SANKALP-IN AID OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLE CHILDREN

Dear Kind Hearts,

Greetings for the team Sankalp!

During the first quarter of the year, besides undergoing their normal in-house regular training/academic/therapy sessions as per their Individual Education Plan (IEP), children also participated in following activities:

These were:

• Festival of Kite Flying (Uttrayan) is celebrated every year in Gujarat by everyone with lot of enthusiasm and fervor. Sankalp children also celebrated the same in the nearby Akota garden on 12^th January. All the children enjoyed kite flying, dancing which was followed by lunch and had lots of fun.
• Sankalp also organizes in-house sports for its children every year during winters. This was done on 25^th Jan at a nearby garden. The occasion was also clubbed with celebrating the Republic Day of our country as well as celebrating the birthday of all the children born in the month of January. All the winning children were given gifts. The sports activities were followed by cake cutting for Birthday celebration and dancing and merrymaking and lunch before returning home.
• Children were invited to give a dance performance at another school’s annual function on 3^rd Feb.
• International women’s day on 8^th March was celebrated withno lectures no big talks...We celebrated and inspired womanhood in a dignified, disciplined and joyous manner through creative work. Thanks to volunteer Mrs. Vaishali Dave for teaching our members to make beautiful art piece (Tea Coasters).  Sankalp Children also participated with our female members, teachers, therapists, volunteers.
• A picnic cum field trip was organized on 23^rd March. All the children were taken to a nearby spot at Poicha in a bus. This place also has a beautiful “Swaminarain Temple”. Children visited the temple and had lunch there.
• Volunteers of “Happy Faces” another NGO of Vadodara visited the Centre and spent some times understanding our work and also interacting with the children. They celebrated birthday of one of their members by cutting the cake and served some snacks to the children.

We had informed in our July 2018 report that we have installed a projector system and are in the process of getting few animated educational films made for training purpose. We’re happy to inform you that we got nine films made and the entire smart class room has been fully operational since last six months. During this period we found that this training method is very effective and children are enjoying and paying more attention and learning various topics through animated films much better.

We have a practice of getting children examined by a clinical psychologist to ascertain their intellectual abilities, level of disability and their training needs. This is required also for preparing their Individual Education Plan (IEP). Till last year we were doing the assessment in June and the IEP was being implemented from July. This year we decided to get the psychological assessment done before end of the session in order to prepare their IEP before we break for summer vacation so that we can start their training as soon as the new session begins. Accordingly the assessment was completed on 31^st March. Sankalp’s special educators and therapists will then prepare the IEP before close of the session.

The academic year is coming to an end on 12^th April. The entire team is busy compiling progress report of the children which shall be shared with the parents between 8^th to 12^th April. I shall share the summary of progress in my next report with all of you.

Until the next report a big THANK YOU for your support to our project. We will be updating YOU regularly & 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.

Gratefully yours