SANKALP - THE LEARNING CENTRE

'Children with special needs' or 'special children' are terms that are being increasingly used to denote children who are suffering from Autism, Developmental Delay, Down's syndrome, Asperger Syndrome, Dyslexia or Learning Difficulties (LD), Slow Learning and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorders.

Sankalp, was started in 1999, by Lakshmi Krishnakumar, Sulata Ajith and Subasini Rao, with a vision to help children with Learning Disabilities. Initially, Sankalp was more of a play school for regular children, at the same time Sankalp was also helping children with learning disabilities referred to them by schools, neurologists, neuro-psychologists and paediatricians. Now they have extended their support to children who are Autistic and those having other behaviour problems like Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and other developmental disorders.

10% of school going children are afflicted by Learning Disabilities. It is one of the reasons for low achievement in school. These children have very low self-esteem, they are loners or have very few friends, as they are not able to achieve high levels of academic success. These children might be good at dancing, music or have some other skills, but only when it comes to academics they have a problem, they specifically have some reading , writing and spelling problems. They are unable to process the stimuli given to them in the classroom efficiently. This problem becomes more acute since teachers sometimes do not have the time to give special attention to these children. Some children with LD are primarily a victim of our educational system and methods of teaching. The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has however announced some special privilege for children suffering from LD - a scribe is allowed during exams; spelling and punctuation marks are ignored. It is finally upto the individual schools to give these children a normal environment.

"For children having LD...we teach him in a way he or she can learn. It is a multi-sensory way of teaching. We have visual, auditory drills and kinesthetics (teaching through movement, touch and feeling). You have to find out what a child afflicted with LD is really comfortable with. They have an auditory difficulty (difficulty in processing auditory stimuli) and they learn more through visuals. They have to be given a specific framework on how they learn", says Lakshmi, a Psychologist.

The slow learners lack in social skills, their development is very slow and they have a very low self-esteem because of their lack of abilities. Another group that Sankalp addresses is the Attention Deficit group. Children with this problem are basically unable to filter incoming stimuli, they are also unable to make out what's relevant or irrelevant. They cannot sit in one place and concentrate in an activity.

Children afflicted by Autism cannot communicate verbally or nonverbally. By the age of five, if they do not speak, there is no hope that they ever will. According to Sulatha, who is the special educator at Sankalp, "it is a neurological disorder, and no one has been able to pin point the causes. It could be genetic, there is no brain damage however, and once it occurs you are struck for life. Children who have Autism are socially withdrawn, they do not feel the need to communicate with another person". Autism is a sensory disorder, wherein the afflicted child does not realise pain, even if he or she is hurt badly. They have some peculiar preferences, like, they do not like messy mish-mash food, they like to have only crunchy-munchy hard food. They prefer systematic work, they do not like any change in routine. They can relate only to the person handling them on a regular basis. For example, at Sankalp, since Autistic children are handled only by Sulatha, they respond only to her. No one else can get through to them.

Remedial measures make use of a wide range of instructional methods that make it possible for all students to learn. Special educators plan and evaluate instruction in an individualised manner to accommodate each child's unique strengths and weaknesses. "You have to work on specific skills, which the children are already able to manage. To get their attention focussed we keep our groups very small. Each faculty would work with only two children at a time", says Lakshmi. A typical child affected by Autism, cannot even communicate what he or she wants. They have to be taught everything with visual aids and with action. They have to be taught day-to-day coping strategies and to be more social. A high functioning Autistic child can even go to a regular school.

But how are the parents reacting? According to Lakshmi, "the problem with parents is, initially they all feel why my child? and then there is this stigma attached with special schools. But today parents are becoming more aware and understanding about these problems. Sankalp carries out special counselling sessions for parents, and slowly the acceptance level increases. Some parents expect miracles, but it is a very slow and hard process. We do not handle any academic related stuff here. We only work on learning skills, like reading, comprehension and writing. Sankalp also conducts awareness programmes in and around Annanagar schools, in order that the schools can identify these children and send them to us".

What Sankalp is trying to do is, integrate children with special needs with regular pre-schoolers to encourage social play and to give them a normal environment, where they are able to interact with normal children.

For further details contact:

Address : Sankalp, J-14, 13th Main Road, Plot No 1569/1, anna Nagar West, Chennai - 600 040.
Phone : 620 3131 / 619 5543.
E-mail : sankalpl@hotmail.com

|