Dear readers, we are glad to inform you that my blog is moved into wordpress. New site url is mymanycoloureddays. Please subscribe, looking forward to your comments and feedback.

Childhood into adolescence ...a journey of love, bonding and faith.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Autism awareness walk
Schedule Board
The small size of the cards will need to be taken care of else I am sure they will disappear quickly. Nevertheless, it should add great value.
Friday, November 27, 2009
lunch box ideas
Monday, November 23, 2009
Eggless Date cake
1 cup orgran all purpose flour
1/2 cup oil
1tsp baking soda
18 dates
3/4th cup soymilk
3/4th cup sugar
1tbsp nuts
microwave the seedless dates in soymilk for 1-2 minuteds and grind it.Add sugar and grind it to a paste Add 1 tbsp of the flour-baking soda mix to the date paste at a time and gradually mix.Add the nuts and mix. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes.The cake turns out to be nice and moist.
Ragi idlis and dosas
Idlis
Ragi (finger millet)-1 1/4 cup
urad dal(black lentil) ¼ cup
salt
oil
I have used whole urad dal. Soak urad dal in water for 2-3 hrs, ragi 15-20 min before mixing. The urad dal should be ground fine.Mix both the ragi and urud batter. Leave the batter overnight for fermentation. Make it in the same way as the regular idlis. They come out nice and soft.
Dosas
The same batter comes out well for dosa. It tasted the same as the one I had tried at a MTR outlet, even If I may say so myself. Another method suggested to me was to mix a handful of ragi in a portion of regular dosa batter in appropriate proportion. Add finely chopped onion and cilantro to it
Friday, November 20, 2009
Information and resource centre, Bangalore
INFORMATION & RESOURCE CENTRE FOR
Autism And Other developmental Disabilities
#9, 1st cross, shankarapuram, Bangalore 560004
Contact Person: Vani nagaraj
Phone: +91-80-41203426
E-mail: autismirc@gmail.com
They offer numerous services. One of them is the training of caregivers called the SAHYOGI.It recently concluded the second batch of care givers.The caregivers are not therapist but are trained to handle an autistic child.This is something on the lines Merry Barua had done at AFA 6-7 yrs back. I do not if they still continue with this program.The irc has also provided some useful links on their website.
The magic of Kalangana
http://picasaweb.google.com/ragneyi/Kalaangana_day_03_10thNov09?feat=directlink#
http://picasaweb.google.com/ragneyi/Kalaangana_day0209112009?feat=directlink#
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Zero-G
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Amaranth flour
Socializing with a gfcf menu
Inform the host of the diet and there are can be one or two items that are GFCF. A fruit salad for dessert is a healthy option.
Carry your own food, one main dish that is the child’s favorite which can be had with rice or is a meal in itself.
Thirdly feed the child before you leave and inform the host that we shall be coming in a little late.
We have tried all these alternatives and it has worked out for us. At the end of it one would like to take the child only where a) he would be comfortable b) one can take the liberty of telling the host the options before you.
One host had made chicken preparations without curds, jaljeera for his drink, and some dal based crispies, for snacks. She had exclusively set aside some moongdal halwa made with oil for him. Wow! And we were really touched. Nobody minded the below fare either as they were not missing anything. There is no better way of saying we care!
If I were to set a menu, I stick to real active fruit juices or the freshly made ones, potato chips, sabudana vada, gfcf chicken tikkas, dal vadas, besan fritters, cocktail uthappams with toppings, fried nuts, sometimes groundnuts with finely chopped onions and tomatoes, smileys. And of course the main menu with rice,rajma… Once I served my guests banana sorbet and that is something that doesn’t really go down well with everybody, but they were game to it. So much so for GFCF dining!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Augmentative communication
Who,what why.when questions
The minorities
Friday, November 13, 2009
Massager
Karadi tales
The videos of karadi tales on the you tube are eminently watchable. One can also buy the CD’S along with the books. In voices of Naseeruddin Shah, Saeed Jaffrey,Sunjay Dutt, Vidya balan, these stories are presented very well. These are good fillers, especially when you don’t want to do 1-1 activities with the child.This is one of the videos we watched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwzefwjiP2k&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=47B7DD1EA34527F7
Weather –Clothing chart
A weather chart is a good tool for an autistic child especially when the child has sensory issues with clothing. Keeping in mind the prevailing weather condition one can draw a circular chart with the appropriate pictures for the weather conditions and the clothing that goes with it. Broadly divide the chart into sunny, cold, rainy, windy, foggy .A needle can be fixed to the centre and the child can be asked to indicate the weather .Another combination could be weather –calendar chart where the child can indicate the weather against the dates.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Store for autism
ASHA academy for autism and severe handicaps
ASHA academy for severe handicaps and autism
Earlier one of my readers had asked me which school Ramam goes to, after reading the post on Bangalore experience.He goes to ASHA. It is located in Basaweshwara nagar and is run by the dynamic Jaishree Ramesh.The teacher to student ratio is excellent. There is a lot of emphasis on visual learning.Written receipes for the cooking classes, use of schedule charts for the daily routines, social stories.The children are also taken on home visits and a monthly picnic.Two months back,they had been to the turf club and enjoyed horse riding.They have a yoga techer, speech therapist, music teacher,art therapist and an occupational therapist on board.The school timings are from 10-4.The special educator in each class is ably supported by the assistant teachers. IEPs with both short and long term goals are made. The school also had its sports meet in October.The school has a parents association.The school infrastructure is good. The schools stood second in the recently concluded Kalangana competition.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
All in a day’s work
This post has nothing to do with autism, but then there is life beyond it too!Just as an individual, I wanted to write this post from my perspective of things. Recently, I was waiting outside for Ramam to finish his therapy session. There was some construction activity going on. There was a 3 yr old girl playing there under the sharp eyes of her mother. Every time she is used to run towards the middle of the road, her mother would catch her and bring her back. The girl attempted to do it 3-4 times that I was waiting there. Having nothing to do I watched this mother –daughter duo intently .The girl was playing with a shovel and filling an empty bag with sand .Every time it was half full, she would go and empty it. You can give her play any name. (Please check my earlier post,learning thru play).I could not but help notice her eye hand coordination, the agility, the dexterity of her movements. She was having so much fun in the most natural way possible. No expensive fischer-price activity boards, safe funskool toys, non toxic food grade, playdough, but, yes this child is also growing up. Hats off to the mother’s tenacity, she has become adept at multitasking. She was sieving the sand, filling cement in a trough, attending to the daughter. People really work hard for a living.
Learning through play
Physical play: This includes playing with blocks, running, jumping, catching, cycling, dancing. All these activities, help in boosting the child’s confidence and health.
Creative play: This helps in expressing their feelings such as painting, molding clay, sewing, cutting.
Exploratory play: Learning through one’s senses, finding things for one self, basically sensory exploration
Imaginative play: Taking characters on to themselves and pretend play
Social Play: Learning socially acceptable behavior, cooperative, parallel play, cooking….
Manipulative play: Use of rattles, activity centres, threading beads, dot to dot .Ramam likes these set of activities.
Communication –aids
Bangalore book fest
On a Sunday morning with time weighing heavily on our hands, skies overcast we are undecided as to how to spend the day. We decided to go for the book fest and it turned out to be a wonderful decision. Both the kids had a good time. Ramam flipped thru the pages in the book stalls, watched the video CDS’, taking his pick of the CD’s. There is a huge collection of books ranging from activities to stories. Name it and it is there. There is a standard 10% discount. We picked up a collection of the DK series, some story books. There is a stall by the Chandrasekhar institute of hearing as well. The National book trust has a stall. Some of the story books here are very good for picture description activities. There are some food stalls too, to complete the Sunday outing. I think it is open from the 6th-13th of November.
Dr.S.R. Chandra sekhar institute for speech and hearing
Located in Kariyanapalya, this institiute has been a great find. It boasts of an excellent reputation and lives up to one’s expectations. After the initial assessments are done, the psychologist decides on the therapies required by the child. The sessions are conducted by students doing the bachelor/masters program under the supervision of the staff. The interns from this institute work at various centers including schools and hospitals. They are very professional and the sessions are monitored by the staff thru a close circuit TV, and discussions with the therapist. They offer OT, behavioural intervention, and speech therapy. One pays upfront for 5 sessions, the fees are a nominal Rs 100 for a 45 min session.One can choose the time and number of visits. They work in two shifts 8.30-3.30 and 11-00-7.00. Foremost they understand autism and Dr. Pratibha Karant of comm.-deall is one of the members on the board. Again there is a unit of comm-deall functioning from here. This unit of comm.-deall also takes children only up to the age of six. The disadvantage so as to speak of is that the therapist working with the child changes every six months when the graduates pass out of the institute. Their number is 080-25470037/080-25460405.