Slice of Fun

PIZZA Corner's outlet at Adyar had some special chefs on Friday. The eatery had 18 students from V-Excel Educational Trust (Kaleidoscope Learning Center), an association for mentally challenged students. With a sparkle in their eyes, the children peered over the shoulders of professional pizza makers and excitedly decorated the bases with tomato paste and cut vegetables.

"We have brought 18 children with celebral palsy, autism, ADHD-Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Downs Syndrome and delayed development. Making a pizza is excellent vocational traning for them," says John Miller, an occupational therapist at V-Excel. This effort, though, required intensive training for the children in cognitive skills, short-term memory, hand functions, organising ability and motor planing. "These skills are usually taken for granted and it is our aim to make some of these children self-sufficient," says Miller.

Always in search of different vocational fields for the children, the teachers at V-Excel are thrilled at the opportunity of finding yet another avenue for employment. "This is an initiation for them and if we find that a child likes to make pizzas and is good at it, we will move in that direction after consulting their parent," saya Leela, a special educator at the school. Just when she had finished saying this, a child leaped off the sofa; awe struck at a half-done pizza.

The children, who are usually over-excited and hyperactive when taken to a new environment, were sitting peacefully on the sofa, wating to get their hands on to the pizza base. "It's amazing that these children aren't hyper and are sitting quiet. That is because they are happy and content," says Miller.

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