Day: February 10, 2023

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BloggerSaathi

Decoding “Neurodivergence”

If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

There is controversy about the source of this quote. Regardless of the source, I think about this idea many times. For example, when I go to my brother’s house and see the little fish tank, I always remember this saying. The question that I think about is:

What kind of environments are right for neurodivergent individuals?

This is an important question that I will consider in other posts too. Today, I will start by describing one environment that has worked for me. HashHackCode provides inclusive tech education and mentorship. I started with HashHackCode in May 2020. Because of Covid, I started with online classes. I worked individually with the mentor. Now, I am doing an apprenticeship program with HashHackCode.

Why HashHackCode works for me?

HashHackCode (HHC) works for me because it is specifically designed for neurodivergent individuals. In the earlier courses, HHC mentors taught me step by step. Mr. Manu Sekhar and his team gave me detailed practice assignments that are easy to follow.

Now that I am in the apprenticeship program, I go to the HHC office. The office is well designed and comfortable. I work with a team of other neurodivergent coders. Some parents are also part of the team. I feel comfortable and relaxed at HHC.

Over the last two years, I have become more interested in coding. I am hoping to continue working with the HHC team in the future. 

I had tried other coding programs before, but they did not spark my interest. I have become more interested after joining HHC.

My HHC Journey

First, I did ten levels of Creative Coding. Then, I did a course on professional web development.  During this course, I built the first version of the LIFESMART website.  Then I did the Datawhiz course.  After learning basics of mobile application development with flutter, we started working on web development.

Glad I did it!

I am glad that I decided to join HashHackCode. It is not just a coding program. Mr. Manu Sekar creates the right environment for his students. I did not have the right environments for me when I was going to school, so we homeschooled.  I could learn at my own pace and homeschooling was right for me. But now I need environments that are right for me.  HachHackCode is one such environment. 

In addition to classes, we have events such as the Christmas party in 2022.  We also volunteered at a TechDiva event designed to encourage women into coding careers.

I hope to work with neurodivergent coders and others as a team on projects in the community soon.

What kind of environments work for your son or daughter?  Join the conversation here.

Creative representation for this blog is done by our extremely talented CreativeSaathi associate Morpheus Nag

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Resources

Step by step techniques to teach photography to our kids

A video blog by Pinki Kumar on how to teach capturing pictures from camera and teach photography to our kids on Autism spectrum.

Author Pinki Kumar

Pinki is a special educator, play therapist and a mother of a neurodivergent kid. She has a YouTube channel Play and learn to teach different methods and strategies. These videos are a great resource for the parents to help their child learn various skills.

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Resources

Fabric painting DIY activity for kids

A video by Ramya @simpleathomeclub on a fun DIY fabric painting activity to keep your kids engaged. It increases focus, sitting tolerance,imagination and love for creativity.

In this DIY activity I included my son because it was a customised gift as a 50th celebrations.. So 50 circles on the saree.

So that it’s a win win for the Recivied and for me to feel I engaged him in an activity.

Author Ramya @simpleathomeclub

I am named Ramya, would love to be called mom from my 13 year old son.  Certified in various streams and last year remedial too.

@simplyathome YouTube channel was created to have my sanity and to support other caregivers of kids in spectrum who are aware of what needs to be done, but stagnant like I have been on the “how to’s”  break down the process.

This is my small way to give back to community by sharing all that I attempt at home. Home is where values embed and home is the first school for each of us.