DOCTOR'S VISIT AT ASHIS

 Our second visit to ASHIS was on 2^nd  Nov. We had organized a talk with Dr. Prem.

 Everybody was busy and excited. A pretty large number of parents, about 100 of them, were assembled in the hall.

 Dr. Prem set up a ppt and explained all the necessary topics with figures, diagrams, and bullet points with the help of a projector, so the parents who are uneducated also got a really clear picture of how things looked like. He explained about the different ways a person can get deaf, by birth or due to other problems. He also explained about the different kinds and costs of hearing aids .He gave a great deal of explicit information of these. He also talked a great deal about the merits and demerits cochlear implantation. After the talk ,there was the interactive session where the parents or teachers were free to ask questions, doubts and other things about this topic.

 He patiently looked into each and every parent giving them suggestions for different kinds of problems that they had. He also went through all the prescriptions carefully and explained stuffs to them. He was presented with a momento on behalf of our Amrita which he accepted with a gleaming smile.

 The school had almost everything but lacked speech therapists. Dr. Prem arranged for that too by suggesting ASHIS for his students as an internship spot. The ASHIS authorities were extremely very grateful. 

We received a very positive feedback from all the parents, teachers and the authorities of ASHIS.

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.

On reaching "BUDS ON WINGS".......

We reached Varkala, and found our place "BUDS ON WINGS" without any difficulty, as this place is quite well known in the locality. It is basically a small home that is designed as a centre for treatment especially for autistic children. According to what we had heard and read about autism ,we thought that the kids would be really restless,  unaware of the environment around them, uninteractive, someone who doesn't talk at all, always in the shell etc.

                      But to our astonishment, we found them to be far better than what we thought about them. We were whole heartedly welcomed by the director of this centre, Mrs. Himabindu who is also trying to uplift her child from this disorder . The place was filled with happy kids and their parents as it was a festive day, onam celebration. There are nearly 50 children who are undertaking  treatment here. They hav different timings and different sessions for different batches. We interacted with many children and parents and  are happy to know that they are showing excellent signs of improvement. No 2 kids have same treatment . Their symptoms are well-observed and learned by the expert and experianced therapists and doctors. This place has a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a psychologist.

                   The onam celebration was in full swing. We helped them with arrangements along with dressing up the kids as maveli and vamanan. It was actually fun. They came to us all by themselves  and started getting comfortable with us.They talked to us, played with us and kinda got attached to us as well.When we talked to the parents, they said that they need to observe each and every behavious of their kids , about their daily routines and are supposed to inform the therapists here who get to add upon their ideas about the treatment they provide. Dedication of the parents, hardwork of the authorities and therapists are a couple of very important things that still makes this a better place every time.
                 In the end of the day, we had to leave them. This was sad. We really had a great opportunity to visit such a lovely place and to get to know such wonderful people. We still hear from them that the kids r still missing us. We cherish those unforgettable memories though it leaves a hole in our heart. Hope to see them again sometime!!!....:(...<3

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To protect the privacy of the children, photos were not allowed....so we could get only very few captures of that memorable day.
View them here...

Here is our overall feedback about the visit.

Here is what they thought about our visit.
The feedback from the instituition 'Buds on Wings'......

The day with those children was a milestone in our journey.

It was around this time that we heard about Amrita Speach and Hearing Improvement School (ASHIS). We contacted the authorities of ASHIS and fixed to visit the school for 2 days (Sep 30 & Oct 1). Hence phase 2 of our journey starts....

PHASE 0

This whole journey started from our soft skill class. We were teamed as a group of six and were assigned to take up a project of social relevance.

During our thoughts and discussions we came across the topic which is the study on the challenges that the specially able children face. They can be mainly categorized as either physically or mentally challenged. Then we thought about undertaking this study as our project.

When we approached our mentor Rajesh sir, a highly supportive personality who guided us at each and every step of the project , he encouraged us to proceed with this. 

That is when one of our teammates came to know about the institution called “BUDS ON WINGS”, a center for autistic children, at Warkala. When we were collecting information on this institution, we found that  it is highly popular for its better results from the treatments they provide there. After this we contacted the authorities to know whether we could visit the institution. Their response was very positive and welcoming. They invited us on the occasion of their onam celebration. We happily agreed to visit their place on that day.

WELCOME!

Hello everyone!

This blog have been started to share our team, SAADHAT’s, experiences with our Student Social Responsibility(SSR) project. Our topic is  STUDY ON SPECIALLY ABLED CHILDREN.This is to share our special and incredible journey that we started with this project...