Common Sense Left Behind

This is a story of a child's quest for dignified acceptance from educators and the system. In these times when slogans of “No Child Left Behind� –NCLB- are the vogue, we need to first remember that Common sense is not left behind.

The journey of life can be as challenging as the caravan routes of the Sahara.

The photograph depicts mother and child walking in the ancient caravan city of Ghadames where they once read a poem. Ghadames, described as a Roman tourist’s last nostalgia towards Africa by an Italian officer Rafaello Caltarini in 1924, is located at the borders of three countries-Libya, Algeria, Tunisia. In this journey mother and child had to go through many trials and cross roads, but they persevered and prevailed with the help of the same human spirit which has made us cross great deserts.

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Sign the school-leaving certificate

The principal called her and told -“We have prepared the school-leaving certificate of your child. Please sign it and then we are free from any obligation to each other.�

With these simple words, the school management had pronounced a decision which reversed the years of efforts of this mother to have her child in a mainstream school.

He looks at bulbs Delhi Sep 03

Sahil would be lost in his own world and ever since he joined play school teachers would point him out.

“He is not taking part in group activities and tends to disrupt our class� one play school teacher would tell his mother.

“Wait, I am not over yet� she continued as his mother picked up the bag and tried to leave, having heard these constant complaints from ‘teachers’ who had no formal training but were self-styled experts in education and psychology and had worked themselves into positions of authority and loved to flaunt it.

When parents are dealing with such school management structures they have an uphill task and Parent-teachers associations are not as well organized in the Indian subcontinent as they are in the west.

“He snatches food from other children. And if we prevent him, then he picks up from the ground and eats the crumbs� the school coordinator continued while the mother was thinking of how the school bus of her elder son would be arriving in fifteen minutes in front of the C-Block market and she had to be there on time or they would take her child back to school and she would have to arrange to pick him up.

This consideration was not in the mind of the teacher who had been preparing to list the wrong –doings of Sahil.

“He keeps looking at bulbs and is lost in his own little world of Chuha-Billi (Rat-cat) while we are trying to teach him concepts of color, numbers, sounds, vowels, pictures, flowers, birds� the teacher pressed further.

“There are complaints from other parents that they have not sent their child to get hit� the teacher continued. “We have to have a proper meeting regarding this and decide the future of your child in the school.�

She took Sahil to a qualified psychologist with over two decades of experience for a professional evaluation. The psychologist could not find anything wrong with the child.

“Your child has no features of Autistic spectrum disorder� the senior psychologist told her. “Nowadays there are a lot of these self-styled educators who have picked up a lot of phraseology and use big terms without having any formal training or experience in the mental health field� the senior clinical psychologist assured her.

“A closely spaced second male sibling is known to have aggressive behaviour� the psychologist told about the possible reasons for the troubles which were becoming more manifest as Sam was being exposed to an environment away from home.

No music classes for him Tripoli: Jan 05

“It is probably his way of expressing himself at the radical change in his environment� the music teacher told Sahil’s parents when they were called to the International Community School’s parent-teacher meeting.

“How else can you explain his behaviour? But he is a very intelligent child and is looking for attention� the music teacher, who was of East European origin but had trained as a teacher in United Kingdom observed.

“He comes into the class and then lies down on the floor. Then he will look from the corner of his eyes to see whether there is any attention being given. If he does not get any attention he falls in line and starts obeying. If one starts paying attention to his falls and tantrums, then he will start controlling the agenda� the experienced music teacher explained how she made sure she was in charge in the class.

The worried father took a second opinion from a pediatrician who had special interest in developmental disorders. The senior pediatrician observed the child for over an hour and again gave him a clean chit. He has no features of Attention deficit or Autistic spectrum disorder, the doctor with many international publications in this field gave a written certificate to this affect.

But Sahil’s troubles persisted. The stern music teacher persisted in isolating him. Some others were just indifferent. One day he even ran out of school, all of four years and out unto the road-to face the world. The school management took out a notice for the entire school that no child should be left unattended. The origin of that notice was Little Sahil.

One day when there was a school fair going on, Sahil wandered off with popcorn in his hands exploring the various bookstalls and food bazaars, and seeing elder children play basketball and the practice of the school choir, all on his own, while his worried parents searched frantically for this four-year old. They found him after around half an hour, quietly walking around the corridors, munching popcorn.

To help integrate him into the school milieu Sahil’s father tried to enlist him into the private tuitions the music teacher gave. Though the private tuition fees was exorbitant and the school fees itself was the highest in the city, the father was trying to do the best possible for his child.

“No! He is not ready yet !� the teacher announced. “And he will disturb my entire batch, just as he does in school� she continued, blurting out the actual reasons for the denial.

I will not bite like an animal Bombay: Dec 06

Sahil was again having a tough time in his new school. This school advertised that it had educators trained for children with special needs and also had a trained-qualified psychologist. The psychologist quickly labeled Sahil with the phraseology which now had a familiar ring to his parents.

“Take him to the counselor� was the message which came in the first few months. “He is disturbing the entire atmosphere of the school.�

The psychologist was particularly attentive to Sam and used all her ‘training’ on him.

“If a child feels that he is not being heard and being unfairly targeted he will develop a resentment� Sahil’s mother was not going to give up without putting her child’s side of the story.

“There are children who are bigger, some who know subconsciously that Sahil is the odd-child-out and can be thus targeted sadistically� she said, bringing to the notice of the class-teacher that whenever there was a dispute or incident, the educators and psychologists should try to hear both sides of the story and not prejudge the incident just because Sahil was involved.

“One day he was told to write –I will not bite like an animal-by the psychologist� his mother brought this to the notice of the principal and main school coordinator.

“The trained psychologist you have appointed has made my five year child write these words repeatedly as punishment for having bitten a child two years elder than him. But did you go into the background? This elder child was constantly troubling and singling out Sahil sadistically and when he took out my child’s shorts and made him naked in front of everyone the instant reaction of this little child to survive and defend himself was to bite in self-defense� Sahil’s mother explained the whole context of the incident.

This incident traumatized her child and he felt unfairly singled out. “While I do not condone what my child did and certainly would not want him to repeat this, did you ask your psychologist what punishment she gave to the child who stripped Sahil?�


More trips and Vindication-SENC Coordinators

She persisted. “If I do not love and accept this child,who will?�

She made countless trips to a pediatrician trained to deal with such cases, who has built a structure involving trained Special Educational needs coordinators.

A leader who binds and inspires his team-the young dynamic pediatrician’s motto is “Every child can do better�

“Rather than getting obsessed by a drive to enter professional engineering and medical courses, students should try to explore options like Special education Needs coordinators (SENC) , Speech and Occupational therapy and build in this field which has a lot of scope.� He said one evening, after a long day of assessing and re-assessing some innocent children with smiles and some anxious parents who have not given up.

This experienced man knows more scientific terminology than many but he is very hesitant to use labels. “ I do not want to prejudge any case.� He keeps the options and hopes open for the child. There are multiple assessments by specialists with training in different backgrounds-clinical psychologists, occupational-speech therapists, pediatricians, special education need coordinators and then after individual assessments, they finally have a joint conference where they again match their notes and decide.

In Sahil’s case the pediatrician observed a clear case of Sibling rivalry. Autistic spectrum disorder does not have the feature of sibling rivalry and this made him rethink about labeling this child and gave him a chance. The school probably would have been happy if Sahil had come with a label, thereby giving the management an excuse to get rid of him.

The main coordinator and financer had made it clear to Sam’s mother-“I have to think of my other clients and I do not have any mechanism to take care of this child.�

After getting the ultimatum from the school-Sign it and leave, Sahil’s mother again took up the challenge. She was not going to give up without a fight. She went to some organizations which are active on these issues. They clearly told her that the school cannot bid her Bye-Bye in such a way. She got hold of a lawyer who agreed to fight her case free of charge as this issue was close to his heart.

She was educated and determined to take on the ‘school management.’ When they saw that she would not give up tamely, they pleaded that they had other ‘clients’ who were complaining about Sahil.

Finally after these events opened further discussions of their lack of proper structures for dealing with such special cases, and the phoney-phraseology of the psychologist and the backing of many other professionals who gave reports which contradicted the reports of the school psychologist, the management had a ‘change of heart’ and decided to keep Sahil in the school.

In fact, they got rid of the psychologist and after she left, Sahil was much more relaxed, not defensive or feeling unfairly discriminated and targeted, and stopped attacking others in a bid to survive in an atmosphere which was vitiated by labeling and discrimination.

He won two Gold medals in the Annual school day. He continued into the next year and when the Annual sports day came near, his father was anxious whether he would be able to repeat his performance and if he could not, would he be upset.

Winning those two first prizes changed Sahil’s outlook and confidence. He was no more the bad-boy who was a trouble maker who needed the constant ‘special attention’ of the school psychologist. He could win.

Every child can do better! The motto and efforts of the young pediatrician came alive in the story of Sahil whose life was turned around by his efforts.

The child goes to a regular school and in his three years has won more medals than both his parents ever won in their twelve years in school.

***

She saw her photograph –with her son-going through the ancient caravan city of Ghadames in the Sahara holding each other’s hands. It got printed in a calendar by a photography group. She remembered the times when the play school teacher had listed his ‘rat-cat’ world, the music teacher had refused to accept Sahil and labeled him, the school psychologist who touted big phrases. The real professionals –the pediatrician with proper training and work always gave her child a chance, and were not so much bothered
about labels but concentrated more on dealing with the specifics of the case.

Some memories and lessons of the Sahara came alive.

The Ode of the Exotic Desert Pearl

O Ghadames
O Pale Blue Pearl
Alone in the middle of Copper Basin
Silent Oasis and station of Caravans
You hold together life and Hope in the sound heard
Of doves, and of the water that people scoop
From the gullies of your overwhelming torrents.
A paradise you are
Who came from furthers Fazzan and wonders Kavar
With your High walls
You hide your face like ever wondering Tarqui Man
With faces wholly wrapped but for their eyes
Due to your low lying streets
Trodden by your fruitful orchards
Due to your religious Zawias
Where the righteous worship
And raise their prayers in the Dark of nights
And due to your winding lines of roofs
Where on women sing aloud in the dark
Life falling stars
I could not due to all these, possibly offer you
Of Gold Dust that Timbuktu supplied, you long with
Or the fragrance of perfumes mixed with incense
Which Ghat used to send you
Or the Ivory and the ostrich feathers
Which caravans brought to you from Sudan
Or the young slaves whom the whips of slave dealers
Drove to your gates and market places
O Ghadames
Whom civilization and the Desert attack, year after year.
O Ghadames
Where the olden days we gathered
And whom we now remember every day
Upon the mention of your name
O dethroned Queen
A Roman tourist’s last nostalgia towards Africa
Its yours Alone

RAFAELLO CALTARINI-
An Italian officer on his first visit to Ghadames
in February 1924
Quoted by Grazianni in his book-Towards Fazzan
Translated from Arabic by B.Q.Mohammed


“Mother and child are going together in a mysterious challenging journey. A journey in which I faced many educators and child-specialists with different attitudes. Initially I was unsure of myself. The journey continues, but I am not as unsure of the mysteries and challenges as before.�

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The need for proper support structures and system for children with special needs is felt widely. There are well meaning teachers but theirs is an eclectic approach. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of any one approach or method? One has to make the teachers realize that they have to teach the child, not the curriculum. In the autism education field, repeating lines from movies, TV shows and books is known as scripting, or echolalia. (Some people use the terms scripting and echolalia interchangeably, while others distinguish echolalia as repeating words spoken by live people, not in shows.)
Scripting was famously portrayed in the film “Rain Man,� when Raymond Babbitt, the autistic character played by Dustin Hoffman, memorized and repeated Abbot and Costello’s comedic skit, “Who’s on First.�

In an age of charter schools, home schools, No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, overstretched public schools, the battle for resources, voucher plans and evolving notions about special education and special needs, the act of teaching has never been more complicated. One thing one should always try to remember while trying to implement various methods and approaches to the complex and often emotive issues relating to “No Child Left Behind� and “Every Child can do better� is to take care that “Common sense is not left behind.�