Someone Else’s Kids

This title is not my creation. I find it most appropriate for my post tonight so I’m just borrowing it from Torey Hayden who wrote a book I read last year by that same title.

I started teaching two new students last night. Two repeat Primary 6 pupils and they are twins. When I first interviewed them last Saturday, they looked so unfriendly and rude. There wasn’t any eye contact when I spoke to them. One looked to the left while the other looked to the right! Their answers to my questions were also pretty rude. I was quite surprised and upset by their behaviour because I expect some level of respect from my students when I speak to them.

Anyway, I accepted them as my students but told them we don’t create miracles at the centre but we’ll try our best to help them. So last night they joined in my lesson. I was in for a surprise.

They were unable to handle the work I assigned them. I had to explain and give them the answers for every single question. Even when they knew the answers, they were not able to write them down without my help. Everything I said to them, they repeated it. They also kept repeating what they said so I got puzzled.

These two students showed clear signs of learning difficulty. I don’t understand how their problem can be allowed to go unnoticed by their school and the teachers who taught them for the last six years.

They were also behaving differently from my other students. They kept standing up and walking towards me. I had to keep telling them to sit down. Strangely enough, by my temperament, I would have flared up by the second or third time they did it but I did not. Maybe because I knew that they were not doing it on purpose. They probably didn’t even know what they were doing.

Throughout the entire lesson, I was pleasantly surprised they were not rude to me. Not a single moment. In fact, they were overly polite and formal.

These two boys, I suspect are autistic. When I got home last night, I quickly forwarded my observation to the staff from the centre. This morning, she checked on the internet symptoms of autism and confirmed the two boys face learning difficulties linked to autism.

As their problems would be beyond us at the tuition centre, their parents were immediately informed and tonight they came down for a meeting to discuss the next course of action.

I was at another meeting so I did not speak to the parents. But I was told they were devastated when they heard the news. The mum broke down and cried. My heart ached when I heard this. This family is already facing some financial problems, have to take care of a mother who suffered a stroke and now they have to face another issue, to accept the fact that their kids have an inborn learning problem. Quite a lot to handle at one go huh? It’s definitely going to be tough.

They’ve been advised to quickly get a referral letter from the school to conduct a professional assessment on their kids’ condition so that they can get the best help and education for their special needs.

In the meantime, I’ve told the staff, I don’t mind if they join in my Saturday classes. I think some form of social activities and one-to-one teaching from my fellow volunteers will help these two kids in their development.

I was told they enjoyed my class very much last night. Probably because I kept explaining to them without losing my cool and cracked a few jokes in between. I suspect they may have been neglected in school and were reprimanded everytime they ‘misbehaved’. Well, as long as it is within my means, I will continue to help them. But my fellow volunteers, if you are reading this, I’ll need all the help I can get from you as well!

So let’s all try to put in a little effort...to help someone else’s kids!

Another happy but tiring day has passed... :)