Preparation for CONFLUENCE

CONFLUENCE 2014

Preparation for Confluence 2014 is going on with a bang. Confluence, which is on April 5^th, 2014, is a festival of music and dance combined with carnival in support of kids with AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, organised by D.K.'s Learning Centre in collaboration with Venkat Narayan Educational and Charitable Trust.

A few snippets of 'jewellery making' by children of D.K.'s Learning centre:

Bubbling with enthusiasm, the children of D.K.’s Learning centre have been involved in various activities for the show.

Right from jewellery making, kerchief designing, the children are pouring down with their own creative ideas. All these articles made by our children will be put up for sale at the show. 

Kids with autism have been extensively working for products out of Papier-mâché. Cloth bags recycled from old T-shirts is one creative idea of our children.

 Kids have been surprising us with their talents, creativity and skills. They have been practising for a small cultural programme including music and dance.

  They are also working on stalls (food stalls, game stalls, etc.,) that are planned to be put up at the show.  

D.K.’s is very happy that Confluence 2014 has been an instrument in tapping our children’s multiple intelligences.

We are very thankful to all who have been working so hard for the show.

People who are planning to participate, there is going to be a very big surprise that the kids are planning for you. 

Our countdown to the show starts: It is today (April 5, 2014) Participate to get surprised and amazed.

-  D.K.'s Learning Centre

Super Brain Yoga: our own "THOPUKKARANAM"

Super Brain Yoga: our own "THOPUKKARANAM"

It is not an easy task to make a child with hyper activity to sit in a place for more than 5 minutes. We in school tried all methods possible to achieve this. But nothing worked out. Then something struck me.

I read somewhere in the internet saying - “Super Brain Yoga is now famous and the most preferred treatment/ exercise in foreign countries”. This Super Brain Yoga is nothing but our very own "THOPUKKARANAM". Our Indian ancestors believed and have shared to our generation this extremely rejuvenating exercise as part of our daily habit, which we do while praying Lord Ganesha. In this globalised world, we have almost forgotten our own cultural and religious strengths that safeguard and develop anything and everything. And one such valuable asset is Thopukkaranam.

The outcome of making our children do Thopukkaranam was astonishing. We could see tremendous change in them. Children, who never settled for any exercise using modern technology, settled when Thoppukkaranam was made a part of our daily activity. We started doing this as a group therapy in our school.  It is a universal fact that we never realize the value of anything which we have unless we see others getting benefitted out of it.

Here is a video link showing a doctor (not an Indian) explaining the benefits of doing Super Brain Yoga, our own THOPUKKARANAM. Watch from 0.33 mins.

-Special Educator

(D.K.'s Learning Centre)

From the teacher's diary: 3: A Successful Entrepreneur

A Successful Entrepreneur

This happened 7 years ago when I was teaching maths to a child with dyslexia. He hated math so much that whenever I taught him percentages or ratio or any other concept in class he would not respond properly and would never open his mouth when asked questions.

Once I was teaching children about sales and concepts related to it. To make this more interesting, I took them for a field trip to a market area to give them an exposure about sales and its practices and asked the children to present their own ideas in class the next day. It was festival time and there was sale put up in a lot of shops. The boy was very excited to be in such an ambience. He jumped in front of a shopkeeper and questioned him about various strategies and ideas that he adopted to attract customers. I was surprised with the amount interest he showed in learning concept of sales. He did not stop there but went on to ask shopkeepers selling different kinds of products.  The next day for presentation, he came up with a lot of ideas that amazed all of us in school.

I started teaching the concept of cost price, selling price and what a surprise he was the first one to come up with the answers. He was alert throughout. When we went further deep into the topic he started showing interest in learning percentages, decimals etc. What difference did a small field trip make and we could integrate the subject so well and it did make a big difference to his life too. 

He is now managing his father’s departmental store and is able to use all the strategies that he learnt. Business runs in his blood as I would always tell him. 

It was just a little extra effort that I took to kindle the interest of the child, which to my surprise, contributed for his wholesome development. 

From the teacher's diary: 2

A girl around 13 came to D.K.’s along with her younger sister. The younger sister was a child with dyslexia and wanted remedial help. In the course of conversation I came to know about the elder sister. She was deaf and mute. She was dropped out of normal school because of her disability. But she had her niche in the world of drawing and painting. All she did was attend 2 hours of drawing class every day.

We then admitted her in D.K.’s to support her in continuing her education. Slowly we started off with communication classes along with her younger sister’s remedial. We started teaching her concepts and techniques to read and got her to pass 10th through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Later she did her diploma course in drawing and became a good professional. She was so good in her work that she had her own exhibitions. Most of her paintings were sold for more than Rs. 1500 each. We advised her to take up multimedia courses.

She involved herself in many projects and won prizes and became well recognised. She never placed her work for commercial business alone. She also took up projects in the interests of the society. Her works were majorly focussed on creating awareness against alcoholism, poverty and many other societal evils. Her works were technical and computerised where as her partner would present it verbally.

Now, after passing her 12th through NIOS, she is working for an institution teaching around 6 students and taking drawing classes for around 8 students all of whom we call normal children. She earns around 8000 rupees per month. She is also pursuing her bachelors’ degree via correspondence mode. She balances well between her academics and her interest in drawing and painting. She says that her academics stay as a backbone for her to continue her career as an artist.

What is so great about her, you must be thinking. Yes, I received a message suddenly one day saying that she is very much interested to teach children with special needs and wanted to work with D.K.’s which is working for children with learning difficulties especially dyslexia. She insisted that she will not charge even a single penny. As a teacher myself, what more will I ask for? It was a proud moment for me as well as for the girl’s family. Tears roll down my cheeks even as I write this article. 

                                                                                                                            -   Jayanthi Kannan

                                                                                                                         (D.K.'s Learning Centre)