Every parent of a child with special needs dreams of an inclusive school where their child flourishes and a curriculum that caters to their sensory needs and unique academic requirements. With the new law that makes inclusion a norm, rather than an exception, this dream may come true sooner rather than later. But the most important aspect for this to become a reality is a curriculum that can be easily implemented by regular teachers without any additional efforts and something that takes into consideration the vital role that sensory processing plays in the ability of the child to learn academics. It is an honour and a privilege to introduce you all to a curriculum that fulfils all the above needs and makes inclusive education a pleasant learning experience for the child! Let's chat with Mrs. Sridevi Prasad from Hyderabad, a creator of such wonderful curriculum.
Q) Please tell us about your journey as a special educator so far...
I have more than 35 years of experience as a special educator and I consider all my students as part of my extended family. Under Shankar Foundation, there are different branches that cater to children/adults with special needs. At Saaburi, we provide early intervention and therapies for children. At Shraddha, we provide a holistic program for the all round development for children/adults with intellectual disabilities and many other developmental disabilities. We provide National Open School certified courses ( Open Based Education in secondary and senior secondary). At Samarth, we provide pre-vocational and vocational training. At Saakaar, we prepare youngsters for employment in in main stream with required self management and technical skills, especially computer oriented skills. At Sannidhi, we prepare the for for adult life in all aspects. At Swanthana, we prepare ourselves to minimize our roles and just witness their skills in leading lives.
Q) Wonderful mam, that is a complete life span approach to help individuals with special needs. Please share details about your latest venture - S.M.A.R.T. program.
S.M.A.R.T. stands for Sensory Motor And Remedial Training. It was developed over a period of several years and aims to ascertain sensory motor functioning status of children with developmental delays between age roups of 4 to 12 years in inclusive preschools or special schools. We don't assign a label to the child, but aim to bridge the gaps in their educational needs through multi-sensory approach. I have worked exclusively on this program and modified it to reach out to many in need. They may be preschoolers at risk for Autism, Learning disabilities, other special needs, or just children who need a gentle push to get started on their educational journey; our program can help them all! We call this program - Samaikhya i.e., an integration of all our senses to foster holistic hands-on learning for our children. It has an assessment checklist and a remedial support program to adjust to the performance level of the child and grows along with the child.
Q) That's great mam, do tell us in detail about the assessment checklist.
S.M.A.R.T. has items categorized across eight sensory motor areas, listed below, with 3 to 6 tasks in each area for a given age group. The items have been sequenced suitable for age groups within preschool level.
In total, the checklist for a given age group consists of nearly 25 age appropriate tasks in 8 sensory areas together. All put together, the tool consists of 300 items that cater to age groups of 4-10 years.
The sensory motor areas covered in this program are:
1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Tactile (touch)
4. Gustatory ( taste)
5. Olfactory ( smell)
6. Vestibular
7. Proprioception and
8. Interoception
Q) Only five senses of smell, taste, touch, vision and hearing are well known. Would you like to elaborate on the other three?
Yes, the five senses are most widely known. But for the holistic development of the child, we need to consider all 8 senses. I will share a brief overview of the other three, lesser known senses.
Vestibular sense is located in the inner ear and brain, controls the balance and eye movements and plays a major role in cognitive development.
Proprioception is located in the muscles, tendons and joints. It is so important that without it we would not be able to plan our next step/movement.
Interoception is the perception of senses inside our body that helps us interpret our body signals of hunger, thirst and so on. This is a very basic introduction, but I can vouch from my experience that they are as essential as the other five senses.
S.M.A.R.T. is the first and only program in India that connects the educational concepts in such a holistic way by integrating all the eight senses.
Q) Please tell us more about the remedial support program.
It is a must that either parent or teacher should get trained by us in the S.M.A.R.T. program for the implementation of the program in a more effective way. The assessment should be done by our team. A child specific program, printed material and hands-on learning material will be provided throughout the each learning module. Our team will evaluate the present learning status and plan the future program on a quarterly basis.
Q) What are the different modules in this program?
Right now, we have eight modules and many more are in the pipeline.
1. Colours
2. Shapes
3. Sizes
4. Small Alphabets
5. Numbers
6. Family (child specific)
7. Activities of daily living and
8. Reading &Writing
Each module includes learning through eight senses by maintaining a balance between stimulating and calming.
Q) I know this is a copyright protected program, but will you please give us a glimpse of it...
Sure, I will share a few worksheets from our Colours module. In these, you can see how we are integrating all the senses of taste, smell, vision, hearing and interoception via understanding our feelings.
I am extremely happy and proud to share with you all that these worksheets, flash cards and other hands-on material are all made by our children and young adults in the skill training programs of Shankar Foundation.
Take a look:
Q) How has the feedback been for the program so far?
The feedback has been very encouraging. We have been practicing this program at our early intervention unit - Saaburi and have seen amazing results in young children. We are proud to say that we have successfully main streamed 27 children after teaching them all the requisite skills. These children who attended inclusive schools had made tremendous gains there and the school management has reached out to us to enquire what we did that made the child progress so well. This achievement made us to share the program with other schools to increase opportunities of inclusion.
Q) How will this program help an inclusive school?
In an inclusive school, using our program, the teachers can use our ready-made material and start to work right away with the children. We will help them with evaluation and provide a program for each child. We will also help them set up a room where the children can have holistic education that will help them successfully integrate into a mainstream school.
Q) Please share the information on how we can approach you to start this wonderful program...
Please reach out to us via email if you're interested in setting up our program in your school. Our email is samaikhya@shankarfoundation.org
I hope reading this interview, gave you hope that our dream of inclusion is not far now and our children's right to study in main stream school is very much possible with the help of this program that Sridevi mam has created from her decades of experience.
