Learning Disability and School Social Work

An

Official

Newsletter

of

+91-98427-33318

[email protected]

open school and learning centre

Volume 1 | Issue 4 APRIL 2014

MOVEMENT AND LEARNING THROUGH

BRAIN GYM

Ms Murugalakshmi Thirumalai

META COGNITION TRAINING HELPS IN

REMEDIAL TEACHING

Ms Sassikala

1 NEWSLETTER | APRIL 2014

www.helikx.com

WHAT IS PAIR READING? IS IT IMPORTANT?

Ms P.V Ananthalakshmi

QUESTIONS &

ANSWERS

Ms. Devipriya

PUPIL IN

PERSPECTIVE

Dr.K.Muralidaran

WILL INDIA BECOME A DEVELOPED NA-TION BY 2020?

Mr Alen Kuriakose

M eta cognitive means thinking

about one’s own thinking process. Meta

cognitive involves the planning, monitor-

ing and revising of cognitive strategies.

Young children, who lack an awareness

of their own cognitive process are often

ignorant of their incapability, causing

them to fail to recognize their own er-

rors. It is one’s awareness of how one

solves problem, how one remembers or

comprehends written materials.

Cognition refers to those mental activi-

ties that involve mental processes, such

as thinking, reasoning, understanding,

memory and problem solving. One way

of studying cognition is to find out how

people encode, organize, interpret, store

and respond to stimuli.

The learning process of three stages

namely,

Selectively attending to the stimulus

Processing the received information

Storing information for retrieval

when require.

Cognition enables an individual to identi-

fy, interpret, organize and apply infor-

mation (Merces 1979)

Meta cognitive involves overall planning

of the cognitive task , self- instruction to

complete the task , and performance self

-monitoring, or checking to see that each

phase of the task is completed appropri-

ately and in the appropriate order.

In essence, meta cognition involves two

components

Awareness

Regulation (Loper 1982)

Meta cognitive training focuses on in-

struction in techniques to monitor and

appraise the use of cognitive and meta

cognitive skill of the students and suita-

bly transact the curricular content,

learner efficiency can be improved.

In remedial teaching we are applying

meta cognitive approaches and allow

students to use effectively the learning

strategies to monitor and regulate their

own activities. Regulation of cognition

refers to the executive control within

information processing and made them

to overcome their spelling difficulties by

using meta cognitive approach.

A learning strategy involving the use

of acronyms to structure inner lan-

guage which enables students to form

visual images while they read in order

to enhance recall and reading compre-

hension.

A sample of learning strategy is the RID-

ER strategy,

Read - Read the first sentence.

Image – Make an image of the material

read

Describe – Describe your image

Evaluate – Evaluate your image for com-

pleteness. Check to see that your image

include as much of information as possi-

ble.

Repeat – Repeat the earlier steps for the

next sentence.


Meta Cognition Training helps in Remedial

Teaching

Ms K Sasikala

Joint Secretary

Helikx Open School

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Chairman’s Column

Mr. G. Senthilkumar

Greetings from Helikx

Happy to share my thoughts with you

through this newsletter.

Thanks for the encouraging feedbacks from

Kerala, Karnataka and Rajasthan

In the present educational scenario, need for

counseling and setting resource room for

learning disability has become mandatory in

schools.

We at helikx school social work and re-

search department has developed a mod-

ule with help of eminent expertise which will

help school heads and management in un-

derstanding the significance of such depart-

ment.

We are organizing a seminar on Need for

School Counseling in the month of June.

I extent my warm invitation to all the school

heads, management and coordinators to be

a part of this seminar.

Where staff and Students comes together…

Master Chandru leading the 5S Presentation in

the final round for 5S Trophy

BRIDGE THE G A P


E verybody knows exercise keeps our

body healthy and fit, but little did we

know that exercising our brain can im-

prove brain function. As a teacher I use

"hook ups" a lot in my classroom as a

calming tool for the children who finds it

difficult to listen and follow direction. It is

a very effective self disciplining tool in my

experience. So also "lazy eight" is a very

effective tool to enhance focus and im-

prove reading at a very drastic pace. A

novice who has never heard about brain

gym will be wondering what am I talking

about!

It is "Brain Gym", a movement based

brain exercise invented and co founded

by Paul E. Dennison Ph.D., and his wife

Gail E. Dennison in 1980s. Brain Gym has

been practiced in over 80 countries

around the world and has been utilized at

schools, health and fitness facilities, cor-

porate settings and private homes.

Brain Gym is based on a holistic philoso-

phy of looking at the mind and body as a

whole. It educates us to observe ourselves

and to take appropriate action when

needed. Brain gym can also be explained

as physical movements that enhances

learning and helps to overcome any learn

ing challenges by finding the right move-

ments which creates new pathways in a

person's brain.

The founder of brain gym Dr. Paul Den-

nison says, "Movement is the door to

learning." The operating philosophy of

educational kinesiology Foundation which

works under the trade mark Brain Gym

international is based on the knowledge

that humans learn through movement.

Brain Gym movements, exercises, or ac-

tivities refer to the original 26 Brain Gym

movements, these activities recall the

movements naturally done during the first

years of life when learning to coordinate

the eyes, ears, hands, and whole body.

The movements developed in brain gym

are extremely beneficial in times of

stress. Stress can affect the capacity to

move and inhibit the ability to compre-

hend, organize, and communicate. stress

may affect thinking, feeling, or sensing

influencing a person's performance. Brain

Gym observe and address movement pat-

terns with the intention of restoring the

skills associated with successful achieve-

ment

Movement is necessary for learning to

take place more effectively. Movement

stimulates the parts of brain and enhance

brain functioning. These movements help

to improve areas such as: Concentration

and focus, memory, academics, physical

coordination, relationships, self responsi-

bility, organization skills, etc.,

Educators and therapists around the

world are greatly appreciating the brain

gym benefits as it enhances learning to

take place with ease and manage stress.

There are so many studies that proved the

effective of brain gym, viz, “Pilot Study:

First-Grade Students Improve Their Writ-

ing Skills,” by Debra Honegger, Ohio.

Brain Gym® Journal, March 2004, Vol-

ume XVIII, No. 1, The Effect of Brain Gym

on Reading Abilities, © 1998 by Cecilia

Freeman Koester, Brain Exercise Im-

proves Reading and Memory, © 1994 and

1996 by Jochen Donczik (translated from

German by Christine M. Grimm and

Sigrid Wong) etc.

The simplicity of the movements helps to

practice it anytime and anywhere. Em-

bracing brain gym within our classroom

setting will ease the immense stress

shouldered by our younger generation to

stay in par with the advanced learning

system.

Reference:www.braingym.org

Movement and learning through Brain Gym

Murugalakshmi Thirumalai

Head Teacher, Centerra

Ranch Montessori School,

Katy, Texas

NOTES FROM TEACHERS DIARY

BRIDGE THE G A P BRIDGE THE G A P


P air reading is a technique which helps a

child to improve the reading skill.

Here the parent is the reader and the child

is the learner.

Who needs pair reading?

All the children including the children with

learning difficulties.

The pair reading improves

Reading skill

Self esteem

Co-operation

Bonding relationship between the parent

and the child.

When should it be done?

The time should be suitable for both

parent and the child.

Both Parent/child should be active.

Make a schedule and stick to it.

Selection of books

The class teacher/librarian can guide.

Allow the child to do selection if possi-

ble.

The vocabulary should be suitable.

Colorful books with pictures will be

more interesting.

Pictures will help in predicting and is

enjoyable.

Continue reading till the child is ready on

his own. Once the child attains the reading

skill, becomes an independent learner. Now

that your child is reading himself/herself

don't stop reading to him/her at other times.

The more times you read to your child will

increase his/her enjoyment of books.

The pair reading is encouraged not only at

home but also in the school especially at

schools which renders help to special need-

ed students. The special educator reads with

the child. While reading don`t discourage/

compare Go along with the child according

to the pace. Motivate the child for the effort.

What is pair reading? Is it important?

Mrs. P.V Ananthalakshmi, Principal

Wall Painting by S Jayakanthan

Drawing Master

Master Saran of Eighth Standard of

Helikx Open School giving final touch

to the wall painting did by his friends

Arvinth and Karthick

Hypnotism Class by Mr Muthaih Ramanathan for Helikx Staff

Participants of 15 days workshop on Learning Disability with our Chairman



1. What are learning disabilities?

The term “learning disabilities” is

actually a general term that de-

scribes specific kinds of learning

problems. There are many different

kinds like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dy-

scalculia, dyspraxia etc., but our

main purview is dyslexia.

2. What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning disa-

bility. It comes from a Greek

word (dys means difficulty and

lexia means language). It is a hid-

den disability and is not visible

like the other handicaps like

blindness or deafness. Individuals

with dyslexia have specific learn-

ing problems that can cause a

person to have trouble learning

and using certain academic and

education-related skills.

3. How is it caused?

An individual with dyslexia is ei-

ther born with those issues or ac-

quires them through events such

as a brain/head injury. Dyslexia is

a developmental disorder. They

tend to run in families – there is

definitely a genetic component to

it.

4. What is a developmental disor-

der?

A developmental disorder is that

which occurs right from the very

beginning. All developmental disor-

ders fall in a continuum and can be

mild, moderate, or severe.

5. How early can a child be identi-

fied?

Children who have a difficulty in

speech, language and some motor

aspects can be identified even be-

low 5 years and helped. These chil-

dren are not termed as having dys-

lexia but being ‘at risk’ for a learn-

ing disability if they are not helped.

6. How do they perform?

A person who has SLD often per-

forms inconsistently. One day she/

he may be able to do something,

and the next day, may not be able

to perform the same task. There is

a severe discrepancy between the

person’s ability and performance

level. That discrepancy or gap is

evidence of the learning disability.

7. How is their performance differ-ent from a slow learner’s perfor-mance?

A dyslexic child’s performance

could be erratic. There are “on and

off” days. While the slow learner

struggles and just gets border

marks and manages to perform al-

most at the same level throughout,

this child could do very well in one

test but poorly in another test in

the same subject.

Questions & Answers

BRIDGE THE G A P

Mrs. Devipriya Senthilkumar,

Secretary, Helikx Open School.

Helikx Painting Exhibition

JUNE 15, 2014

HOTEL CENNEYS GATEWAY, SALEM

CONTACT: 98427-33318

Amateur Painters can

exhibit their

Paintings

P upil is a term that refers to students

in educational institutions, especially in

schools. A student is expected to be studi-

ous in studies. This is the simple expecta-

tion from the LKG level students to Higher

Secondary level students.

A pupil at the primary education level be-

lieves that the parents and teachers know

everything about everything. Their

thoughts and exclamations are posed as

questions to parents seeking clarifications.

Very few parents do clarify them satisfac-

torily. The other lot discourage them and

perish their questioning tendency.

The pupil in the middle school level is de-

sirous of establishing relationship with his

peers. There is an interchange of affection

from one another. This sharing of affection

gets extended at home from the next sib-

ling to the grant parents. Pampering by

parents and grant parents towards the

child/student/pupil take place spontane-

ously. School and home work become dis-

gusting events to some pupils at this

stage. Their feelings towards teachers are

of ambivalent nature: sometimes they like

and sometimes dislike or even afraid of.

The later part of the schooling is totally

driven by the pluses and minuses of the

adolescent stage of psychological develop-

ment. There are more possibilities for an

adolescent pupil to get confused easily. He

searches for role models from parents,

relatives, and teachers and largely from

the society. But this attempt is easily over

ruled by the exposure to media and the

peer group.

In fact the peer group influence is very

strong. The school pupil is encouraged in

some social processes like competition

and rivalry than accommodation.

The pupil is a son or daughter; a grandson

or granddaughter; and a brother or sister.

He is a friend and has friends. He is a

member of the society, a citizen. What

actually happens very often is that per-

spectives are unnoticed and the pupil is

perceived only as an obedient student in a

more disciplinarian perspective. All those

who work with students for counselling

them have to understand that a pupil has

to be seen in all these perspectives and

not by the literal word ‘student’ alone.

School Social Workers who do counselling

are supposed to look at their client in

different perspectives and work with them

in accordance with the needs and capaci-

ties of the pupil.

T he question on development of India

is a crucial one. Will India become a devel-

oped nation by 2020? Can we achieve mil-

lennium development goals? These were

the questions asked to us, the young social

workers by our mentor during a discussion

session in our department.

As enthusiastic youngsters of India we

replied " yes, of course", but surprisingly

he responded as "no, we cannot". It raised

the question "why cannot?".

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, the former presi-

dent of India dreamt of India as a devel-

oped nation by 2020, envisaging the youth

power of India. But unfortunately their

power, energy and time is spent or hacked

by drugs, drinks and social networking

sites. The multinational companies have

taught them the materialistic culture and

greed for money. This youth of India can-

not fulfill the dreams of Dr. Kalam or Swa-

mi Vivekanada. The cause of the problem

is the uprooting the value system, the val-

ues which were the soul of India for centu-

ries.

Imbibing western culture our is sacrificing

our own age old values, which once we

took pride of. It is at this cross road that

the need to practice value education in

schools arise. Values does not seem to be

a new concept, but it is a preexisting one,

which should now deliberately be included

in school curriculum.

A school culture be brought out where the

whole school system be a part of it and

this will gradually be inculcated into the

students as a downward filtration. Our

political leaders who break their throat

shouting about deposits in Swiss bank,

who throws the secular trump card, who

cries about corruption, all for the sake of

election; need to think and talk on value

based governance where each and every

citizen of this

country are

given equal

opportunities.

We, at Helikx

Open School

practice five

values-

humility, ecological balance, enjoy educa-

tion, innovation and respect for human

dignity.

And we ensure that these values are effec-

tively practiced within and out of the

school premises.

Our school social work and research de-

partment has come out with a separate

module for imparting values in schools.

The goal is not farther, the dream of 2020,

a value based educational system. Its high

time, lets together work for a value based

new generation. Preserving old values and

synthesing new values.

Pupil In Perspective

Dr.K.Muralidaran, Mentor, Helikx Department of School Social Work and Research

MENTOR’S COLUMN

LAST WORD– ALEN KURIAKOSE Trainer, HSSW



Will India become a developed nation by 2020?


BRIDGE THE G A P

HELIKX DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK AND RESEARCH

Certified training on School Social Work

Training Modules:

Introduction to school social work – objective, aim, goal, role and

focus

Child development and disorders (Specific Learning Disability)

Counseling

School based Research

Intro to informal assessment, remedial and occupation therapy

School administration and management

Data Collection

Report writing

Dr.Muralidharan

Former HOD, Department of Social Work, PSG College of Arts and

Science Coimbatore.

Mentor, Helikx School Social Work and Research

Mr. G.Senthil Kumar

Chairman Helikx

Mrs.DeviPriya Senthil Kumar M.Phil.,Psychology,

Secretary Helikx Open School,

Ms. Roopika.S

Head, Helikx Department of School Social Work and Research

Mr. Alen Kuriakose

Trainer, Helikx Department of School Social Work and Research

Resource Persons

Admissions Open for the Year 2014-2015

Alternative School for Children with Specific

Learning Difficulties

Open School and Learning Centre

149, Alamelu Nagar,

Pagalpatty, Muthunaicken patty Road, Salem - 636304.

+91-98427-33318|[email protected]|www.helikx.com

Our Services

Assessment for Students

Remedial Teaching

Professional Counseling

Training for School Teachers

Certification Course on Learning Disability

Block Placement training for MSW Professionals

Need Based Research

Training for Life Skill Trainers

HR Manual Preparation

Need for a Counselor in your School?

We at Helikx School Social Work and Research Department constantly involve

our self in such research and have designed a module to cater to school. We

will train a counselor and set up a counseling department, guide and

supervise for two years.

Education

Learning Disability and School Social Work