Play school update

Well, we haven't got into any yet. Collected info on various other play schools close to our place. Will visit one by one.
I spoke to one mother yesterday; her child with DS was going to Tree House. Her experience was bad. I really wonder how they can do this to such a small kid. These days lots of private playschools are coming up with various promises, we parents fall for those big brand names and pay heavy tuition fees. I wish there was some regulations on these private playschools.

I was very angry yesterday; I knew I will have to fight. But at playschool level????? I was angrier with the remark of having a Special Educator for Navya at such early stage. She doesn't need any special educator right now.
At this stage I just want my child to go to an interesting place, play there, and interact with other kids. That's all. I wish Navya had a sibling.
The mother I mentioned above also said  'Put Navya to a playschool where they will take her happily. We can certainly send a notice to the school. But it's just the beginning and we will have to fight at school level too, so reserve energy for that'. I see a point there.

And thank you all for your comments, I think I am not going to tell everyone right in front about Navya's DS. Let them ask questions. Will try and find a place where Teacher:Kids ratio is small.
The session would be starting by mid June, need to finalize before that. Will keep you updated.

Bye the way below playschools happily take kids with special needs and they have special educators. Unfortunately we don't their branches near our home.
    Kangaroo Kids
    Tigger Kids

And the battle begins...

Just got a call from 'Tree House' that "They can not admit my child to playschool, as my child has down's syndrome and she needs to go to a special school. Whatever the teacher will teach (????) in school my child may not understand it and they don't have any special educator with them. So we can not take her"

WHAT THE HELL?????
Have they seen my child? how can they say she will not understand whatever is taught in the class???
Bye the way what do they TEACH in class???? in a pre school playschool????
By law they can not refuse admission to my child?
Why the hell they don't have any special educator?? They are there to make money, aah I missed it.
Pls don't ask me to mind my langauage, hope you understand how angry I am.

But seriously, what can I look forward? Getting into a mainstream school would be just a Dream?????

I think I should stop writting now.. I am just too angry and disappointed right now. They said NO for Playschool... this is just too much to take..

Any lawyers out there???? Mommies did you face this issue?? Anybody from Mumbai out there????
Are there any other playschools, which happly take differently abled children???
Please leave a comment here....

Dance Video

A month old but worth watching her moves :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I wish....

I wish I had told ALL my dear and closed ones about Navya's diagnosis on the very first day. 

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it here - Navya was born on 6th Sept and we got the chromosomal results on 14th Oct. Meantime Ashish did not tell me or anybody that Navya was showing symptoms of Down's Syndrome. He kept it to himself with the hope that the results could come back negative. So when I saw the reports, I was shocked, I had never heard of the word DS, my doctor did not even mention it to me, forget about tests. I googled on it and was in terrible shock. I was so fearful that my parents/relatives will not be able to take this, we were not sure how our relatives would react and thought our parents will not be able to face our relatives remarks. How silly!

Me and Ashish decided to get STRONG enough to face everyone and all their queries and then only tell people openly about it. We did not want anyone to feel sad for us and most importantly treat Navya any different way.

BUT

I wish I knew, we have a very supportive and understanding set of relatives and Friends.

I wish we would have told them on the very first day; the healing and acceptance would have come easily.

I really wish......

THANK YOU ALL for showering our baby with so much love and care. We feel truly Blessed.

Posting some old pics (Nov 2008). Pics from Navya's First Diwali. There were just three of us that time.

Product Review Monday - Your Baby Can Read

Starting from this Monday, I am planning to write the reviews of things we have tried and been using. Hopefully this is useful.

Product -  'Your Baby Can Read'

Why to Introduce?

There are varous claims from Dr.Tizer who invented this program, you can check them here.
I clearly remember the day, it the first time after receiving Navya's diagnosis I met my Gynaecologist, she was feeling very sorry for me. She was willing to prescribe some anti depressant tablets for me. But that was not all I wanted from her. I asked how would be my baby. She said 'your baby would be mentally retarded. Meaning she can walk and play but she will never be able to read or write'. I felt terrible that day.

Thankfully, in few days I met a wonderful lady  Mrs. Noni Khullar'. She runs a wonderful school 'Akshar'- the first fully integrated school in Kolkata. Her first child 'Dhruv' has 'Down's Syndrome'. I remember Noni Maa'm telling me to introduce Flash cards to Navya at the age of 15 months. And at that time she also told me teach her the words in whole as in teach 'cat' as 'cat' and dont separate out the letter as C A T.. CAT..

So as soon as I saw the ad of this product, I knew this would be useful. The other thing which she has mentioned is Stimulation. Stimulate as much as possible, the neurons in brains should burn (if thats the correct word). Take her wherever you go, shopping, restaurants, malls everywhere. Dont loose a single opportunity to show her something new. So that more and more numebr of neurons burn/light up and connect. I believed it in as Mrs. Noni has raised Dhruv so well, at the age of 16 he can speak fluent english, plays golf better than his father, a computer savvy and into many more things. 

To summarize I Introduced this program to Navya

1) For Stimulation
2) To introduce New words
3) For my child to read - any reading is good as long as it benefits my child. I know there are somem oppositons to this approach. but as we have been told that there could be problem in reading area then why not introduce this.And eventually the child will learn the phonic reading. Dr. Tizer has mentioned that on this website too.
4) And these days Navys demands to watch TV wherever possible - so we introduced these DVD. This keeps her busy and I can take care of my cores SOMETIMES :)
Our Experience
It's been a little over a month we have introduced 'Your Baby Can Read' (Starter Level )Flashcards/Picture cards to Navya. within a weeks time she started recognizing 'hi' word. We continued showing her falsh cards. Now she can recongnize and sign for all most all words from Starter Level. Now we have introduced Level 1 Flashcards/Picture Cards to her.

She can recongnize and sign below words (actually I could remember only these words)
hi
nose
toes
clap
arms up
elephant
mouth
wave
tiger*
eyes
Gorilla*

* I am not sure if she understands it. As I don't know how to sigh this. Navya knows sign of 'Monkey' but this DVD sets has all 3 words Monkey, Chimpanzee and Gorilla..  :(
Will try to post a video. Btw we purchased a Sony Handycam on the eve of 'Akshay Tritiya' (It is supposed to be an auspicious day for purchasing valuable items/gold)

Product Details

To Purchase in India

I ordered from here http://www.tbuy.in/yourbabycanread.php

Cost: Rs. 5000/- Inclusive of Shipping charges (shipping charges are less in Tamilnadu state)

Is anybody else using this program.What do you think? Let me know your views about the program.

Pray for our Sweet Ella Grace

Just got to know that Our Sweet Ella Grace is beginning her battle with Leukemia.

Please Please Please pray for our sweet girl and her family.

Indian Summer !

Summer season is heating up India nowadays with mercury soaring to 40 degree centrigrade in many places.

Navya anyway wants to be in cool places, now she enjoys her bath even more. You can easily make out how happy and engrossed she is with water. This pic was taken at one of our friend's place at Pune.  

Its simply outstanding to get the superb support from each and every one... We are really happy and acknowledge the feelings... Thanks a lot everyone !!!

Take care.

- Ashish on Pallavi's behalf

19 Month Assessment Updates

Navya's 18 months assessment was due for over a month. We got it done 2 days back. Well we haven't received the copy of assessment yet. But the Dev Pediac discussed the concerns and her progress.


Navya's 18 months assessment was due for over a month. We got it done 2 days back. Well we haven't received the copy of assessment yet. But the Dev Pediac discussed the concerns and her progress.

Before that let me put some updates here , I haven’t posted about Navya in a long time. Before I get into the Guilt mode. Here it is

Weight: 9.7 Kgs
Height: 73cms
(In last 3 months she has gained 1 kg and height by 3 cms)


Gross Motor
- Nowadays Crawls fast ( actually depends on motivation)
- Navya is cruising onto furniture
- She is very mobile these days, traveling in a car/bus is like a circus
- Walks very FAST if we hold her hands
- Trying to climb onto sofa/beds
We have set May as her target for walking.

Fine Motor
- Pulling/Banging/Throwing she has mastered 
- Can stack blocks with bit of help
- Can draw standing lines and sometimes sleeping lines as well
- Can push various buttons (including TV/AC remotes)
- Plays synthesizer (well ok I call it playing, but otherwise it is called banging)
That reminds me I should upload a video where she is acting like a rock star

Speech
Ah well.. We are lagging behind a lot here
Navya recently started saying Mum Mum
She calls me AMMMM.. Actually she says it to call anyone 
That’s all 

General
Picks up signs very quickly. May be that is discouraging her to speak.
Can sign
1. Murmura (it’s a snack, she like it A lot, rather she is crazy for it)
2. Chocolate
3. Mamma
4. Water
5. Monkey
6. Elephant
7. Baby
8. Corn flakes
9. Bath Time
10. Hat

Can say YES/NO by shaking her head
Can point to 10 body parts
Can point to various day to day objects
In general, Navya understands quite a lot of things. She responds with her expressions or by pointing at objects or with her Yes/No.

Becoming a TV Couch. Everytime we come in drawing room, she makes it a point to point to TV and do dance action.

She has her favourite songs, current favs are
1) Dhan te Tan from Kaminey
2) Uff teri ada from Kartik Calling Kartik
Oh I must upload her dance videos. She is a babe in making ;)
And one more thing, whenver you scold her she looks down. And keeps on checking you till you change your angry expression to a smile. That’s so sweet.

Ok, now about the assessment
1) Navya’s score for ‘the things which don’t require understanding of language’ was 15 Months +
2) And for the understanding of language – it is scatter here
Certain things that she is doing are of a 18 months and certain below 12 months
The biggest concern was Navya doesn’t even babble much these days, the language understanding is very good, then why is she not speaking?????
Her eating/chewing/swallowing is also good.
So did a BERA test (yeah, it was due as we did not find any hearing issue with her)

Now, the BERA has come absolutely normal. But now Dr. wants to get it done from some other more experienced technician.

We have been advised to play lot of Pretend play with her, and sometimes let her play on her own (w/o any instruction).
And start a PlaySchool as early as possible. This will give her more exposure.

Pics from Vacation

Last weekend we went to GOA. It was a long due trip with a couple very close to us.
Navya had a  great time. It was the first time she saw Beaches, Boats, Moon & Stars (yeah, in mumbai its so difficult to get the glimpse of stars :( ).. She enjoyed evey bit of it. And most importantly, it's been a week we have returned and ALL is WELL with Navya's health.. No Cold/cough, no fever, no stomach infection. Yeppy!!!
Posting some of the pics here.
Enjoy!

With Shilpam Aunty.. They were glued to each other from day 1

Enjoying Wind

Family Pic

Just Ladies :)

With Shashank Uncle

Posing for Camera

At Mangeshi Temple

Admit special kids or face action: CBSE

India still doesn't have an Integrated School sytem. Getting a special needs child admitted to a school is a big task. For Pre Schools the options are quite good. These days Play Groups like 'Tree House', 'Kangaroo Kids' do have special educators, but the Primary/Secondary schooling scenario is not good.
Majority of IB/ICSE board schools admit kids with special needs as they have special educators and they believe in Integrated school system. But I am not sure if everybody can afford the fees.Also the ICSE board syallbus is supposed to be the toughest. And CBSE and State Boards are not well equipped. So here comes this news, which will make you happy :)

Admit special kids or face action: CBSE
Schools Get Diktat That No Student Should Be Denied Admission For Being Physically Challenged Or Differently Abled
Mumbai: The Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) has taken a huge step towards offering equal opportunity to all children seeking an education, including those with “special needs’’. The board has reminded its schools that they cannot deny admission to students on the grounds that they are differently abled, but this time the threat of dire consequences has been included in the diktat.


A recent circular issued by the CBSE says, “It is being reiterated that any school which fails to provide attention to a child with special needs or makes a pretext of denying admission to any category of differently abled children will be liable to stringent action even to the extent of disaffiliation.’’ The statement in the circular is attributed to Vineet Joshi, chairperson of the CBSE.


Special children include a range of kids, including those who are physically challenged, visually impaired, hearing impaired, spastics, and those who have Down Syndrome, Learning Disability (LD) and autism. LD can include dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and other conditions. Kids from poverty-stricken backgrounds are also considered as those with special needs, a CBSE official told TOI.


The circular also makes it mandatory for all schools to have a special educator and to create an “individual evaluation programme’’ for special children based on their abilities and skill sets.


Since special children may not be able to focus on the teacher during classroom interactions, and their pace of learning may be at variance with the rest of the class, schools have been told to allow a parent or aide to sit with the child in class and motivate him to “move along with the rest of the class’’.


A senior CBSE official said the new policy would be easier to implement now that the board is set to make the Class X board exam optional and replace it with a system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation. “Earlier, schools were obsessed with the marks their children scored in Class X and would even include these marks in the advertisements for their school. This also led to schools excluding children with special needs as they felt these kids would spoil their record at the board exams. The fact that board exams are losing their significance will help our new policy work,’’ said the official.


The CBSE board also wants to start grading schools, a system that would help the board pull up schools that do not offer inclusive education.


“Thank God for this decision,’’ said Sheetal Kumar, the lawyer whose battle against an apathetic system led to the Bombay High Court’s landmark ruling on LD three years ago.


“I feel this is a very proactive step on the part of the CBSE board, which is one of the most child-friendly boards in the country,’’ said Avnita Bir, principal of R N Podar School, Santa Cruz. Cherian George, principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Powai, also gave the policy a thumbs-up.


“This is a very positive step and will definitely give special kids a leg up. I think the new move will do a lot to spread awareness about kids with special needs,’’ said Usha Bhatia, principal of the Shapurji Billimoria Trusts’s teacher training course, the first in Maharashtra to train teachers in integrated


education.


There are, however, sceptics who wonder how the policy will take off. “Are teachers equipped to deal with special kids? Do we have the infrastucture and training to implement such a policy?’’ asked the mother of a boy with Down Syndrome.


Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, a pioneer in the LD movement in the country, said India has way too many excuses for not implementing inclusive education. He said inclusive education does not need massive funds, just a change in mindset. “We can’t wait for schools across the country to be ready for integration before we pass a policy,’’ said Shetty, adding that the CBSE’s latest missive was a landmark for inclusive education.