Our visit to "ASHIS"

After the experience that we acquired from our visit to "BUDS ON WINGS" we planned of continuing our journey .With a little of enquiry and help we tracked down “ASHIS” which is a centre for the dumb and deaf. We were curious to know about the life of these children, their challenges and how they cope with the different hurdles in their life

 This was during the beginning of September, we contacted  Bri.Pramod who was of enormous help to us. He asked  us about the project and also asked us whether  we could prepare a documentary about  the history and achievements of this centre so that they can upload it in their website. We agreed to it and we decided to visit this place.

Our first visit to ASHIS was on 30-9-2013.We stayed there for two days. It was a great experience for us. We got an opportunity to mingle with the parents, teachers and students. They sincerely cooperated with us. We reached there at 10:00am, just after the school assembly .They allowed us to visit the class rooms. They have classes from LKG to 10^th .The first hour is actually meant for conversation .In the conversation hour ,students express to teacher the different things they saw on the previous day and the present day , while they were coming to school. Here, the classes and the subjects are just like any other ordinary school. In LKG and UKG the teachers give special attention for verbal training. This is because it is considered that 3-5 yrs is the suitable age for language development. Teachers train students by mirror method and lip reading method. They are strictly against expressing things by actions.

 In the bigger classes teachers teach by giving extra stress on words and by showing videos, so that students can easily grasp them. They have specially equipped smart class for this. Teachers also train students in crafts and handloom.

 In the morning assembly they are given special exercises and yogas. The cooperation from parents is appreciable. Teachers have regular meeting with parents .Here they also give special care in cultural activities. While talking with teachers and parents they asked us whether we can conduct a medical camp for students and also mentioned about the need and importance of speech therapist here. We promised  them that we would definitely try to contact doctors from AIMS. The cooperation from students was also great. They were really friendly to us.

We started to look for a doctor who would be well-equiped to handle our needs.

This is when we contacted Dr.Prem, HOD, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology.He was willing to visit the school and conduct talk and interactive session as per our request.When we enquired about availability of speech therapist at the school, he arranged for that too by suggesting ASHIS for his students as an internship spot. The school authorities were immensly happy with this progress.