While pursuing higher education abroad, Ashwini Subbarayan discovered her calling. It was to return to India and take up teaching. However, the career path she had visualised had an expected turn when it unfolded in reality.
She had not expected to teach children with learning disabilities, but today that is her forte.
In 2014, while taking regular classes for children, she noticed one of them having difficulties in understanding concepts.
“That student was dyslexic. At that time, my knowledge of the subject came entirely from Taare Zamein Par . In an effort to understand dyslexia better, I took up a special course at Madras Dyslexia Association and then from National Institute for Learning Development (NILD). I also enrolled for a Feuerstein’s Developmental Enrichment Programme; and I’m still in the process of learning,” says this resident of Adyar.
Though a trained engineer, Ashwini, 26 years old now, is determined to stick to teaching children with learning difficulties.
Along with her husband Girivasan Amirthalingam, an academic tutor and a theatre artist, Ashwini has now set up an institute — Sara’s Badge — in Adyar with around 30 children who have different learning disabilities resulting from attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia and other conditions.
“No two children who come to me are the same,” says Ashwini.
Except for storytelling sessions (which are conducted by well-known storytellers such as Janaki Sabesh), all the sessions are conducted on a one-on-one basis for an hour.
She prepares interesting worksheets for each student depending on what skill sets they need to develop. The assessments are made on the basis of monthly goals set in her Individual Education Plan (IEP) customised according to the child.
A strong believer in Early Childhood Education, including early introduction to phonics, and storytelling as a tool of education, Ashwini focusses on making learning fun with Jolly Phonics, a system introduced by educators Sue Lloyd and Chris Jolly.
“We introduce the letter sounds first by narrating a story, letting them colour, sing rhymes, make actions and then learn the letter and its sound again for better memory,” adds the teacher.
In the future, Ashwini plans to teach children with disabilities like autism and Down’s syndrome and bridge the gap after schooling.
“Such people don’t have any activity after they leave school. I want to keep them engaged throughout their lives and continue teaching at regular schools too,” says Ashwini.
