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Tag: neurodiversity
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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
Part 2 : “And the Fun in Mumbai continues.. “
Welcome to my Mumbai travel blog part 2. My travels continued for the second week in Mumbai!
Day 1 : Chitti’s (aunt’s) house to Mani Mamu’s (uncle’s) house : “I love birds! A cockatiel sat on my shoulders”
I love birds! I got excited as we went to Mani mamu’s (uncle’s) house. There were two cockatiels and many budgies in their house. One cockatiel sat on my shoulders. I was so excited and happy. It was fun to meet their daughter Naira. We played with clay there and came back home in Chittappa’s (uncle’s)car.
Day 2 : Chitti’s (aunt’s) house to VVMC park : “Meeting other homeschoolers”
Next day we went to VVMC park. I saw a lot of birds in the park. I love birds, I love to see them flying and chirping. There were a lot of children in the park too and we had a lot of fun. There were slides and swings and wonderful rides. It was a park for kids and we also met other homeschoolers like me there.
Day 3 : Chitti’s (aunt’s) house to tailor shop : “Searching on the streets for a tailor shop”
One day we went to find a tailor shop to stitch a lehenga choli for me to wear in Anu akka’s (sister’s) marriage. We saw several shops but we did not find any tailor shop to stitch my lehenga choli. At last we found one lady who agreed to stitch it. It was a relief to finally find her.
Day 4 : Chitti’s (aunt’s) house to Aaji Aajoba park and Calisthenics training centre : “Kesar Lassi was so yummy”
Next day we went by train to Malad and took an auto from the station to Aaji Aajoba park. There was a drawing day for homeschoolers there. There were also rides in the park. They were fun. Next we went to the Calisthenics training centre as the park got closed. There I did a lot of fun activities like hanging on the bars. When we came back, I ate Pani puri and Kesar lassi in the shop near the station. It was so yummy.
Day 5 : Chitti’s (aunt’s) house to a book exhibition : “My favourite Hanuman story book”
Next day we went to a book exhibition. There we saw many books. There I found a Hanuman story book. I started reading it. It was fun to read the book standing there. We bought some other books and came back home in Chittappa’s (uncle’s) car with my cousin, Anshu.
Thank you for reading my blog! Hope you enjoyed!
Author Lavanya Iyer
Lavanya Iyer is 9 years old Neurodivergent. She loves to read, draw, paint, and do traditional dance. She is a newly incorporated CreativeSaathi junior and a bloggersaathi junior with our team now.
Creative representation of Lavanya’s blog is done by our extremely talented CreativeSaathi associate Dhairya Kumar Pal.
Exploring Theater as a Tool for Stress Management
Many neurodivergent individuals and their parents face significant amounts of stress. This stress arises not only because of challenges that an individual has in areas such as motor functioning, executive functioning, and communication but also due to the environment. Finding the right environments for neurodivergent individuals to thrive is not easy.
Can Theater Arts for Holistic Development be used to teach stress management?
This is the question that I have been mulling since Ananth started his Bharatanatyam lessons with Shri Ujwal Jagadeesh, a senior faculty and artist at Ramana Maharshi Center for Learning (RMCL), Bengaluru.
Ananth has been learning Bharatanatyam for more than 10 years. Even during the first lesson with Ujwal, I felt a striking difference in his approach from Ananth’s past experiences. I had connected with him through the Theater Arts for Holistic Development (TAHD) program by RASA India. So I already knew that his approach was shaped by TAHD. As lessons continued, I realized that his approach represents an integration of The Ramana Way and The TAHD Way! 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. Thank you Morpheus for your amazing artwork for our blog posts! Ananth and I are happy you shared your portrait of Ramana Maharshi with us for our blog.
The question below and the response (emphasis added) is from Ananth’s blog post yesterday that included an interview with Shri Ujwal Jagadeesh.
4. Did you start incorporating Ramana Maharshi’s life and teachings in dance before integrating TAHD?
Yes, Ramana came first and with it came the understanding of the true purpose of dance which is to realize our true nature. I loved listening to stories always. After the training of TAHD the primary goal of all the lesson plans was to understand that our true nature is happiness. These lesson plans includes song, dance and stories.
The first time I observed Bharatanatyam lessons at RMCL, I was struck by the opening lines:
Omkaranai idhayathil ninainde
Mahizhudun Punnagai Purinthen
Thai ya thai ennum spurana thudane
Thataduvai nam saidiuvum
Lyrics by Sri Ujwal Jagadeesh Tamil Translation: Dr. Sarada
These lines invite the student to think of God’s power within themselves and smiling before starting dance. We did four lessons during our first visit. Somehow, these opening lines caught my attention each time. Later I realized that these opening lines shifted aduvu (small patterns of movement and expression that are the building blocks for Bharatanatyam) practice in a subtle but important way. I continued to observe aduvu teaching during online sessions. The theme of being attentive to God’s power within you and smiling brightly were a part of every lesson!
Smile Brightly and Dance – A 100-Day Project is Born
Over the last month, I have been considering the possibility of TAHD as a tool for practicing emotional regulation and stress management. The Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI) video on Strengthening Stress Resilience and Immunity is a useful resource to think about aduvus as a stress management practice.
Stress is an internal state of the organism and mental processes. A need or demand that is perceived to exceed the resources available to effectively deal with it at a certain time or disease can cause stress. The description of the video notes that MNRI® offers new approaches to enhance stress resilience and immunity, as we contend with the neurodevelopmental impact, the emotional/physical trauma, and the panic from the coronavirus pandemic. The uncertainty and challenges during the pandemic and other situational factors have resulted in a period of stress for Ananth.
So I was intrigued by the possibility of Smile Brightly and Dance as an approach for teaching stress management while teaching dance. Since MNRI is not easily available in India, TAHD and especially the aduvu practice as a way of affect regulation and stress management is a possibility worth exploring. Even if MNRI were readily available, dance brings the practice into a fun and engaging activity for the learner to take ownership of this practice rather than a therapy organized by others.
Our 100-Day TAHD Project Begins
Once I saw the possibility of using aduvus as a tool for practicing emotional regulation, I started thinking about a 100-Day project. Aduvus struck me as a powerful tool for creating opportunities for learners to practice facial expression. Facial expression is also practiced in storytelling and drama but aduvus provide a systematic, incremental, and consistent way of practicing affect regulation daily.
Hence, the 100-Days of Smile Brightly and Dance project was born.
Day 1: 12-15-2022
Pay attention to God’s power within you.
Ananth is beginning to internalize this message. Today, he told me that he had a hard time with fast transitions because he was not paying attention to God’s power within him!
Building Positive Thinking Trails
Today, I had an aha moment. Ananth has a tendency to get stuck on negative thoughts/experiences. So I suggested that the next time he has a negative thought, tell himself that God’s power is within him. Since Ujwal brings this message daily in one or more ways, this thought (and related thoughts) can provide an alternate path for thoughts.
What we did
Ananth and I did the following together
- Vyayama
- Tattaduvu (We tried the Aduvu Adaivu video in the morning but for our purpose, the one Ujwal and Ananth did at RMCL works better. It is slower and repeats Omkarane twice.
I have decided to practice the exercises and aduvus with him. While he is doing fine with a teacher or in a group, his attention and concentration have been significantly affected during the last year. In the early days of learning dance, I used to practice parts of the lesson with him. For this 100-Day project, I will be doing exercises and some aduvus with him as I think it will help get the most benefit out of this practice.
Day 2: 12-16-2022
Ananth learned one more aduvu in a slower format in his class. We will add that to our daily practice for the 100 days.
Day 3: 12-17-2022
We practiced the mettaduvu. We are seeing a goal for skills practice. Side bending while doing mettaduvu is our goal for the coming week!
The poster below shows our project timeline.
We invite you to create your own Smile Brightly and Dance 100-Day project or some other 100-Day Theater Arts project and share your journey with us in our LIFESMART groups!
Finger and Fine motor and hand
Hi , in this blog , I will talk about some fabulous fine motor skills to work with individuals on the spectrum
What are fine motor movements –
These are skills are intricate finger and hand movements ,These skills are important for feeding , dressing , writing , playing with different toys , manipulating phone and tablets , switching on and off devices
Basically we use the small muscles in our hand to do all the activities mentioned
It is important to know and understand that for effective fine motor functioning , one needs good core stability and shoulder strength.
These big muscles provide stable base for hands .
Please note that when we reach our hand forward to hold and pick up a glass to bring it to our mouth , the force is also brought by good shoulder girdle strength and core musculature
That is why you must wonder why a physiotherapist of your child is doing lot of heavy work activities for core and upper limbs , he /she is also aiming to build good fine motor control and tone in your child by this muscle synergy
Also it is important to encourage good posture (head, neck, thorax and lumbar area ) for good fine motor work like writing , painting , playing with toys.
Here I ll suggest some fine motor activities /games to try with your child to work on fingers , hands and fine motor manipulation
- Sorting games with tweezers and tongs
- Piggy bank games
- Joiningg links and c links toys
- Legos and duplo blocks
- Drawing with different drawing tools like crayons , markers , brush pens
- Playing different musical instruments –keyboards and drums
- Peelings and pasting stickers , finger painting , ear bud painting
- Posting games – rolling balls to a target , marble runs ,shape sorters
- Threading and lacing kits
- Peg boards
- Building blocks
- Playdough , potter ‘s clay
- Making paper clip chains
- Cloth pegs to weaned off the paper or clothes
- Putting lids on containers of different kinds
- Cap on and off from different writing tools
- Origami and paper folding
- Lock and key set
- Kitchen set with encouragement for pouring , stirring , tossing and mixing, gardening set
- Weaving and knittting paper strip crafts
All these activities will indirectly help in making your child independent with different self help skills
Every activity will help to develop a new engram in the brain of your child , more and regular practice will strengthen that engram for that fine motor skills
What the child gains
- Good fine motor strength and tone
- Finger dissociation
- Development of instrumental life skills
- Inhand rotations
- Pincer , palmar , cylindrical , lumbrical and hook grip
- Dynamic tripod and scissor grip
- Creative epressive and better finger based motor planning
- Executive functions and problem solving
Hence fine motor skills should not be ignored hence proved
Thankyou!!
Creative efforts and finger painting enthusiast – Heena Sahi
Thank you Morpheus Nag for the artwork !!