A ray of hope................

We were going through the net and found this school called Head start School of Montessori and also got to know that along with normal kids they also had a resource room for special kids. We met the Principal, a pleasant lady called Samina Mahmood. She put us on to the Administrator Geeta Nithyanand. They were apprehensive as they had never previously taken in any such child who was so severely involved. All the special children they had, fell into the categories of dyslexia, slow learners or autistic, but none of them with cerebral palsy. It took us three months and countless phone calls and visits before they finally agreed to admit Yatish. They told us that they would take him on a trial basis for two months and if they felt it was not working they would take him off. We were not sure too, as to how it would work. It was just not about going to school but we also had to find a way to make him sit in the school.


http://www.headstartmontessori.com/

We had heard about Mobility India, which made equipments for the disabled. So we fixed an appointment with the Occupational therapist there and got a wooden chair made for Yatish. To say that it was uncomfortable is an understatement. It was made with very basic materials. It had foam, which got really hot and Yatish was absolutely uncomfortable in it. But we had no choice and he had no choice too.

http://www.mobility-india.org/

Yatish was all set to go to school; we also took a house closer to the school, but then the resource room teacher who was in charge of Yatish quit. Again Yatish’s future was uncertain. The administrator told us that they could take in Yatish only if they found a new special educator or else they would not admit Yatish. Between all this we had met Dr. Pratibha Karanth, a Speech Language Pathologist, who runs a programme called Deall for autistic kids. She suggested an Occupational Therapist for Yatish and we met Bhaskaran, who had just started his practice. He is one of the most dedicated therapists I have met. He introduced me to one of his patient’s mother, who happened to be a special educator and she was looking for work. Thus I not only found a school for Yatish, but also a teacher for him.

Yatish started with 45 minutes classes. I would drop him at school and wait outside for him to finish his 45 minutes. This went on for 15 days and slowly increased his time to one hour and then slowly to 3 hours and I would go in between to feed Yatish as the teachers were not sure how to do it or you can say it was not part of their job. Anyways I did not mind it much. I was very happy that he was schooling and seemed to enjoy it. The two month trial period was over and Yatish had settled well and he went on to complete two academic years in this school.

This was one of the happiest periods for Yatish. He loved going to school and was part of most of the activities in school. He also had play dates with other kids and I made few friends as well. In his second year, two young teachers who were twins joined the school and one of the twins Dipti was in charge of Yatish. I have not seen so much commitment in such a young person. She worked with Yatish tirelessly to make his stay in school worthwhile. Yatish was the darling of most of the teachers who were predominantly women because Yatish never missed a chance to compliment them on their dress and jewellery.

The Montessori Method is quite suited for disabled kids. In fact it was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, based on her research conducted on the disabled children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method

This whole experience resolved me to make a decision that I would strive to school Yatish in an inclusive environment.