Following valuable review was shared by Chinmay Tejas, one of TOPG faculty. He is also an alumni of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry; He has brought in an element of mystery, miracles, magic potions and outright sorcery to TOPG:
The Online Practice Group famously referred to as TOPG, is a 2-week course offered by ‘The Indian Stammering Association’ (also known as TISA) to all the stammerers for free of cost.
During the course, the participants are asked to perform various challenging tasks and to share their experience everyday for two weeks. Faculties at TOPG monitor each individual’s performance and accordingly assist them as and when necessary.
Unique Features!
TOPG is a platform that focuses on the holistic growth of a stammering individual. Of the things that are taught at TOPG, the aspect that strikes the most is its ‘Concept of Acceptance’.
TOPG uses the concept of acceptance to help a stammerer to get rid of all sorts of insecurities, not just the ones that are pertinent to stammering but also the ones that are pertinent to life in general. The very concept transformed my perception of life as a stammerer. I, when contemplated, understood that unconditional acceptance is the basic ingredient of life, which applies even to non-stuttering individuals.
Rarely, a speech therapist talks about acceptance of one’s stammering. More often than not, speech therapy is more intended towards managing to hide the stutter. Hence, the TOPG’s concept of acceptance stands out when compared to all the approaches of treating the stutter.
What do I like the most about TOPG?
The core tasks at TOPG are scientifically designed not only to equip participants with speech techniques, but more importantly to make them understand how to deal with it at a psychological level.
The faculties at TOPG handle sessions in a friendly, yet professional demeanor, in order to make sure that a participant is comfortable but at the same time he/she understands the seriousness of it.
TOPG also helps in bonding with various people. I, personally have made friends for life, each with different backgrounds and from different states of the country.
TOPG focuses on learning for everyone involved in it, be it a participant or a faculty. TOPG makes an individual humble with the plethora of knowledge and wisdom.
Best aspect of TOPG is, it is being offered at free of cost. A participant reaps exponential rewards with just 24 hours (2 hours for 12 days) of time investment.
Constraints of TOPG!
The only constraint of TOPG is its monotony. Feedback sessions are at times monotonous, which can leave a participant bored, thereby leading to inactivity.
My Contribution!
Brought new ideas like calling strangers in the session, impromptu speeches etc. to engage maximum participants and to challenge them at a higher level. These ideas in turn get rid of the aforementioned monotony.
As any other faculty, apart from the general responsibilities of a faculty, I make sure to be a friend and help all the participants who text or call personally,
Experience as a participant!
As a participant, I learnt more than what I had imagined before joining TOPG. From acceptance, to techniques, to facing my fears, everything when put into perspective is gold dust. It was the most important 2 weeks of my life.
I met some wonderful people like Dr. Nikhil Tandon, Mr. Aditya Kathane and many more during the course. More importantly, had the privilege of listening to and learning from Dr. Satyendra Srivastava, Mr. Suraj Rajpurohit and other faculties.
Experience as a faculty!
In the process of helping the participants to understand the core tasks & techniques, I was able to decipher the depth & the essence of the Core Tasks, Techniques and essentially TOPG.
Listening to various people from different fields of life helped me to learn from their experiences and their approach to life. Facultiship has definitely put various things about life into perspective.
At the core of TOPG is the respect and peer learning among the faculties.
Learnt the art of teamwork and leadership while working with Mr. Suraj Rajpurohit, Ms. Shreya Kumar, Mr. Allwinn Dave, Mr. Shubrahneel Baruah and Mr. Arun Sharma. To work under the guidance of Dr. Satyendra Srivatsava and Mr. Suraj Rajpurohit is definitely the crucial aspect of TOPG.
More importantly, to be able to practice what I preach is the best aspect of being a faculty.
Difference between the experiences!
The key difference is that, now I appreciate TOPG more than what I did being a participant. I’ve learnt and realised more about techniques, TOPG preachings and in particular I explored myself while working as a faculty.
Suggestions for the future!
TOPG can think of widening its horizon, by dividing the course into basic and advanced batches. It will aid TOPG to help participants for a longer duration of time. To implement it TOPG needs more dedicated faculties and a great system of work.
Final words!
As a participant and as a faculty, I genuinely feel that TOPG is definitely the greatest platform for any stammerer to learn and to help oneself.
I will always be grateful to the TOPG, the Hogwarts of stammerers and our Dumbledore Dr. Satyendra Srivatsava, also fondly referred to as Sachin Sir, for this amazing platform. I hope TOPG will be able to help more stammerers with its magic potions and spells.
CHINMAY TEJAS
