There was a school boy named Robin. He had a good voice, so he used to take part in singing competitions in school. As he grew to adolescence, he asked his teacher one day,
“I don’t like singing, I want to become a Rock Star”.
“Good you can” answered the teacher.
“Rock stars have a lot of money. I want only money in my life”, said Robin to the teacher.
The teacher was only carefully listening and observing him. After a few days again he came near her and said, “Miss you know, rock star has lot of money. I have seen an interview on TV. They showed his bungalow, his car, everything. I am really fascinated by seeing his life style. The ordinary singer only earn limited money”.
Teacher replied, “Don’t be attracted so much. All that glitters is not gold”.
Then he said, ” I know, everyone thinks like that, but I know, money can Talk, money is everything in life”. The teacher did not tell him anything.
Several years passed. The teacher still remembered Robin. One day she met Robin’s mother in the market. The mother asked the teacher, “Actually, I was eager to meet you for some reason. See God is so great that I met you unknowingly”.
“What’s the matter”, said the teacher.
“Can you come to my place, if you have time, I stay near by”. The teacher was really a helpful natured lady. So she agreed to visit her place immediately. When they reached there, she saw there all the instrument, what are required for a musician. She was happy in her mind.
As soon as they reached and sat down for conservation, Robin’s mother started weeping. Seeing her condition, the teacher felt awkward to ask anything. Many questions came to her mind. She consoled his mother and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Robin is out of my hand now, he is really a spoil child, takes money, if I refuse to give, he abuses me, he even started robbing valuables from home” the mother said. Meanwhile the doorbell rang. The mother opened the door. A long haired, with ear ring, shirt button opened, a vagabond boy entered the room. When the teacher saw the boy he said, “Oh! Teacher, when did you come?” What a pathetic condition of the boy, who was a brilliant boy in his childhood. The teacher thought for a moment. Meanwhile the mother told of his father’s ill health also. He was still repeating the same thing. “Teacher you know, money is the most important thing in ones life, you have to earn this money in any way. That brings happiness”.

She left their house immediately. After reaching home, the teacher thought of the condition of his parents. His mother told that he got chance to study medicine, but he was not interested. His mother requested the teacher to help her to get her son back.
Two days later, she got a phone call from Robin’s mother that her husband was admitted in the hospital. The teacher thought, this was the right time to talk to Robin. So she proceeded towards the hospital. When she arrived at the hospital, Robin was not there. She was really astonished. But she decided, ‘now I have to help his parents’. She called Robin and told him to meet her at her residence and gave the residence’s address. Duly he came to meet her. She asked him, “Are you happy?” He did not say anything. She said, “Money is what all need, but ‘money is everything’ is wrong. For every desire, you have to draw a line. Every desire should have a limit. Otherwise you will be dissatisfied always. You should know where to draw the line. You should train yourself for that. That is why a child should be trained from childhood to analyze everything. Then it is easier for him to draw a line of his limitation. If you don’t know where to draw a line, for every act, then you will be unsuccessful and unhappy and you will not achieve your goal”.
Robin listened attentively and told, “Now my father is in hospital, if I would have enough money, I could have put him in a better hospital. Rock-stars have Rolls-Royce car, all the comfort, isn’t it?” asked Robin.
The teacher replied, “Yes my child! They have Rolls-Royce, if money would be everything, Rock-stars would not die, moneyed people would have lived for ever. Your parents are more important for your life. Your mother knows her limitation, she has enough money to spend for your father’s treatment. I will not discourage you to become a Rock-star, but they have their ups and downs. Whatever you see is not always true. Everyone on this earth are born for some or the other reason. Yes, disappointment comes, but you have to analyze and find out the work which is actually for you”.
“First of all, at this moment, your concern should be for your father’s health and not money. Money comes and goes and it is important for everyone, but it is not necessary to become a Rock star and earn money. Robin, you are so talented. Why don’t you open your own band and start performing in a small way?”

Water rolled down Robin’s cheek, for few minutes he did not utter a word, then he said, “That is why, I respect you a lot teacher. You showed me the right way. I will form a group band and earn according to my capacity.

Money may be every thing, one should know where to draw a line.

• Sensation of tiredness: If anyone works continuously, he is unable to concentrate on work and feels tired. Rabindranath Tagore says “This weariness forgive me oh! My Lord”.
• Less glycogen level: The decreased glycogen levels and the pressure of toxic substances in the blood cause fatigue.
• Lack of oxygen: During any muscular activity, oxygen from the blood cells is used and cause fatigue.
• Lack of Motivation: If the person is not motivated, his work efficiency becomes less and he experiences fatigue very easily.
• Lack of adequate sleep: Sound sleep is needed for good health. Lack of sound sleep affects work production and hence causes fatigue.
• Lack of Ventilation: Lack of proper ventilation affect the health, work efficiency and causes fatigue.
• Proper interest: If there is no interest in the work, it turns to be boring and causes fatigue.
• Illness: Long illness or sedative dose of medicine and has just recovered, gets fatigued easily.

Dysgraphia is a learning disability resulting to difficulty in expressing thoughts in writing.The student may not form words correctly and there is difficulty in writing within a certain space. It takes time to write neatly.

Writing involves several brain functions:

1) Vocabulary

2) Grammar

3)Hand-movement

Sign or the characteristics of Dysgraphia

1) Illegible handwriting- very bad handwriting.

2) Inconsistency– mixture of cursive and print letters.

3) Talk to self— murmurs.

4) Unfinished words & letters, omitted words.

5) Inconsistent in spacing words & letters.

6)  Cramped grip i.e unusual grip of pencil or pen.

7)  Give slope while writing.

Very slow at writing.

9) Random or not existent punctuation, spelling mistakes, errors in common suffixes.

Dealing with Dysgraphic children

a) Considering the rate of producing written work.

b)  Considering the volume of the work to be produced.

c) Considering the complexity of the writing task.

d) Considering tool used to produced the work.

e) Considering the format of the product.

1) Regular reading.

2)Make a habit of reading loudly.

3) Follow finger while reading.

4) Attention & listening

5) Paired reading exercises

6) Play word game

7) Encourage singing songs, verses etc.

Making the reading a fun.

9) Praise the child immediately if he  tries little.

10) If the child is always in hurry, give him to draw something and encourage him to do so.

Dyslexia is a condition where a child experiences severe difficulties in reading,he is unable to read. It is a language based disability in which the person has trouble in understanding words, sentences and paragraphs. The students have the problem to understand

i) letters

ii) group of letters

iii)  sentences or paragraph  e.g dog—bog

There are two major dysfunctions—

i) development specific disability—- biological condition comes from heredity.

ii) Acquired specific dyslexia—due to trauma, mental shock or injury

Problem

a) Surface— can read the word, but can not recognise the word.

b) Spelling— reads correctly, writes wrong.

c) Direct— jumps from one part to another. Skips words or sentences

All dyslexic do not have same symptoms, it could be:

i) Visual spatial

ii) Speech sound

iii) Correlating difficulty–problem with similar words e.g pear, pair

iv) Auditory dyslexia

v) Visual auditary—use visual and audio simultaneously.

Characteristics

1) Problem with left, right direction of the print. Gets confused.

2) Speech irregularities

3) Eating words while reading

4) Confusion with similar sounding words e.g–accept and except

5) Attention problem–short attention span

6) Poor ability to name objects

7) Poor ability to categorize objects

Difficulty in carrying out more than one instruction at a time.

9) Confusion with letters that look alike e.g p&q, b&d.

10) Difficult in understanding preposition related to alphabet e.g in & out.

11) Inability to recognize & recall written symbols.

12) Reverse letter e.g b&d.

13) Lack of automation in reading.

14) Forgets to cross letters e.g little as lillte.

Define learning. Discuss the characteristics of learning.

Learning is the modification of behavior & experience. It is of a lasting nature & relatively permanent. It is not brought by biological or physiological factors.

According to Gates & others: “Learning is the modification of behavior through experience”.

According to Kingsley & Garry : “Learning is the process by which behavior is originated or changes through practice or training”.

According to Peel: “Learning is a change in the individual following upon changes in his environment”.

Learning is a life long process. It takes place throughout the life, from womb to tomb. The unborn child which is in the womb also starts learning .eg. Abhimanyu learnt about chakravyu from inside mother’s womb

Learning is modification of behavior but all modification of behavior is not learning. For example: Undesirable modification of behavior i.e. bad habit, immoral conducts, behavioral changes due to maturation, fatigue, influence of drugs, alcohol etc. Changes brought by these processes are unstable. Without adjusting & adapting to a surrounding, we can not survive. Learning proceeds in a step by step manner.

Characteristics of Learning.

1) Learning is co- terminus with life: From the beginning to the end of the life , the individual goes through the process of learning. It is the life long process. (e.g. child cries – gets food, repeats whenever hungry.)

2) Learning is change/ modification of behavior: All learning is the modification of behavior but all modification of behavior are not learning.

3) Learning implies cumulative improvement: Initial attempts are crude & exploratory in nature. Actions are undifferentiated & often the response is wrong. With proper training the child learns to reduce his errors & performs his task with ease. E.g. child learns writing—scribbles— write—alphabets

4) Learning is universal: Learning does not require a place to acquire knowledge At every moment of life an individual learns through his experience, changes in environment. E.g. when a child goes to circus and learns about different animals.

5) Learning is purposeful: All our actions are governed by purpose & motive. The expectation may be

· Self expectation e.g. one’s desire to get first rank in the class.

· Parental e.g. parents expectation about his child

· Teacher e.g. Teacher expectation for the students

6) Learning is growth but never ending growth: It is continuous not restricted to childhood. A person continuously acquires new vision & new ideas e.g. During childhood, we learn alphabets & numbers, but as we grow we learn different languages & we keep on learning.

7) Learning is goal oriented: Learning involves goal/ motive. e.g. If an individual wants to become a teacher the goal may be to provide the best to the students by creating interest for studies.

Learning may be right or wrong: Change of behavior may not be always directed towards improvement or positive development e.g. learning gambling, cheating —bad behavior.

9) Learning is transferable : Transfer occurs when there is similarity of content, techniques, procedures ideals & attitudes. E.g Knowledge of playing sitar helps to play guitar, knowledge of playing harmonium helps to play Casio.

10) Learning is intelligent: Meaningless efforts do not produce permanent result. E.g. when a child learns something unintelligently, he is likely to forget it very soon.

Once a sadhu (sage) was telling children about different life styles. After that he asked questions.”What do you want to become in your life? I mean to say, what is your aim in life? Small children always want whatever they see in their daily life. One child raised his hand and said, ” I want to become a sage”.  Why? asked the sage. The child said, “I can get more food and I will talk to people”. Another child said “I want to become a bus conductor as he is having lot of money in his bag”. Everyone present there laughed aloud. The third child said, “I want to see myself on T.V. If I am there everyone will recognize me” Hearing this, the sage said, “it is easy to say, but difficult to apply. A sage’s life is very difficult, a rigorous life. A conductor has to give the full account at the end of the day. Each coin has to be accounted for. Watching T.V is recreational, but the  people who are there on T.V are working day and night to become successful”.

Suddenly a young sage raised  his hand and requested the elder sage to grant him permission to talk. Then he said, “if you want to become this and that you tell your mind everyday the same thing. You keep on feeding your mind the same thing and you will see that whatever you thought, has come true one day. This happens due to setting a goal which goes to your subconscious mind. We should programme our mind correctly without hesitation and having firm faith. You will become very happy”. All the children liked it and wondered about the power of the Mind.

Reap the seed as early as possible and get the juciest fruit of your choice.

Once a twenty five years old lady  Nisha took part in a elocution competition. She was a good orator, speaker and spoke very well in the competition. Everyone present in the hall appreciated her speech. One by one all the competitors spoke and competition got over. One of the competitors Sonali, spoke out of context and she was not enough confident about her topic to face the judges.

As soon as the competition got over judges started their  work, counted the marks and were ready to  announce the result.

Then the judges went to the stage and announced the name of the winners. When Nisha found her name in second positionwith Sonali winnig, she refused to take her prize. She started arguing with the judges as Sonali, spoke out of the topic. The judges remained silent and did not utter a word.

The organiser of the competition started arguing with Nisha. She started weeping and said that she did not want any prize for that. Sonali took her prize and went away.

When Nisha came home weeping, her mother asked her about the incident. Her mother consoled her and said,”You have done your job well. If you deserve, you will win everything in your life. God gives the thing at the right time. So don’t repent. No one can take your belongings. Whatever is yours that comes automatically to you”.

Later on after six months, when there was a inter collegeite competition, Nisha got first prize and Sonali did not get anything, Nisha realised that her mother was right.

So success comes if you really deserve it.

One day when I was travelling in a train, I saw two mothers carrying two babies on their lap. The babies were almost of the same age. As soon as the train started both mother gave eatery to both. One baby got one biscuit packet, the other one got one potato chips (lays) packet. Suddenly one child touched the lays packet. The other child immediately slapped it. The child started crying. Suddenly one child snetched the biscuit packet from other child. One of the mother took lays and gave the other one. When I reached to my destination I thought of this incident.

Men are really selfish by nature. From his birth, he cries for his own food, own pain, own needs. Never thinks of his mother’s pain or trouble. As soon as he grows, he needs his mother for serving his food, taking his lesson and bringing him up properly. He needs the parents till his requirements are fulfilled. As soon as he begins earning, he sometimes forgets the parents and continues to see his own comforts only.

By watching these two children I just focussed my thinking into their future and it came to my mind that everyone loves his belongingness. Belongingness does not have an age. It comes from birth. Maslow has given the different stages—–

a) physiological need

b) Safety need

c) Love and belongingness

d) self esteem

e) self realisation

But looking at these children, I could say that every human being brings the SANSKAR with him from previous birth which carries throughout his life. This attitude and aptitude can change with environment.

Symptoms:

1)Does not babble, point or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age

2)Does not speak one word by 16 months

3)Does not combine two words by 2 years

4) Does not respond to name

5) Loses language or social skills

Some other indicators:

Lacks eye contact

Doesn’t seem to know how to play with toys in the usual manner

Excessively lines up toys or other objects

Does not smile

At times seems to be hearing-impaired

CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM

1) some delay in language development

2) uneven pattern of intellectual funtioning

3) delay in understanding development

4) inconsistence pattern of sensory response

5) marked retardation on activity

6) repetitive behaviour

7) rigid physical contact

8. lack of imagination

9) unaware of consequences

10) laughs\giggles for no apparant response