STORIES
Story 1
Dhwani is a shy introvert 15 years old who first came to BRAINPRENEURS accompanied by herparents whose chief complaints were that the teenager is way too shy, has nearly no socialparticipation, lack of communication with family, doesn’t and talk and mingle. She generally followedinstructions and tried to comprehend. Her confidence level was somehow shaky. With only a few friends she doesn’t like to socializemuch.Even her academic performance was not that satisfactory. She had just appeared inclass 10 boards exams when she came to BRAINPRENEURS. As a single child to two medical professionals a lot of expectations were riding on her. Herparentswere worried as they didn’t want her to get into social seclusion. Dhwani’sbehaviourwas getting a bit edgy with her parents. Dhwani initially took a capsule program for personality development (10 days)and then continued for a 3 months (36) session. We started with simple conversations, chit-chat, and some singing sessions (as she likes singing and is a beautiful singer). For first fivesessions or so we followed this routine so that we could build rapport with her. After that westarted what we think is the foundation for all and every personality development course SELFAWARENESS. We performed different activities likemind mapping, SWOT, Johari Window, etc. so that she could introspect and have more clarity. This also led us towards the areas where we tried to find out why was she hesitating to talk orcommunicate socially. For removing her inhibition we initially started playing games likeantakshari with her but got 2-3 people extra in her session. As she liked singing this proved tobe her shining moment and also made her a little more comfortable with unknown people.Additional her singing capability was appreciated a lot which also boosted her confidence. Next we wanted to improve her communication level with her family members, forthat we started giving her activities where she would sit with her parents probably at the end ofthe day and three of them would discuss at least 4 to 5 things that happened or they did duringthe day. After almost 15 sessions, Dhwani’s mother had a positive response from Dhwani whereshe had started interacting with not only her parents but also with her extended family. Theprogress was not at super speed but was there. During our sessions we realisedDhwani was somehow conscious about if people would evenunderstand what she has to say and how will they perceive it. For this we started by making herrealise the importance of listening in the process of communication, we did roleplay for this.After this we worked more on her communication skills by laying stress on various modes ofcommunication (verbal, non verbal, written). To lay more emphasis we along with Dhwani cameto a point where we established how important it is to understand that it is important tocommunicate in away that the person in question understands it; games like pictionary,dumbcharadesand hearingthings helped us a lot and made the learning and growth journey enjoyable. We also observed Dhwani’s flair for writing and creativity. With a little bit of motivationDhwani has written over 5 poems, made 2 beautiful collage about herself on chart papersdecorated them beautiful. Not only did this revealed her creativeside but also made her express&communicate more (in her own ways). We have already covered half of her session scheduled and now areworking on her publicspeaking and expecting Dhwani to shine to her full potential.
Story 2
The second success story we present here is Child A. He had mild features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He was 10 years old, studying in class 5th. Both of his parents were working and highly supportive of the child. He had already received early intervention when he arrived in our center. The child maintained low interaction with unknown persons but with known people, he maintained decent conversation skills. The child was good with cognitive tasks such as solving puzzles, sudoku etc. The major issue with the child was poor comprehension skills. Our aim thus became to enable the child learn and understand various concepts and improve his comprehension skills. Our unique approach has always been to develop customized strategies for each special case. Thus, we started with understanding the child, his likes and dislikes and creating an environment where we could first keep him happy and interested. We soon realized his liking towards fantasy movies such as Marvel series and DC comics. We used these movies to teach the child various concepts of solar system, galaxies etc. Using these movies helped us to maintain his interest in the topic to study. Later, we took this opportunity to teach him other concepts using normal school curriculum. Since the child got disinterested easily, we maintained our focus on topics of his liking at the initial stage. After a few sessions, we observed his interest towards arm wrestling. We began playing with him before our comprehension sessions which made the child happy. Then, while in that happy state, it was easy for us to teach him and for him to grasp the concepts. We not only used arm wrestling as a reinforcer, but we tried to use his emotions of happiness during the play which set him in a happy emotional state. This was a novel approach that we designed for the child to see if it could keep his focus towards comprehension. The approach appeared to be successful and we saw improvement in the child after two months. Our unique approach gave us improved results pretty soon. Initially where Child A did not even read a single passage, was now successfully able to read two pages per day. The child has high aspirations and given his interest in the fantasy movies, has a good imagination and aims to become a scientist! With time, we aim to develop another curriculum for the child to give direction to his dreams.
Story 3
Name: Zeeshan
Age : 14yrs
Class : 10th
Zeeshan is a harmless sensitive boy with below average IQ level. He is well behaved boy and follows all instructions given to him. He lacks confidence and hallucinates sometimes. He has no friends and does not like to socialize. His academic performance is deteriorating day by day. No concept of money, time, safety, hygiene etc. Sometimes he talks to himself. He is studying in grade 10 presently but his current level is not more than grade 4. Great expectation pressure from parents particularly mother and grandfather. His mother is uncertain and under stress about his future. Sometimes she also beats him in aggression. He is not comfortable in going to school as he is being constantly bulled by his peer.
Zeeshan took around 45 to 50 sessions with BRAINPRENEURS. We assessed him for few sessions to check his current level. We started with simple pattern matching, counting matching, and slowly moved to brain booster games like Chess, Sudoku, Monopoly etc. We started with simple addition and subtraction and eventually moved to multiplication division and number line. We introduced simple barter system to him initially and eventually introduced money concept. Each concept was explained to him through experience e.g., in transaction of money, scenes were created where he was the customer and had to purchase something and vice versa. Similarly, when the concept of our country INDIA was given to him it was done by fun activity through puzzle matching related to the topic. We worked on his social and communication skills by doing Drama and Role play with him. We clubbed various students together and did a drama on many motivational stories from Panchatantra. His confidence was worked by doing activities like JAM, EXTEMPORE and DEBATES. Outdoor sports like badminton, cricket, basketball were introduced to make him physically fit and to correct his body posture. Few scientific concepts were cleared by stimulating experiments on those topics e.g., to make his concept clear about topic LIGHT, various activities were created around topic. He made his own PINHOLE camera to see the inverted image created by it. Parents were counselled on DO’s and Don’ts about Zeeshan. Proper timetable was provided to them to be followed at home for his overall development which includes doing his own chores to make him independent, helping his family members to develop relationship with them and family interaction together to improve his social skills. There were continuous efforts from his Parents, from Brainpreneurs but we cannot forget Zeeshan’s efforts. He fully cooperated with us and followed all the instructions given to him e.g., once he had not done his work given to him by his teacher. His teacher then explained him the result of delaying his work and motivated him I to be time specific. Next day, he came all prepared with his work and assignment. We also got feedback from his parents that he did not bother about food and other things but was dedicated towards his work. This dedication of Zeeshan, his parents’ efforts and experiential learning patters from Brainpreneurs put together helped Zeeshan to overcome his fear, built more confidence, socialize with others and improve in his academic performance.
Story 4
“Trouble with language processing, caused by delayed expressive and receptive language results from extreme environmental deprivation or lack of stimulation in early childhood. The best way to teach language to children is by interacting with them, talking to them, using different vocabulary, playing, and creativity.
Sensory modulation is the organization of sensory information, it is an automatic unconscious process which in children’s development normally occurs without effort and enables them to interact with the physical and human environment and allows them to adapt to everyday challenges sensory integration is the best treatment employed to develop sensory modulation.”
Nothing makes us happier than seeing our children improving and flourishing. AK was a 20-month-old boy when he joined CDC in the month of November,2021. On the first day, AK presented features like lack of eye contact, no name responding, less sitting tolerance, poor socialization, he was cranky, and could not adapt to the environment.
Based on chief complaints from his parents and observation by therapists, Occupational Therapy (SIT) and Speech Therapy were recommended.
AK attended regular therapeutic sessions along with his mother. Although his mother was going through a lot of stress, anguish, and anxiety but at any point, she did not let go of her hope, she was very interested and cooperative throughout the sessions and never stopped putting efforts to make the process fast and effective.
Based on sensory diet and recommendations given by therapists, his mother changed the family environment and developed a learning atmosphere for AK, where he got a lot of stimulation and encouragement for development.
Therapeutic sessions taken by AK at CDC helped a lot in his improvement, His progress is commendable. AK responds to his name by giving social smile and eye contact. His sensory processing skills as well as language skills show a lot of improvement including attention span, motor planning skills, and sitting behavior. His achievements in receptive and expressive language skills were name responding, understanding and following commands; greeting skills; copying actions, and performing them. He has also achieved single-word level verbal speech now. He interacts and expresses his needs verbally.
Late talkers are often intelligent, for example, Albert Einstein who started talking at the age of five years!
AK is now joining us in our pre-school! We wish him all success and happiness…
NOTE: Names of the children have been changed due to privacy concerns. Consent from the parents have been taken