Opening Minds Changing Lives Diaries

In which all the children develop their skills

The special children in my class have difficulty in social interaction, social communication and imagination and need all my attention.

I learnt to communicate with them in a simple and concise language. Rather than saying that 'Sham, pack your bag. It's time to go home, saying 'Sham ,bag' proved to be more effective. To reinforce an idea ,I chose to place it at the end of the sentence. "It is time to play" or "It is time to read" and so on.

Another tool was to show them pictures of real objects that help them associate with the object . This was the favourite with the kids .

The boys fond of cricket were shown pictures of the items associated with the game to improve their vocabulary .

My Barbie dolls like Geeta were shown pictures of different accessories of beauty etc.

Everything has to be repeated and reinforced.

Teaching them small things made me learn so much myself.

I still remember a funny anecdote.

Two aggressive boys were once fighting and hitting each other and we could not control them. I complained about them to the Head that they were fighting cats and dogs in the class.

My sweet ,little Geeta heard the remark and created mayhem in the class. She airily announced in the class that Miss has said that there were fighting cats and dogs in the class and we are now all in danger. All the kids got scared and started bawling and how we pacified them that day ,God only knows! T hey take everything literally.

Another trick that I learnt was to tell to them what I wanted them to do rather than what I did not want them to do. Giving a positive instruction always helped.

The jumping jack of the class, the hyperactive Mohit comes under my thumb with this trick. I never tell him that 'Mohit, do not jump around". I make the whole class say one by one to him, 'Mohit, sit in your seat." After twenty repetitions, Mohit is a golden child.

Rewarding them is the easiest way them learn and they know that I always carry chocolates and earning them from me is like a medal. Geeta is smartest of the lot and manages to get the maximum chocolates and how she swells with pride ! The kids have a report card on their chocolate score!

Everything is so simple for them. They will find beauty in simple joys of life and make it meaningful.

They live their life to the full in their innocence for they are not tainted by the ratrace of life.

Many of my children have one or more obsessions and talk repeatedly about them.

Geeta is obsessed with make-up kits. S o I use it to teach her colours ,make her count and learn the spellings using it She is a genius then.

We were talking about the intricacies of applying foundation and the spellings she learnt that day :nation, dexterity, patience .coordination and so on.

During free time the children find it difficult to choose what to do and stand on the perimeter engaging in self stimulatory activity like flicking their fingers .I tried to offer their favourite activity with something that they did not enjoy. For exuberant ones, I made them jump and then put their heads down. It tested their patience to the full.

Geeta was made to put to play board cricket with Sham and then paint. That helped her in her motor coordination.

Creating in each child the skills of learning to learn is our aim.