This is a day–care centre with a
difference. While normally crèches or day care centres take care of children in the
absence of their parents and teach some  rhymes and alphabets to keep them engaged, Little Gems (at West
Mambalam) aims to bring out the learning potential in each child using a unique concept.
How is this possible, we asked Revathi Sankaran who runs this centre. A visit to the
centre revealed many facts about how a child can be trained in a particular way that will
enhance the development of its mental faculties. Says Revathi, "Every child is born
with enormous capacity to learn. We have to help the child to develop it. And we can do it
with proper training".
"From the stage when the child is
still in the cradle, it can be trained in this way – by what we call
‘FLASH CARD’ System," explains Revathi, "but it depends upon two vital
points viz. the parents’ attitude and approach, and the size & orderliness of the
reading matter. Children below the age of five have tremendous amount of energy and a
monumental desire to learn. They can easily absorb a lot of information and below three it
is even more easier and effective."
 The training with ‘red-flash cards’ starts when the child
is three months old. Though the child is not able to talk, it is able to recognise the
words written on the cards and is able to reproduce, when it starts uttering words.
"For all that, here they do not force anything, not even to reproduce the words.
It’s all child’s play. They come so naturally to the children and they want to
play with flash cards rather than anything else, says Geetha, a mother.
But then, you may ask, is it not very
natural for kids to learn many things, when they are given enough attention? "Yes,
that is exactly what we are doing here. Each child is given lot of attention with a
mixture of love and adoration. In fact, the child chooses its trainer here and
concentration is also a very important factor," remarks Revathi.
 The system of training gradually improves at different stages and
reaches a level that the child is able to read a few sentences when he or she goes to
regular school. While this method of learning enhances the kid’s learning skills, the
ambience helps them to develop companionship and to cope with the environment. In the
process, they shine well in a normal school. The toddlers are taught alphabets only when
they are about to join Kindergarten.
Running a crèche is not the only aim of
Revathi. Actually, she teaches the mothers of these children, so they can train their
wards using this method. So children can shine in their studies and more so, in learning
skills in the long run. Revathi has trained more than 400 women in this method. Results
are good when these children get their due credit in the city’s top ranking schools
which recognise the kid’s advance ability to learn and it is further developed there.
 Ms. Indira, a mother who took up this training for one week
especially to train her daughter Lakshmi Priya is very much happy about her
daughter’s mental development. Priya at four, studies in a leading city school, which
is also known for its different way of teaching and developing children. The happy mother
explains about her daughter’s ability to handle a computer and her inquisitive way of
learning many things including working of the Solar System.
The training, which was originally intended
for slightly retarded children, actually helps a normal child to further enhance its IQ.
In fact, a child with slight hearing impairment showed good results when she was trained
by a speech therapist, since the kid had been trained in this way in its infant days,
vouches the child’s mother.
 How did Revathi come to know of this method? Inspired by the book,
‘How to teach your baby to read,’ by the American author Dr. Glenn Doman,
Revathi, then a Government employee, left her job to take up training in Philadelphia. But
unfortunately when she was denied a visa, she decided to take up the project here itself
in Pondicherry, and prove her mettle. Under the insistence of Karmayogi, a disciple
of The Mother of Aurobindo Ashram, Revathi started Little Gems in ’93 and has been
running the centre with a ‘Vision-Mission’ mix. She is still training groups of
people to spread this system of teaching in many rural areas and in Chennai.
Geared to the path of learning, the kids
with their extraordinary skills will certainly use this ‘uncommon opportunity’
to a great extent, one hopes. Besides all these training in words,
picture cards, and rhymes, Revathi has all the infrastructure of a good crèche - a clean
kitchen, study, resting room and playthings.
For more details contact:
Mrs. Revathi Sankaran
Little Gems (A Creche for Infant Education & Care)
53 (old no:25), Moorthy Street
Near: Ayodhya Mandapam
West Mambalam, Chennai - 600 033
Tel: 3700692
R. Bharathi |
