Sankalp Special School, Kanpur 2017 Mid-Year Update

Background Caters to children with special needs (autism, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, speech/language issues, mentally challenged) Project’s goal is to nurture these kids with targeted attention and therapy so eventually they become self-sufficient Individual progress plans for each child, 5-7 children per teacher, Physio/Speech/Behavioral therapy Supported by Asha-SV since Fall 2009 Asha Stars project: Like any other Asha-SV project except the funds sent are only those that have been directly donated to the project. Asha Kanpur oversees the project (funds sent to Asha Kanpur, they do the disbursals and monitor funds utilization); they also try to raise funds locally Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/sankalpspecialschool/

Current Statistics Students - 48 Students Staff  - 8 teachers for classes - 1 computer trainer (part time) - 1 speech therapist (visiting 6 days a week) - 1 psychologist (visiting 6 days a week) - 2 physiotherapists (visiting 6 days a week) - 1 coordinator - 1 aaya and 1 female attendant 1 hired van and 3 school van for transport of children (48 from previous batch + 9 new admissions) compared to last year – due to location change

Success Stories Aishwarya Singh, 20 year old boy with severe motor weakness in all four limbs has never stood up on his legs and remains on wheel chair. He is with us since last 2 and half years and now he can stand up for more than a minute by holding a table and he loves to sing our national anthem while in this pose! Since he is spastic, his muscular spasm increasaes when he gets excited and this affects his speech also when he wants to communicate with people. but with constant practice, this time in the annual function, he recited "kabir ke dohe" on the stage (he remembers more than 20 dohas and when he was on stage, he had them written up on a paper but he did not look at the paper even once and preferred to recite them by himself!) (aishwarya has borderline mental retardation and he can read simple hindi and english and can type on computer keyboard. he is pretty active on facebook too!) Abdul Kalam is a 16 years old boy who has severe motor dysfunction in both legs along with mild mental retardation. Since he belongs to a very low socioeconomic strata family, he was in a habit to sit and drag himself for moving about. He is with us since last 8 months and now we have trained him to walk 15-20 steps at a time using a walker as a support Raunak, 12 years and Ankit, 10 years are real brothers and both have moderate autism. They were admitted in sankalp 2 years back. At that time, both were totally non-verbal and had no social training (not even the sense to go to toilet when needed).Ssince the mother is almost uneducated was mentally and emotionally very upset because both her children were not normal, she had not trained them at all. Now, both the children speak few words meaningfully like ma, papa, khana, susu etc. They follow simple orders and cooperate in all classroom activities. with repeated counseling, the mother is also happier now and takes care of the children nicely

Vaibhav, 7 year old autistic and hyperactive child is with us since last 9 months. When he was admitted, he could not sit inside class for more than 10 minutes. and in those 10 minutes also, he was constantly moving here and there. he also became violent intermittently. He was totally non-verbal and did not follow any orders (not even the simplest ones like come here, sit down etc.) Now, he sits at one place for almost an hour, follows the orders given by his teacher, cooperates in all activities and has started speaking few words like papa, bua, aao, pani etc. and tries to do things he is asked to do Samanyu, 13 years old child with mild mental retardation and he is with us since last 6 years. We had started with colour and shape recognition and now, he can read simple words in hindi (including words with matras) and English and tries to read sentences in Hindi. He can also write dictation of simple sentences in Hindi and English. He can add and subtract 3-4 digit numbers including those with carry-over and borrowing. He has developed fair speech and interacts nicely with everyone Amarpal singh is a 22 years old boy with mild to moderate mental retardation. he is with us since last 5 years and he can now do simple 2 digit additions and subtractions. he is fond of writing and can copy simple words in English and Hindi. he can read shopping list of common household items and can do money exchange upto Rs.20. He can also knead flour, do deep frying, make dough balls, peel and cut vegetables including peas. He likes to eat and so, we are training him for kitchen work. He can also do paper pasting to make envelopes, and takes ineterst in painting and decorating craft items

Challenges/Changes Due to personal issues, Dr. Deepti is not able to give her 100% to the school. They haven’t been able to do anything new for the school since 3 years now and it will be difficult to sustain if this continues. She used to manage all paper work and accounts, organize programs and workshops, used to be in touch with other centers and be updated, always had a plan for betterment of school and children, but due to some issue she is not able to maintain that vision. The staff is not very exposed and trained, they do everything they are told to do but they don't have any vision of their own. She is looking to hire some more competent people who have a wider exposure and can guide the teachers along with her inputs. Within next one or two months, she is planning to higher more staff to help her with vocational units and do one or two workshops before year end for teachers training. The new owner of the rental place has constructed one or two halls that can help conduct these workshops. Another plan is to get the disability certificate and other papers made for the children and help them in availing the pension, health insurance and other facilities that the government is offering for special needs children and adults. If we provide these services, we might get more admissions and things would be economically more feasible if the number of children is more.

Class Work