According to My School’s Founder and Director, Miss Mona Chadda, her first book, “The Implicit Connections,” talks about every specially-abled child who is a part of ‘My School’s journey. She has changed the names of her students. However, the journey and feelings are true. The reason for the name change is to respect the sentiments of everyone.
Then her second book, “The not so Different Phases,” discusses how we should all teach ‘My Kids.’ She has presented and explained many useful ideas too deep in your understanding of your child’s special characteristics that make certain tasks so challenging. She has also given information to strengthen your teaching skills and make learning more successful for your special needs students.
She started helping children and understanding their needs around ten years ago. She reflects, “I believe in this place for help in My School. God gave me a mission to educate, encourage and equip those who teach children with special needs.”
Learning with the Children
Her goal in writing this book has been to educate you about effective instruction. What works and why it works. She also wanted to encourage you to believe that it truly is possible to successfully teach a special needs child once you know how to make the right accommodations, modifications, and adaptations to your instructions-whether at home or in a public or a private school. Finally, she wants to equip you with a wealth of tools and strategies you could easily apply to your busy teaching schedule. She trusts that you’ll find this book has done that for you all.
To let your students succeed, you must move beyond your personal experience with school. Think outside the box! If your student has significant language limitations, focus on their strength. Look for creative ways your child can work in areas of strength as they acquire and demonstrate new knowledge. They may excel in art, sports, music, biology, history, computer or programming skill, designing systems and structures or doing multimedia work on a computer. They may create beautiful posters. And each time, you offer alternatives where your child can excel. You are helping your child to show what has been learned and encourage them to improve. Your child’s final work product may differ greatly from the paper and pencil objective test you grew up with. But the work will be more appropriate for your student’s individual needs.
Because you can recognize how language-based learning disabilities or other weaknesses may interfere with your child’s educational progress, you are equipped to appreciate that there are many ways to meet your child’s needs. It is essential to explicitly teach them a skill by giving numerous concrete (not abstract) examples of what you teach. Make yours and their journey and implicit connection. It may include demonstrations or examples in several formats-hand on learnings, multi-sensory tasks, multiple images on flashcards, and online videos. Find what works and use it. Don’t leave and teach in brackets.
She says, “Let us recognize that to move forward in our lifelong learning process, growing in wisdom and knowledge, by God’s grace in our personal gifts and through the help we received from others. It is important to acknowledge that this applies to our individual students as much as it applies to you. Students with special needs do not start with highly effective or sophisticated learning strategies. They need you to teach them those strategies directly, demonstrate and describe them with examples and real-life situations, and encourage them to make good education decisions.”
The strategies and the tool she has shared in this book are only a fraction of the possibilities available. To be truthful, move out of your comfort see what works best for your child. The world is targeting everything right from AI intelligence to luxury homemaking. But this field needs much empathy and understanding. She requests more and more schools and teachers to work and think for the real target, the real teaching. She has added some tools which she is sure are very helpful and effective.
If you have found these ideas in the book useful, Miss Mona encourages you to explore and search for even more possibilities. Feel free to adapt these ideas to make them workable for your child. “If you create a new or improved strategy, I hope you will share it with me, so I can pass it on to be a blessing and help to others,” she says.
She wrote this book so you will not have to teach your special child or student alone. She wants to come by your side. “Let us lift our kids and encourage the journey as many families need help. Don’t try to face the struggles on your own. You are never alone. Remember, “We are the same-same but different.”
On a Never Ending Voyage
Miss Mona is a psychiatrist, German translator, interpreter, image consultant, life coach, and career counsellor. Besides being a German translator/interpreter and a psychiatrist by profession, she is a double PhD holder and has worked simultaneously for 30 years in both fields.
As the author of two books and on a mission, the thought of settling and school was the best thing to keep up her spirits. She believes learning never ends, and there is no age to stop studying. She keeps equipping herself by doing many courses which help her to help her profession better.
Miss Mona, first and foremost, dedicates the success of ‘My School’ and her two books to her God. Through his blessings, she has been privileged to do this work with so many special people.
She wants to dedicate these books to many struggling students and their parents whose openness and honesty have taught her so much as they shared their stories, struggles and successes. Without their support and prayers, these books would never have been possible.
“I must dedicate them to my loving and caring brother Vaneet Chadda. He has been a strong support for encouraging and believing in me and always saying, ‘You are right. Go ahead.’ Whenever in a short conversation, he always asked, “Is there anything we can do more to help?” These two lines have kept her going. It runs through her blood. She really wishes to do a lot. That’s the purpose of her life.
She would also like to dedicate these books to her brother Satish Aswani. He has supported the idea of helping children in such a powerful way that ‘Whomever he meets he talks about this system.’ He talks about Miss Mona’s work by saying, “Didi, let’s do something for all our children where they can lead an independent life. They can go to work like everyone. His belief in me keeps my Hope alive,” she states.
She would also like to thank her niece Riddhi Chadda, who has helped her make diagrams and typing charts.
It’s her prayer that these books will plant seeds of hope, landing on fertile ground and bringing forth good fruit in the life of those who read them. “I know the path is struggling, but we have Hope,” adds Miss Mona.
My Journey from I to Us
She has worked with many corporate sectors and strongly believes that her life has a purpose that needs to be created. She aims to touch many lives with her connections from the past three decades. She runs an Inclusive school, meaning each class has two students with special needs, and the others are neurotypical.
She started ‘My School’ in 2012 with a strength of seven students below her multistoried house. In a year, she touched 60 students, and she could sense this was what she wanted to do in life. “My brother and his wife supported me as he appreciated my thought process and (my I-to-we journey started). We wanted to name the school which gives a sense of belonging, so we named it ‘My School.”
They received good feedback not only from the neuro-typical students but also from their specially-abled kids. “We are a strong foundation for kids to grow in a healthy environment where kids have an attitude to learn, lead and enjoy.” Known for learner-centric and skill-based methodology, they have well-defined classes which prepare the child to understand the world from a real perspective. The aim is to make them learn and not just memorize for the sake of examinations. To study each child before teaching to understand their level of understanding. “Teaching here is a passion and not work.”
My School is not just a place to study the facts in the textbook but to understand the way of life. Which has a strength of 25 students in each class where a child learns to accept sportsmanship quality, appreciation, encouragement, participation, and learning. “We kept a beautiful strategy of 25 kids in one class, out of the two kids who are especially abled and one kid from a difficult walk of life, unable to pay the fees. They, Miss Mona herself and her brother Mr Vaneet Chadda, a Chemical Engineer, decided not to ask for financial help. And do the best they can do by themselves. “This gave us a huge satisfaction.”
Same Same but Different!
Their passion for the school grew more and more each day. They tried to make a school that they were expecting for their kids. “There are few other things that are different from other schools. The best to count on is the feedback given to the kids. A few years ago, we added a new member who shared the same empathy -Mr Jatin Goyal. A young and energetic person who has completed his operational management. His vision of new methods has helped us to grow more. Our team has also observed that there are good centres for specially-abled kids related to therapy centres, Home-based learning, and so on. However, My School Foundation believes every child has the right to be educated (irrespective of whether he is a neurotypical or a specially-abled child). Maybe a little slow or maybe Slow, which we believe is okay.” My school believes that every child is like a mystery book. Thus, the school has no bias towards normal kids, special kids, rich or poor, caste and creed, nation and nationality. “What makes our school unique is ‘giving equality to special children and also free education to the needy,” says Miss Mona, adding, “A strong belief is that we are – ‘Same same but different!”
Miss Mona truly wants to make a giant difference in the life of special children and underprivileged children. She believes the least she can do is start with her school, which has a reserved space for underprivileged and special children. She has lived her life optimistically. She believes that every child needs a chance. “Today’s children will be leaders of tomorrow,” she feels.
Straight from the Heart
Sharing her inspiration behind venturing into the educational arena, Miss Mona says throughout her journey of working years, she felt specially-abled children, especially those who are with ADHD/Down Syndrome/Spectrum Autism/Slow Learning/Dyslexia/Dysgraphia/Dyscalculia/Cerebral Palsy, do not have acceptance in the education field and the struggle of parents is beyond understanding. “I always thought I should do something for them.” There are inclusive schools. However, it is difficult to be inclusive in the real sense.
These kids need help with Occupational Therapy/Speech Therapy/Group Therapies, and so on. Some can financially afford these sessions, and some cannot. “We also teach the parents what is required so they can do it for the child and are not on a guilt trip that ‘I don’t have money, so can’t help the child.”
Stating initial changes that she had to surmount to ensure My School’s success rate reached greater heights, Miss Mona says her first concern was to relocate the place from below her house to a bigger space. The second was speaking with people for new admission and their acceptance to be a part of an inclusive school. “We are now proudly standing with 300 like-minded people with acceptance.”
Highlighting her professional value and qualities admired by children and parents, Miss Mona says, “My school strongly believe that – ‘We are Same same but different.”
Their take home 98 % time is that ‘Our kids have empathy, equality, and acceptance for diversity.’
Creating India’s Future Citizens
Further revealing the USPs of My School, she says running a truly inclusive school with the correct sense of inclusion is their USP. A student ratio of 25 to 30 in each class, with two specially-abled children and one financially weak child. Further, My School runs on no loans and no donations.
As an experienced professional, in her advice to aspirants willing to enter the educational world, Miss Mona says she would like to suggest, “To have proper knowledge before you begin with inclusion, don’t depend on only supporters. Specially-abled children are not for Insta-selfies or any other Social media. Remember, it is the connection from heart-to-heart, and if you don’t feel, don’t enter into this profession.”
On envisioning My School’s operations with the emerging technologies and automated tools that are revolutionizing the business world by enabling innovations, Miss Mona divulges that the technology they have applied so far is an Active App for the textbooks, which has video content of the said chapter. It is very effective as kids can refer and listen and understand ‘n number of times to it.
The Perpetual Connection
“At My School, we name it Assistive Technology. We use the Multiple Intelligence Test, which works on Naturalistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Existential, Interpersonal, Linguistic, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Intra-personal, and Spatial intelligence which helps us and the parents the strong points and methods to teach and what career can our children opt for.”
A technology called – Brainwave technology is based on light and VR. It is called a Brainwave Entrainment Technique. It improves focus and reduces hyperactivity by naturally controlling neural activity and increasing neuroplasticity.
In her other activities, Miss Mona has conducted many seminars and training sessions with MBA colleges, air hostess institutions, and pilot training. She has touched on relationship management, anger management, parenting, and soft-skill training. She has a rare ability to leave an electrifying impact on her knowledge and training to the student or listener.
Miss Mona has delivered uncommonly original results and useful insights as a speaker. She has trained around 9000 people in the last thirty years. She believes connection, once made, is made forever. She has a deep sense of empathy with all age groups, and the connection is implicit. “Irrespective of time and distance, whenever people meet me, we connect on the same page and wavelength,” concludes Miss Mona.
