Every child can learn, every child must learn? Part 1

Gilda Radner stated, “Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary – it’s an act of infinite optimism.” I believe that every parent desire to bring a healthy and normally developing child into this world. A child who excels and blossoms into an individual who contributes meaningfully to society; a child who unlocks and unfolds the infinite possibilities interwoven in their DNA; an upstanding citizen.

For some parents, they watch with pride and joy as they see this desire being manifested before their very eyes. Cynthia Rowley shared that parenthood “is a great big adventure. You set off on a journey, you don’t really know how to navigate things, and you don’t exactly know where you’re going or how you’re going to get there”. Unfortunately, for some of these parents, life has reshuffled their deck of cards. This deck of cards has come with its own surprises; no instructions, no warnings – just a surprise not for the faint-hearted.

Can you imagine being presented with your perfect, beautiful baby; he/she is developing well, meeting the milestones and making you proud. You start noticing that something is off. He/she starts regressing, becoming forgetful, clumsy, has a challenge staying focused, doesn’t seem to follow directions well and complains about not wanting to go to school.

Alarms go off in your head and you believe something is wrong. Upon recommendation, you have your child assessed. Then the moment of truth comes. TAM TAH DAH DAH! You are one of the fortunate parents who has a child who came packed with a surprise. Now you are left to figure out what to do with your surprise and how to emotionally cope with your surprise, how to help your child see himself/herself as everyone else should, a special and unique person.

THE ACADEMIC YEARS

The years of academic development can make or break any child regardless of who they are and their current stage in the education system. This is when parents can be left confused because they are unsure about what to do, who can help and where to turn.

Then rides in the Ministry of Education on its white horse to ‘save’ the day. It rides to the theme song, “Every child can learn. Every child must learn”. The rhythm and words of this song is pleasing to the ears and very catchy, but when we pause long enough to observe what is happening behind the music, can we really ‘hear’ and see the ‘vibrations’ in the schools?

I have worked with children for several years and since my college years, I have had my concerns with regard to the Ministry of Education.

One major concern is with the handling of/catering to children with special needs. I am in no way of the impression that the Ministry of Education is not working, neither do I think that there are no systems in place for these children, but I am of the belief that more can be done.

When thinking of children with special needs, we must keep in view the fact that each child is unique and “presents a particular package” that sets them apart from their counterparts. These children have specific needs or accommodation requirements which are necessary for them to function as well as or close enough to their counterpart. Am I saying the Ministry of Education does not afford any form of accommodation to these special ones? Certainly not. There are accommodations, but as previously stated, more can be done.

The Ministry of Education clearly states that ‘Every child can learn. Every child must learn’. I totally agree with this, but I am still left with two questions. “Learn how and learn what?” How do we show ALL our children that they CAN learn? How do we ensure that ALL our children learn? It has been said that “Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or in the same way.” Let us take, for example, Ruth, who is a grade five student and has a learning disability (LD), which is a very broad area. She has particular learning needs which her very understanding general ed teacher tries to accommodate. The teacher recognised that a multisensory approach is the best way to teach Ruth new concepts. However, she is untrained in special education and so finds it a challenge to effectively teach Ruth.

Ruth may also be the child who learns a concept today but finds it difficult to recall the information afterwards. It is not that Ruth cannot learn the concepts; however, she learns it at a slower pace and in a different way than other children. Unfortunately for Ruth, her class is leaps and bounds ahead of her and the teacher needs to keep up with the curriculum. I am not able to describe the hurt Ruth may be feeling. This hurt would inevitably be manifested in inappropriate behaviours, due to her recognising the gap in levels between herself and her classmates. She may also be a recipient of bullying at the hands of her classmates because the “system” has highlighted the fact that she does not measure up.

The challenge

Ruth, and many children like her, may be left behind because of their learning challenges. This, today, should never be the case even as the education ministry emphasises ‘Every child can learn. Every child must learn’. Robert John Meehan has rightly noted, “It shouldn’t matter how slowly some children learn as long as we are encouraging them not to stop.” Ruth’s current situation is discouraging, to say the least, and is not very reflective of the MOE’s mantra.

Ruth is eventually moved from her mainstream class to an enrichment facility where she can be better catered to by teachers who understand her and her needs and are trained in special education. Great for her, right? Yes, but there is a fly in the ointment. Ruth will not catch up with her mainstream peers in order to fully cover the curriculum and have a fighting chance of doing as well in the national placement exam (PEP).

My big question is, how does the Ministry of Education adequately facilitate and cater to students like Ruth? Yes, she may be allowed extra time, a reader or scribe, frequent breaks, or a separate room. But are these sufficient and specific enough to Ruth’s needs?

Ruth, and others like her, sit these national exams as the children without a LD, receiving the same kinds of accommodations. At the end of doing these exams, these children are placed in high schools, based on their scores. These schools may not necessarily be adequately equipped to cater to their needs. Without further intervention, Ruth, and others like her, will be another statistic of the system. How can we prevent this? Could we copy the framework used in countries like Singapore and America where they provide intense and customised curricula for children with LD as well as other disabilities which hamper learning?

There are also those children who are within the regular school system, who are left behind because their uniqueness is beyond the purview of their teachers, and their parents may be in denial as to their reality and the principals may have their hands tied. These are children who, unfortunately, move through the education system, especially at the lower level, and very little is done for them. These are also children of concern. How do we, as a ministry, and society, deal with these children within the education system?

I am aware of a special education curriculum used by the education ministry. But how customised is it and who does it really target? Is it possible that the children be catered to based on their assessment and a specialised curriculum adapted from the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) at their level? Meaning, they are catered to whether they have a mild, moderate, or severe condition using the same topics, but the volume of the content is pitched as a low-hanging fruit. Could the children be tested using this specialised curriculum instead of the NSC? Could we now further treat them as unique? Yes, there are those children who can grasp the concepts of the NSC but with minor accommodations. These students may require something as simple as a quiet space or less distraction. They would not necessarily need an adapted curriculum. These students are not the focus here. The spotlight is on those students who, despite extra time and separate space, require more effort in grasping a concept.

Now that we are clear, how do the Ministry of Education and the society at large facilitate these children to ensure they are all touched in one way, shape or form? How do we guarantee them success and help them feel a sense of accomplishment despite their inabilities? As was mentioned before, it is not that the Ministry of Education is not working, the reality is, more can be done.

Sidjae Johnson is a special education teacher. Send feedback to johnsonsidjae@gmail.com.