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S U N DERLA N DV I BE . COM
University graduate mum launches business inspired by her little boy A University graduate and mum today told how her new Sunderland business venture was inspired by her autistic son. Vijayalakshmi Subramani – VJ to her friends – saw how much six-year-old James struggled during the past 12 months with having to stay indoors during lockdown. To help him and other parents, she decided to use her knowledge of Virtual Reality technology to create a VR-based entertainment platform for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). VJ, who launched her own business
WH EN I SAW JAME S ST RU GGLI NG TO C OPE , I WAS D ESP ERATE TO FIND A SO LU T I O N FOR HIS P RO BLEM S 26
Thendral International Ltd after graduating with an MSc in Environment, Health & Safety from the University of Sunderland last year, said: “Before lockdown, we regularly took James to the park and go for long drives, so he has found being inside all the time very stressful. “He started saying words like “car”, “beach” and even his friends’ names during his sleep. “James has multiple allergies, including eczema and asthma, so it is too much of a risk to take him outside during a pandemic. Due to his autistic nature, he doesn’t understand what we say, and he finds it hard to communicate and ends up selfharming and scratching himself. “When I saw James struggling to cope, I was desperate to find a solution for his problems, so we tried VR headsets with travel and entertainment videos, and he
really enjoyed the immersive experience. “Even though we were stressed to the core, my knowledge, life experience and education came together and helped me find the best solution for James. “We also wanted to help other struggling parents and that is when this whole idea of solving SEND children’s problems through TeenyWeeny VR evolved.” TeenyWeeny VR helps children deal with phobias, anxiety, change and transition episodes with a calming, fully immersive and portable experience. VJ launched a prototype of the system in April with the Harry Watts Academy, a specialist school for children with autism in Sunderland. “We are creating high quality entertainment with our region’s best children’s entertainers, fun-based educational content and virtual tours in VR for children with special educational needs