A SOCIAL WELFARE PROJECT

By Vrishank Menon

Why Child education?

My life has been characterized by the things I’ve done and the people who influenced me and pushed me to do better each day. After my parents, the most important people in my life have always been my teachers, people who measured their success in mine and saw a side of me that I never knew was there.

.

The help they gave me was selfless and the love was pure. By the time I was in my teens, I too had begun to take happiness in this inclination to help and teach. But the chance never presented itself until I came across Inclusive Centre Of Education which gave me the opportunity to work with special children in the year 2012.

MY EXPERIENCES WHILE INTERACTING AND TEACHING AUTISTIC, ADHD, DYSLEXIC &

DOWN’S SYNDROME CHILDREN.

Inclusive Centre of Education.a Regd. trust under the Charitable Trust Act Mumbai, 1950.

IntroductionInclusive Centre of Education is a Regd. trust under the Charitable Trust Act Mumbai, 1950.

Centre Started in 2004 Purpose was to enable deserving and differently abled children

towards academic and social development. ICE Trustees - Mrs Smita Nair, Mrs Farida Virani and Mr

Mahomed Kotadia, Caters to the needs of many children by developing

Individualized Education Programmes [IEPs], training for NIOS, advanced training in computers & graphics, curriculum designing and monitoring etc. 

Expanded in the form of “Vishesh Child Development Centre” to provide a continuum of preventive, diagnostic, early intervention and treatment services in

Special Child Education

Prior to beginning any actual hands-on work, it was vital that I thoroughly read up on and understood the conditions of the children I was to work with and this meant learning about Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Down’s syndrome and how to deal with them. Each child had different problems and I had to learn to effectively tackle each one of them individually.

What did I do at the Inclusive Centre Of Education?

I had the opportunity to study about dyslexia, ADHD, Down’s syndrome and Autism. This is where Smita ma'am and Vijay sir came into the picture. They were instrumental in making me understand about the various mental disabilities and the techniques which can be used to improve their condition.

What are the techniques which I understood and practiced?

There are many methods which were being used for teaching Dyslexic children at the centre. This included using a multisensory approach to teaching, including many senses at the same time like touch, sight, movement and sound.

Use of sand trays to spell words and draw pictures in the sand to engage their sense of touch.

Teaching techniques. Simplifying the answers to questions, underlining

the important points with markers. Use of technology like showing videos,

illustrations, pictures. Repetition of key words and sentences till it gets reinforced.

Keeping the language simple. Give fewer choices - if we are to teach a child

how to identify colours, say blue, then give him only two choices to pick from, more the choices more the confusion.

Encouraging words on completion of tasks.

My interaction with ADHD children. The main problem with teaching children with

ADHD was their hyperactivity. This meant they had a short attention span and refused to stay in one place for too much time. Many of these children made for their lack in concentration with intelligence and hence, they grasped concepts with ease. The kids responded positively with prospect of rewards. I actually carry some chocolates with me so that I can give them as a token of appreciation for the task completed.

My interaction with Dyslexic children. A good number of kids I worked with had

dyslexia and while it does not affect the intelligence of the child, it hampers the speed with which information is processed and registered. Two effective ways of helping them with their studies, as I found out, was symplifying answers and using illustrations and videos as opposed to straight-out text

My interaction with Down’s syndrome children.

I ended up working with one of these kids, children affected by the condition have an extra full or partial chromosome.` The children showed physical and mental limitations but were incredibly loving and caring. I taught him how to identify different colours. They learn basic things quite easily but are found lacking when things become difficult.

The Inclusive centre of education

My stint in imparting computer education. I did not do much with computer

technology but I did try my hand at imparting some computer training. I ran the kids through small tasks such as typing small passages on Word, playing media files and other such tasks. While the achievements were sizeable given their limitations, they did give the kids (and me) a sense of accomplishment.

Play and group therapy

I play songs on my guitar when ever I am at the centre to a group of kids and they seem to enjoy it, so much so that a few kids wanted me to teach them. While they did not know any of the songs, they danced quite happily to it and enjoyed themselves.

The songs seem to soothe and calm them.

.

The kids often referred to me as “American boy” due to the accent with which I spoke in Hindi with, my inclination to always speak in English and the fact that I could not play any Bollywood numbers on my guitar.

Some of the pictures of mine while interacting with the kids.