1

18, 1st Cross Street, Shastri Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600 020.Ph: 044 – 2491 7199, Fax: 044 – 2498 2598

Email: hear@balavidyalayaschool.orgWeb: www.balavidyalayaschool.org

BALAVIDYALAYA

THE SCHOOL FOR YOUNG DEAF CHILDREN&

INSTITUTE FOR TEACHER TRAINING

THE SCHOOL FOR YOUNG DEAF CHILDRENAnnual Report 2014

2

BALAVIDYALAYATHE SCHOOL FOR YOUNG DEAF CHILDREN

44th ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2013-14

We have great pleasure in submitting the 44th Annual Report ofBALAVIDYALAYA, The School for Young Deaf Children, Chennai.

43rd ANNUAL DAY CELEBRATIONS:

The 43rd Annual Day of the School was celebrated on the 9th March 2013 at theAnna Auditorium of the Association of Surgeons of India, Chennai 600 005. Itwas attended by over 900 participants consisting of family members of thestudents, alumni and their family members, representatives from the other specialschools and our well wishers. The children who were going to leave the school inJune 2013 for integration into mainstream schools recited Nursery Rhymes.

Ms. Roopa Nagarajan, Head, Speech & Hearing Department, Sri RamachandraMedical College, Porur presided over the function as the Chief Guest.Miss. Seri Nirath Sanjana a 3rd year student of B.Tech Aeronautics at IIT Madrasand an alumnus of the school shared with the audience her experiences at IITMadras.Mrs. Chitradevi Karthikeyan mother of Mahima a student from the EnglishSection and Mrs. Jasreen Parveen mother of Fajja a student from the Tamil Sectionof the school who were getting ready for integration in to 1st Standard inmainstream school in June 2013 spoke on the occasion. They shared their journeyfor the last 4 years at BALAVIDYALAYA as the caregiver of their child.

3

Mr. V. Subramaniyan, Chief Manager of Punjab National Bank where our alumnusMrs. Lakshmi Mannu is working as Single Window Cashier spoke on howLakshmi functions as a part and parcel of his bank and applauded her contributionto uphold the goodwill of the bank among their customers.

The Chief Guest Ms. Roopa Nagarajan released the 43rd Souvenir and presenteda memento to Mrs. Poovarsi, a teaching staff of the school for completing 20years of dedicated service at school.

She presented mementos to Mrs. Kaousar Jahan mother of Sameena andY. Bhuvaneswari mother of Meenalochani for 100% attendance of Sameena andMeenalochani to school during the year 2012-13. She presented Books and Medalsto children who got integrated to mainstream schools in June 2012.

During her Presidential address Ms. Roopa Nagarajan congratulated the schoolfor being the pioneer in Early Intervention of children with hearing impairmentenabling them acquire early verbal language skills and get integrated intomainstream schools. She said that BALAVIDYALAYA is responsible for bringingin the idea of Early Intervention in the country and is the synonym for ‘EarlyIntervention of children with hearing impairment’.

THE SCHOOL:

On the 26th April 2013 the School closed for Summer Vacation. The Staff workedfor a week to update the Teaching Learning Materials. The School reopened on10th June 2013.

ADMISSION OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN:49 infants and young children from birth to 3 years were admitted in the schoolduring the year. Admission is not restricted to the beginning of the year. Childrenget admitted throughout the year, as and when they come seeking admission,even on the last working day of the term/year so that they would not lose furthertime without intervention.In the span of 3 to 4 years more than 95% of the children develop age appropriateskills in Motor, Listening, Language, Speech and Cognition along with Readinessskills in Reading, Writing and Number Work. When the children are around 5 or6 years old they leave for integration into 1st Standard of Mainstream Schools topursue their studies along with their hearing peers.

One family member of the child, mostly the mother of the child, is trained to bethe Resource Person for the child. She/he is in constant touch with the classteacher in the mainstream school and the other children in the class. She/he isalso in touch with BALAVIDYALAYA and gets help and support wheneverrequired.

4

Integration of children into mainstream schools : 23 students of the schoolwent to regular schools in June 2013 for integration. Most of them were 5 yearsold and a few were 6 years old.

All of them have acquired fluency in verbal language skills. 14 of them werefrom the Tamil section and 9 were from the English section. Some of the childrenhave gone back to their home towns and have joined mainstream schools therewhile the others have joined different mainstream schools in Chennai.

Sl.No Name Medium Mainstream School

1. Lakshmi Prabha.V Tamil Angel School, Tondiarpet, Chennai

2. Gopika.P Tamil Government Primary School, Chennai

3. Uma Maheswari.P Tamil Advenat Christ Middle School, Ponmar

4. Manish.I Tamil Children Garden School, Chennai

5. Goutham.G Tamil Chennai

6. Kannika.J Tamil Little Flower Convent, Kunrathur, Chennai

7. Iswarya.S.P Tamil Saraswathi Vidyalaya, Thiruvottiyur, Chennai

8. SriVaishnavi.R Tamil Sarada Vidyalaya School, T. nagar, Chennai

9. Sameena.G Tamil Annai Velankanni School, Saidapet, Chennai

10. Kavya.K Tamil Jayaganesh Primary School, Ambattur, Chennai

11. Mohamed Faja.J Tamil Acharya High School, Adyar, Chennai

12. Anbu Cheziyan Tamil Madurai

13. Anusha Tamil Valluvar Guru Gulam, Chennai

14. Meenakshi Tamil Bharat School, Adyar, Chennai

15. Roshini.R English Mahavidyapeeta School, Dubai

16. Sharini.S English Kendra Vidyalaya, Chennai

17. Ishvi Jain English High Field International School, Vizag

18. Harshatha.S English Kendra Vidyalaya, Chennai

19. Karki English Kendra Vidyalaya, Chennai

20. Mahima.K English Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Coimbatore

21. Kanishk.R English Kendriya Vidyalaya, Trichy

22. Mariam English Kerala

23. Sree Darshan English Progressive Primary School, Chennai

5

Over 500 alumni students are studying in mainstream schools at Primary,Secondary & Higher Secondary schools in the city, in the districts of Tamilnaduand in the other states of India. A few are in mainstream schools in Dubai,Kuwait, Bahrain and Malaysia.

ALUMNI PASSED OUT IN 10th STANDARD FROM MAINSTREAMSCHOOLS:35 alumni students have passed out of 10th standard from mainstream schools.Kushagra Rajneesh Kumar and A. Fathima Nisha have topped the list with 84%.All have joined 11th std, some in CBSE, some in ICSC and some in State Board.

ALUMNI PASSED OUT IN 12th STANDARD FROM MAINSTREAMSCHOOLS:32 students have passed out of 12th standard from mainstream schools. Somehave joined Professional courses and the others have joined Colleges of Artsand Science.Ashna Cherry Srivasthava (Integrated in 2001) secured 92.5% in CBSE fromDAV Public School, Ghaziabad and has joined IIT New Delhi in B.Tech CS.

Nivedha (Integrated in 2001) (Tamil medium) toppedPondicherry and Karaikal Districts scoring 918 / 1000.She has joined B.Com.

Debaprana (Integrated in 2002)(English Medium) scored 76 % inCBSE from Arsha Vidya Mandir,Chennai and has joined B.Arch in

Anna University School of Architecture and Planning.

Vijay Pranav (Integrated in 2001)(English Medium) scored 80 % inCBSE from Bala Vidya Mandir,Chennai and has joined B.A,B.L.(Hons) in School of Excellencein Law, Chennai.

Prashanth (Integrated in 2002)(Tamil medium) scored 1037 / 1200

and has joined B.Tech CS in Anna University

6

Perunidhi (Integrated in 2001) (Tamil medium) scored 805 / 1000 and has joinedB.Tech CS in Anna University

Natraj (Integrated in 2001) (Tamil medium) has joined B.TechCS in Anna University

Mukesh scored 683 / 1000 (Integrated in 2002)(Tamil medium) has joined B.E. AeronauticalEngineering in Anna University

Sai Akash (Integrated in 2002) (Tamil medium)has joined B.Tech IT in MIT Chennai.

Goutham (Integrated in 2001) (Tamil medium)has joined ECE in MIT, Chennai.

Greeshma (Integrated in 2002) (English medium) scored 93 %in CBSE and has joined B.Com in Shree Ram College ofCommerce – New Delhi.

Vrinda (Integrated in 2001) (English medium) scored 87 %in State Board from Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatoreand has joined B.Com.

ALUMNI IN PROFESSIONAL COURSE:

Denny Sebastian (Integrated in 1997) ( English Medium)passed out as BE Mechanical Engineering from College ofEngineering Trivandrum and has joined M.S at Rochester

University US.

ALUMNI ENTERING JOBS ANDBECOME SELF SUFFICIENT:

Swetha MNV(Integrated in 1993) (English Medium) passedMS CS from University of Utah and has taken up her job inMICROSOFT US.

7

ALUMNUS GETS NATIONAL AWARD FOR ROLE MODEL:Ms. Vanitha BalasubramanianB.Tech presently working inBank of Baroda, Mumbaireceived the National Awardfor Role Model from thehands of the President of Indiaon the occasion of the WorldDisability Day in December2013. Apart from being astudious student alumnusVanitha is an all rounder withinterest in various fields like dance, theatre, karate and art.We congratulate Ms. Vanitha Balasubramanian on this recognition from theGovernmebt. We wish her well in all her future endeavors.We thank our alumni for their tireless efforts in finding their rightful place insociety. We take this opportunity to congratulate the parents and family membersof the alumni for providing their wards the necessary support and guidance.We wish our alumni a great success in all their endeavors and pray that God bewith them in accomplishing their goals.

AN ONGOING WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS - DHVANI PARENTINGPROGRAMME:DHVANI PARENT KITS I & II formulated and published byBALAVIDYALAYA have 300 routine house hold activities made into languagesituations. Kit I caters to children birth to three years and Kit II for childrenthree to six years. An on going Workshop is conducted and the parents areempowered using the KITs. Every week two or three activities from the KITsare done by the parents with their respective child under the supervision of theclass teachers. The teachers further explain to the parents as to how a routinesituation at home is to be changed as a language situation by providing theappropriate words, phrases and sentences and the necessary information as thecontent. Discussions are held with parents to clear their doubts.

This Ongoing Workshop on Parenting trains the parents and family members tobecome effective caregivers for the child.

DHVANI PARENT KITS TRANSLATED IN MARATI AND PUBLISHED:Many Institutions across the country have got the DHVANI PARENT KITS fortheir libraries. Finding the value of the KITS Hashu Advani College of SpecialEducation Mumbai wanted to translate the KITs in Marati so that the parents of

8

their special schools as well as the other Marati speaking families can benefit.The management of the College of Special Education and the Special Schoolfor the hearing impaired children CHEMBUR COLONY YUVAK MANDALapproached us for permission to translate and publish the KITs.

As the KIT is a part of the patented literature of BALAVIDYALAYA permissionwas given with certain conditions. DHVANI PARENT KIT II in Marati waspublished and released on 15th August 2013. KIT I is in the process of beingpublished. The sale of the KITs is a non-commercial project of CCYM. It issold to schools at a nominal price and to the parents at a subsidized rate.

The Commissioner for Disabilities, Maharashtra has suggested to all the SpecialSchools for the hearing impaired children in Maharashtra that has Marati as themedium to procure the KITs and use them to empower the family members oftheir students.

We record our appreciation of CCYM and Hashu Advani College of SpecialEducation for their initiative in taking the DHVANI PARENT KITS to the MaratiSpeaking homes in the state of Maharashtra.

PARTICIPATION IN SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS & MEETINGS:A true teacher is a constant learner. Participating in Seminars, Symposiums andWorkshops help teachers in updating their knowledge and skills.

9

During the last week of July 2013, Dr. Valli Annamalai the Honorary Principalof the school had the honour of taking part in the “Listening and SpokenLanguage Symposium” conducted by the Alexander Graham BellAssociation for the Deaf in Los Angeles.

Dr. Valli Annamalai presented a paper on “The DHVANI Literacy Programmefor young deaf children.” It was well received by Special Educators, Audiologistsand parents from all over the world who attended the International Convention.

ADVANCED BIONICS

Dr. Valli Annamalai & Dr. MeeraSuresh visited the Advanced Bionics.The Professionals and Surgeonsexplained about the latest techniquesdeveloped in the area of CochlearImplants. They were taken round thefactory and shown the differentstages of the manufacturing of theimplants. The process of the surgicalimplantation was also demonstrated. They had an interaction with the staff ofAdvanced Bionics and a few candidates who have had Advanced BionicsImplants.

JOHN TRACY CLINICDr. Valli Annamalai & Dr. Meera Sureshvisited John Tracy Clinic in Los AngelesUS. They went round the Clinic and hadan interaction with the staff of John Tracyon the methodology and programsoffered.

10

JEAN WEINGARTEN PENINSULA ORAL SCHOOL FOR THE DEAFIN SAN FRANCISCOOn the 23rd of July Dr. Meera Sureshvisited Jean Weingarten Peninsula OralSchool for the Deaf along with Mrs.Priya Dharan the sister of one of ourAlumnus. She went round the schooland watched the school at work. Shespoke to the educators and managementof the school. It was a good opportunitywhere two successful models werediscussed.

APEX FOUNDATION VIRGINIA:During the first week of August 2013Dr. Meera Suresh, gave a LectureDemonstration with a VideoPresentation on DHVANI Methodologyof Balavidyalaya at the ApexFoundation, Virginia US.

Apex Foundation is one of the leadingComputer firms maintaining the database of many hospitals and corporate companies in US.

One of our alumnus Mr. Ram Narayan Prasad is working as a SoftwareDeveloper and Trouble Shooter at Apex and has been instrumental in motivatingApex to become an annual donor of BALAVIDYALAYA.It was an honour to BALAVIDYALAYA as the Lecture Demonstration withVideo Presentation was attended by the staff of Apex as well as the ENT doctors,Pediatricians and Audiologists of the John Hopkins Hospital, one of their clients.The lecture was followed by a fruitful discussion with the participants.

STAFF OF BALAVIDYALAYA ASVISITING FACULTY:

Tagore Medical College, Chennai wereinterested in knowing about the EarlyIntervention of children with hearingimpairment. In March 2013 Dr. MeeraSuresh, Hony Vice- Principal addressed thestudents and staff of the Medical College

11

and discussed on the importance of Early Diagnosis and Early Interventionservices.

In October 2013 Dr. Meera Suresh addressed the members of Rotary Club ofAdyar and spoke on ‘Reaching out infants and young children with hearingimpairment.’ The club members were from different fields and creatingawareness on the importance of Early Diagnosis and Early Intervention is oneof the missions of Balavidyalaya.

VISITS BY DIGNITORIES:

Maj, Gen (Retd) Ian CardozoVSM, AVSM Chairman,Rehabilitation Council ofIndia visited the school inNovember 2013. He watchedthe children of the schooland complemented theManagement for taking theleading step in EarlyIntervention.

Mr. Ganesh Murthy fromASHA FOR EDUCATION New York US visited the school and watched theactivities. He was highly impressedon the verbal language skills of thestudents.

Ms. Dagmar Hamennova a Speechtherapist, working as a teacher ofComplex needs from Prague, CzechRepublic, Ms.Shabnam Fathima &Ms. Janani Jeyaraman from Med –El – India visited the school andwatched the activities. They alsohad an interaction with the staff ofthe school.

Dr. Nancy Marlin, Dr. Murugappa Madavan Professors of San Diego StateUniversity, and Management students from San Diego, US and PSG Coimbatorevisited the school and watched a presentation on the school.

12

VISIT & ADDRESS BY ALUMUS:

Alumnus Ramnarayan Prasad, the trouble shooter of the computers in ApexIncorporation Ltd, Virginia US visited the school in July 2013.

He went round the school, spent time with the children and teachers. Headdressed a gathering of the parents of the children. He shared with the parentsthe need for a disciplined approach in handling young children. He reiteratedthat the discipline Balavidyalaya brought in him has made him a hard andpersevering worker and has enabled him to do his best in his mainstream school,college and the workplace and brought success in all his endeavours.

PARTICIPATION IN RESEARCH:

Ms. Priyadarshini Sridharan and Ms. Abhinaya Vijayaraghavan, students of PGdiploma in Journalism from Asian College of Journalism watched the school atwork and videoed the activities of the school as part of their research work onlinguistic acquisition of young children with hearing impairment attending Earlyintervention services.

Mrs. Monica Sathyanaraya a 2nd year Post Graduate student in Speech Pathologyand Audiology in SRMC spent time with Dr. Meera Suresh and collectedinformation on the DHVANI Methodology as part of her desertion thesis.

VISITS BY WELL WISHERS, TRAINEE TEACHERS & STUDENTSFROM COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS:

As a pioneer in successful Early Intervention, BALAVIDYALAYA attractsacademicians and student teachers. They watch the school at work. AnOrientation is given to them on the DHVANI Language Scheme followed by adiscussion session when they get their doubts cleared.

During 2013-14 we had the visit of the following well wishers:

• Dr. Balasubramaniam a Pediatrician from the US.

• 3rd year students of medicine Ms. Sandhya and Ms. Raveena watched theschool at work. Sandhya is the first cousin of one of our alumnus Mr.Karthik Viyajanandam.

• Ms. Sri Devi Public Relations Manager of Tagore Medical College Chennai.

They spent a whole day in school and observed its functioning.

13

Trainee teachers from Training Institutions and students of regular schools andcolleges who visisted during 2013-14 is as follows:

Ali Yavar Jung national Institute for Hearing Handicapped, MumbaiEastern Regional Centre of NIHH, KolkattaSouthern Regional Centre of NIHH, HyderabadLittle Flower Convent, ChennaiIndian Public School, Chennai.IGNOUMadras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) Chennai.

Madras Medical Mission.

CELEBRATIONS AT SCHOOL:

Celebrations break themonotony of school activities.The school celebratedIndependence Day, VinayakaChathurthi, Navarathri,Deepavali, Children’s Day,Christmas, and Republic Day.

Teachers Day was celebratedon 5th September. The InnerWheel Club of Adyar visitedthe school on the TeachersDay. An Orientation wasgiven to them on thephilosophy of EarlyIntervention followed atschool.

The Inner Wheel Club ofAdyar also participated in theChildren’s Day Celebrationsat school. They broughtbatteries and gifts for all thechildren and enjoyed thegames with them.

14

We place on record our sincere appreciation and thanks to the members of theInner Wheel Club of Adyar for their continued interest in our activities.

FIELD VISITS ANDEXCURSIONS:

The infants and young childrenin the Early InterventionProgramme were taken on anExcursion to the Cow Farm inthe premises of one of the wellwishers of the school.

The babies watched the cowsbeing fed, given a bath andmilked. The parents of thechildren were also taken alongand the teachers guided theparents on providing usefullanguage to the children duringthe outing.

The students of the Preschoolwere taken on an Excursion toGuindy children’s Park. Thechildren enjoyed watching theanimals and birds in the Park.

On both occasions the childrenwere taken in the FUN BUSprovided free by AshokLeyland. The children enjoyedtheir ride in the Fun Bus. Wetake this opportunity to thankAshok Leyland for providing usthe Fun Bus.

The teachers went for anexcursion to a farm. They had agood time playing games.

15

VOLUNTEER HELP:

Mrs. Uma Srinivasan, a home maker living in the locality continues to offer hervoluntary services in the classrooms as a Teacher Assistant and in the Library.

GRANT IN AID FROM THE MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE &EMPOWERMENT:

The school continues to get an annual grant from the Ministry of Social Justice& Empowerment, Government of India under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Scheme.The grant covers a part of the expenses of the salary for the staff andcontingencies. The rest of the expenses are met by the Management.

KIRTHANA SUBASH & ASHA FOR EDUCATION:

Kirthana Subhash a high schoolstudent in US visits Balavidyalayafor internship during her summervacations when she visits Chennaiwith her parents.She has taken a keen interest in theactivities of the school and thisyear she took up a fund raising forthe school. She spoke about theBalavidyalaya to the members ofthe foundation ASHA FOR EDUCATION, New York. This resulted in the visitof Mr. Ganesh Murthy a member of ASHA in the month of August. Kirthanathen organized a WALK to raise funds. We have received a donation of Rs. 1.1lakh as the first installment. We record our appreciation and thanks to KirthanaSubhash for her involvement in our cause and her helping attitude.

CONCLUSION:

This academic year has been a fruitful one. On this happy occasion, we rededicateourselves to our chosen cause and seek the blessings of the Almighty to give usstrength and direction to continue our mission and provide help to the childrenand their families break the barrier of silence.

Let us help children with hearing impairment

LISTEN FROM INFANCY AND TALK FOR A LIFE TIME.