Here are my experiences as a Special Educator and as an Individual with my very special students and their parents. Here, 'WE' work together in a special way for a very 'Special Cause'.
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EDventure Academy
EDventure Academy is a Special Education & Remedial Centre founded with a vision to provide equal opportunity to all children with diverse level of abilities. Our learning group is composed of 1-3 students to ensure that every child receives individual attention. At EDventure Academy we offer two models of Programs: A) Morning School Program for kids who are rejected admissions in mainstream schools. This program is an amalgam of a special education and a regular school curriculum in a nut shell. Currently children with Autism, Intellectual disability, Down Syndrome, Global Learning Disability, etc are benefiting from this model. B) Evening Remedial Program for kids who attend regular schools and need support in specific areas like reading, writing, spelling, memory, attention, sitting tolerance, behaviour modification etc. Currently children with ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Cerebral Palsy, Slow learners etc attend this program.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Saturday Competitions-Our Uniqueness


EDventure academy ensures holistic development of children. Going by the old adage, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", our  academy encourages physical activities, indoor outdoor games and conducts competitions twice a month and stresses on active participation. The motive for conducting such competitions is to increase the child's confidence, overcome stage fright, improve team building skills and social interaction. The students are made to understand that winning should not be the sole reason for their participation but competing and excelling in what they aspire should be the mantra. They are also made to understand that a true sportsman always cheers and encourages his/her fellow team mates and even competitors and happily accepts the end results of the competition. 2014 academic year has many competitions lined up such as drawing, craft, singing/dancing, fancy dress, story telling, drama, food without fire/cooking, elocution, essay writing, best out of the waste, flower/Rangoli arrangement, poster making competitions etc.

The participation is not just restricted to in house students but to other children as well because we believe in and ensure inclusion. It is always a delight to see the turnout and the enthusiasm glowing on the faces of the kids which is inexplicable. They are competitive but do not have any traces of jealousy. These competitions also help them to be organised and disciplined. Sometimes we also include birthday celebrations of our students post the competitions and the atmosphere gets charged with positivity and celebrations. It is wonderful to see the kids enjoying yummy cakes and munchies.

We empathise with our judges because often they are so enamoured by the talented souls that they remain at huge fix when it comes to judging. But it most definitely is an experience enjoyed by the faculty, children/participants, parents and the judges. Yes, weekends were never so much fun before!
EDventure academy also celebrates Sports Day every year because we strongly encourage children to be engaged in sports apart from academics and each year they look forward to it. After all these, lastly but not the least we celebrate our Annual Day every year to thank and honour each and every one part of the family and it is a wonderful recap of the year that passed by. The children add on to the celebrations by performing dances, song, drama, reciting poems and it definitely is a moment of pride for the parents and the teachers. This is moments not just the students but the parents and teachers await with oodles of eagerness for we get to see them  receiving their prizes for the Saturday competitions. 
This year we are very much excited for the Carnival that we intend to organise by the end of the year where in we will display-for sale all the items made and prepared by our students. Items such as photo frames, paintings, sketches, bookmarks, jewellery, glass painting, painted bottles, diyas, gift tags etc., to name a few will be showcased. More details of this event will be posted in future.
 
So 2014 looks very exciting, energetic and most definitely eventful.

EDventure Academy-Not just academics !!

Learning in any form is learning and we strongly believe that restricting it to only books would be building walls around their minds and limiting their growth. It is very important to incorporate in children the importance of merging theory as well as practicals. So EDventure Academy has carefully designed a time table which includes theoretical subjects like English, Maths, EVS to name a few but also practical subjects like swimming, yoga, dance, music, crafts, arts, cooking, value education, social skills, best out of waste, etc.

Many a times focus is so strongly placed only on academic growth that the child loses connectivity with his/her interests. EDventure academy aims to bridge the gap between theory and practical learning. One of our primary objectives is to aim at the development of one's personality in entirety. SOCIAL SKILLS focus on helping children become responsible citizens and and help them learn skills which are important and necessary for smooth social functioning such as table manners, group interaction, empathy to name a few. VALUE EDUCATION classes aren't designed like the usual "text book" classes. We present children everyday scenarios and situations and help them realise the accepted behaviour by themselves and not resort to spoon feeding. This also helps them build their decision  making skills and makes them more aware and independent. These classes also help them take a stand on situations responsible for their actions. 

DANCE and MUSIC classes are also very popular amongst kids and we quite don't  blame them because we as faculty also love those classes and look forward to them. Dance classes help them in their flexibility and also in eye-hand or hand-leg coordination and music as they say is the 'universal' language so this is also a form of communication because sometimes children are driven by auditory cues as well.

In COOKING classes, we mostly focus on teaching basic food items which do not require fire or adult dependency but we always ensure to keep their safety and notify them whenever any parental guidance is required. We also teach them about nutrition and the essential functions of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, fibres so that our children know 'what' they are eating and 'why' they are eating what they are eating. In order to ensure that their health and fitness is not compromised, SWIMMING, YOGA, MARTIAL ARTS are also taught in EDventure Academy. Body co-ordination, calming of mind, enhancement of well being are some of the benefits these classes provide. Another reason why these classes have been included is because these are group activities and it is through these  classes, students realise the importance of team building and social interaction. 
We also strive to make academics equally fun so we mostly resort to visual teaching methods and also make charts and audio clippings to make learning fun for them. For instance, we made posters on saving animals and environment, planted saplings on environment day and made them realise the importance of maintaining the ecological balance in nature instead of reading texts from books. So we make our learning activity based.

The school has a library which houses many books from store books for tiny toddlers to informative books and journals for parents, faculty and visitors so that learning never stops. We also have a wide range of activity based books that help in improvement of visual skills, analytical skills, comprehension skills, reading and spelling skills etc. There are also books that cater to English grammar, Science, Maths for our children. The reason for having a library is school is to incorporate the practice of silent reading, paired reading, sitting tolerance and not be aversive to books.

There is also an activity room where in we teach them indoor games like carom, supermarket or monopoly, drama, arts, crafts, music and dancing. Sometimes group classes are also carried out in the same room 

We conduct several fun-filled competitions (more details in next post), to ensure the personality development happens completely.
-Holistic Development is the word!
PS-you must have heard this word earlier, fancy word used by almost every school in the first line of introduction.

Goals and Objectives-EDventure Academy

EDventure Academy aims at development of a child in totality and by this we mean not just academic development but also personality development which includes social skills, behaviour skills and so on. It is very important to us that children enjoy what they learn so that the desire to grow remains alive. We most definitely believe in retaining the innocence of our children so that they enjoy their growing up process. This is why we always strive to keep the smiles on their lips intact. Parents invest a lot of faith, trust and belief in us and it is our moral duty and responsibility to see that their kids are in safe hands. We ensure undivided attention to all kids so that they are never neglected. EDventure Academy drafts personalised goals for  each and every student and the teachers progressively work towards them. There is an old adage "Rome wasn't built in a day". This is what we follow in EDventure Academy as well. The students in EDventure Academy show gradual and a steady growth. We do not follow a rigid structure because that creates monotony which invites a high risk of boredom to seep in. This is why we start off with activity based learning and fade out to pen/pencil-paper work. 
The children are not mere students for us but the bright future of tomorrow so we ensure that the stars do not lose their shine. Our aim is not to correct the past mistakes or crib/dwell on limitations of children but to strengthen their potentials for a better tomorrow by providing an opportunity for a healthy and happy today. 
When a child comes to us with an assessment  report we write down goals in a way that their potentias are used to overcome their limitations.
We use the strategy which the child learns and enjoys. So, at first we try to understand what type of a learner he/she is and then we design realistic and easily achievable goals.