February 2017 -

Monthly Archives: February 2017

Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter

Parenthood has its own set of challenges, but when it comes to being a parent to a child with special needs has its own set of unique challenges. Though it is easier said than done that with a specially-abled child be supportive, keep no expectations and take each day as it comes. Each day has newer challenges and even unique ways to meet them.

No matter what type of disability your child has – moderate or severe – you want to make sure that she is receiving the best opportunities possible. Though they deserve customised learning techniques, many in our society understand that but seldom do such children get the much needed motivation.

They may feel like they aren’t being challenged enough, or they may feel as if they simply can’t achieve the goals that are set forth for them just because of their disability. This lack of motivation can have a huge impact on their education. It’s all up there, if it’s in their that they cannot do it, nothing else can push them towards it!

Here are some and fun and realistic strategies, you can create a special education timeline that will help your special needs child achieve and succeed in her educational endeavors:

Help Them Focus:

Get involved in their day-to-day education schedule. Instill them with newer aspirations each day and make them aware of the possibilities they have. Once you can gauge their interest,  help to chalk out a stronger plan in that direction with courses to study and places to enroll. When they see someone so interested in their life and career, they will feel all the more motivated.

Discuss Goals:

Communicate more and more with such children. They should know you expect them to fly higher, however, be careful as you don’t want to pressure them or make them feel obligated to do something. But, carefully make them understand that you are also connected and hope for bigger and better things for them to achieve the goals.

Be a Guide:

Stress is the last thing you want the child to suffer with. Be their coach, a friend and guide. Cheer them, scold them wherever necessary, like any other normal child. Let them know that they are doing a good job and you are there to hold their back, incase they fall.

Be her support system, as this can make an already unmotivated child even less motivated.

Give Rewards:

Rewarding means a lot in these foundation years of your special child. Carefully choose rewards that are beneficial. Don’t offer something superficial or out of bounds for achieving a goal and rather take something that will further benefit them. For example, if she achieves her goal of getting a specific grade on a history test, reward her with a trip to a museum so she can have a first-hand experience with the history she learnt.

Make Sure it’s Fun:

Monotonous and mundane ways of doing work can be highly demotivating.

Try to make tasks as fun, constructive and enjoyable as possible.

If the specially abled children around you is suffering from a lack of motivation, employing these techniques will help to ignite the fire in their desires to achieve and succeed and help them outshine their own image of themselves, as it all in the mind. Let’s help them move MIND OVER MATTER!

MBCN Launches e-Cart Facility to Support Efforts of Special Children

MBCN Launches e-Cart Facility to Support Efforts of Special Children

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Imparting education and teaching valuable skills that help somebody become financially independent is not just a great way to support an individual or a family, but also an undeniable way to contribute towards the upliftment of our society. Needless to say, education helps a person build confidence, learn new skills, gain experience and earn a decent living.
The vocational wing of Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, Swayam is an initiative of the Ponty Chadha Foundation (PCF) that helps specially-abled children become self-dependent. On the 16th of this January, MBCN launched an e-commerce portal on its website (www.mbcnschool.org) through which people can buy beautiful handmade products crafted by these specially-abled children.
These eco-friendly products range from stationery items, paper bags and packaging boxes to baskets, wedding gifts and other household items. The students of MBCN school are trained by experts who help them create such beautiful merchandise. Many corporates and business houses have already procured gift items and packing material from these special children. The school acknowledges their efforts, and distributes proceeds from the sales among the children.
The vocational training program by PCF instils confidence in children with special needs – children who are suffering from speech impairment, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and various other mental and physical conditions. It teaches them that their determination and efforts are greater than any or all apprehensions they might have about their abilities.
To buy or browse through these elegant and attractive items handcrafted by our talented students, please visit: www.mbcnschool.org/shop

Vaakya – Giving voice to the voiceless

Vaakya – Giving voice to the voiceless

In this era of connectivity, how would you feel if you lose your ability to express your opinion? How would you feel if you lose your voice?
The question asked above is the reality of millions of people worldwide. Some can’t speak since birth, while some others have lost their voice to accidents or diseases.

Being mute affects a person’s life in many ways, the most significant being the need to communicate via gestures and/or other alternative methods. However, there are many in the world who aren’t just mute, but also victims of major disorders like Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome.

To help those with such severe communication problems, we have designed Vaakya, an application for smartphones that will break down every communication and language barrier that speech-impaired people face. It is a picture-based app which acts as a means of augmentative and alternative communication, one that can be customised by users according to their special needs.

Special Features
● With customisation at its core, Vaakya comes equipped with some amazing and feasible features. For instance, you don’t need internet connectivity to make it work. Vaakya can operate without it as well.
● Multiple User Accounts – To keep data of different students and patients more organised. This feature benefits parents, teachers, guardians, doctors and many others.

How does it work?
While using Vaakya, you can audio record full sentences in any desirable language and associate them with a picture. The speech associated with the corresponding action can be recorded and played back in any language, providing greater flexibility. This makes it easier for others to recognise any form of communication and identify exactly what has been said. Through multiple user accounts, moreover, the app can also help segregate accounts of individuals according to their unique actions and speech specifications.

Vaakya is available free of cost on Google Play Store.
Download it here: http://bit.ly/2lLag23

Yaadein Bachpan Ki: Celebrations at MBCN

Yaadein Bachpan Ki: Celebrations at MBCN

February 16 – the day we all look forward to! Every year on this very date, we celebrate the annual function of Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, our school for children with special needs.

Established in 1999, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN) is a dream come true envisioned by the Late Shri Gurdeep (Ponty) Singh Chadha, founder of the Wave Group.

Annual Day ‘17

Nurturing their aspirations and building their future, MBCN is not just a school, but a promise made to every specially-abled child – a promise of better learning, better opportunities and a better life.

To celebrate the bond of togetherness that we share with our students, we celebrated our 18th Annual Day under the theme, ‘Yaadein Bachpan Ki’.

Starting from Ganpati Vandana, students presented many innovative musical and dance acts during the function, drenching the whole stage in the many colours of their childhood. Some captivated the audience by recreating ‘The Jungle Book’ while some mesmerised one and all by performing the Rajasthani Ghoomar. Students also performed a satirical silent act on smartphones and their ills, before stealing the show with ‘Navrai Manjhi’, the Maharashtrian wedding song. Each act was so well thought out and executed that it left everyone spellbound at the function.

Saying it with Vaakya

Performances aside, the main attraction of the day was the launch of our mobile application, Vaakya.

Vaakya is a picture-based app designed for people who are either speech impaired or affected by autism, cerebral palsy and other similar mental or physical conditions.

Addressing the audience, the Director of Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, Ms. Vandana Sharma said, “We strive hard each day to empower and make our students independent. As we celebrate 18 wonderful years of this great institution, we have undertaken some very innovative methods to bring the specially-abled children into the mainstream. We have successfully facilitated our students to find employment in reputed companies.”

Reaching out with E-Commerce

Along with Vaakya, this occasion also witnessed the launch of our online shopping portal integrated with MBCN’s website: www.mbcnschool.org

Allowing customers to purchase handcrafted products at affordable prices online, the e-cart has been launched to embrace and appreciate the hardwork of the students of the MBCN ‘Swayam’ wing. Unveiling the launch, Vice Chairman, Wave Group, Mr. Manpreet Singh Chadha said, “It was my father’s vision to create an environment where children with special needs could become socially and economically independent; and today taking his dream a step further we have launched an APP and an e-commerce portal. This APP will help the specially-abled in communicating efficiently as it is picture based. It will help people who are speech impaired, affected by autism, cerebral palsy and various other mental and physical conditions. On the other hand, the income generated from the e-commerce portal will be given to students for their skill as an encouragement for their hard work. These initiatives will give an impetus to our on-going efforts in bringing vital changes to the lives of hundreds of children.”

Every student at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan is a part of our extended family, and we’re more than glad to have spent a wonderful day celebrating their efforts and hardwork.