Chennai: The Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA) inaugurated its flagship event, Advantage Dyslexia, to identify the special talents of dyslexic school children. The event was launched on Sunday with an inter-school ‘Art competition’ at Asan Memorial Hall, Anderson Road and it will end 21 August.
According to a release, the principle aim of Advantage Dyslexia is to spread awareness about dyslexia and to tap their hidden potential that often goes unnoticed. As part of this event, MDA is conducting various contests including painting, kolam, storytelling, dance and music. Dyslexic children from various schools, ranging from age six to sixteen will compete in four age categories.
CEO of MDA Harini Ramanujam explained how MDA has in the recent times been trying to impact as many children as possible and had trained 5000 school teachers in the past one year. For its far reaching work, she mentioned that MDA had recently been awarded the MCCI TAFE CSR award 2019 on 14 August.
Secretary of MDA Swetha Krishna said, “The idea behind the event is to help children realise for themselves their capabilities and to improve their self-esteem and confidence. In the process of preparing themselves for an event and competition like this, we find that kids are developing essential life skills like planning, organising and most importantly interacting and getting along with others, which is evident especially in team events. It’s heartening to hear parents say that this platform has given their children the opportunity to go up on stage, for some of them it has been the first experience, despite having the talent.”