INSIDE THIS ISSUE

MACS COMMENCES 2

NEW BEGINNING....... 2

BACK TO THE NEST 2

THROUGH INCREDIBLE INDIA 3

CONQUERING THE HEIGHTS 5

PAINTER’S CAMP 6

NISH PACE SETTER 6

ISSUE 3 DECEMBER 2011

NISH

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SPEECH & HEARING

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

“Empower to Enrich, Include to Integrate”

Dear Friends and well-wishers of NISH,

As I write this note for the newsletter, I have been reflecting on the last one year at NISH. Looking back at the events and moments, the joys and excitements, and considering everything else, I can confidently say that that I am with the right people at the right place!

At the outset, I acknowledge and congratulate Dr. KN Pavithran who did a magnificent job in building up NISH to the present level. He retired on March 31, 2011 with a lot of wonderful memories of leading NISH for 14 years. Dr.KNP, thank you for your sincere, selfless work at NISH and I wish you many happy years ahead!

I also want to acknowledge Mr. G. Vijaya Raghavan who has been giving his whole hearted support and effort for the development of NISH. He has been instrumental in setting the vision for NISH and bringing about a culture of excellence and scholarship.

The major highlight of 2011 is the first batch of Computer Science students who are graduating this year. The MACS program is a new unique initiative we started last year to enhance the written communication capabilities of our deaf and hard of hearing degree students. Other initiatives include

• Research and funded projects in our ASLP and supporting departments• Developing a few high end IT applications for our in house use. • Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) for pre-schoolers• Correspondence program for parents of young deaf children

I enjoy the time I get to spend with the students. As a campus we are tight for room in our two buildings, but our new tower when completed will give us some good quality space spread across seven floors. As a team, we are poised to take off into the international arena. Our desire is to be the best place for education, research, rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. Nothing is off limits for us. We will continue to dream big and take some quantum leaps in the coming days!We hope to bring out our newsletters regularly. The S3 - Swapna, Sapna and Silvy – are the brain and talent behind this effort. So keep tuned. Our website is dynamic (www.nish.ac.in) and our facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nishtvm) pages are frequently updated.

Thanks for your interest and we hope you will continue to be with us in our exciting journey forward..

Adieu Dr K N PavithranDr. K N Pavithran retired as Executive Director of NISH after spearheading the organisation for 14 years. He has been the Executive Director of NISH since 1999. He joined NISH in 1997 as the Head of Technology Division and then became Executive Director in 1999. During his time NISH expanded its activities from small rented buildings into its own full fledged campus and became the youngest institute in India to recieve the Excellent Institution accreditation given by RCI, in 2002. On 30th March 2011, Mr.G Vijaya Raghavan, Hon.Director, Dr.Samuel N Mathew, Executive Director designate, about 60 staff, 300 students, preschoolers and parents gathered at the front lobby of NISH main building to give the most fitting and affectionate farewell to its first Executive Director. It was a very emotional moment for the staff who regard him as a mentor

and a fatherly figure. He was draped with a "ponnada" by Mr.G Vijaya Raghavan as a token of love and affection on behalf of the staff & students. The students presented him with paintings and other gifts.

In his farewell message, Dr. Pavithran remarked "NISH is a blessed institution. Whether far or near, I would like to hear only good things about NISH and about everyone involved with NISH".

Dr. Samuel N MathewExecutive Director

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

Disability Information Line

NISH is the first in the state to set up Disability Information Line, a 24-hour tele-info service to provide information on disability-related matters such as govern-ment schemes, scholarships, courses and offers meant for the disabled.

In addition to the automated facility, a caller can directly talk to a trained person on matters related to disability during office hours, from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

The system is being launched at NISH under the directive of the Union Govern-ment. The information line works on an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) with the help of a toll-free number.

Toll Free No:1800-425-3323Email:dilinfo@nish.ac.inSMS:9446590017.

Module to Augment Communicative Skills (MACS) commences

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISHNEWISHNEWISH

A memorable and emotional reunion of the first batch of the Hard of Hearing students of the Diploma in Software System was held on 7th September, 2011. NISH started this course in 1998. Mr G Vijaya Raghavan, Honorary Director of NISH lit the lamp and inaugurated the Alumni meet. 12 of the total 15 students could make it to the reunion. Most of them are now married,well settled and came

with their families. A powerpoint presentation of the good old days was shown. It was decided that the Alumni meet will be organised every year.

Back to the Nest - ALUMNI 2011

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New Beginning - Campus Recruitment Drive by WIPRO

It was yet another milestone for NISH on October 14, 2011. The IT giant, Wipro visited NISH Campus as the very first company coming for campus recruitment of the first graduating batch of the Computer Science program. Around 25 students attended the recruitment. Eight were shortlisted & six of them have been selected. Wipro and UST Global has already initiated an innovative mentoring program for these students.

Congratulations to all those who have made it to Wipro Infotech!

It was a heartfilling moment for the teach-ers and the parents of our preschool kids Pooja A, Lazar Joseph (Jerin), Ananthu, Habil Babu, Muhammed Afsal and Fathima Shajahan when they were integrated from Pre-school to different schools in March 2011.

The parents of the kids thanked the teach-ers for their effort to make the preschoolers ready to go out to a different world and thus fulfilling their dream of integrating their children with the normal students. These kids will be given additional support on weekends at Nish.

Perching on new trees

MACS is specially designed to help our students to improve their communicative skills. The specific aim of the course is to give students the training required to enable them to handle real life situations that require English language skills. The skills acquired will enable our students to access written material in English and thus broaden their intellectual and social horizons apart from enabling them to-

interact more widely with people in the world at large.

Unconventional and flexible the programme will be a mix of class room and library work, language games and ingeniously designed activities using interactive board. MACS,

launched on 6 July 2011 is an ongoing activity.

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISHNEWISHNEWISH

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Financial Assistance for Innovative Ideas

Dr.Anne Varghese, Sr.Psychologist, NISH is selected for financial assistance by the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS), estab-lished in Thiruvanan-thapuram for her

innovative ideas to carryout research in the area of Technological Aspects in Disability Studies and develop imple-ments to aid the physically challenged.

Her project is “Standardization of Seguin Form Board test for Children with hearing impairment in TVPM' .

It was a wonderful time for he final year Degree (HI) students when they explored India visiting places like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Goa. The 55 students of final year BFA and BCS program and the 5 staff visited not only places of tourist interest but also important companies, art galleries and museums.

At Delhi the students led by Mr Vijaya Raghavan, Honorary Director, NISH and Dr. Samuel N Mathew, Executive Director had a meeting with Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for HRD and Mr A.K. Antony, Union Minister for Defence.

On September 28 they met Mr. Rahul Gandhi and the All India Congress presi-dent Ms. Sonia Gandhi, at their residence.

They also visited Rashtrapathi Bhavan and IGNOU campus.

Through Incredible India

Dr. Madan Vasishta, Associate Profes-sor, Gallaudet University, Washington DC, USA & Mr. Davin Searls, Executive Director of Discovering Deaf Worlds, a non-profit advocacy organization based in USA visited NISH campus on 7th February 2011 and interacted with the staff & students.

Dr. Madan Vasishta

Dental camp

The Indian Dental Association (IDA) as part of the Community Dental Health Programme, conducted free dental check-ups for all the students and staff at NISH on October 19, 2011. Around ten IDA mem-bers attended the camp. The Dental check-up evoked a great response. Free samples of toothpastes and tooth brushes were given by Colgate. Oral health cards were also distributed.

They have also promised to provide an opportunity to exhibit the works of the BFA (HI) students during their conference.

NISH DAY 2011

NISH celebrated its 14th Institute Day on Saturday, October 8, 2011 at Karthika Tirunal Auditorium, East Fort, Trivandrum. The function began with a formal meeting at 5 pm in the evening.

Ms. Sarada Muraleedharan, Secretary, Social Welfare was the chief guest. The meeting was followed by colourful cultural programmes by the preschoolers and students of NISH.

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISHNEWISHNEWISH

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Camps & clinicsAudio evaluation and hearing aid distribution camps (ADIP scheme) • CSI VHS for the Deaf, Valakom - Tested 105 persons with hearing impairment on 28th and 29th September 2010.

• Kaniyar Panikan Samajam Nilambur - Tested 132 persons with hearing impairment on 10th and 11th November 2010 .

• Swanthanam Social Service Society Kayamkulam - Tested 78 persons with hearing impairment on 20th and 21st October 2010.

• Kottayam Social Service Society - Tested persons with hearing impairment on 6th and 7th September 2011.

Speech Evaluation Camps

• Rotary Club - Consulted almost 120 patients on 19th October 2010.

• National Asociation for the Blind, Pattom - Evaluated 9 children with multiple disabili-ties on June 2011

Free hearing clinic was provided and a stall for Arogya 10 was arranged at Christ Nagar International school on October 29th.

Disability Certificate issuing camp was held at NISH by the Social Security Mission on 29th November 2010 and certifi-cates were issued for 223 patients.

Conferences & Paper Presentations

PAEDIATRIC AUDIOLOGY CONFERENCE was held at Alapuzha on 27th and 28th November and the following papers were presented:

• “Comparative study of DPOAE amplitude in neonates before and after the administra-tion of Aminoglycoside” - Ms. Arya S S, ASLP faculty.

• “Development of Speech Reception Test by Picture Identification”-Ms. Anija Anirud-han, ASLP faculty.

• “Hearing Loss - A pathfinder in the Indian Scenario” -Liji Antony, Swathy A, BASLP students.

• Won the Best Paper Award for the paper titled “Changing Cochlear implantation protocol in Bacterial Meningitis” -Sandeep Sunny, Shari, Remya, MASLP students.

ISHA CON 43 was held at Kolkata on 21st to 23rd Jan 2011 and the following papers were presented

• "Lack of referential pointing: Implications for deviant language development among children with ASD"- Dr. Suja Kunnath, Head, ASLP Dept.

• “Patterns of Lexical Semantic activation in normal school going children across academic performance” -Sandeep Sunny, MASLP student.

• Won the prestigious Manohar Memorial Award for the paper titled “Pragmatic abilities in Juvenile Delinquents”.- Liji Antony, Swathy A, Nazla, BASLP students

A paper on “Speech after Pharyngoplasty-A single case study” was presented at INDOC-LEFTON 2011 held at Chennai from 28th to 30th January 2011 - Ms. Vinitha George, ASLP Faculty.

Dr. Suja Kunnath,Head, ASLP Dept. took a class on “Theories of Language acquisition - A critical evaluation using clinical data ” at Seminar on Language acquisition and Learn-ing at Dept. of linguistics, Kariyavattom campus on 3rd and 4th Feb 2011.

Members of the ASLP Department • gave lecture for students of Master in Health Science - Clinical Child Develop-ment at CDC, Trivandrum on 21 & 22 July 2011.

• gave a talk on ‘Challenges faced by Children with Deafness.’at Christ Nagar International School, Kowdiar on World Deaf Day on 23rd September 2011.

• gave a talk on ‘Class room management strategies for students with deafness’ at the Curriculam Development Centre, Kalamasseri.

A paper on “An advanced multidisciplinary model for Early Intervention for Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing” was pesented at ‘National Convention of Educators of the Deaf ’ held at New Delhi from 10th - 12th February 2011- Ms. Deepa & Ms.Prabha Joseph, Preschool Teachers

Continuing Rehabilitation Education (CRE) ProgrammeA CRE Programme on ‘Problem behaviours in children with hearing impairment and hearing impairment with associated disabilities’ was conducted at NISH on 11th & 12th Feb 2011. 30 special educators from various institutions participated in the programme.

As a part of the Community Based Rehabilita-tion Programmes at NISH, the Executive Director of NISH, Head of Department of Audio and Speech Language Pathology along with Social Worker visited Bud’s school, Peringamala in June 2011. Following this a speech and language evalu-ation was carried out at NISH and a class room program was arranged for effective management of these cases. This is also scheduled monthly to monitor the prognosis and further course of therapeutic manage-ment

Speech Evaluation camp

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISHNEWISHNEWISH

Sarath Chandran K S, BFA(HI) student has been selected for the Nurture Schoar-ship in Fine Arts by Govt of Kerala, imple-mented through the Sanskrit University, Kalady.

He won the third prize in the Applied Arts competition at the 40th Kerala University Youth Festival, 2011 held at Attingal, Trivandrum.

Gravity club whose motto says 'the force that binds us' was formed to promote real integration among the hearing and hard of hearing students in the campus.

Gravity Club was launched on March 24, 2011 organising its first activity - a painting competition for the students. The students divided into 4 teams - Leo, Taurus, Acquarius and Scorpio were given a canvas each on which they etched charcoal drawings. The theme for the event was 'Unity is Strength'. They were given a three quarter of an hour in which they had to complete their drawings. The team - Acquarius emerged as the winners.

Gravity club – Fostering a new relation

KARMA

Bhoomithrasena Club has been contem-plated under the state plan scheme for the colleges of the state for strengthening the commitment of students towards environ-mental protection.

Through this program it is intended to take up environmental extension at the grass root level especially in the vicinity of the participating colleges. The Club conducted a seminar on the topic 'Environmental Protection'. The setting up of medicinal plant garden is in progress.

One with nature - Bhoomithrasena Club

‘Saparya’ the first college magazine was released. It was the dream come true of all the students of Nish. The pages reflected the creative talents of both the teachers and the students.

Vrinda, BSLP student was the Magazine Editor.

Gathering memories

Meharniza K S S who was a student of NISH Preschool excelled in the SSLC exam, 2011 overstepping her disability to achieve A+ in all subjects.

KARMA - the service scheme of NISH was formally inaugurated . Mr Prasanth R L, Faculty, NISH is the Program Officer of the unit.

The activities of KARMA are intended to develop leadership qualities, selfless service, and a concern for the fellow beings among the students.

A half-day campus cleaning drive was organised by the unit on September 12, 2011 and a public road cleaning drive was done on September 26, 2011.

Conquering the Heights

Union inauguration

The new union members sworn in and took charge on November 3, 2011 in the presence of the staff and the students of NISH, . The Executive Director adminis-tered the oath of office to the Chairper-son, Abhimanyu and other members of the Union executive.

The new members are: Amritha M L - Vice Chairman, Anumol - General Secretary, Vishnu V A - Councillor, Brinda S L - Magazine editor, Preejith P - Arts Club Secretary, Vimal K Suren-dran - Sports Secretary and Anathu V R - Joint Sports Secretary.

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Colours of PatriotismAmritha TV telecasted a patriotic cinematic dance programme by the students of Degree (HI) during their Independence Day celebration of the popular Super Dancer Junior II program.

The challenge was to dance according to the music without hearing it and the perfor-mance of the students with hearing impair-ment was excellent that no body was able to spot that they danced without hearing the song.

Baby Vijaya, BFA(HI) student has been selected for the Scho-arship for Fine Arts students by Kerala Lalithakala Akademy.

Congratulations ! Keep up the good work

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISH

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF NISHNEWISHNEWISHNEWISH

Flowers, traditional dresses, floral arrangements, visit of Mahabali, tradi-tional art forms, Payasam, Onasadya with tongue tickling dishes…

September 2, 2011 was a nostalgic day for all at NISH when Onam was celebrated in the traditional style. It was a day of festivity, fun and splendor wherein all the students including the preschool children and the

staff participated. .Everyone came in the traditional dress of Kerala. A variety of cultural programs including ‘Thiruvathirakali’ followed by Onasadhya made the event spectacular.‘Pookkalam’ competition was also held.

Onam Celebration in a traditional flavour

NISH Pace SetterAt NISH we serve others, and this program intends to recognize a person who did some-thing above and beyond their usual call of duty. This is simply to say, "You set a good example for others. We salute you". Any staff can nominate any of their colleagues whom they think is worthy of mention. The person who nominated would be kept anonymous.

Ms. Rejitha Kumari L, Social Worker- first "NISH Pace Setter" awardee -September 2011

Ms. Maya G S, Preschool Teacher - October 2011.

Ms.Praveena Davis,Audiologist & Speech Language Pathologist - November 2011.

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Time with the Techies – Visiting Wipro

Students from Computer Science and Fine Arts visited Wipro Facility in InfoPark, Kochi in connection with World Disabled Day Celebrations 2010 .They had a wonderful time interacting with the professionals at Wipro. BFA (HI) students conducted exhibi-tion cum sale of Artworks. 5 BCS students did presentations of the mini projects done at NISH.

Painter’s CampPainter’s Camp organized by Kerala Lalithakala Academy, from April 25th to 28th 2011 at NISH captured everyone’ s attention. The wonderful films like Pollok, Andrei Rublev, The Mystery of Picasso etc. depicting the creative talents of directors were screened.

There was a slide show by Sri Satyapal, Secretary, Kerala Lalithakal Academy and the participants of the camp. The participants also interacted with the staff and students.

Where the young artists of NISH conquered the mind of the techies.

A painting exhibition and sale was organised by UST Global - Trivandrum as part of their CSR activities at the Atrium of Bhavani Building in Technopark, Trivandrum on Friday August 19, 2011.

It included the sale and exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculptures and craft items made by the fine arts students from NISH. Mr. Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp. Throughout the day there were visitors who bought a number of paintings, small and big.

Mr Arun Gopal, II year Fine Arts student drew around 13 caricatures on the spot. Dr. Samuel N Mathew, Executive Director, NISH gave a presentation on disabilities in general and ways for integration in the workplace to the senior managers of UST Global.

The exhibition cum sales was to bring awareness of the talents of our students to the wider community.

Art Exhibition conquering Techies

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SPEECH & HEARING, KARIMANAL P O, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA , INDIA www.nish.ac.in email : nishinfo@nish.ac.in ++91-471-306-6666