SANKALP-IN AID OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLE CHILDREN

Dear Kind Hearts,

Greetings for the team Sankalp!

Education and Training session for the year 2017-18 was completed on 20^th April and Sankalp was closed for summer vacation until 10^th of June.

A parent meet was held on 22^nd April to share the progress achieved by their children against the targets fixed at the beginning of the year and to guide them as well as to inform them about steps to be taken by them during vacation. 

It is very encouraging for us to note that as a result of getting properly planned & appropriate child specific program through carefully crafted methodology all children at SANKALP have demonstrated progress in targeted areas in varying degree as per observations made by special educators/therapists:

Result Summary at a glance

Total No of Children                   44

5   Children have achieved        >90% of the target fixed

13 Children have achieved        >75-89% of the target fixed

19   Children have achieved      >60-74% of the target fixed

6   Children have achieved        >50-59% of the target fixed

1   Child has achieved                <50% of the target fixed

The only child who achieved less than 50% was very irregular and her attendance was less than 42% during the year. We are sure that had she attended more sessions, her result would also have been much better. Of the 6 children who achieved less than 60% of the target, three of them are having severe conditions needing continued training and rehabilitation plan on long term basis, while one is not much interested in academics with hardly any support from her parents. Remaining two of them have potential to improve but one had to undergo surgery of his legs and remained absent for couple of months and the other joined late in the second quarter. However, we’re confident that both will do much better in the coming years if they attend regularly. All the parents agreed with us that their children have improved.

Sankalp also organized a workshop on development of pre-vocational skills in teenage children with developmental disabilities on 11^th Feb. An expert Counselor from Mumbai Ms. Darshana Mehta and Dr. Krati Shah Clinical Geneticist, Vadodara were the key speakers. They emphasized the importance and necessity of prevocational training in teenagers with special needs and also guided parents with various techniques that must be adopted by them for developing such skills in their children. Ms. Mehta herself has a daughter with Down’s syndrome. She shared her own experience of how she has been able to groom her daughter to lead an independent life. Besides parents of Sankalp children, few outside parents also participated in the workshop. All parents enjoyed the interactive workshop with both the speakers. The occasion was also utilized to felicitate 10 differently abled children who had given their voluntary services for packing the Vadodara Marathon Kits in January this year which was very much appreciated by the Team Marathon.

We at Sankalp believe in encouraging these children for participating in various outdoor activities, Interaction with society and also performing before large gathering. It essentially serves three very important purposes. One, it enhances the self-confidence and self-esteem of the children which in turn motivates them to learn and do better and make them happy. Secondly, it raises the morale of parents and family members of the child when they see that their child is not only able to perform in public but is receiving tremendous appreciation from entire audience. It develops hope in them that their child is improving and he/she definitely has potential to become independent to a greater extent than they had imagined. Thirdly, it sensitizes the general public towards differently abled members of our society, generates much needed empathy towards them and leads to their acceptance and integration into the mainstream of society thereby improving the overall happiness index of the society.

Until the next report a big THANK YOU for your support to our project. We will be updating YOU as this project progresses & what impact YOUR donation is making in the lives of mentally/ developmentally challenged children at Sankalp. We are also enclosing herewith few pictures for your perusal and records.

Gratefully yours