Inspiration
A child and adolescent psychiatrist who’s been involved in the field for 25 years, Dr Dhaval Mody found that many children with differential needs were reported to be regressing in their academic and even developmental progress. This heralded the need for urgent intervention and SpEd@home was born.
Aim
Following SpEd@home’s founding in 2020, Dr. Mody and his colleagues conducted scores of interviews with the parents of children with differential needs in order to understand the core issues many of them were having during the pandemic. Based on these interviews, they realized that many of the remedial centers that the parents had come to depend upon for their children were solely focused on academic performance at the expense of personal growth. The team conceived SpEd@home as a corrective to the state of special education in India – a service provider that focuses on the holistic growth of its students to ensure their development over the longer term.
Services
SpEd@home offers a customizable and affordable approach to special education that blends coach-led and tech-led interventions for children with differential needs. Whilst their interventions cater to educational tasks such as literacy and numeracy, they also place an equal amount of focus on both physical and cognitive tasks to ensure a well-rounded and holistic development.
The services provided by SpEd@home can be broadly split into four categories:
- Assessments
- Therapy
- Group sessions
- Socio-emotional learning
Assessments
Educational assessments
SpEd@home’s educational assessments encompass evaluations and interviews that allow them to understand a child’s strengths and challenges. Based on them, individualized sessions are designed to suit their needs. Afterward, a complete report is composed outlining potential guidelines and objectives for future therapy sessions.
Occupational therapy assessments
In order to ensure a strong foundation for a child’s growth, it’s necessary for one to understand their core strengths and weaknesses. This is where occupational therapy comes in handy. Based on assessments of a child’s proficiency and development rather than their academic grades, the experts at SpEd@home create education plans that are perfectly tailored to them.
Remedial therapy
In remedial therapy, SpEd@home’s experts draw up educational plans based on analyses of a child’s strengths and areas where improvement may be necessary.
- Assignments
- English and math programs curated to meet proficiency-levels
- One-on-one sessions that range from 40-60 minutes
Occupational therapy
SpEd@home’s occupational therapists create exercises based on the child’s one-on-one sessions which might include exercises and activities to help them incorporate lessons into their daily lives.
Speech therapy
Communication is a vital aspect of life in general. SpEd@home’s speech and language therapists teach valuable techniques to help with a range of different communication issues that a child may be encountering. These issues include, among others:
- Flow
- Fluency
- Articulation
- Expression of basic information
The techniques utilized by SpEd@home’s speech therapists include oral muscle strengthening, breathing exercises, and other relevant strategies.
Group sessions
SpEd@home runs various group sessions for children all year round – some also run during term times and school occasions. They play the important role of socialization that many children with differential needs may lack in their lives.
Socio-emotional learning
Children with strong socio-emotional skills have been found to cope better with daily challenges and thus benefit socially, academically, and professionally. Sped@home helps children develop self-control, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills that are vital for success anywhere in life. Some of the many issues that socio-learning helps tackle are:
- Problem-solving
- Self-discipline
- Impulse control
- Emotion management
Moving forward
Providing children with differential needs the right kind of holistic education is only the beginning. Attitudes towards disabilities such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dysgraphia, and Autism are gradually but surely shifting in the mainstream through the advent of the internet (that has played a vital role in making unheard voices heard). A solid psychological and educational foundation will go a long way in ensuring a full life. It is SpEd@home’s hope that it not only sets an industry standard when it comes to special education but also plays a small role in the progress of those with differential abilities in India.
