We at Sadhana believe that nothing is impossible. Here is an incredible success story.

This is the story of a young boy – Rohit Ghatage who joined Office Procedures Class four and a half years ago. At the time of admission Rohit was digenesis, ASD spectrum with multiple disabilities. Rohit was an introvert, shy with low self-worth.

A special curriculum was designed to train and educate Rohit. After two years of vigorous training we started Rohit's internship at the office of Nirali cookware at Prabhadevi. During the internship we assessed that Rohit has potential to achieve much higher goals with proper guidance and support.

During this period, the team from Deloitte visited the school for the Impact day. On their visit they were very impressed with the working of the school and Rohit's competency. One of the senior members of the team offered an internship to Rohit at Deloitte.

We were very happy with Deloitte's offer but at the same time we were very anxious. I was very nervous and apprehensive as this was our first experience with the corporate world.

Initially we started his training programme twice a week. But soon we realized that our journey would not be smooth. On my first visit to Deloitte I felt that we are pushing him into a deep ocean where he would have to face the turbulence on his own.

The first six months were not easy for him and for us. There were new challenges everyday. Initially Rohit was lost and so were his colleagues. Rohit took some time to adjust to his colleagues and the working of the corporate world. It was difficult for his colleagues to relate to him or to understand his shortcomings or skills.

To help Rohit, we conducted an orientation programme at Deloitte to convey to them the goal of our education, skills, shortcomings and abilities of Rohit and how to deal with them. The orientation programme played a great role and motivated his collogues to accept Rohit and include him in their team. However success was achieved through the constant support and monitoring by staff members and the acceptance and adjustment provided by the Deloitte team.

After a year Deloitte extended his contract and soon Rohit started training three times a week. Positive support from the team helped Rohit to blossom and gain confidence. Looking at his performance, Deloitte has signed Rohit as a permanent employee.

Rohit's success story has motivated us. He has given us hopes to set much higher goals. He is an inspiration and motivator to many other students. Rohit's success story would not have been complete without the tireless efforts of the staff members of the Office Procedures and the School, guidance and support from the Principal and Vice Principal, cooperation and patience of the staff members of Deloitte. I would like to specially thank Ms. Mamta Vats, for her unstinted support and showing faith in our students.

ROHIT MAKES US PROUD
Jasmine Pandya

HOD - Office Procedures Class

The power of change is a mighty one. I received that power on a hot summer's day by means of a phone call in 2011. It was the Principal of our school letting me know that I would have a new student, Jai, travelling all the way from Nairobi, East Africa this year. Nairobi is 17418 kilometers and 243 hours away, and he was traveling all that distance, in hope for change.

With a huge responsibility on my shoulders, I remember visiting Jai and his family on a Sunday afternoon with a friendly box of doughnuts. Jai would have at least one familiar face on his first day at school, so I thought. And then his journey began.

Jai had suffered from Rasmussens Encephalitis when he was 4 years old. This means there was inflammation in his left brain. As a result he was severely epileptic. This is a very rare disease and surgery was the only option. They did a surgery on the left side of his brain, as a result of which they disconnected that side and removed some parts. Due to this the left hemisphere of the brain stopped functioning. Though this stopped his seizures for 1 year, they recurred. Apart from medical diagnosis I observed the following traits in Jai. He was stubborn, had poor social skills, was unable to interact or communicate, and was emotionally impaired as well as a rote learner.

Apart from our OPC syllabus, we added new tools to Jai's academic curriculum for his overall development to make the learning experience enjoyable eg. I.E, Mind mapping, research based learning, creative writing, photography, reading and game shows. Regular I.E. practice helped Jai to organize his thoughts and develop logical thinking.

Many topics were taught with the help of mind mapping. This tool made learning for him interesting and creative. A Mind Map helped him to 'map' out his thoughts, using associations, connections and triggers to stimulate further ideas. They helped him to germinate ideas from his mind into something visible and structured.

Writing a page in his personal diary daily, helped Jai to express his emotions and feelings. This creative writing practice helped him to think clearly and systematically.

A research based learning programme helped him to become innovative and think out of the box. Apart from educational trips various school events such as an annual concert, special assemblies, annual sports and the exhibition have played a great role in improving his social skills. We motivated Jai to participate in all the above-mentioned events actively. Active participation gave him the opportunity to interact with his classmates as well as the students from the other classes closely.

After three intensive years of training we added a final tool in Jai's training programme – An Internship training.

We started Jai's internship training at Signet Pharma at BKC. The Internship training gave Jai the opportunity to transfer classroom learning into the real work world. After a year's training at Signet, Jai gained tremendous confidence. After graduating from Sadhana Jai returned to Nairobi.

Jai today has successfully joined his family business where he serves as a Senior Administrator Executive.

WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT JAI IS THAT HE HAS ACHIEVED WHAT ANY OTHER PESON WITHOUT DISABILITES CAN ACHIEVE, WITH ONLY HALF HIS BRAIN FUNCTIONING. IN ANY PERSON BOTH HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN ARE NECESSARY FOR LEARNING AND IT'S TRANSFER. HOWEVER INDIVIDUAL HEMISPHERES ARE KNOWN TO PICK UP AND INTEGRATE THE ELEMENTS OF THE OTHER IN CASE OF TRAUMA. HOWEVER THIS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SPECIAL AND INTENSIVE TRAINING THAT JAI UNDERWENT AT SADHANA AND HIS EXCEPTIONAL WILL POWER TO SUCCEED.