In this blog I will discuss about our experience with various school set up in the Northeast and the challenges faced by us in inducting Simi.

1. Early intervention and Schooling in Guwahati

Although in those days, there was less awareness about ASD, later we were fortunate to find the Institutes and therapy centres in both Govt and private set up like CRC in Guwahati Medical College and NIPCID etc. where Simi was attending regularly for Speech & Behavioural Therapy and also for special education in Mathematics. In NIPCID she got the concept of addition/subtraction, greater than/less than etc. after which there was no looking back. Simi became very comfortable in solving further mathematical calculations.  Along with therapies, we tried to induct her in normal school set up. After UKG she had to change the school for class 1. Though it was difficult to get a school having the facilities for Autistic children, luckily, we found BAL BHARATI PUBLIC SCHOOL, GUWAHATI, where Simi got special attention from all the teachers and even from each and every student with the help of the Principal Ma’am. It was very difficult to manage Simi in the normal school set up. In prayer session she used to roam here and there and not able to stand in the line for prayer. Sometimes we deliberately reach the school after prayer session to avoid  the disturbance to other children, though there was no objection from school side. But unfortunately, she had to leave that school because I changed my job and posted at Silchar.

Here I should not forget to mention the last day of Simi in Bal Bharati Public School. Although she was almost non-verbal at that time, not having interaction with any of the students or teachers but Simi had some aroma in her and was always the centre of attraction. On the last day, when we visited School to bid fare well to all and collect her certificate, we were surprised to see that all teachers were assembled at Principal Ashoka Ma’am’s room. Everyone was having a gift in his/her hands for Simi and tears in their eyes. The moment was so emotional, we could not control our tears. We saw the love and affection for Simi in eyes of each one. Definitely, their blessings worked for Simi and helped her to be in the present position.

2. Schooling in Shillong
Again, I got transferred to Shillong from Silchar. In Shillong with lot of difficulties I managed to get Simi inducted in a normal School and Simi was studying in Class 3. In that school also, I found the teachers were compassionate and understood Simi’s difficulties. They tried to handle her with love and care. It would be unfair if I failed to mention about her class teacher. She was not a special teacher, but she tried in every way to manage Simi as per her needs, that to, without neglecting other students in the class.  For example , on one occasion, Simi forgot to take her English Book, when the teacher asked all the students to open the English book, Simi became restless as she did not get the book. ma’am immediately managed the situation by asking all the students to keep their book inside the bag and complete the session without using book. During leisure times she used to engage Simi by giving her Maths/GK books from the school library and Simi was very happy doing calculations, multiple choices etc without disturbing anybody. The principal and the class teacher had instructed each student of all classes to take care of Simi and help her whenever she needed. This shows how a resource teacher can play an important role in understanding his/her Nuro divergent student without having any professional degree.

Due to dedicated effort of all the teachers and rigorous struggle of my wife, Simi stood first amongst 62 students in both half yearly and annual examinations in Class 3. The principal called and informed me that they had decided to promote  Simi to class 5 directly as she was very intelligent and could take the challenge. Initially we were not in favour of the same. But, since Simi had lost more than one year schooling due to her early intervention therapies, we thought to give it a try. My wife started teaching her Class 4 maths and to our surprise Simi completed the whole book within 7 days. Finally, we agreed for the double promotion. Again, we got surprised when Simi stood 1st in the Midterm examination in Class 5. But our struggle to get another school started when I got transferred to Agartala from Shillong. (Now, after inclusion of ASD in Person with Disability Act (PWD Act), there is provision for parents having PWD ward to avoid unnecessary transfers in Govt services.). Simi’s principal at Shillong School helped me a lot by directly talking to her counterpart at one of the School at Agartala. This shows how a teacher can go to such an extent to help her student. Though Simi got admitted in that school, it was difficult for her to adjust in the new environment and also it took time to her new teachers to understand her. The most unfortunate thing happened to Simi, when they told her to sit for half yearly examination scheduled after 7days only although she had cleared the same at Shillong. We requested to give her exemption from exam as she was not aware of the Syllabus. But the Principal insisted that let her sit in the examination and the result would not be counted, only, she would get the exposure. That was the great mistake as Simi learnt to skip the questions and that largely affected her mental state too.

Simi was not at all comfortable to that new environment and that affected her studies and behaviour miserably. Though the teachers and classmates were cooperative and caring but, they could not understand her problems and faced difficulties to handle her. By the grace of God, I got a good job in Delhi NCR and shifted to NOIDA. In Northeast, the school session was from January to December. Initially, I had decided to keep the family at Agartala till December so that Simi could complete Class 5 there. But after reaching Delhi, I found the school session here was from April to March. Further it was difficult to leave Simi along with her mother alone at far off, so I shifted my family to Noida.

In my next blog, I will write about our struggle in finding a school in Noida in middle of the session and our journey.


TO BE CONTINUED………
Author: Srinibash Mishra