapies and would like the government to set up such facilities at a low cost.

The Government in the centre as well as the states need to sit down and plan the requirement of the disabled/specially abled people of the requirements of their training, utilization of their mental abilities and institutions for their treatment, so that we can use such members of our society in productive spheres of activities. Their families should also be trained regarding the handling of such people in day to day life – says Rajendra Kapoor

Time has come to form the communities of like minded people with common goal and make the change. Do go over to Local Communities for Special Children and discover how you can make a change to bring India to 'Ache Din'

#IceBucketChallenge Is No Laughing Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Picture Source

The first video of the ALS #IceBucketChallenge I saw on FB was of a young girl in a bikini, standing in her dark bathroom, pouring cold water over her head and then tagging her four friends to do the same or else donate $100 to the charity. In her comment box there were her friends who were against this idea of accepting her challenge.

I found it strange that people would do such silly things to raise funds in this way for the cause as serious as ALS.

Just then I read another friend’s status that read “Hit yourself on the head with a cast-iron bucket it to raise awareness about stupidity. Welcome to the #KickBucket challenge.”

It seemed stupidity to me too. What was this challenge and what was a big deal. I posted on my wall “What is the big challenge? Indian do have ice cold bucket bath everyday”

As the day progressed, my FB time line was getting flooded with many such videos of known people accepting #IceBucketChallenge. It was going viral. In the trending column, it showed that donations to the A.L.S. Association, a Washington-based nonprofit that funds global research to find treatments and a cure for the disease, had surged since the challenge started trending in late July. The group said Thursday morning that it had received $41.8 million in donations from July 29 until Aug. 21.

$41.8millions raised for challenge of ice cold bath?

“NO, people. do NOT post pictures of yourselves in bathrooms with a bucket, wet from a bath. NOBODY wants to see you that way, and it is NOT what the ice water bucket challenge is all about.” Screamed the status of yet another friend.

Was it a joke that people were enjoying? And why were educated people on my FB list doing it too? Another friend wrote:

"Stop calling ice bucket challenge 'stupid' or 'useless' because it is not. Yes the water is getting somewhat wasted but it is more of an investment than wastage... Get your facts rather than criticizing every damn thing!!!"

In conversation with my niece, it finally began to make sense. She told me about her 30years old friend (she knew in Bangalore) who was suffering from this illness. She said that he had two small kids and he had very little time to live.

When the disease strike some one close, a person we may know, we begin to feel its weight. We understand the seriousness of this disease.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), Charcot disease, and, in the United States, Lou Gehrig's disease—is a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. It is characterized by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, difficulty in speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and breathing (dyspnea). ALS is the most common of the five motor neuron diseases.

One moment, a person is leading a very normal life, enjoying a game of basketball, and next moment he feels heaviness in his feet. He stumbles and falls, then experiences awkwardness when walking or running. Over the time, he starts experiencing difficulty in moving, swallowing, speaking or forming words. His muscles begin to tighten and there is exaggerated reflexes including an overactive gag reflex. Difficulty in chewing and swallowing makes eating very difficult and increases the risk of choking or of aspirating food into lungs. In later stages of the disease, aspiration pneumonia can develop, and maintain a healthy weight can become significant problem that may require the insertion of a feeding tube,

Although his mind remains sharp, ALS, that attacks his nerve cells, can ultimately lead to paralysis. Life expectancy is typically two to five years from the time of diagnosis.

The exact cause is not understood and there is no cure or treatment that can stop or reverse the disease. There is need to find a proper drug to cure the person from this disease.

I finally began to understand the seriousness of this disease and the importance of doing research. By ALS #IceBucketChallenge, a lot of awareness has been spread, by tagging people on social media, a united chain has been created and people are donating happily for this cause.

And all things said and done, there is humor behind this serious cause.

Source:

http://www.alsa.org/about-als/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis

How to conduct a cooking Class for Special Children

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 19:13:00 +0000

One of the activities that can be included in the training of special education is cooking.

Teaching special children to cook is same as teaching a normal child to cook. The student may be 15years old or 20years but he/she has to be taught from the basics when he is introduced to the kitchen.

Cooking food is the fantastic way of getting children interested in healthy food habits.

Let me take you to a kitchen where a group of five students will learn to make Dhal, a traditional dish that is cooked in every home.

A proper environment should be created, where a group of children are seated comfortable (not standing together near the stove) in the kitchen.

The cooking session of Dhal can proceed with following steps

1. Each child is given a graphic recipe of the dhal dish that they will make

2. All the ingredients (moong dhal, water, coriander leaves, green chilies, garlic, tomatoes, salt) are place in front of children on the table.

3. Each child is asked to identify the ingredient by its touch, smell and taste

4. Two children are asked to come closer to the workstation and are asked to wash the dhal with water.

5. Children are asked to light the gas and keep dhal for boiling. One teaspoon of turmeric is added to the dhal.

While the dhal is kept to boil, the children can be involved in interactive discussion about hygiene, good eating habits or math on measurements of ingredients. Children can help in chopping tomatoes, chilies, cleaning of coriander leaves and in peeling garlic cloves.During the cooking session, children learn to apply math and reading skills as they follow recipes and measure the ingredients that they will use in the recipe. They also learn about food safety and meal planning skills. They learn about nutrition and healthy choices in fun and interactive way.

6. When the dhal is boiled, it is lifted off from fire and churned well.

7. Dhal is transferred back on stove.

8. Chopped tomatoes, chilies and coriander leaves are added to the dhal.

9. In a separate pan, oil is heated and chopped garlic is added.

10. Burnt garlic is added to the dhal.

Recap of the method of preparation can be discussed with the class. Children are given a bowl ful of dhal to taste.

Some games can also be played as follow up after the session.

Moong Dhal

Ingredients

1cup moong dhal

2 cups water

2 chopped onions

2 green chilies

2 cloves of chopped garlic

1tbsp oil

salt to taste.

Method

1. Boil dhal in 2cups of water

2. Add turmeric powder

3. Keep it to cook for 15 minutes or till dhal is soft

4. Churn the dhal and mix it well

5. Add the chopped tomatoes

6. Add chopped chilies

7. Add chopped coriander

8. Add salt

9. In a separate pan, fry the chopped garlic till brown,

10. Pour it into the dhal

Serve with boiled rice.

World Class Champions Make Us Proud

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:24:00 +0000

This year, our school, Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan, Center for Mentally Challenged, celebrates silver jubilee year. It is the year to mull over its’ existence, to understand the challenges faced by the institutions and to share the joys experienced at the victory achieved by students.

Parents and teachers work hard in developing the strength of a child; it is not an easy task. Every child has his own ability and his own capacity to perform, every teacher has to explore and work hard to improve that field of interest in which he/she shows capacity to improve. But fruits are sweet, especially when they bring back credentials in the form of medals and certification of recognition.

This year is special.

Four of our children were invited to participate in ‘Asia Special Olympics’ held at Newcastle, Australia, to represent our country and they came back with 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.

Our happiness knew no bounds. We had a huge celebration to felicitate these winners. There was a special event organized whereby children were given gifts in cash and kind.

Laxmi Shetty brought back 2 gold medals for table tennis doubles.

Laxmi shetty is a very efficient student. She shows skills in every field: in handicraft, in cooking and in sports. Laxmi joined school in the year 1994 at the age of 7. She was placed in the Junior group and after going through all levels she has reached

Vocational level at 18.

Laxmi is an all rounder. Besides sports, she also excels in art and dance. She started participating in sports competitions since 1996. She showed interest in Table Tennis and her initial training started under Mr. G.V.Shastry who is a National Level TT champion. She participated in many TT competitions from district level to National level.

Some of her achievements are:

2005- State Games- Mumbai- Gold

2005- National Games- Korba

2008- National Coaching camp

2009- National Games- Kolkata-Table Tennis Singles- Gold

2012- State Games (Soft Ball)- 1 Silver

2013- State Games-

2013-National games- Rajasthan, Singles-Gold/doubles-silver

2013- Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games 2013 at Newcastle Australia he won

TT women’s doubles-1 gold

TT mixed doubles-1 gold

In spite of various challenges in her life, her mom, Mrs. Shetty puts in lot of efforts for her daughter. Laxmi suffered ill health few days before she was to leave for Australia and had us all worried. But it was her grit and determination that helped her to succeed.

Shrilak won 1 silver for cricket at Special Olympics at Newcastle, Australia

Shrilak Bhoir is the student of our Uran center called Sweekar . Shrilok joined school at the age of 14. He has shown great progress in his work.

He is placed in vocational group and is very sincere and motivated to work. He travels independently to school and shows interest in school activities.

His achievements are as follows:

2012- State Games (Soft Ball)- 1 Silver

2012-District Games (badminton)-

Singles- 1 Gold

Doubles- 1 Gold

2012- National Games – Bhopal (badmington)- singles-gold

Doubles- silver

Attended two coaching camps

2013- Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games 2013 at Newcastle Australia he won

1 silver in the cricket match

Yash Mhaske won I silver in 'shot put' event

Mangesh (as he is lovingly called) joined school in the year 1991 at the age of 3. Mangesh was faced with lot of perceptual deficits hampering his confidence.

With consistent training he progressed from play group through various levels till he reached the vocational level at the age of 18.

His involvement in activities like singing/dance/drama helped him improve his confidence. He showed interest in sports and started participating actively in all competitions since 1998.

Some of his achievements are:

2001- District games- 1 gold

2002- State games-1 Gold

2002- National games(delhi)- 1 gold

2005- state games- basket ball

2008- Power lifting National coaching camp

2012- District games- Mumbai- 3 gold

2012- National Games-Bhopal-1 gold/1 bronze

2013- Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games 2013 at Newcastle Australia he won 1 silver in shot put event.

After his training in the vocational section Yash is now employed by Mr. Atul Shah as a office boy in his firm Avro International.

Yash loves to be the leader , he is helpful and very adjusting. He also participated in the self advocacy program held by Parivaar. This program made him confident and vocal.

The training given at the School along with the parents involvement and contribution has made him independent /confident and contributing member of the community.

Disha Maru won 2 bronze medals for swimming event.

Disha joined school in the year 1992 at the age of 3 years. She was unable to walk, talk and care for her self. With consistent training from school and sincere dedicated efforts of her parents she progressed from play group through different levels to the vocational level.

Besides the school activities she participated in various extra curricula activities.

Her first achievement was at the age of 7 being the youngest participant in the National Music and dance festival organized by NIMH Secundarabad she won a special prize in the solo dance in the year 1999. She was appreciated for her performance by Actor Anupam Kher.

She attended various camps which included trekking, yoga and sports.

At a very young age she started learning to swim. We still remember her fright at entering the pool during her initial stages. Our teacher Rekha, learnt swimming just so that she could enter the pool with the children. This made a lot of difference and students started learning well. Other teachers also got themselves trained.

Some of her achievements are:

2002- National Games- 2 gold /1 bronze

2005- State Games- 3 silver

2005- National Games- 2 Gold/1 Bronze

2008- State Games- 2 silver

2009- National Games-3 Bronze

2012- District- 1 gold

2013- State level at Kolhapur- 1 gold/2 silver

2013- National Games-Karnataka-1 gold/2 silver/1 bronze

2013- Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games 2013 at Newcastle Australia she won 1 bronze in the 25m relay and 1 bronze in the 50m relay.

We need to make a special mention about the participation of her parents . Mrs, Maru (who is also our Trustee of our school) always took lot of pains for her training and development. She would not only take Disha for competitions but would also take other students along with her.

Disha is a very loving and caring child who is adaptable. She loves to take responsibilities and lead her friends.

Neuro Linguistic Program Helps bring Change in Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:12:00 +0000

Its always Me, Me, Me, with our eyes closed. But if we open our eyes, there is a world beyond us and they all are seeking help.

There are people who are depressed, people who are under-privileged and then there are those who have limited ability to think. We, with a stable mind, can help them by understanding their behavior and helping them overcome the obstacles.

Mentally challenged person has multiple disabilities too. To help them, first we have to understand what is the behavior we would like to change and what is the desired behavior we want the child to follow. To get the best results it is important to join the frame mind of the child and test the waters to see what their limits are.

You can find useful information in Robert and Denis Sedlak's book "Teaching the educable Mentally Retarded"

Every child is always in the process of observing his/her surroundings and taking in the sensory information. How this information is processed determines how the child perceives his/her surroundings and behaves accordingly.

Neuro Linguistic Learning (NLL) is the new area of study that deals with human communication and the way we think and do things in essence to our mental makeup, our emotions and our senses.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a very useful tool for instilling positive behavior changes. It uses different areas of brain to create a change in a child. The core of NLP is modeling excellence of top performers as well as explaining how different people organize their thinking, feeling, language and behavior to produce the result they do.

Let me explain with an example.

Suppose you are a great fan of superstar, Salman Khan. Every movie of Salman Khan you will watch. You will observe him closely, studying his behavior, his style, his way of talking and dancing, his tone and the words used, his confidence, his body language. Then you ‘model’ the techniques you observed until they become the natural habit in your own life.

Thus the mind can be trained in the behavior we want to. It can be used for self-improvement too.

A two-day workshop on NLP is happening in Mumbai on 8-9 June 2013 and on 10-11 August at Marol Maroshi road, Andheri. Click here to register.

After the completion of this workshop you become aware of the language you use while communicating with yourself and with others.

You understand the difference in communication at the conscious and the unconscious level.

You develop the ability to perform at your best, to tap your true potential and become a powerful communicator.

You can have a better understanding of how you think, process information and help others to do the same.

You begin to understand why people do what they do and learn to respect them for what they are.

You learn to gain rapport easily with different types of people and are able to influence people for long-term changes in their life.

You learn to adopt some of new thought patterns, new thinking strategies, some of the new beliefs and which would undoubtedly be more effective in your work life.

Basically, Neuro Linguistic programming is the study and practice of techniques that use the mind-body connection and the language to alter human behavior.

You can expect to learn skills and thinking that will enhance the way you manage yourself as well as others, the way you communicate, influence, negotiate and manage change.

For more information on this subject, click here.

Watch your Etiquettes

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:15:00 +0000

It is difficult for parents of mentally challenged child to lead a normal life. Most of their life revolves around the activities of their child and it is a blessing if somebody offers help to baby-sit their child so that they can do some socializing.

But often it is seen that most of the people offer help out of sympathy. Many do not have proper etiquette when they are visiting a family of a mentally challenged child.

Some of them ignore the presence of such child. This makes the family very uncomfortable. The right approach would be to talk to the child, say hello or a smile to acknowledge his/her presence. The eye contact is very important which is the bridge to reach out to the child. But please don’t overdo it. The communication is just to convey that you accept his/her handicap and can understand his limitations.

Special children have no patience to wait for long at Doctor’s clinic. If you see the child having difficult time, don’t judge the parents. It is not their fault. Ask if you can help, but if you are asked to stay away, just smile encouragingly and leave.

Inappropriate behavior can manifest itself in different ways but don’t be surprised. A mentally challenged child has lower IQ and an autistic child may be playing oddly. He may grab food you are eating; he may be repeating meaningless phrases over and over again. You have to use your common sense, accept, smile and don’t be judgmental. The less self-conscious the child feels, the more likely the situation is to resolve itself. Parents know their child and they know how to react but if you interfere, you are likely to spoil the situation.

Autistic children and those with Down’s syndrome are bright, creative and thoughtful. Just accept them for who they are and love them no matter how they behave. Those who are non verbal and non-responsive also understand your moods and they will relax if they are comfortable.

If you really wish to understand these children, visit a special school in your area and spend an hour or two observing their behavior and you attitude is likely to change.

Special children are loving people and you will be surprised of the amount of happiness you are likely to bring back home with you after spending a wonderful day with them.

Pre-vocational Home Science Activity for MR Child

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 10:35:00 +0000

A mentally child has some limitation and if the training involves on concentrating on what he can do rather than what he cannot do, half the battle is won.

People always ask me what they can possibly teach a mentally challenged child?

Training is important; this has helped not only the child but also made the caretakers’ task easier.

The child has to be trained to be independent. He should be toilet trained and be able to take care of himself. For normal kids, many of the activities come easy, they learn by aping the adults. But for mentally challenged child, things are different. He/she has to be trained even to do simple task such as combing the hair, brushing teeth, and buttoning up his/her shirt. For girls, when they get their periods, they have to be trained to use the sanitary pad in proper way and learn to keep themselves clean.

It becomes easier if the child is admitted to the school at an early age. With the help of professionals, teachers and parents, the child shows great improvement.

Many parents don’t allow their children to help in the kitchen. They are afraid that child may hurt himself. But a simple task such as chopping and cleaning vegetables is not dangerous if they are allowed to work under supervision.

On my last visit to school, I decided to spend an afternoon with MR children in the pre-vocational unit. There was an activity of cutting vegetables. Each child has his own chopping board and a knife.

Before beginning an activity child is asked to wash his/her hands. The child is shown the correct way to hold a knife and shown how to cut. While the instructor supervises, the child chops carefully, keeps them aside and later packs it in the plastic bag.

Many women in the neighborhood send the vegetables to be chopped at school.

Once the students are confident, they begin to help their parents at home too.

Parents to Parents Interaction

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:52:00 +0000

Last week, SBP-Centre for Mentally Challenged had Diwali exhibition where things made by special students were put up for sale in the school premises. There was a good response and the profits were shared with children too. There was a separate section where parents made food stuff at home, things like PaniPuri, Idli Chutney, etc. and put up on sale and there were games corner too.

This is a parent involvement during such celebrations that make such events so memorable.

There is a very active parent-teacher association at school which helps keep the student cheerful. It is with cooperation of such parents that staff is able to bring better result with the child’s development in different areas of physical and psychological needs.

You may have hundred of helpers to help you cope with your mentally challenged child but the presence of parents play a very important role in the development of the child.

Four parents of the mentally challenged children of Swami BrahmanandPratishthan were asked to address the parents of students at Ankoor in Pune. They were asked to share their experience and discuss the ways to get the best results from their children with proper training and skills.

Dipti Mehta stressed on three main points.

1.    Acceptance. It is very important to accept the fact that your child is special and will not be able to cope with regular school curriculum. He needs help, a special care and customized training to help him cope with his limited ability.
2.    Search the proper institute that can help your child. It is important to discover what your child’s interest is and more attention should be given to develop that area. For example, Dipti’s son Devansh, loves to play tabla, a music-tutor helps him develop his skill and he get enjoyment and satisfaction in performing well. Academic may be taught, but only on basic level, more important it is to discover, which area is the interest of the child and the emphasis be given to develop those skills. Initially, one-to-one attention is given but as the child begins to have confidence in his skills, he can be involved in group activities.
3.    Make yourself happy first and build your own comfort zone. How can you give happiness to others if you are not happy yourself? Parents tend to forget their own needs and are so busy looking after their mentally challenged child that they have no time for themselves, this results in depression and unhappiness. It is very important for the parents to have some time set aside for their own activities, it could be a social activity like visiting friends and relatives, or leisure activities like drawing and painting.

Parents should be in regular touch with school staff to keep abreast with all the school activities and get the regular feedback on child’s performance at school.

DiptiBakshi, parent of our student, Jesal of primary section, spoke about the different activities that parents are involved during the academic year.

Parents are invited for every event at school. School has care-taker’s day, parents day, grand-parents day, sibling days, etc. during which they get to spend time together in the social activities. All festivals are also celebrated at school during which, children learn the importance of each festival and the other details related to each festival. End of every month, group birthdays are celebrated whereby parents and teachers co-ordinate to make their child’s birthday memorable, a different theme is selected each month and all the activities are focused around that theme, for example, Last year the theme was the colors of the rainbow, this year the theme is bouquet of flowers. Every month, there is a focus on the flower of the month. One flower is selected and all the activities like songs, games, handicraft items, surround around one selected flower of the month.

There are regular meeting held at school to co-ordinate the events, the parents get to share their experience, during discussions they realize that they are not the only ones facing difficulties at home. By sharing and caring, they are able to help their child more and have a positive attitude towards all the activities at school.

Another parent, Vijaya Jhewade, mother to Apeksha, spoke about her own personal experience and how there has been a change in her personality since her interaction with other parents of the students.

Vijaya Jhewade was a shy woman, who never interacted with anybody. She was invited by school staff to take part in the parents’ group dance, which they were to perform during the annual school function. Taking part in the group dance forced her to interact with other parents while rehearsing, coordinating and discussing the dance steps, slowly and gradually, she shed off her her cloak of shyness and became friendly. Her dance was appreciated and this gave her a satisfaction of performing well, restoring her confidence and she discovered her new talent. With interaction with other parents, she realized that she needs to make time for herself too, hence went on to pursue her career and is now a qualified nurse.

“One dance performance has changed my life” she said.

Another parent Mr. Dashrath Parag spoke about all the privileges that special child can enjoy legally.

He spoke about the legal aspect of special child’s rights at the National level, informing the parents about all the facilities available for the special children and how one can go about achieving it. There is a Parivar Sayadri at all India level that the parents can join. A minimum of 5 parents is required to form a group, become the member of the SayadariParivar to get the regular support at National level.

The meeting was a great success and the parents came back in chirpy mood, happy that they were able to share their knowledge and help other parents in a similar situation.

Disabled persons are not freaks

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:42:00 +0000

When a differently-able child comes into this world, parents go through traumatic experience. There are lots of blame games played by close family members and friends, most of the time, mother is blamed for conceiving not-so-normal child. Because of such pressures from society, guilt sets in and mother goes through bouts of depression. She may be forced to give up her social life, personal commitments, her job and other activities to give full time attention to her child.

Lucky are those who get family support and help her pass through the first hurdle of shock and put her on route to acceptance, to help her to accept her child as he is and to think about how best to adjust to such disability, and move on.

Because disabled children are not freaks to be pitied, accommodated or ignored while planning a difficult task, they are also humans who are simply differently able

Some parents are too clingy and protective to their child. They won’t allow their child to grow and be independent. When Harpeet Kaur was admitted to our school SBP-School for Mentally challenged, her mother carried this 11-year-old child to school and we believed that she could not walk. But after month, I was surprised to see her strolling in the school compound. She had overcome her fear of falling and was inspired to follow her class mates.

The differently able person can do wonderful things if given an opportunity. All they need is understanding and compassion, we just need to stand close enough to offer help but far enough to allow the child to spread its wings.

At only five years old, Shayaan Qureshi has come up the perfect response to the many people who stare at him - a big, toothy smile.

"I just look straight at people and smile," said the little Bahraini resident, who was born without arms. "I tell them I don't have hands but I can do everything."

Shayaan has dysmelia, a rare,congenital upper-limb disorder. His family was recently in Dubai to meet a support group for people with special needs and their relatives.

I had met Malini at Oxford Book Stall few years ago when I had attended Caferati Read-meet. She communicated with me through typing in her machine and I was amused by her sense of humor. I admired the way she has conquered Cerebral Palsy and is the crusader for rights of disabled persons. She has been awarded the national Award as a role model by the Ministry of Social Justice.

Did I have my own personality? Was I just another disabled girl who needed things done for her? I knew that I was different and trapped in a dysfunctional body, but did others realize I had a spirit and a mind separate from this body? My body did not work like others, but did they realize that my mind was normal? Did they consider thinking that my desires were just the same as theirs? Writes Mailni in her book titled ‘One Little finger’

Live life to the fullest” says Malini Chib, author of “One little Finger’.

And how can we ignore Stefen Hawkins?

U.S. President Barack Obama talks with Stephen Hawking in the Blue Room of the White House before a ceremony presenting him and fifteen others the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 12 August2009. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honour.

Neither can we ever forget our famous singer Steve Wonders who sang “I just called to say I love you, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart…”

Wonder is presented the Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement by United States president Barack Obama

Once the differently abled people who are gifted with special talent are integrated into the mainstream, they are able to compete in the society and show their worth. It’s just the question of acceptance and will power.

Self Advocates Training Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:11:00 +0000

When Pranita Madkaikar invited me to experience' the self-advocate training workshop' that she was conducting, I was only too happy to accept. I had heard about this 5 weeks workshop that she and Charu Shah were organizing for special students/ mentors and was curious to know how the children had benefited from this program.

I reached the SBP, Centre for mentally challenged school at CBD and the session was on. The children were introducing themselves and the theme was ‘Voting and Elections’.

A group of about eight children (in the mock elections) sat together facing the audience. Each child was given a chance to make a speech; they tried to make promises like leaders, trying to express their will to bring about change when they were elected.

This exercise might be very easy for a normal child who is creative and spontaneous, but with special child it was an effort, it is tough when the thought process and the speech are not synchronized togather. Each child struggled to get his idea across, for a Cerebral Palsy child, the speech was slow and slurred and it was difficult to understand as she struggled with every word. Some just spoke few sentences and some just made few sounds, then there were some who were able to give a speech in 5-6 sentences but the remarkable point was that all children willingly took the mike to say something. Nobody was conscious about speaking on the mike.

That was followed by all children standing in queue, registering for the election, staining the finger, taking the printed paper with the picture of the contestants, standing behind the booth, stamping on the desired picture and dropping their vote in the ballot box.

The whole process was done so efficiently that one could never guess that how much effort and training was involved for them to be able to perform such an act with so much confidence and discipline.

When the children registered for this training, most of the children had no confidence to speak freely.

Hands-on corporate style training was imparted on important self advocacy skills like

1. Developing self esteem
2. Identifying ones strengths and limitations.
3. Listening
4. Getting to know each other
5. Making choices
6. Working together
7. Problem solving
8. Leadership
9. Public speaking
10. Reporting abuse
11. Health & Hygiene

Different games were played during the sessions to help children interact with each other. Different teaching aids like colored beads, musical instruments, kitchen utensils, picture postcards, fresh fruits and vegetables, and things used in daily life activities were used during the program.

The trainer would explain the activity, the members would be divided into groups, the trainer would pose a problem, children would be encouraged to find a solution, they would later have discussion and interaction in understanding the problem.

The member were encouraged to recollect activities held during the day and were encouraged to relate the learning from the activities

Remarkable positive changes were observed in the confidence levels and expressive abilities of all the self advocates.

The Navi Mumbai & Raigad Chapter of the SASI was officially launched on 21st October, 2011.

23 Adults with Intellectual disabilities from 7 Organizations from Navi Mumbai and Raigad took part in this program. These self advocates underwent a formal 5 week training for this purpose.

These weekly full day training programs conducted at Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan Special School, Belapur and Skills & Ability Special School, Nerul from 17th September to 15th October, 2011, were planned and conducted by Ms. Charu Shah and Ms. Pranita Madkaikar. 7 mentors (one from each of the participating Organizations) and three Volunteers were also an integral part of this training.

Formal elections were conducted and 6 Office Bearers and 2 members elected by the self advocates from amongst themselves took charge of the Navi Mumbai & Raigad Chapter of SASI from 21st October, 2011. The Mentors will continue to be with the team as facilitators, with the self advocates deciding the roadmap for the future. The volunteers too will help the team by maintaining liaison with external agencies.

Funding for operational expenses of this project is being provided by the Maharashtra Chapter of PARIVAAR (PARIVAAR SAHYADRI) and the Parents association of Swami Brahmanand Pratishthan Special School, Belapur. PARIVAAR is a National level Federation of associations of parents of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

SASI (Self-Advocates Society of India) is an NGO that pledges to open up a world of opportunity for people with developmental disabilities by educating its members, families and supporters, and the general public on the abilities of people with developmental/intellectual disabilities.

- Communities will profit from the contributions of hard working citizens.
- Families will benefit from the inclusion of their loved ones into their communities.
- People with developmental disabilities will grow, building their self-respect and confidence in their ability to succeed.

All the children who took part in this program were given the certificate of participation

Trapped in a Body that refuses to Obey- Cerebral Palsy

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:37:00 +0000

Prachi looked at me from the corner of her eye and smiled as I entered the classroom. All other children were distracted too. One child got up and limped towards me, stretching his trembling hand towards me. I held his hand tight and guided him to his seat.

“Sit and do your work” I said giving him a soft pat on his head and then walked away towards the seat where Prachi was seated.

Prachi moved her stiff muscles, holding the pencil box under one arm while she struggled to extract the pencil with her tightly stretched fingers. Repeatedly she tried grasping the pencil to slide it out from plastic clasp of the box. Her movements were jerky and abrupt, it appeared to be uncontrolled and without purpose. Her body moved and suddenly she fell off the seat, with her legs in scissor-like position and her hands stiff, up in the air. Her classmates startled, all rushed and stood around her as she lay stiff on the floor, staring at children around her.
“Move back, go back to your seats” I said while I held her under her arms, lifted her heavy body and helped her sit on her seat again.

“You okay? Be careful” I said as I removed the pencil from her box and placed it between her fingers.

Being careful is not easy for Prachi, especially if she lives in a body that refuses to obey her.

Ten-year old Prachi suffers from Cerebral palsy, a condition caused by abnormal development of brain and nervous system due to which there is stiffness in the muscles and constriction of motor activity. She has problems with posture, balance, walking, speech, swallowing and other functional coordination.

“When Prachi was born, she did not cry” says her mother, Anita Chavan, “there was not enough oxygen to reach her brain as the result her brain was damaged.”

All her milestones were delayed; she could not control her head, roll over or sit without support. Over the years, she has shown little progress but she needs help in most of her activities.

Cerebral palsy can result from the damage to certain part of the brain which can be due to prenatal, natal or postnatal factors.

Risk factors linked with cerebral palsy can include Rh factor incompatibility where there is difference in blood between mother and fetus; however this is almost detected and treated in women who receive proper prenatal medical care, sometimes it can be genetic or hereditary condition, There is a bigger risk if there is complication during labor and delivery due to which the brain does not receive enough oxygen.

“She is quite normal in other ways,” says her mother, “She understands everything and is intelligent too. She is quite independent and does most of her thing on her own; I help her only with brushing her teeth and combing her hand.”

During the lunch time at school, her classmate brought for her a bowl of water and helped her wash her hands. She unlocked her lunch box independently and clapped her hands when she saw the Aloo Paratha in her lunch-box. Her classmate rolled out the Paratha into a small cone and placed it in her hands. She started to chew, masticating each bite slowly, with her saliva dripping from the side of her mouth.

The problems and disabilities related to Cerebral Palsy range from very mild to very severe. Their severity is related to the severity of the brain damage.

At the age of 7 months, Prachi suffered from minor fits. Her mom took her for many tests, visiting various doctors and hospitals. At Nanavati, Mumbai, she underwent EEG (Electroencephalography) for the diagnosis of seizure disorder. Physiotherapy was then suggested for relief. Once a year, her mom, Anita Chavan, regularly visits a hospital in Nagpur where parents of CP are given training in physiotherapy to help their child. To help her child further, Anita Chavan has even completed the special education Teacher’s course from NIMH at Navi Mumbai.

While special treatments are given to the child to develop specific skills, the overall goal of treatment is to help the individual to live the life as normal as possible. This can be accomplished by variety of different approaches managed by team of professionals like physical, occupational, psychological, medical, speech therapies, etc.

Physical therapy involves stretching, bending, yoga, and other physical exercises to strengthen the muscular reflexes. The focus is on developing specific skills such as holding the head straight, sitting without support and walking independently. Occupational therapy involves development of fine motor movements like feeding, grooming and personal care. Speech therapy is used to overcome communication problems. Many children with Cerebral Palsy have limited and slurred speech because of the poor muscle coordination of tongue and lips. Medical therapy comprises of all the medical problems like seizures, breathing, feeding and digestive problems and their treatment.

Prachi is mentally alert child and was admitted in a normal playschool in Bangalore at the age of 3 years. When her family shifted to Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, she could not locate any special schools for spastic in her area. “I want to integrate her into a normal school” says her mom, “the only special school for Spastic is in Bandra which is very far. I wish there were more school for such children in my area.” She was admitted to Swami Brahmanand Prathisthan, Centre for mentally challenged in 2010 where she is presently attending regularly. She is able to read and write alphabets and numbers, also knows to read and write her name and postal address and is learning many other activities.

Its play time and Prachi walks slowly down the stair, balancing her weight with both her hands on rails. She is social and follows children to the playroom. While other children run and jump, she squats on the floor, looking around for some Montessori equipment to pass her time.

Ps: National Cerebral Palsy Day is celebrated on 3rd October 2011. This is celebrated in memory of Late Dr. Dr.P. K. Mullaferoze

“Cerebral palsy is a multifaceted problem with many systems of the human body which are affected. This requires a team approach and infrastructure in its management. Sadly this is lacking. As a result of lack of awareness, patients present late, much beyond the golden period when a definite impact can be made by treatment. Hence the need to create social awareness and to sensitize our population and government to the problems of cerebral palsy patients is acute.”- Durga Mallikarjuna

Joys and Challenges of Teaching Mentally Challenged

noreply@blogger.com (Pushpz) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:17:00 +0000

It is time for games. Each person is given one chit containing the name of the animal. At the sound of the whistle, the participants unfold the chit and make a sound of the animal searching for similar sounds. Whole room is filled with different sounds, some baying, some mooing, some quacking and some barking, within 2 minutes one group has found the family of four meowing cats and is the winner. The winners are the staff of a special school and the game organisers are the parents of special children. Celebration of teacher’s day is in progress and special children are having fun watching their teachers running around making strange sounds.

Teachers around the world celebrate 5th September as teacher’s day. The birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan came to be celebrated as Teacher's Day when, one day, some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday. In reply, Dr. Radhakrishnan said, "instead of celebrating my birthday separately, it would be my proud privilege if September 5th is observed as Teacher's day". From then onwards, Dr. Radhakrishnan's birthday is observed as Teacher's Day all across India.

The greatest joy is when children show their appreciation to their teachers by singing their favorite song, reciting a poem or giving a rose. But teaching a special child has a joy of its own.

“You experience the purest form of love when working with the special children”, says Sukanya Venkatraman, the Principal of Swami Brahmamnand Pratishthan, Centre for Special children. “They are the most innocent beings that I have come across in my life. They are totally selfless and I have had the opportunity of learning the concept ‘Love without any expectation’ while teaching them. Their genuine appreciation, their thoughtful gestures fill me with wonder.”

In the early years, during her training period, Sukanya was scared to teach the children with severe behavior problems and had no idea how she would handle that, but experience over the years have helped her overcome her initial fear and apprehensions. “More than handling the behavior problems of the children, handling their parents is more challenging.” She says. “Helping them accept their child’s handicap and making them believe in themselves and in their child took the utmost effort. Most challenging is finding the job placement for our well-trained students.”

Swami Brahamanand Pratishthan was founded in June 1990 by Shirish Poojari with just two children. Over the period of twenty years, the school has progressed considerably and has 150 students on its roll. “I am happy to see the development in the children, and see their progress in daily life activities”, says Shirish Poojari, “In our institution, children are trained according to their ability and our goal is make them economically independent but our biggest challenge is funding and keeping the school afloat. When the children are older we are not able to keep them in school for long and there is need for some residential home where they could be looked after and work in the sheltered workshops.”

“My greatest joy is when they bring home the certificate of appreciation, I love working with special children, when I reach home at the end of the day, I am refreshed and active” says Madhuben Shah, the drawing teacher. “I want them to bring out their artistic expression through their painting. My biggest challenge is making them focus to attain near perfection by drawing and painting.” Madhuben teaches drawing starting with basic strokes, graduating to more complex designs. One of their paintings was appreciated by my friend from US and she bought it on line. The children also make beautiful greeting cards and colorful posters.

“Being in their company and working with them is a joy itself” says Sunit Marwah, who is in charge of the vocation unit since last five years. There are various activities in the vocational unit such as making paper-bags, Rakhis, lamps, toran, pillow covers, duster, hand-bags, beaded jewelry, chocolates, ground masalas, etc which are later sold during exhibitions and children are given little stipend for their work. “I like to see the joy on their face on completing a certain articles and this gives me the greater joy. My biggest challenge is taming an aggressive child.” She talks about one particular child, Rohini, who was so aggressive when she came to school, she would throw temper tantrum, fling things and create commotion in school, but with little understanding and love, she has been able to discipline the girl.

“When I came to teach the special children I didn’t know what was expected of me” says 43-old Anita, who has been teaching computers to the special children since last 11 years. “Now-a-days there is wealth of information on internet and it has become easy to plan a proper lesson program and follow the particular format but during those days there were no proper reference books and I had to adopt trial and error methods to understand what works and what doesn’t. My biggest challenge is when the children are not in the mood of doing a particular activity and I am forced to steer my activity to their liking, sometimes I am not sure if the child is hearing and understanding me at all. But my greatest joy is when they are able to follow my instructions and produce good results.” She proudly talks about her student who had won the competition at state level on art work produced on computer.

While teaching a normal child is a challenge, teaching a special child is double challenge. Teaching special children involves parents, social workers, society members and other professionals. It is the continuous process. The children tend to forget easily and they have to be taught again and again till the child is able to understand the concept and use it to his daily life. The simple adding and subtraction is taught in different ways to suit his level of understanding.

It is not easy for parents too.

“I always worried how my child would manage when she starts menstruating, but I am glad that she has managed quite well” says Madhu Verma, mother of 17-years-old Sneha. Sneha is Down’s Syndrome child who surprises her mother by watching ants walking in line, of running after soap bubbles and gracefully shaking her hips to the rhythm of the music. “I have learnt to appreciate her and see the world through her eyes” says she with a smile.

The biggest challenge the parents of the special child face is to plan their future. “My son is 22 years old and the extreme pressure is ‘What next?’. I worry about the guardianship after our existence, of financial investment and how these investments will guarantee their future, about the family life of my son, whether he will be able to nurture a family of his own” says Davis Ipe, father of Neil who is learning some vocation skills at school. “Most challenging is the fact that we are growing older and weaker everyday and to find the perfect substitute to replace parents is our deepest concern.”

The special child unaware of the challenges that are lined up by society, lives each day as it comes, enjoying the present moment. He is unhappy when in pain, aggressive when things go wrong and claps his hand with joy on seeing his smallest achievement. His teacher and his parents try their best to block his pain.Happy teacher’s day to his teachers and his parents!!

excerpts from this article can also be found on Women's Web Magazine