Playing sports is a key part of our school experience and it can have an immense impact on every student’s life. Participation in sports may bring benefits like promoting socialisation, developing leadership skills, focus as well as physical fitness. It teaches us discipline, grit and teamwork, the lessons that are imbibed by us for a lifetime.

We must understand that students with any kind of disability are the same like their peers who do not have any such limitations and therefore, get the benefits alike from participation in sports. But, most of the times, they are denied any such chances to participate and gain respectability out of it. Though, the coach’s job is to pick up the best team in school, people with disabilities should be judged on their individual capabilities. Here’s a very interesting excerpt from TEDxTalk held in May, 2016 where, Madhavi Latha, National Paralympic swimming champion speaks about the importance of sports among the disabled.

Madhavi and sports, two never meeting worlds, this is pre-2007 and Madhavi and sports, two inseparable entities, this is post 2007. “My victory in swimming completely changed my perspective on life. Earlier I thought I could use only my intelligence. Now I am confident that I can achieve anything in a different way.” – Madhavi Latha, the 80 percent disabled National Paralympic swimming champion on importance of sports among the disabled.

She is an associate Vice President, Scope International as well as an activist spearheading the cause of sports for the differently-abled people. She founded the ‘YES WE TOO CAN’ movement and stands President of the Wheelchair Basketball Federation, India. She draws from a personal experience with Hydrotherapy to urge the society to offer a level playing ground to the differently-abled people in sports.

We believe that they should not be left out because of prejudices or stereotypes existing against them. Schools do not need to change the rules of a game or offer a competitive advantage to students with different abilities. They are just required to go for reasonable modifications like using a laser rather than a starter pistol to begin a race so that a hard-of-hearing runner can compete. Such modifications ensure that they also get an equal opportunity like everybody else.

Moving forward with this belief, our charitable school for special children, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN) also encourages its students for the same. It teaches them to practice hard and always stay on the forefront when it comes to taking part in opportunities thrown by life. Students took to this lesson religiously and since then, have always excelled in the field of sports. All these MBCN sports achievers have received laurels at the sports events organised by NCC camps and Special Olympics Bharat.

Take a look at their achievements in the past one year to feel how they have responded to this teaching.

• Arushi Sharma – She did her school proud by winning a gold medal at basket ball national tournament held in Gujarat in March 2015. She carried forward her winning streak by whisking away another gold at the Delhi state competition of badminton held in May of the same year. As if two were not enough, she made a hat trick by winning a third gold at national level championship of Floor Hockey in Solan, Himachal Pradesh during December.
• Shashank Shekhar – Another star-in-the-making was a boy who clinched a silver medal at the Delhi state tournament in carom organised by Very Special Art in April 2015.
• Akshat – He came, he took part and he swept a gold medal at the Delhi state tournament of Table Tennis in May 2015.
• Shrey Kadian – The boy heightened our enthusiasm with his determination and perseverance. He went all the way to World Games held in Los Angeles to get a gold in softball as the event went on in 2015 from June to August.
• Deepanshu Nath – He participated in the State competition of Skating to fetch a gold medal same year in September.
• Swechchha Nanda – When the national championship of Floor Hockey was organised in Solan, Himachal Pradesh this year in December, this girl was able to manage nothing lesser than gold.
• Akshay Bora – The year 2016 started on a winning note when he brought two shining golds home in snowboarding at National Snow Games held in Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh during March.
• Anuj – He was star of the show at Delhi State Games as he grabbed a gold in table tennis in April 2016. At the Delhi State Games tournament, he proved his mettle in basketball again during July while receiving a gold. His love for basketball was evident when he got a gold in August at national games in Chennai.
• Sahil – It was another proud moment for MBCN as he took a gold in table tennis at Delhi State Games in April. He proved himself again at Delhi State Games of badminton to bring a gold the same year in May.
• Rohit Raina – At the State Games in Softball, this boy rose high to take away gold in August 2016.

Freedom is the oxygen for the soul… You need no other reason to celebrate its essence!

As our nation grows and prospers, faces challenges dynamically and holds on to its cultural roots to build a strong future; we believe all this is possible because today we stand free. Free and independent from the foreign forces, from the inner demons and malices.

Every year, 15th August serves as a reminiscent of the good and bad memories, happy and sad events, success and failures of a tremendously diverse nation- INDIA. As India celebrates its 70th year of independence, we thank all our inspiring leaders who have helped in defining the India, world respects today.

As events and celebrations in honour of this day are organised all over India and amongst our Indian communities abroad, at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan, the sight was no less. Tricolours everywhere, happy faces and invigorating ambience is how one can define the Independence Day celebrations at MBCN. As the day started, children and staff at MBCN started pouring at MBCN and unlike any other day, one could see people wearing ethnic clothes- kurta, saree, tricolour dupatta, saffron t-shirt etc. and carry paper flags in their hands. What a patriotic start!

But, as the day unfolded, there was more in store…

Flag hoisting
Unfurling the national flag and singing of the national anthem is done by many. But, wherever you go and experience it, this is always special. At MBCN, our students, staff and team together hoisted the tricolour and remembered the martyrs, the founders and builders of the free country!

Face painting activity
Children showcased their creative side and painted each other’s face with tricolour. Their love for the national flag was reflecting in this gesture.

Cultural performances
Lovely costumes and performances that could easily fill your hearts with the spirit of patriotism. Cheering the national slogans out loud with shine in the eyes to make this nation proud one day, summarises this experience.

Kite flying
May our hearts be free and minds soar high to bring a positive change in our developing society…
This message was clearly felt and the true happiness of freedom was experienced as everybody enjoyed the kite flying activity.

Undoubtedly, these activities and annual celebrations do remind you of the love and respect you hold for the nation, deep in your heart. You know this is your identity, you are Indian and that defines you once you step out.

No nation is perfect, but striving for perfection is an ongoing process, which is definitely a positive sign. Let’s promise ourselves that we will do our bit in preserving our freedom.

Not being able to speak is not the same as not having anything to say. – Rosemary Crossely

It is the Better Hearing and Speech month. It is time to learn to hear and speak better. Enter a Samvaad class at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan and know how the teachers and speech therapists help improve the speech and hearing ability in children. Attend a classroom session and you learn that it all starts with a Language Development Book.

Language Development through Visual Clues

The book is full of illustrations and pictorial representations that help speech and hearing impaired students form a word vocabulary. At MBCN, they are taught through pictures that depict a market scene, school, jungle or a garden. This helps them pick up words and build their vocabulary just like the way we play scrabble. They learn to make sentences based on what they see in the picture.

Apart from heightening their visual senses, the charitable school for special children offers them a therapy for improving their speaking and hearing ability. A speech therapy is derived focusing on different reasons. We came across a child who was unable to hear sounds since birth that eventually led to his speaking inability. Therapists say that his brain area that deals with hearing is damaged. The problem may occur even when that particular area of brain is still developing.

Areas of Therapy

Some of the Down Syndrome affected children have a problem of delayed speech due to their low IQ level. Therefore, we have therapies different for each of these problems. When it comes to the Hearing Impaired (HI) children, our therapists focus on the three basic areas – auditory training, language and speech. While conducting auditory training, we perform hearing assessment on the affected kids and provide them with hearing aids according to the extent of their need.

Thereafter, such kids are trained in hearing through several steps. The process includes awareness, localisation, discrimination and stabilization of sound. Then, we identify Specific Language Impairment (SLI) – the trouble of understanding what others are speaking (receptive language) and difficulty in sharing personal thoughts (expressive language). And, then there is Apraxia of Speech, where it becomes difficult to put syllables and sounds together in the right order for constructing words.

Auditory Training

During auditory training, we use hearing aids as an artificial way to allow better hearing. These devices are helpful in amplifying sounds through digital or analog way. We provide various types of hearing aids depending upon the condition of a child – mild, moderate, severe, moderately severe and profound.

Types of Aids

Initially, children with profound hearing loss are offered separate aids like Body Label, Behind-the-Ear (BTE), On-the-Ear, In-the-Ear (ITE), In-the-Canal (ITC) and Completely-In-the-Canal (CIC). All of these machines have a system of manually controlled volume matching an individual’s comfort level.

In digital, the hearing machine requires to have a default decibel (dB) setting for facilitating sound clarity at different frequencies. For instance, a child may need 60 dB at the sound frequency of 250 Hz and 70 dB at 500 Hz. Then, we correct the speaking ability through speech software. Currently, there are eight speech therapists to improve speech in children by teaching them through flash cards and Play method.

Doctored Speech Method

The Play method involves the doctored speech software in which a child (1-4 years old) gets motivated to phonate through available animated visual clues. The animated visuals are in the form of games that let a child modify his or her pitch, loudness and voicing too. The whole concept of phonetic education aims at bringing improvement in the manner and point of articulation. This is the best kind of rehabilitation treatment that can be ensured for a child with speech and hearing disability.

Spread the idea of better speech and hearing and help people understand it better.

God could not be everywhere, and therefore, he made mothers – Rudyard Kipling

Desks were splattered with water colours. Paint brushes were dropping on floors. Drawings were halfway through completion. Heart-shaped cut-outs were laid out to put hand prints on. Messages were thought out in minds. This was the scene at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN) just a day before Mother’s Day.

Greeting Through Cards

A lot of differently abled energetic kids were busy making cards and gifts for their mothers. They drew sketches and cut out colourful flower petals to be pasted on the greeting cards. They showcased their creative best while using hand and thumb to paint their way through a colourful mix of little hearts. It was such an uplifting sight to see their hands all coated in paint dripping from the fingers, making the floor look so colourful like one big, shapeless rainbow.

Paint, Write or Paste the Message

When it comes to expressing love for our mothers, everything is welcome. Every gesture counts because a mother is our closest friend and our love of first sight ever since we opened our eyes. She is a constant anchor of support in all our life struggles, and someone who’s always there to back us up without any conditions.

Sharing their immense love, the differently-abled kids at our charitable school for special children jotted messages on cards and posed with their mothers. Here, every special child had his or her own way of conveying a message. They freely utilized the white canvas to express themselves on the occasion. They scribbled with their sketch pens, painted using colours and pasted designs on a sheet of paper.

Archit Gets Affectionate with Words

Ask Archit, a child with Cerebral Palsy and verbal limitations, about the importance of a mother in his life. He faltered but spoke at length to share what all her mother does for him on a daily basis. He expressed, ‘Her day starts with cooking breakfast and she takes care of all my needs. I just love my mother.’

Join the Celebration

For students at MBCN, Mother’s Day is not just a day of momentary celebration. It is the time when they join hands to appreciate the efforts that their mothers make every day to raise them and help them become a better person. A mother wakes up early every day, performs the basic household chores, understands us and takes care of all our necessities. This is the reason we are blessed to have them as angels in our life.

Embodying the same spirit, faculty, kids and parents at MBCN celebrated the day with immense joy and love. It was indeed refreshing to see such unparalleled bond of love and warmth amidst the flurry of greetings, cards and gifts.

This year, it is the third Apraxia Awareness Day on May 14th but lesser do we know about its significance. The aim behind observing this day is to make more and more people aware about a condition called Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). It is a disorder related to motor speech and a child with CAS has problems in producing sounds and uttering syllables and words. Read more »

Our ears expose us to the wonderful sounds of nature and the ambience surrounding us. We understand things when we hear them. But, when we are unable to receive sounds through ears then it leads to a condition of hearing impairment. Although, there is always a possibility to amplify sounds with the use of a hearing aid in various conditions. However, if the hearing loss is found to be severe, a person develops an inability to distinguish sounds. Still, students who are hard of hearing can comprehend audio information by supplementing their properly working senses with listening devices.

When a person is repeatedly exposed to loud noises, there are signs to watch out for. For instance, when a special child starts facing difficulty in listening to other people clearly or often misunderstands their words. Such children expect others to repeat themselves and they tend to watch television or listen to music at a volume higher than what is required.

Types of Impairments

Hearing impairment is generally found in four types. The first one is called ‘Conductive’ which is a result of obstructions in the middle or outer ear affecting all the frequencies of hearing. This kind of loss can be corrected by the use of a hearing aid. Come to another type, ‘Sensorineural’ that is caused if any damage happens to the inner side of ear.

The loss can go up to being profound and may affect certain frequencies to a greater extent. Sounds may often come off as distorted even after using a hearing aid. Hearing aids enhance the capacity of a differently-abled child to communicate and hear with the use of digital hearing aids or bone-anchored implants. Depending upon the extent of severity, middle ear and cochlear implants are also advised and sign language is taught.

Then, there is a mixed kind of hearing loss that is caused due to problems occurring in both the middle and inner ear. Last but not the least, comes ‘Central’ that is caused when the damage extends to the person’s central nervous system. For hearing impaired children, communication is mightier than sword. They interact with people through a variety of communication methods. These methods include the sign language, finger spelling, lip-reading, written and oral communication which they pick up at special schools meant for them.

Coming to the Visual Aid

Educators make special considerations while teaching such children in their class. Much of these come from the common sense that prevails while working in collaboration with an affected student, his/her family as well as the speech and language expert. Apart from depending upon the constructive criticism from a differently-abled child and his/her family, teachers emphasize upon using the visual aids to reinforce the available auditory information. Keeping the environmental noise to the minimum level inside a classroom also restricts any kind of interference to occur with the listening devices.

But the most important of all the efforts to tend to a child suffering from a hearing loss is to be more verbal and expressive to him/her and maintain continuous eye contact while talking. Face-to-face interactions help the special child to read the lips and talk directly to the person trying to strike a conversation with him/her. While communicating with children, it is necessary to keep in mind that one utters complete sentences. It can help them brush up their linguistic skills which is a key to their academic development.

Talking Through Signs

Being expressive, giving an effective speech and putting up demonstrations is appreciable while talking to the deaf. Being a qualified sign language expert is an icing on the cake. Shouting in front of a special child is obviously not allowed as usage of hearing aids can make sounds louder but not normal.

If an oral speech, sign language, finger spelling, gestures or lip reading fail, then we can still communicate to these children through writing. Apart from this, a semicircle sitting arrangement could be preferable for a child suffering from hearing loss in group gatherings. This gives them access to all the members in their peer group and the setting is more beneficial if an interpreter or visual aids are arranged.

The extent of success while communicating with a deaf child depends upon observing his/her body language or facial expressions. If there is any trouble in understanding the parts of speech of a differently-abled student, he/she can be asked to repeat. The willingness to understand them and the desire to communicate with them helps the people to be at ease with such students.

It is a widely welcomed move to lend a helping hand to a child suffering from hearing loss as the impairment proves to be a hindrance in the overall development of a child. The earlier this loss occurs, the more serious are its effects. In the same manner, the earlier it is identified and the interventions are underway, lesser serious are its probable threats.

A special child is always a visual learner. Therefore, educators can be encouraged to use graphics, pictures and text labels more extensively into teaching. The bottom line is that students not just at the special schools for deaf in India but those being taught in a normal classroom setting should also get an ideal atmosphere to prosper and flourish. Special educators only need to build a habitat for the deaf that can be conducive to their situation and help them avoid the life of a recluse.

Acting in this regard, the WaveRiders of Ponty Chadha Foundation (PCF) decided to make an effort to educate and empower the hearing impaired kids at their special school for deaf children, Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN) that was set up with a motto to brighten lives.

A teacher’s job is to ensure that his/her students have a hunger to learn overcoming all odds and limitations. Even though the child has a hearing impairment and requires extra care. Being a teacher for special children, I have learnt adapting to different teaching strategies that work in the classroom setting. But before taking any step, I try to analyse the extent of hearing impairment every child suffers from. Proper assessment of the situation allows me to ensure educational accessibility for these special children. Adding flexibility and willingness in the creative abilities, goes an extra mile in finding ways to overcome difficulties. And, not to forget, effective communication is the key.

If a person never had a chance to experience how hearing loss occurs or how hearing is made easier then, he/she may not have an exact idea. For instance, talking in a high-pitched voice makes it difficult to hear or donning a thick beard poses a problem in being able to read lips. Further research into the topic makes it easier for an educator to examine the problems faced by a hearing impaired student inside classrooms. But a teacher can address these issues very well by applying techniques like enunciating, lowering tones and face to face interactions. When I know that I have to deal with a child suffering from a hearing loss, I have to keep an account of his/her problems as well as experiences they are going through.

Hand-Signal Codes Always Work

Listening is exhausting for those who cannot hear properly. There is so much of work on a teacher’s part that includes trying to figure out meanings, interpret the signs and comprehend the language. Small steps make a huge difference. Over the years, I have developed a few hand-signal codes while teaching at Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan (MBCN), a special school for deaf children run by the Ponty Chadha Foundation. These codes helped me in determining whether a child’s supporting devices are working properly. If I ask a simple personal thing like ‘Show me the place where you sit or tell me the reason why you sit there,’ goes a long way in designing the most effective classroom strategy for such children.

Getting students to give their reasons helps me a lot in reflecting upon my actions and contemplate about the reasons behind them. There have been moments in life where I found all my efforts gone kaput just because of lack of communication. Therefore, it all boils down to effective communication at last. To justify these words, I applied few of simple methods in my special class that made a difference.

An Adapted Class

While speaking, I make sure that my face is visible to the child suffering from a hearing loss. Another way is making friends. A student, who can hear well, can work with those who are hard-of-hearing. Peer support is of great relief to an occupied teacher. Furthermore, providing context and background behind everything and repeating lessons increases the power of memorizing. Give a quick recap of what has already taken place and announce what is coming up next in advance. I also take help from the assistive technologies that help me derive success by eliminating the background noise for a child with hearing impairment and increase his/her access to sound. In most common usage is the FM technology that directly transmits sound to the listening device of the hearing impaired child. Though, the technique is effective only if the device is in place and is being used properly. It is also to be made sure that the teacher is speaking through a microphone.

If the transmitter cannot be passed around the classroom, a teacher can make the situation conducive by repeating back whatever is being spoken. The mike will pick up the sound. It is possible to maximize the efficiency of this technology by conveying its importance to all the parents, students and faculty members comprising the substitute teachers as well as the administrative staff. Also, encourage a student to speak for himself. Create an environment where a child can raise his/ her hand and say ‘I am not able to hear you’ as an idea can change lives of those whom you teach.

Communication is the Key

Now, take the communication considerations into account. As my special student relies on lip-reading, I always signal his/her attention before speaking. I assign him/her a desk in front where I stand generally. While giving lectures, I also slow down my lip movements so that students are able to grasp what is being taught. I communicate to them through gestures, facial expressions and body language. Idioms could be taught explicitly and jokes could be explained. These children often lag behind in developing social graces. Therefore, specific social skills like carrying on a conversation or joining them is also taught to them. These techniques of teaching things differ for every student.

Getting Visual

Adopting visual strategies and making curriculum accommodations for them is also a welcome-step. The class instructions, homework assignments and procedural changes are written on board. I use posters, flash cards, charts, graphic organizers, pictures, captioned videos and artifacts to illustrate concepts. In addition, visual aids like semantic maps and word webs also help in establishing connecting links between information. The available human resources, such as teacher aides, peer-tutoring, interpreters, note-takers and therapy services can also be utilized. Resources like sign-based websites or pictorial programmes can be used on instructions or borrowed from an advisory visiting teacher or a special education facility located nearby.

These efforts are surely to bear fruit with a bit of prior planning. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) was a concept devised to meet the needs of every differently-abled child at special schools for deaf in India. To know about the impact, periodical assessments are equally necessary. They are fruitful in identifying barriers, altering a process and making special arrangements. At MBCN, I am not just a teacher but a WaveOfChange which takes a multifaceted approach to deliver socially driven outcomes through an act of philanthropy.

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