We Are Riya

Bhavana

Name: Bhavana Gopal
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 19-08-1976
Disability: Down syndrome (Down’s)

Bhavana is more like the happy ending of a story. We can go on and on talking about her and her achievements. Being a Down syndrome she is an example as to how one can overcome hurdles of disability if supported. She had a normal upbringing like any other disable child.

She was admitted in a special school and lived a life like any other child. It’s during her school days that they identified her talent for dance and was rightly encouraged but the parents and staff. She is very good at performing arts and has been to the UK on a student exchange program and performed at 19 different schools. She can read, write and is very good with numbers. She loves art and craft and spends most of her time in card making and painting.

Bhavana is today 35 and a role model to everyone at Riya. She has traveled abroad showcasing her dancing skills and has won a lot of accolades. She has even worked as a teacher’s aide at a reputed international school. They have even certified her as an efficient teacher’s aide. She is a disciplinarian, meticulous and a very warm and lovable person. Today she teaches dance, art and craft and even more a never die attitude. We are proud of her.

Kiran

Name: KIRAN K S
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 20-05-1996
Disability: Mental Retardation and Physical Disability

“Kiran” translates to sunshine in Kannada and he truly lives up to his name. When you walk into Riya the first person to greet you with a broad smile and a loud voice will be Kiran.

Being a moderate mentally challenged child, he has immense skills to understand the surroundings and respond appropriately. Although he has difficulty in muscular movements, he has achieved all gross motor movements and few fine motor with sheer determination.

Since Kiran has joined Riya his progress has been tremendous. This has not only been the feedback by the staff but also something that was shared by his parents too. On his recent visit home, during a family get together his parents were proud to hear from their relatives about their son’s progress.

He is a child with amazing determination to learn new skills. He likes spending time watching television, learning how to use the computers and since he comes from an agricultural background, his love for plants and gardening is immense. He loves being amongst people and interacting. To sum it up, he is the life at Riya.

Priyanka

Name: Rushaly Priyanka
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 29-07-2000
Disability: Mental Retardation (MR)

Priyanka is a hyperactive child and finds it very difficult to sit at one place for more than 5 minutes. It is but natural that she finds it difficult to concentrate on reading and writing.

Priyanka joined us as a day scholar. She came to Riya not knowing how to hold a pencil; today she can write numbers from 1 to 5 and alphabets A & B. It is such a great achievement by itself. Priyanka can identify few objects in the immediate surrounding and also name them. That does not restrict her skills. With the help of her parents she has learnt to prepare her favorite Maggie Noodles. She had a problem of drooling but today she has not only learnt to control it but also practice basic table manners.

Futuristic goal for Priyanka is to make her write numbers from 1 – 20 and capital letters from A – Z. She is a kid with a lot of promise. We are all proud of her for the progress she has shown in such a short span. Her Father today is all smiles about his daughter’s achievements.

Riya

Name: Riya Kallur
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: 26-12-2000
Disability: Autisum & Mental Retardation (MR)

Riya was a benchmark for all of us. As her condition suggests it’s a challenge to manage her. Her attention span does not last for more than a minute. It’s very difficult to teach her anything. She is very poor with social interaction and scholastic skills are basically nil. With a mental age of a 3 year old, training Riya is a challenge. She has a fair development of gross motor skills but very little fine motor skills.

She has a superb ear for music or sound and can pick up any tune and hum it back. She has a fair understanding of receptive language but very poor expressive language. Communication is almost nil. She is a queen of her own will and speaks only when she feels like. It’s very difficult to get her to respond to a question.

She has shown promise in terms of toilet training but has a long way to go in terms of basic life skills. Currently we are working on setting basic goals like increasing her expressive language like indicating as and when she has to use the rest room and so on. We are sure that in course of time we will be able to achieve more.

Rohit

Name: Rohit
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 26-07-1993
Disability: Hearing Impaired
Rohit was very scared and apprehensive when he joined us. He is a hearing impaired child, 18 years of age with minimal school background. He would just refuse to smile. He was under nourished and week. His social interaction was nil.

We knew we had an uphill task in hand to get him out of his cocoon and open up. It took us over six months, working day in and out building his confidence. We started involving him in get togethers, getting a lot of our friends to meet him, taking him to the malls, parks, concerts, shopping and every social gathering that was possible, even to the extent of dropping and picking him from school.

Finally the hard work had to pay off. Rohit gave us the brightest smile of his life. It felt like the first drop of rain hit the soil.Today Rohit is all smiles and confidence. He takes responsibilities to the “T” and is very meticulous. He makes sure work is done well within time. A child who was shy to even interact with his own friends and family, now walks half a mile, buys milk from the shop tenders change and walks back. Someone who feared entering the exam hall, today can recite multiplication table till 8. It might be a slow but a sure progress.

Today his smile is the spark at Riya. Due to the lack of exposure it’s hard to determine his goal. But we are trying to build interest in computers, bikes, art, playing the guitar and many more such things. Today he has not only got his smile back but in days to come, we are sure he would have a career too.

Samuel

Name: Samuel
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 03-06-2002
Disability: Down’s syndrome

Samuel joined Riya as a day scholar and is a sweetheart and a very naughty brat. He is a kid with a lot of energy and keeps everyone on their toes. He is a favorite amongst his teachers too.

Samuel is good at learning and shows a lot of interest. His strength lies in his language skills and can understand the concept of simple math. He has an ear for music and his favorite pastime is painting. He also loves watching cartoons and dedicating time for prayers. He loves to participate in church service too. Samuel is a very loving and adorable child.

He is a new to Riya and shows a lot of promise. His scholastic performance is fairly moderate. He can achieve all the goals that are set for him with a little bit of help. Futuristic goal for Samuel is to make him excel in language and math and prepare him for academics.