Autism Awareness and Help
Visual schedule and supports help a special need person to improve their skills, in processing information, to understand language and interact meaningfuly with their environment through a better communication with predictiblity.
Author- Monika Misra
Monika Misra
Founder of Deific Skill Portal, Lucknow
Special Educator at sunrise learning, Noida.
Parent counsellor at Kant Brain Center, Lucknow.
On my birthday on December 2, 2022, I was invited to present at a SpecialSaathi webinar. I enjoyed sharing a story. Since I blog for SpecialSaathi.com, it was enjoyable to also narrate a story.
I chose The White Peacock story because I had learned that story from Ujwal anna. I like the message of this story about accepting everyone. I also liked the mayura story because I love to dance, and peacocks love to dance.
I prepared the story by memorizing it every day. I spent several hours memorizing the story. I also had a kurta stitched by Mr’ Manu’s mom for my birthday. I chose a color that would work for the presentation. Usha akka said that I should talk slowly and not go like Vande Bharat express. Ujwal anna always tells me to smile brightly.
This presentation required narrating a story.In contrast, my Bharatanatyam dance includes movement to music. It does not involve speaking. Preparing for my Bharatanatyam performance required vigorous exercise.I needed a lot of stamina. But as in a Bharatanatyam performance, I had to express emotions of characters in the story. I use my myura mudra. Hand gestures are an important component of Bharatanatyam. I use these hand gestures in my narration. I am currently learning Bhratanatyam using the Theater Arts for Holistic Development (TAHD). TAHD combines storytelling, dance, and drama in different ways. So I was excited to explore storytelling with Bharatanatyam gestures in this experience.
I enjoyed this storytelling experience more than I would have enjoyed a traditional presentation. It gave me an opportunity to use my natya skills in my presentation.
I felt satisfied doing the presentation. After this experience, I have become interested in doing more storytelling using the TAHD approach. I am already working on my next story with Ujwal anna. My goal is to record one story per month. I hope parents and children will enjoy these stories.
About Ramana Maharishi
Ramana Maharshi is one among the great spiritual masters of India who has guided the world to get back to their own nature which is divine and blissful. As narrated in the story, Ramana Maharishi showered his love on all living beings. He has been guiding seekers of truth to and rejoice in the power within.
I appreciate the guidance provided by Shri Ujwal Jagadeesh and Ms. Usha Sankaran. I appreciate the encouragement, guidance, and support provided by Dr. Ambika Kameshwar, and Dr. Vaishnavi Poorna. Thank you Ms. Shilpi Mayank Awasthi for providing me an opportunity and for encouraging me to blog. Thanks to all the audience members for their encouragement.
Finally, thanks to Drov Tikoo for the beautiful artwork for the white peacock story. I encourage parents and children to try to listen to this story, to tell the story, and to express the story in a drawing or painting. .