Educational trust takes wings across Chennai

Chennai: Started as a small learning centre for 11 autistic kids in RA Puram, V Excel, an educational trust for children with special needs, spread its wings across the city promoting innovative concepts to cater to their needs.

The centre offers sensory integration therapy, neuro-developmental therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, behaviour therapy, remedial education and a lot more. They have a total of eight centres - three in Chennai, one each in Nasik, Sholapur, Erode, Tirunelveli and Tiruchy.

The person behind the noble cause, Vasudha Prakash, flew down to India especially to work for special children. “I was a clinical psychologist and have always preferred to work with kids having some issues. In Saudi Arabia, when I worked with the Indian embassy school as a teacher, I enjoyed involving in cultural programs of autistic kids,” she said adding that 1 in 60 kids are born with autism and most of the parents fail to intervene into the issue at early stage.
 Explaining further, she said the brain is neuroplastic when people are younger, so it is easy to train them, but most of the parents only enrol their kids at the age of 10.

Typically, children have so many ways to spend their time, but autistic kids are often isolated avoiding social circles. So, the school provides them gateways to recreation in the form of art galleries or music concerts in the premises.

“Every month, we have a concert where senior artistes like Bombay Jayshree perform for the kids. This idea also led to a behavioural change as autistic kids are usually very impatient, unstable and have anxiety attacks. Within less time, all issues came down,” she said. The kids were also sent on a first-of-its kind trip to Madurai on a plane. Contrary to beliefs about them yelling or panicking during take-off, they were extremely normal and settled, say teachers to prove the fact that anybody can be cured with right education.

Geetha Bhalla, one of the teachers at V-Excels, said kids have numerous sensory integration issues and the tutors mould themselves according to that. “Instructors have to modify their voice and speak less and give them a touch in the middle of conversation,” she said.