Gurukulam at Chennai

Gurukulam @ Chennai

Radha Nandakumar and her experience of Gurukulam journey

I had worked in special schools, schools which supported inclusion, community based rehabilitation, and also participated in writing course material developed by IGNOU , while I sent my son to various special schools and Vocational training centers at New Delhi as well as Chennai, working personally alongside at home with my son.

During this period I observed the following drawbacks in most of the schools and Centers,

1. There was a rigid curriculum and time table to be followed by all the students
2. Therapies were not in coordination, that is, each therapist independently set goals for a child.
3. Life skills were not prioritized
4. Vocational training was not meaningful, as the emphasis was not employability.
5. There was no proper exit plan for each student.
6. Speech was given over emphasis to communicate.
7. A child’s innate potential was unrecognized unless the potential is explicit.
8. Independent living was not given importance.
9. The focus was not holistic development of a child and
10. Children with severe behavioral challenges were discouraged to join.

With a view to address these drawbacks, I joined hands with three other mothers whose thoughts resonated with mine to start Gurukulam. But unfortunately, two of the mothers parted ways during the covid time.

At Gurukulam, we have been partly successful in finding the solutions to the above mentioned issues:

• Every child follows a specific IEP, which is subject to changes depending on the child’s interest, also there is flexibility in the time table to be followed.
• The therapists get the inputs from the concerned teachers/ special educators regarding the classroom behavior of a child. Then the goals are set to achieve the desired learning outcome.
• Life skills are given lot of importance. Self help skills are part of the curriculum. Students are taken to parks, shops on a regular basis to learn social behavior. The older students are taken to juice/tea shops to experience hanging around with friends. All the students are periodically taken out to learn social etiquettes, communication and be desensitized.
• We are trying to place our vocational students who have acquired skills. We are also trying to outsource work, but for now the proceeds on the sale of products made by the students are paid to them as stipends.
• Some of our vocational students have undergone internships at shopping centers, companies and IT firm.
• We encourage any form of communication. Around ten students have been communicating effectively through typing. Some of them communicate through gestures. We try to create opportunities, throughout the working hours, for the students to communicate. Also activities that aid communication, such as oral massages, learning more vocabulary, comprehension are also done.
• We try to observe every child closely and understand their innate potential. Once it is identified we nurture the ability and showcase it to the public through the awareness program or social media for the future growth of the child/ young adult.
• We train the students in almost all the house hold activities and self care. Some days the students over stay for few hours to learn the evening chores.

Our focus is holistic development.

• Some of our students cleared secondary and senior secondary exams through NIOS, a few of them have joined college and a couple of them are doing post graduation.
• We offer regular yoga, physical fitness and sports for the physical well being
• Periodical outings for learning social behavior
• Participation in all the cultural competitions
• Celebrate all the festivals in the traditional way.
• Vocational training in computer handling, cooking, weaving, block printing, packaging, jewelry making etc.

We do not reject any admission on the basis of behavioral challenges. Around forty students joined us with severe behavioral issues but have now mellowed down. We use our unique combination of therapies and massages, which has proved to be very effective in calming these individuals.

Our journey continues........

A note from the editor: Diversity highly inspired by Gurukulam, a collective of Autism Parents. Recently a lot of autism and developmental clinics are popping up with false claims of treating autism and loot parents with exorbitant fees. The irony is that, many of those clinics are opened by parents who were once victims and never find a solution. Diversity requests our readers to establish “Gurukulam Concept” in your place as a collective of parents. It will save thousands of children with autism and their families.