Learning environment

What a journey Anandita's learning processes have been...Till she was born i didn’t know what TGA meant (transposition of the great arteries), I didn’t even know what the great arteries were. I only knew the heart had four chambers and pumped blood and kept me alive.
Till she started schooling I didn’t know what it entailed for a special needs child. What kind of an environment would help her blossom and nurture her spirit. I am an unconventional thinker and I did home school her for some years only because no school options were there.
I am contemplating unschooling but that is a process within me first of deschooling myself of all my deep rooted conditioning and thought patterns. Let me see where it takes me.

I have understood over the years that all she needs is an environment that is as positive as possible. All my messages to her have to be positively framed my words and actions. I know she watches my every tone and every nuance of body language and makes her interpretations.
She needs a friend who can accept her for what she is and the way she is, a patient friend who is as at peace with her world as Anandita is. I know that isn’t wishful thinking. Just willing the Universe 

I have understood that it takes a lot of courage for her to face her challenges and differences and that I have to laud her every effort the best way I can. She knows her struggles and has her solutions in place.She is so aware of her feelings, does so much of self talk and finds happiness in the smallest pleasures of life at 9 years of age when children are already toting mobiles and having sleep-overs.She may not be able to hop and skip and jump. She may miss steps and lose her balance. She may never be able to handle a scissor properly or make beautiful pieces of art and craft.
A simple card made by her fills me with joy that is better unspoken.
I am filled with awe and wonder when I see how far she has come and how much she has grown.

There is so much for us to learn as a family. We love her for all that she brings. And the happiness she spreads so easily.

Teaching a child with special needs.

Each child is unique not only in his/her nature-personality but also in terms of their learning needs. One child may be a visual learner; while another may be an auditory learner while yet another child maybe a kinesthetic learner. Our education system can combine all of the above learning measures into the teaching techniques in classrooms. However almost every school follows the system where the smarter,’ quick to grasp’ child is treated on par with a child who may difficulty in grasping concepts easily. In such a situation it becomes difficult to focus on the needs of just one or two children in a classroom of 30.
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Creative teaching techniques help not just children who have special learning needs but also normal children. Who doesn’t like playing and singing while learning rather than copying from a blackboard into a notebook? However for children who have special needs an IEP or an Individual Education Plan comes into the picture. As the name suggests the plan is individualized depending on the specific needs of the child in question.
Children who have special educational needs have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn like most children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age. They may need extra help because of a range of needs that can vary from thinking and understanding, physical or sensory difficulties, emotional and behavioral difficulties, or difficulties with speech and language or simply how they relate to and behave with other people.

The parent plays as much a vital role as the teacher and special educator. While the special educator plays the guide, the teacher imparts /guides the child in the right learning technique and the parent reinforces the learning at home.
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When a parent starts helping their child with special needs with academics, it can be a daunting and overwhelming process initially. I noticed it was absolutely essential for certain guidelines to be followed especially as she entered primary school and the concepts taught were several. A structured schedule for the day or evening or a weekend was essential.

I started off with meeting a special educator at Ummeed in Bombay who knew Anandita’s background and made certain recommendations for her school to apply on a day to day basis. She was going to a regular school which followed the policy of inclusion and integration.

One recommendation that really worked for her was,”preview’, namely a preview of class materials/assignments and some background knowledge prior to actual class discussions. A preliminary contextual base was essential. I noticed that this really helped her with ‘Reading’ as she would be very hesitant to read aloud in her class since she was not confident. By reading aloud the chapter in advance at home she became more confident about reading aloud in front of her entire class.
It also helped in mathematical concepts of addition and subtraction.
For preview, time is essential .By time it doesn’t mean just time. Structured time works well for children with special needs .Anandita would be aware that a certain time was slotted for a certain subject preview and to encourage her organizing skills, I would ask her arrange her necessary books, pencil box., practice books etc.Gradually as we learnt together I also started setting time limits for the work given. This would prevent too much of dawdling.

The school also used a parent teacher communication note books which graduated to weekly meetings with the class teacher, These meetings were informal where I could ask the teacher tips on how a concept had been taught so that I could reinforce the same at home through practice sums. The teacher would also tell me where she felt Anandita needed extra guidance so that I could work upon the same. This kind if communication does help in bridging the distance between class teacher and parent.Ofcourse it also depends on the attitude of the teacher/school. I have been lucky on that front.

Anandita responds very well to verbal cues. Certain aspects in her worksheets needed highlighting or stressing upon. Bigger squares in her Maths notebook made her less confused. A box would be placed for her to put her tick marks or YES/NO or True/False.
against the specific question asked in the assessments.

She has deficits in processing speed for information and deficits in writing (handwriting and speed).She benefits from extended time on tests and class-work. At such times, it was helpful for her to be in a quiet environment free of noise and distractions. This also helped her productivity by providing her more time to formulate her ideas before writing them down.


At home I preferred not to stress on improving her writing as she was doing a lot of writing work at school as well. I would only ensure that she had understood the concept not just of Maths but also of EVS.For instance a chapter on water was done. And how rain is formed. She had written it down as well as she could in her class work note book. But I could sense she had not understood it in detail. Instead of reading it aloud from the notebook, I took blank paper and drew the sources of water (rivers, lakes) and then explained how when the sun shines (drew a sun), the water becomes warm and rises up into the air as watervapour. (drew arrows).Clouds are thus formed with all the watervapour.When clouds get full they fall down as rain on earth (where we live) and back into the rivers and lakes as well.
So at school, during EVS assessment, Anandita was able to explain verbally to her class teacher about water and rain. The assessment was to see if the child had understood the concept, rather than rote it and reproduce it in a note book in their writing.

Through this entire process, I have learnt that as a parent of a special needs child, I am more flexible, compassionate, stubborn and resilient than other parents. I have to be.