1

If I wasn't Dyslexic, I probably wouldn't

have won the Robotics in IIT Mumbai

If I had been a better reader then that would

have come easily. Thereafter I wouldn't try

painting & become an International Prize

Winner.

OCTOBER IS SPECFIC LEARNING DISABILITY AWARENESS MONTH

JOIN WITH US TO RAISE THE AWARENESS

FROM OCTOBER 24 HELIKX FOUNDATION DAY TO NOVEMBER 29

AN OFFICAL NEWSLETTER OF SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK & RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF

HELIKX OPEN SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES

www.helikxopenschool.org | info@helikx.com | +91-98427-33318

Volume 1 | Issue 9 SEPTEMBER 2014

From the Chairman's Desk

Career lab in your school

Why Self Supervision?

What is my Learning Style

SLD Foundation Day Gallery

School Activities

Baby Camel & Mother

Identifying Children At-Risk and Early Intervention

Handling Children with SLD

2

Dear Reader,

I thank all our readers and well-wishers for your continu-

ous support. Your feedback is always encouraging and

drives us to do better professional service.

This month our main focus will be on Specific Learning

Disability as October month is dedicated for disability aware-

ness throughout the world.

Our helikx open school has extended it’s service to other private

schools to set up counselling and remedial professional help. We

are happy to share the news that ,officially our centre has been

inaugurated on vijaya Dasami day at URC matriculation school

Erode and has signed MOU to start Assessment, Remedial and

Counselling centre in their campus. We thank URC school

management for the support.

Our students participated in multiple intelligence competition

and brought laurels to our school.

Helikx School Social Work and Research department has orga-

nized state level paper presentation seminar on School Social

Work. Certificate course for parents

and teachers has introduced such as

2days bare counsellor introducto-

ry program, 5 days bare foot coun-

sellor program and 10days advance

program on school and general counselling.

We are participating in school Business enterprise competition

and mini blog competition, robotic competition in Mumbai.

Kindly visit our school blog- blog.helikxopenschool.org and post

your comments.

Congrats to Alen and Roopika for meticulous effort to bring out

every month newsletter.

Thank you again

Happy Reading!

G. Senthilkumar

From Our Chairman’s Desk

O ctober is the month for Learn-

ing Disability Awareness.

Helikx started the campaign

on Learning Disability Awareness on

24th of October on its Foundation Day

and it lasts till November 29th. Foun-

dation Day celebrations included the exhibition

of paintings by Karthikeyan and photos by

Hariprasad our former students. Karthikeyan, is

ongoing his study in fine arts and Hariprasad

pursuing his diploma in Multimedia. Both are

pursuing their passion which was nurtured by

our school’s vocational masters.

Many teens after their secondary education think the same way

“Now what “. The young adults affected by ADHD are uncer-

tain about the next step that has to be taken in their life, while

their predecessors are depressed about the their ongoing job’s

that don’t suit them. They don’t know which job might make

them happy.

In this situation Career lab can be an environment to nurture

their talent into a job. Missions should be aimed to cap-

ture the brilliance of an individual with ADHD and Dys-

lexia, who think and work differently. Aravind, 10th stand-

ard student of our school has started earning from his

paintings, which he sells through schools. “ I feel more

confident and to write more when others comment on my

stories” says Prassana 9th Standard student of our School

whose stories are published online.

A Multi prolonged approach can help the kids to overcome their

problems:

Life coaching – Counselors can play a role of life coach in ca-

reer lab. They can train them in goal setting, accountability,

time management, organizing, and life style. The counselors can

address concerns of anxieties that

are there while taking a new pro-

ject.

Therapy – Help to continue their

ADHD treatment to manage anxie-

ty, depression and to overcome

challenge with group dynamics, building self-confidence and

enhancing interpersonal relationship.

A stimulating environment where everyone motivate their

creation. Mentor to open up a market for their product. Career

lab can be an open space where they can do little but not late

and do things differently.

Career lab in your School

EDITORIAL

By Alen Kuriakose, Trainer, HSSW

3

A ny kind of personal develop-

ment endeavor involves a lot

of aspects to consider and

apply in order to realize one’s poten-

tials. Once these potentials are identi-

fied, they become your personal

strengths and assets that can empower

you as an individual and take you to

greater heights.

In order to become an effective indi-

vidual, you have to get in touch with

yourself. No one else knows you better

than yourself. In some cases, people

who fail to connect to their inner

selves find it hard to get a hold of their

lives. Other people tend to dominate or

take over their lives. Would you want

others to run your life because they

know your strengths and weaknesses

more than you do?

Personal development requires more

self-analysis; personal management

involves more self-supervision. Alt-

hough self-analysis and self-

supervision are related, they are sepa-

rate concepts. You cannot manage or

supervise yourself unless your get to

know the real you. Knowing oneself

entails knowing one’s abilities, flaws,

strengths, and behaviors. These are

essential components to practicing

effective self-supervision.

Understanding Self-Analysis

The concept of self-analysis was popu-

larized by the famous psychologist

Sigmund Freud. He studied and re-

searched on the field of

psychoanalysis, which is

an outcome of the study of

self-analysis.

Self-analysis is defined as

the process of studying

and examining one’s per-

sonality, emotions, and

behavior. In psychological

terms, the process involves an under-

standing or comprehension of the indi-

vidual’s subconscious and conscious

mind.

There are various means to conduct

self-analysis. A regular self-evaluation

of potentials and weaknesses can

make you realize what you need to

develop more and what needs to be

changed or even eliminated. Know

your talents and abilities and develop

them. Get in touch with your emotions.

Find out how well you handle positive

and negative emotions. Know your

personal behaviors and take stock of

your attitude. Be keen on what turns

other people off and what attracts

them about your personality. Take

personality tests to provide you objec-

tive explanations of your personality

issues. Ask other people what they

think of you and your personality in

general.

Self-Analysis as the Initial Stage to

Self-Supervision

It was already mentioned in the earlier

paragraph of this article that it is diffi-

cult to manage your own life and ac-

tions if you do not completely know

yourself. There are people who seem

like a stranger to their own selves. Self

-supervision is a highly motivating skill

and requires other major skills to be

utilized. Responsible people usually

just direct their own lives without rely-

ing on others. Self-supervised individu-

als know themselves best and can easi-

ly identify what works and what does

not work for them.

In order to properly manage your life

and your undertakings in both person-

al and professional aspects, you must

study your own personality. At times,

you find out the real you from other

people. The people who know you tend

to make you realize what is on your

subconscious that is not being entered

in your conscious mind.

Regular Self-Analysis for an Effec-

tive Self-Supervision

It was mentioned that before you can

start supervising yourself, a self-check

must be done to be fully aware of your

real personality. It will not be very

hard to handle your activities and oth-

er undertakings if you know what you

are capable of and what you are not

good at. Self-analysis does not end at

the initial phase of learning how to self

-supervise; it is a continuous process.

The more you know about yourself, the

better you become at self-supervising.

If you are about to establish your indi-

vidual career, you must have already

created an inner connection with your

personality. When you become im-

mersed in the corporate world, self-

supervision is very essential. As you go

through various experiences, you

should also be continually developing

your personality.

At the start, it is normal to depend on

other people for decisions and on what

to do. But you must be able to get over

this stage in the long run and learn

how to be an independent worker.

Good self-supervision will definitely

take your career to greater heights

and transform your life. Yet, always

strive to know yourself more and more

in the process.

Why Self Supervision? Compiled By Mr.G Senthilkumar (HSSW)

4

E ach person has different

learning preferences and

styles that benefit them, in-

cluding auditory, visual, logical, social,

solitary or tactile. It is not uncommon

for people to discover certain learning

styles that work best for them or styles

that are preferable in certain situa-

tions. It is also possible for individuals

to develop learning styles never uti-

lized in the past or further hone pre-

ferred styles.

Visual Learning Style

Visual learners better retain infor-

mation presented in pictures, videos,

graphs, and books. These people bene-

fit when information is presented on

an overhead projector or white board,

on a piece of paper, or in a book. Visu-

al learners often make sure their notes

are very detailed and spend extra time

reviewing information from textbooks.

Visual learners also frequently draw

pictures or develop diagrams when

trying to comprehend a subject.

Auditory Learning Style

Auditory learners better retain infor-

mation presented in lectures and pub-

lic speeches, audio recordings, and

other forms of verbal communication.

While a visual learner would prefer to

read a book or watch a video, auditory

learners would prefer to attend a lec-

ture.

Tactile Learning Style

Tactile Learners retain information

best through hands-on participation.

These types of people are also known

as kinesthetic learners. For example, a

tactile learner in an automotive repair

class would learn better by working on

cars rather than sitting through a lec-

ture or reading a book. They also excel

in classes where students are assigned

to study in labs.

Logical Style

Individuals who excel at math and

possess strong logical reasoning skills

are usually logical learners. They no-

tice patterns quickly and have a keen

ability to link information that would

seem nonrelated by others. Logical

learners retain details better by draw-

ing connections after organizing an

assortment of information.

Social Style

Social learners usually have excellent

written and verbal communication

skills. These individuals are at ease

speaking with other people and often

comprehend their perspectives. For

this reason, others frequently seek

counsel from social learners. Social

learners also learn best working with

groups and take opportunities to meet

individually with teachers.

Solitary Style

Solitary learners usually prefer to

work by themselves in private settings.

They usually do not rely on others for

help when solving a problem or study-

ing. Solitary learners frequently ana-

lyze their learning preferences and

methods. Since solitary learners prefer

to work alone, it is possible for them to

waste time on a difficult problem be-

fore seeking assistance.

To get the most out of your time study-

ing, it is very helpful to identify your

personal learning preferences and

styles. It is very beneficial to know the

learning styles that best suit your per-

sonality when selecting a major, sign-

ing up for classes, and preparing for a

test. It can also help you when select-

ing a future career.

Mrs. P.V Ananthalakshmi,

Principal, Helikx Open School

5

HELIKX 14th FOUNDATION DAY CELEBRATION

Rn. S.P Bala Subramaniam, District Governor, Rotary International District observing the Students Perfor-mance

Memories : Photo exhibition on Helikx

Mr. Bala Subramaniam, Manager Glaze Brooke Matric-ulation School on Foundation Day

B.ed Students of Sri. Saradha College after attending the orientation on SLD

Students creating Human Pyramid on Foundation Day

Dr. C. Janagavali, Principal Sri Saradha College was the Chief Guest.

Dewali Celebration in Campus

Students participating Salem tree club’s CLEAN Drive, painting town railway junction and planting tree sampling

URC teachers after 15 days SLD Training

Students & Staff on mak-ing of key chains

6

Two days Classroom Remedial teaching strategies workshop Nov 28,29

Helikx open school and learning Centre in association with Sarada College of Education Salem organizing Two Day workshop on

Classroom Remedial Teaching strategies for teachers. More than 500 teacher will benefit from the program. Lead faculty Mrs.

Devipriya Psychologist and Secretary of Helikx open school will handle session on Remedial strategies, Mrs. Usha Ra-

makrishnan from Vidya Sagar Chennai will handle session on Multiple intelligence, Mr.G.Senthilkumar Rehabilitation

Social worker will handle session on need for counselling.

14th year Helikx Open School Foundation Day

The year 2001 marked the beginning of Helikx open school journey with one student. Every year Oct 24 is celebrated as founda-

tion day. This year we celebrate our foundation for one month Oct 24 to Nov 29. This year theme “invisible to visible” still larger

section of population especially parent and teacher are unable to understand this hidden disability common known as Dyslexia. So

this year we decided to reach out to teachers, parent and public on a massive awareness campaign. More than 25 principals of

various leading school will visit our school to see the resource room. Our aim is to set up remedial, assessment and counselling

room in every school so that no student feel let down by teachers and parent and society. Let’s make learning a joyful journey.

5S practice by Helikx Open School Students

5S practice the most sorted process by all manufacturing industries all over the world to keep the work place well organised, in-

troduced by Japanese. In Helikx open school we are very proud to state we practice this system to inculcate voluntary discipline

among student themselves. In this process management, teachers, non teaching staffs, students are grouped in to zones. Each

zone will be represented by all the above stakeholders, every week meeting and every day cleaning of the zone will take place.

Monthly once audit will be done and point scored based on the work place discipline and way it’s kept organized. We are very

proud to state our school hostel is maintained so clean by students themselves, because of this practice falling sickness have come

done by 80%.our students participated in the 5S competition held in Erode and shared their experience and the effort was well

appreciated. Very surprising some of our student started implementing this practice in their home.

Every year Nov 1st is celebrated as Salem day to make city greener and safer to live and to show cause of heritage to next genera-

tion. This Salem tree club organized CLEAN Drive, painting town railway junction and planting tree sampling in and around the

Salem town railway junction. Helikx school students participated in all these activity. Kudos to our Helikx students they won third

prize for the save earth wall painting competition. Participating in such events make student more responsible as future citizen to

make our living place cleaner and safe for future. Congrats students and tree club.

November 1 Salem Day Celebration Helikx student participation

As part of holistic learning process our school is tied up with varnagam trust (late namalvar organic guru) institute, to teach chil-

dren importance of organic farming and importance of agriculture and how in school and home farming can be done. 17 students,

3 teacher and warden are participating three days in kadavaur tamilnadu about organic farming. In our campus children given

time to practice farming and happy to note for school kitchen vegetables grown from school farm is used in a small way. These

aspects are linked to learning subject as per respective classes. Children from framing background are these lesson back home

implement. Master Pradeep, is our inspiration story. Children with ADHD and ADD of our school benefited from these program’s .

Food security importance is made sensitized to students. Importance go green and protecting nature is made priority to next gen-

eration. We at Helikx are very happy to teach children with specific learning disability vocation that will give confidence to face

life in better aspects.

Helikx student at VANAGAM organic farming November 1 to 3

Helikx Open School Community Initiatives

For more details visit http://blog.helikxopenschool.org/

7

M other and a baby camel were

lying around, and suddenly

the baby camel asked,

“mother, may I ask you some questions?

Mother said, “Sure! Why son, is there

something bothering you? Baby said,

“Why do camels have humps?” Mother

said “Well son, we are desert animals, we

need the humps to store water and we are

known to survive without water”. Baby

said, “Okay, then why are our legs long

and our feet rounded?” Mother said, “Son,

obviously they are meant for walking in

the desert. You know with these legs I can

move around the desert better than any-

one does!” Baby said, “Okay, then why are

our eyelashes long? Sometimes it bothers

my sight”. Mother with pride said, “My

son, those long thick eyelashes are your

protective cover. They help to protect

your eyes from the desert sand and wind”.

Baby after thinking said, “I see. So the

hump is to store water when we are in the

desert, the legs are for walking through

the desert and these eye lashes protect

my eyes from the desert then what in

god’s name are we doing here in the

Zoo!?”This story clearly addresses the

state of a child with Learning Disability. If

parents and teachers are able to identify

the Skills, knowledge, abilities and experi-

ences of a child with LD and put them at

the right place, their true potential is dis-

covered.

Myths & Facts about Learning Disabil-

ities

1. Myth: People with LDs cannot

learn.

Fact:

People with LDs are smart and can learn.

LDs mean learning in different ways.

2. Myth: People with LDs are just

lazy.

Fact:

People with LDs often have to work hard-

er, but the results may not show their

efforts.

Some people with LDs may become dis-

couraged because they have struggled so

hard, and they may appear unmotivated

or lazy.

3. Myth: Accommodations give an

unfair advantage.

Fact:

Fair is not always equal.

Accommodations allow people with LDs to

work to their level of their ability and not

their disability.

4. Myth: All LDs are outgrown by

adulthood.

Fact:

LDs tend to be noticed most often in

school, but can affect all areas of life.

Often by adulthood, people have found

ways to use their strengths to compensate

for their LDs. Many adults seek work

environments that are a good fit.

5. Myth: LDs are all the same.

Fact:

LDs are complicated and vary from person

to person.

LDs come in many forms and affect every-

one differently.

The impact of

LDs may

change in

different set-

tings depend-

ing on the de-

mands of the

situa-

tion.

Guide

Chil-

dren with LD to a Bright Future

Every child is different and so are his

needs. Some children have difficulty in

reading, writing, spelling, solving math

problems etc. These difficulties are a re-

sult of different Learning Disabilities.

As a teacher, one would want that all chil-

dren get premium education and find suc-

cess in life. And a teacher plays a very

important role in this. This is what one

needs to do to help children with Learning

Disabilities.

Divide and Rule

Break the tasks into smaller steps. Let

them complete one step and then give

them instructions for the next step either

verbally or in writing.

Give More Time

As these children find it difficult to read,

they need more time. Give these students

some extra time to finish their school

work or while conducting test.

Teach to Share

Since these children find it difficult to

read and write, one could try to allow

these students to borrow books and notes

from their classmates. Perhaps one can

give them textbooks-on-tape. Teachers

could also allow them to use a tape re-

corder to record whatever is being taught

or dictated.

Use Technology

Parents and teachers can allow these stu-

dents to make use of a computer so that

they don’t do spelling mistakes or they

can simply use it to record what is being

taught

Ms. Thenu, CT

Freelance Counsellor

Baby Camel and Mother

8

"Every student

can learn, just

not on the same

day, or the same

way. " - George

Evans

T he way we grew up during our child-

hood and the way today's children are

growing are not the same. The various

factors involved in child rearing like:

house, weather, technology, food and

availability of people have changed. Eve-

rything have changed to, so-called better

living . But what is really happening is, as

we advance scientifically we are experi-

encing more and more challenges in child

development. Scientist are still pondering

what could be the reason for so many

child development issues that we are fac-

ing today. They are weighing so many

factors from life style changes, food hab-

its, hereditary, etc. But none of them led

to any fruitful findings.

Children develop at normal pace will

achieve age appropriate growths at the

right time or sometimes earlier than ex-

pected. But when we consider children

who does not reach those milestones on

time, they can be grouped under two

different categories. They are as follows:

1. Children who develop slowly and

2. Children who are At-Risk of developing

a disability.

When a child is experiencing developmen-

tal delays, he/she may not be reaching

age appropriate milestones. One of the

early yellow flag rises when a child is not

reaching the age appropriate mile stones

repeatedly.

The only way to distinguish a slow devel-

opment from At- Risk is through proactive

observation. The very first step that a

parent could do is to observe carefully

child's development and if they feel there

is repeated developmental delay, then it

should be communicated to the child's

pediatrician and consequently get appro-

priate help from appropriate specials like

psychologist, Occupational therapist or

early intervention specialist, if needed.

This should be done only by professionals

who are trained to evaluate various disa-

bilities and disorders. This evaluation will

involve combination of one on one consul-

tation, observation report from family

members, teachers or other related adults

involved in that child's life.

Early (yellow) signals for ages 0-3. A

child who fails to achieve the following

age appropriate mile stone repeatedly

may fall under "At-Risk" group:

Physical: Reaching, Rolling, Crawling and

Walking.

Cognitive: Thinking, Learning, solving

problem .

Communication: Talking, Listening, Un-

derstanding.

Social and Emotional: Playing, Feeling

secure and happy.

Self Help : Eating, Dressing.

A child At -Risk of developing a disability

in the future should be intervened at the

early stage to bridge the gap in develop-

ment. Early intervention not only saves

the child from unnecessary stress but

also provides alternate ways to develop

the skills that the child is lagging. Also

early intervention helps parents to under-

stand their child better and provide nec-

essary help to the child.

Early Red Signal for school age chil-

dren. The most prominent sign for onset

of disability is there will be a distinctive

and unexplained gap between perfor-

mance and age appropriate achievement

at school. Learning disability is different

from intellectual inability, sensory impair-

ment and autism spectrum disorder. Stu-

dents with learning disability struggle to

acquire the skills needed for their aca-

demic performance. Learning disability is

lifelong, that why it's crucial to identify as

early as possible and proper supportive

actions should be provided to promote

learning by adopting alternate ways. The

sooner the alternate course of action is

taken it's better for the child, as the goal

here is to bridge the gap between the

performance and achievement not only

academically but also socially .

Sometimes Learning Disability(LD) will be

found along with Attention-Deficit/

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) but they

are not the same. LD may affect a per-

son's ability in Listening, Speaking, Read-

ing, Writing, Spelling, Reasoning and

Mathematics. Getting professional help to

identify, evaluate and provide necessary

help that the child needs will help the

parents to be well informed and help their

child get closer to their dreams.

Author's Insight: Many parents and

students has the question why do we need

to label a person with their disability? We

have common core instruction method

and each child learns differently, if we

could individualize instruction according

to individual child's need there won't be

any need for labeling, but the only way to

help a child with LD is to provide him

with alternate course of instruction that

would help him understand and learn.

Reference:

"Pink and red flags: Identifying children

at risk" presented by Meg Drake M.A in

learning disability, Canada, New Jersey

Montessori association corporation,

March 2011-2012..

National center for Learning Disability,

http://www.ncld.org

Identifying Children At-Risk and Early Intervention

By Murugalakshmi Thirumalai , USA

9

“S pecific earning disability is a disor-

der in one or more of the basic psy-

chological processes in understanding or in

using language, spoken or written, that may

manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calcula-

tions, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental

aphasia. However, learning disabilities do not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor

disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage”. This is the

detailed definition given by The American Special Education Law, the individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2002).

When we talk about how to handle children with specific learning disabilities, it is mandatory to understand their issues and chal-

lenges. The learning disabled children face many challenges which we can discriminate under three headings. They are Academic

issues, Behavior issues, Emotional issuesSince they have a stigma as a learning disabled child these mentioned issues arise alter-

natively with their disability. It can be categorized under three headings as below.

For the academic problem students facing we can give remedial teaching with the help of a trained special educators who can

understand their difficulties completely so that they can empathize with them. Individual Education Plan (IEP) is needed to pre-

pare for all the children after a detailed assessment both formal and informal. Behavior issues have to be treated by behavior

management technique. Identifying behavior problem is the first step to give intervention followed by behavior recording inter-

vention giving and observing the changes is the major steps under behavior management programme. Emotional issues should be

handled by giving adequate training. Emotions, Identification of emotions, handling different emotions, respecting the feelings of

others these are the major trainings needed for the children with emotional issues.

If we are able to handle these three areas of issues we can be successful in handling students with specific learning disability.

Academic issues Behavior issues Emotional issues

Hand writing problems Foul language Inferior complex

Comprehension Nail biting Superior complex

Mathematics Bullying Anxiety

Exam fear Stealing Stress

Spelling problem Telling lies Mood strings

Memory problems Absenteeism Falling behind peers

Listening Gang fighting/formation Withdrawal

Grammar/ concept Playful attitude Single parenting

Poor reading and revising habit Damaging school property Abuse(verbal/physical)

Poor school work Disturbing others Temper tantrum

Handling children with

Specific Learning Disability

By Ms Jainy John,

Helikx School Social Worker

149 Alamelu Nagar, Pagalapatty Road, Muthunaickenpatty, Salem - 636 303

info@helikx.com | www.helikx.com

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