July 2016 -

Monthly Archives: July 2016

Fulfil Special Needs with Rehabilitation Therapies

Fulfil Special Needs with Rehabilitation Therapies

1.67 percent of the Indian population in the 0-19 age group suffers from one disability or the other. For differently-abled, there is a constant need to try to fit into the society as they go through several physical and mental limitations. It is when rehabilitation therapies come into picture to alleviate the whole situation. The therapies offer a kind of therapeutic education to teach them a way of life.

Only a Special Art Can Heal
Rehabilitation therapies are not just plain therapies but art being used for healing so these special children get ready to accept the challenges in life. Experts believe that the combination of forms of art creates an atmosphere that allows the physically and mentally impaired children to realise their special abilities and feel empowered. You must have heard of the wheelchair-bound performers who brilliantly absorbed the fast dance steps and regaled the audience at India’s Got Talent.
Healing starts the moment we combine the rich traditions of music, dance and yoga. Many times formal education becomes a fun-filled learning experience when chapters of English and Social Science are taught over musical beats, activities and games. Come to Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN), a charitable school for children with special needs and you may feel the difference.

Integrate Your Senses Quick
Visit the sensory integration therapy room at MBCN and you can watch these kids crawling on floors, picking up colourful plastic balls and collecting them in a basket. They are actually trying to improve their motor skills and colour coordination through a fun activity. As far as the sensory integration is concerned, the therapy is directed at the autistic individuals who are hyposensitive or hypersensitive to noise, light or touch.
The sensory differences are actually a result from a sensory processing disorder that can only be treated through regulating a person’s sensory response. After-effects are quite visible in the positive changes like improved behaviour, better focus and lowered anxiety.

Regain Co-ordination and Strength Through Occupational Therapy
Climb up the stairs to move towards the occupational therapy room where you can find a child indulging in a lower limb strengthening exercise wearing orthopaedic leg braces. You may find a teacher engaging a student in catch and throw sessions while the kid tries to balance himself on a wobble board. The activity treats those affected with autism by improving balance and visual motor co-ordination.
Other than these, the occupational therapists at MBCN mainly follow an adaptive approach in chalking out measures to reduce dependence of autistic kids on others. The arrangement is made because many of them are not able to perform the basic tasks on their own in everyday life.

MBCN Back To Happiness After Summer Vacations

MBCN Back To Happiness After Summer Vacations

What do I want to take home from my summer vacation? Time. The wonderful luxury of being at rest. The days when you shut down the mental machinery that keeps life on track and let life simply wander. The days when you stop planning, analyzing, thinking and just are. Summer is my period of grace. – Ellen Goodman

We are just back to school from a holiday break after ticking our bucket list on which featured the endless fun ideas to spend our summer time. The tans are to fade soon but the memories we have brought with us are going to last longer. We are cherishing every moment as we have returned back to the knowledge-filled classes. We are not saying all this. These are the words affirmed by the faces of the special children of Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN).

 Back to School Means Back to Happiness

As the pleasant morning sun cut through the window panes on 18th of July, children stormed into the classrooms and rushed towards their seats. The classrooms were filled with chaos as well as enthusiasm… for the session ahead and MBCN came #BackToHappiness yet again.

Their holiday homework copies were full and the great feeling of coming back was well evident on their faces. Here, they are nurtured via special educators who are second mothers to them who missed them and were surprised to find them equally eager to return back the emotions while showing exuberance towards learning new things. The two-month long vacation worked magic and everybody seemed ready to take on the new session with a bang. The children came refreshed from the break while our special educators had gained fresh perspective, energy and food for thought from a rigorous teachers’ training programme.

Joy and happiness knew no bounds on the reopening day for the Principal and Director of MBCN, Dr. Vandana Sharma. She shared her feelings saying, “We are looking forward to meeting the children. It is a very emotional and happy moment for parents, for children and for the teachers that we are meeting after two months. We are filled with new energy and our team is waiting for the kids. Even the children along with their parents are eagerly looking forward to meeting their teachers and friends. They are curious to know what surprise the teachers have in store for them this time and what all different ways they will employ in teaching them new things.’

Vacations are the best time to promote creativity, strengthen relationships, relieve stress, sleep more, enhance memory and build lasting memories. Therefore, MBCN welcomes its special students after holidays to start afresh.

MBCN Holds Teacher Training Workshop with Amity University

MBCN Holds Teacher Training Workshop with Amity University

A specialised three-day teacher training workshop was held for the educators at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN) from 11th-13th July, 2016 in collaboration with Amity Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences. Approved by the Rehabilitation Council of India, the workshop was organised on the theme of ‘Enhancing Cognitive and Perceptual Skills for Children with Developmental Delay.’

MBCN has been focusing quite a lot upon building its infrastructure to offer high standards of education for the differently-abled. It is modifying its teaching learning materials and training its teachers to provide Continuing Rehabilitation Education (CRE) to the students.

Now-a-days, it has become important for every special educator to have a sound knowledge of CRE programme before engaging the differently-abled in an atmosphere of practical learning. The need of this can be owed to the ongoing renewal of the entire programme. As latest developments keep adding up to the curriculum, teachers are taught about every new thing that comes to the fore.

Continuing Rehabilitation Programme

The programme is held annually for the MBCN special educators. The workshop is conducted by Amity University covering each topic bit-by-bit. Mrs. Manju Chamoli, Head of Department, Autistic and Activity Wing at MBCN said that the programme holds importance for educators as new techniques are being devised every day with changing trends in the field of disability. Even the technology keeps on modifying itself and thus, time-to-time updates need to be added in the teaching module and it is important that the special educators take a cue from it.

Cognitive and Perceptual Skills of Differently-Abled

Ask Deepti Ahuja, a faculty at Amity Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences (AIRS) and an occupational therapist by profession about what cognitive and perceptual skills are and she will tell you that each is different and that they delve deep into each as they help the differently-abled academically and in activities of daily living.

All these activities are significant as the functional ability of a child with special needs gets enhanced through them. The CRE programme is to keep the educators updated and informed in this area through latest findings. It also shows them the way to incorporate cognitive and perceptual skills into academics and school set-up to enhance the functionality of special children.

According to Dr. Ram Chandra Saxena, Assistant Professor at AIRS, the development and changing government policies like Right to Education (RTE) are changing our outlook. RTE envisages that any child between the age group of 6-14 years has the right to study in any of the schools irrespective of his or her abilities.

Enhancing Functional Ability through Accessibility Tools

Therefore, the idea is to offer inclusive education by accepting children with disabilities in general classrooms with focus upon the individual skills of each. For that, it is necessary first to enhance the skills of teachers. A teacher must be able to identify the functional skills of special learners and intervene to bring improvements in them for a better life ahead.

Principal at MBCN, Dr. Vandana Sharma says that we need a motivated team of teachers and therapists which can imbibe the lessons of life before passing them on. To empower and encourage them for improving lives, MBCN trains its educators in different areas including a week’s Microsoft training to make them acquainted with accessibility tools in technology. The underlying aim is to discover ways of using technology to make learning simpler and fun for the children with special needs.