Initially I felt he must be in a normal school, hence I put him in a play school when he only 3 and half, he was very happy and responded very well, playing with other children, but only he could not articulate, in the next academic year, he was sent to the next class, unfortunately it was not of much help, as Emmanuel went to school, but could not participate much in the class.
I needed to look, for another option, so I found a special school and was very happy that Emmanuel could be sent to this school, within three weeks, Emmanuel started imitating the behaviours of severely retarded children, so I had to rethink again, and find ways to help him out, while searching for a school, I managed to find another school within a kilometer’s distance, and I spoke to the principal and put Emmanuel there, as he was tall, the teacher put him in class 1 and started teaching him like other children.
For some days he went, after a few days he was not interested. Again I tried a different school, and I went from one school to another, getting frustrated, I shared my concern with a rehabilitation psychologist, who counseled me saying that he needs special education, and everything has to be taught for these kind of children, right from simple everyday activities required for daily living. So I found a special educator for Emmanuel, who visited him three times a week.
Being an affectionate child, he responded very well to the teacher, who came regularly and taught him, in order to enable him to socialize, I sent for 2 hours every day to a regular school, and employed a special educator every alternate day. I tried this for a year and felt that this was helpful, at the same time, it was very expensive, I observed what the special educator was teaching, and tried it in his absence, and I found that Emmanuel was responding, gradually, I took more responsibility and started to teach him personally.
This year I thought I must take a little more interest, so the best thing is to spend more time with him, understanding his needs and responding accordingly, so I quit my regular full day’s job and rescheduled my time. I am beginning to understand that he is quite smart and is very good at imitation. So evening hours I put him along with other children where he plays and also learns.
Now when I relook at what has been happening, I realise the problem is not Emmanuel or the school, the problem was the way I understood what school is and my own definition of the school, this experience enabled me to explore and understand what schooling is all about, and made me look at what is required to empower my son.
I was challenged to change my own belief on what is education and schooling all about, is it just literacy, or more than just learning alphabets and sentences. The more I reflected on this area, the clear it was for me that Emmanuel requires life skill education, wherein he will learn the very basic skills required to manage his life.
So I changed the way I thought, and I dared to see it differently, now I am willing to take risk by not sending him to school, but at the same time ensuring that he has the opportunity to learn everything about life, my search and experiments continue for I believe that God has a purpose for my son and I will do everything possible to enable my son to live a life of meaning and purpose.
