IE : A pre-school for differently-abled - That's coming from this month : Sept 4, 2007

School for Unlimited Learning - SOUL - to customise regular curriculum to
suit needs of special children from the age of three

Mitali Kalyanpur

Pune, September 2: As an Air Force officer's wife travelling all over the
country, Geetanjali Joshi came across parents with differently-abled
children aged three or four who were in a quandary over what school to send
their children to. Since most institutions generally admitted such children
after the age of five or six, parents would end up sending them to regular
kindergartens, impeding their development.

This was when Joshi realised there were hardly any pre-schools exclusively
meant for special children, which gave her the idea to start one. "Regular
pre-schools would naturally not have teachers trained to handle special
children. Also, three or four is the age when such children can be trained
in a very effective manner," says she.

Joshi, daughter of eminent Marathi litterateur N S Phadke, will soon be
starting a school in the city that will admit differently-abled children
with intellectual impairment, mental or physical handicap. Children from the
age of three will be taken in without any higher bar for age, because as
Joshi puts it, it is the mental age that matters more in these cases than
the physical age.

The school, called 'SOUL' or School for Unlimited Learning for
differently-abled children of God, will start functioning from the middle of
September, and will concentrate primarily on the basic development of
children from providing toilet training to introducing fun activities. "In
case of most of these children, there is an immense amount of energy that
needs to be channelised properly. We plan to design a special development
chart for each child according to his or her individual needs," says Joshi.
There will fun activities too, including art and craft, games, music,
colours, clay and other interesting elements. The idea is to introduce most
of the activities that regular pre-schools would have, albeit by customising
them for children with special needs. Art-based Therapies like dance, music
and drama will be an important part of the course.

A qualified counsellor, Joshi has worked with the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as a parent counsellor. And the school too will
have a strong focus on counselling for parents. "In most cases, it is the
parents of the differently-abled children who need counselling. So this will
be like a meeting ground for parents since the development of the children
is not possible without their support," Joshi says.

A panel of doctors comprising a pediatrician, a dentist, eye specialist,
dietician and so on will also regularly visit the school. Eminent people
like theatre personality Dr Mohan Agashe will conduct activities for the
children on a regular basis. Joshi also has cooperation from Pune Municipal
Corporation (PMC) in the form of premises that have been lent to her at a
nominal cost. The school will be housed in a part of PMC's Shivajirao
Bhosale Jaltaran Talao in Shivajinagar.

With support from husband Avinash, who retired from the Indian Air Force as
Air Marshal, 58-year-old Joshi hopes she is successful in fulfilling her
dream of doing something for special children. "I hope I can bring in some
change in their lives," she says.

Publication : IE; Section : Mumbai; Pg : 5; Date : 4/9/07
URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=254253