GURUKULAM WAS FOUNDED IN MARCH 2019 BY MOTHERS OF
CHILDREN WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS

About Us
Gurukulam was founded in March 2019 by four mothers of children with special needs. The Integrated Centre for Children with Special Needs is training students for open schooling, vocational and life skills, through extracurricular activities. They also prepare young adults for gainful employment in a way that capitalizes on their skills and interests.
Program Aim and Objectives
- The Centre caters to children with special needs (CWSN) who have been diagnosed with intellectual disability (Autism, Cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, ADHD et al), and are in the age group of 6 to 30 years.
- Each child is individually assessed by experts/specialists of various interventional services, using established assessment tools.
- Each child’s personalized development plan is formulated in consultation with their parents and specialists, with clearly defined monthly, quarterly and half-yearly milestones for tracking performance
Services
The Center works Monday through Friday between 9:45am and 4:15pm and outing on one of the Saturdays in a month.
Curriculum
-
- Education at each child’s level
- Preparation for National Institute of Open Schooling (a national board that provides education to all segments of society with the motive of increasing literacy and aiming for flexible learning)
- Encouraging all types of communication (speech, writing, gestures)
- Specially designed audio-visual lessons Basic education for life
- Occupational therapy, under the guidance of an expert in the area, wherein each child’s needs are catered to, throughout the day, through various activities.
Mrs. Radha Nandakumar
Founder Chairperson of Gurukulam Trust & Centre Head
• Special Educator
• Community-Based Rehabilitation Professional
• Writer
• Trainer • Involved in Customizing Curriculum • Guidance and training for Teachers in Mainstream and Special Education
Started as a parent volunteer in 1993, took up formal education and training in the field of special education (B. Ed-Sp. Ed- Locomotor Impairment and Cerebral Palsy), worked in various special schools, helped in the initial setting up of three schools. One of the trustees of CARENIDHI trust, through which involved in CBR (community based rehabilitation) in communities at New Delhi till 2010.
Was one of the core writers in a multimedia kit developed by CEMCA (commonwealth education media centre for Asia) as a guide to help the caregivers at the resource poor communities worldwide.
Contributed on a regular basis, as a resource person to guide the field workers in the CBR and in their news letters until 2011 and continue to be a resource person in training the parents and the teachers One of the writers, to rewrite the course materials, for the course PG Diploma in Disability Management for the medical practitioners in multiple disabilities (Autism, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Deaf Blindness and multi sensory impairments), course developed by Indira Gandhi National Open University. Involved in setting up of question papers/ question banks at Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Worked as academic advisor and special education consultant, as a resource person through the organization called KaRe LEARNING CENTER, until 31st OCTOBER 2018, visiting their early intervention centres and four mainstream schools which support inclusion. The type of job involved assessments, recommendations to the schools for admissions, setting short/ long term goals, guiding the strategies and methodologies through a periodical monitoring mechanism, evaluating and reviewing at the end of every three months. It also involved simplifying/ customizing the curriculum to the individual levels, and formulating child based evaluation system. The nature of job also involved providing guidance to the parents and orientation programs to the teachers. Conducted workshops in reading, writing and number difficulties, and talks for parents.
Online consultation to parents from Delhi Contributed on a regular basis to Parenting magazine and Newspapers Worked across almost all the disabilities and age groups ranging 6months to 63 years old.
Created awareness on autism in April 2018 by giving concept and story to a short film, which was produced through the crowd funding of parents who are part of VOICE WhatsApp group.
PERANBUDAN (Tamil film) on YouTube https://youtu.be/wcV9fbU2eVA
Presented four papers in inclusive education Admission strategies Early intervention Curriculum adaptations Classroom practices At the National Conference held at Vadodara, Gujarat in December 2018, presented a paper on inclusive education at the international symposium “Innovations in providing sustainable inclusive development” held at Bharatidasan University in February 2019. Started an integrated centre , along with three other mothers, by registering under a TRUST name called GURUKULAM. The centre was started in February 2019.
Founder Chairperson of Gurukulam Trust & Centre Head
• Special Educator
• Community-Based Rehabilitation Professional
• Writer
• Trainer • Involved in Customizing Curriculum • Guidance and training for Teachers in Mainstream and Special Education
Started as a parent volunteer in 1993, took up formal education and training in the field of special education (B. Ed-Sp. Ed- Locomotor Impairment and Cerebral Palsy), worked in various special schools, helped in the initial setting up of three schools. One of the trustees of CARENIDHI trust, through which involved in CBR (community based rehabilitation) in communities at New Delhi till 2010.
Was one of the core writers in a multimedia kit developed by CEMCA (commonwealth education media centre for Asia) as a guide to help the caregivers at the resource poor communities worldwide.
Contributed on a regular basis, as a resource person to guide the field workers in the CBR and in their news letters until 2011 and continue to be a resource person in training the parents and the teachers One of the writers, to rewrite the course materials, for the course PG Diploma in Disability Management for the medical practitioners in multiple disabilities (Autism, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Deaf Blindness and multi sensory impairments), course developed by Indira Gandhi National Open University. Involved in setting up of question papers/ question banks at Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Worked as academic advisor and special education consultant, as a resource person through the organization called KaRe LEARNING CENTER, until 31st OCTOBER 2018, visiting their early intervention centres and four mainstream schools which support inclusion. The type of job involved assessments, recommendations to the schools for admissions, setting short/ long term goals, guiding the strategies and methodologies through a periodical monitoring mechanism, evaluating and reviewing at the end of every three months. It also involved simplifying/ customizing the curriculum to the individual levels, and formulating child based evaluation system. The nature of job also involved providing guidance to the parents and orientation programs to the teachers. Conducted workshops in reading, writing and number difficulties, and talks for parents.
Online consultation to parents from Delhi Contributed on a regular basis to Parenting magazine and Newspapers Worked across almost all the disabilities and age groups ranging 6months to 63 years old.
Created awareness on autism in April 2018 by giving concept and story to a short film, which was produced through the crowd funding of parents who are part of VOICE WhatsApp group.
PERANBUDAN (Tamil film) on YouTube https://youtu.be/wcV9fbU2eVA
Presented four papers in inclusive education Admission strategies Early intervention Curriculum adaptations Classroom practices At the National Conference held at Vadodara, Gujarat in December 2018, presented a paper on inclusive education at the international symposium “Innovations in providing sustainable inclusive development” held at Bharatidasan University in February 2019. Started an integrated centre , along with three other mothers, by registering under a TRUST name called GURUKULAM. The centre was started in February 2019.

Supriya Nair
Joint Secretary at Gurukulam The mother of a multi-sensory impairment child, Supriya Nair is a home caterer by profession, and trains people with special needs in catering. At Gurukulam, she handles the vocational training centre.
She has done her Masters in finance from Osmania University, Hyderabad, and cleared ICWAI inter level. She was a teacher in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Palakkad, Kerala for three years, and conducted tuitions for the underprivileged. She then decided to follow her passion for cooking, and became a home caterer and food consultant to star hotels for their seasonal cuisines.
Joint Secretary at Gurukulam The mother of a multi-sensory impairment child, Supriya Nair is a home caterer by profession, and trains people with special needs in catering. At Gurukulam, she handles the vocational training centre.
She has done her Masters in finance from Osmania University, Hyderabad, and cleared ICWAI inter level. She was a teacher in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Palakkad, Kerala for three years, and conducted tuitions for the underprivileged. She then decided to follow her passion for cooking, and became a home caterer and food consultant to star hotels for their seasonal cuisines.

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