Welcome to Prerna

It is not that I am different, I just learn differently

Governments Role

CBSE board has made certain concessions for dyslexic children like extra 30 minutes to complete the exams, Exemption from 3rd language, Exemption from paper II in mathematics and use of writer for examinations. Maharashtra state government on July 13, 2004 passed an order allowing 20,000 students with Learning Disability who had not been able to submit their certificates from psychologists registered with RCI in time to avail leniency in exam paper corrections. Students with LD from class I to XII are given 30 minute extra for exams, need 20% marks to pass, can choose an examination center close to home and are offered alternatives to subjects like algebra, geometry, languages and practicals with which they may face difficulties. The Tamil Nadu Government Order issued on February 18, 1999, marks a progressive step towards helping children with dyslexia, which is now recognized as a learning disability. The order now allows certain concessions in school board examinations to children affected by dyslexia. The Delhi High Court has ordered Delhi University to grant admission to dyslexic students under a three per cent quota for people with disabilities.

Schools Role
Awareness of the problem Early identification Refer the child for screening Collaborate with parent and professionals Modification in seating, curriculum, teaching techniques No multiple instructions Over-learning Extra time for writing No cutting of marks for spelling errors Reader for exam Writer, if required Monitoring completion of paper Teaching as per the level Exemption from a third language Avoid labeling Work upon self confidence and self esteem of the child Facilitate a Prerna cell within the school

Parents Role
Understand how the problem is affecting the child Use positive attitude and appreciation Keep out the clutter Model good thinking behavior Educate oneself with all the information about the problem, assessment and provision of help Collaborate with the teacher and other professionals helping the child Follow therapy till it is required Identify the strengths and get child involve in that activity Help the child with reading and areas which are difficult

ABOUT CALORX PRERNA

Calorx Prernas Vision

There are estimated 3 million in India who have Dyslexia (in other words 20% of all school going children and even adults are dyslexics). One Prerna in Ahmedabad, will never be able to accommodate as well as reach out to all the 3 million and therefore, the aim of Prerna is to help other educational institutions replicate the Prerna Model in their own schools and create a Resource Centre for Dyslexic Children, where Calorx Prerna will hand-hold the school, till its resource centre is independent.
We have begun this process, and one successful model is in place at Calorx DPS, called DPS Prerna.

Calorx Prernas Mission

The objective of Calorx Prerna is to provide education that will help the students to overcome their learning difficulties and develop into wellbalanced personalities with sound values of love, kindness, caring, and devotion.
The school strives to achieve this through professionals -Doctors, Psychotherapists, Counselors and Special Educators.

Comparison of Mainstream School with Prerna

MAIN STREAM Large No. of Children in each Class. No Individual Attention More of Audio Oral Teaching. Less Visual Input. Less Use of Computers in Teaching. Teacher Oriented Content based Fast PRERNA Very Small No. of Children per Class. Individual Attention to each Childs Difficulty Multi Sensory Teaching Methods Frequent Use of Computers Interactive Teaching Project Based &Concept based. Pace based on Each Childs grasping power.

About Prerna
An initiative of Calorx Foundation, Prerna is situated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat INDIA, that caters to the Dyslexic children and offers education solutions to children between Grade 1 and 12. Prerna currently follows the guidelines of the CBSE and has specially trained teachers to hand-hold children and make them overcome the hindrance of processing the written information.

The School
Prerna started on September 03, 2001 with 3 students and 4 teachers. Today we are expanding and more and more students are becoming a part of the Prerna Family. The classes on Prerna campus are offered from Grade 3 to Grade 10, where the students are prepared not only for their upcoming Board exams, but they are also provided with real-life skills that will help them become independent both as individuals as well as learners, throughout their lives.

Our Philosophy
Research states that each individual has a specific learning style and pattern. Therefore, there can never be a uniform way in which everyone learns. Statistically speaking, a lot has been done for an average learner as well as a slow learner., however, this leaves out the gifted child who needs a customized education solution too! Our Dyslexic children are of mostly aboveaverage intelligence. Therefore, at Prerna we offer: Education Solutions to Dyslexia Broadly speaking, we can put both the above programme into Specific Learning Needs (SLN), which for us is an organizing difficulty. It can be either developmental in nature or can be Acquired. It interferes with an individuals ability to store and process information, thereby creating a disparity between his ability and performance. This can affect his/her ability to read, write, speak, compute, spatial orientation, directions, sequencing, short-term memory and perception. Therefore, what we do at Prerna is to create a space as well as environment where they are give enough stimulation to match up the performance according to his/her ability, keeping an academic focus in mind.

Our Philosophy
Prerna in Ahmedabad is a co-educational English medium program following the CBSE system. Prerna offers an independent study program for students with Learning Difficulties. These are children who perform poorly in academics despite having an I.Q. that is Average or above Average. The institute runs classes from III-XII. It is ideally suited to students with LD who wish to complete their 10th Std utilizing a flexible pace and/or alternative method of instructional delivery. IEP (Individualized educational program) of courses, activities and learning packages leading to the NOS program of studies, allow students to work at their own pace.

Prerna Initiatives
Creating awareness about dyslexia among the mainstream schools in Ahmedabad via various IQ tests. Conducting regular parent teacher workshops and interactions to help understand and support dyslexic students Trying to create a common national platform for dyslexia awareness in association with various national institutes who are working for similar cause Having an ambassador to lead the dyslexia cause nationally. Creating National awareness through media support

The Campus
Prerna is situated at Bopal, Ahmedabad. The school has about 1163 square yards of built-up space and is built within 13-acres of land where it shares a sports facility with Calorx DPS. Separate areas are earmarked for the laboratory blocks, computer labs, science labs, libraries, assembly areas, AV room, sports and cocurricular activities.

Facilities

Apart from the active and multi-sensorial approach inside the classroom, the students are also provided with: Counseling Medical Facilities Libraries Science Laboratories Computer Laboratories Sports Fields Field Trips Co-curricular activities Transport

The Admission Process

The admission process begins with either a parent directly approaching us for guidance or from teacherreferrals. Then, we take counselor feedback. After which a protocol as listed below in points, is followed. Parent feedback and consent Screening of Vision and Hearing Screening by Pediatric Neurologist Refer child to appropriate specialist, if required Conduct standardized tests Meeting with parent and child

Academic set-up
Students from Grade 3 to Grade 7, work on integrated modules, wherein the learning is based on real-life experiences. There are no exams, instead the assessment is both Formative as well as Summative in nature. These kinds of assessments help us at Prerna, not only assess the memory skill of the child, but we also assess the skills developed and the concepts understood as well as applied. From Grade 8 to Grade 10, the students begin preparing for the Grade 10 Board exams and are therefore following the CBSE prescribed textbooks, which culminate into tests and exams at the end of each portion. Along with classrooms for the students, Prerna has two kinds of Learning Laboratories, one each for LinguisticNeeds (Languages English) and the other for LogicalNeeds (Math). Dyslexic children are visual by nature and hence need constant visual stimulation, therefore in our Learning Labs, we use multi-media to explain and concretize concepts, that have not been well understood by them during the class hours.

Training Special Educators

Teachers are undergoing rigorous training, every Saturday, to ensure the delivery of Integrated-ActiveLearning.

Teachers learn techniques

Techniques are then used in the classroom to deliver concepts

OUR PEDAGOGY
We have a melange of:
Constructivist Approach Multiple Intelligence Project Based Learning (John Dewey) The Silent Way (Cleb Gattegno) Multi-Sensory Cognitive Enhancement Community Learning Audio-Lingual Method Multi-Sensory Approach Individualized Education Plan

OUR PEDAGOGICAL TOOLS

We make a balanced use of:
Flash Cards Colour Codes Acronyms Role Play Body Space Multi-sensorial Suggetopathy Directive learning Open-Ended learning And many more

THE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY MODEL

A Dyslexic student Academic needs are sought through psychoeducational testing Learning tools are created for the child (based on the construtivist and multiple intelligence throries Inside the classroom the Conceptual Knowledge is constructed Grade 8 to 10 Apply the conceptual knowledge in a real life situation Assessments are taken including exams Grade 3 to 7 Tangible and Intangible assessments Knowledge is assessed through tests Skills are assessed through rubrics and tasks

For learning content from Grade 8 onwards, a multi-sensorial approach is being integrated, where the body and space become learning tools.

 Children begin learning their 10th course right from grade 9, so that the conceptual learning is strong, and at the students pace.

Grade 9 students after working on a play in their English class, perform a skit during the assembly.

Grade 8 students (left), as part of their Social Studies Class, prepared a Reference book on Revolutionaries and presented it at the assembly. Now activities are being done to memorize the same content.

Grade 9 and Grade 10, attend a workshop by Mr Hitesh Porwal on Soft Skills, these help students develop communication, positive attitude and techniques

A Social Studies Class in Progress. Students recreating Artifacts of various periods under study

Grade 9 students engrossed in their task.

Laughter on campus and Happiness of students is our prime concern

Learning from Each other

Space as a learning tool

Grade 6 students learning the concept of Directions with the help of Visual representation, spatial awareness and body as a learning tool. The students created their own tool and played games over it to concretize their learning.

We want our students to be bold and expressive

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand.
Native American Saying

The aim of education, should be rather to teach us how to think, than what to think. James Beattie

Assessments at Prerna
What do we want to assess?
1. Memory OR 2. Knowledge, understanding and application of concepts
At Prerna, we give more importance to the 2nd point, but while preparing them for the board exams and so we also consider the 1st.

Assessments continued
There are two kinds of assessments:
Formative assessment Summative assessment

Formative assessment is
Continuous, Ongoing Taken during the formative stages of learning a concept Part of the learning process Based on shared objectives Applied to ongoing work Regular feedback sessions

Summative assessment is
Taken at the end of learning a concept to sum-up the learning Judgment is made by teacher at predetermined intervals Also under Summative is the Normative Assessment, where specified norms are set. Marking is done on the basis of the predetermined norms. Our board exams are normative.

In Formative assessment, students can demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways:

Essays Cartoons Graphs Maps Charts Paintings

Storyboards Role-plays Debates Presentations Websites Songs

Normative assessments are traditionally done through unit tests and exams.
At Prerna, we are helping Dyslexic students learn as well as express what they have learnt. They have to be comfortable to express their thoughts and inferences before appearing for exams. Hence Formative Assessments will be taken at regular intervals. (Not Weekly Tests) Only from grade 8 upwards, students will prepare for exams and unit tests, which again will be taken only after concrete learning takes place.