Miss Winta Mehari at Future Experts Kindergarten shares the story of a special boy…

I’ve taught many Kindergarten children in my years of teaching but *Sami was one I can never forget. He was in KG2 and had Down’s syndrome – a genetic condition that typically causes some level of learning disability and characteristic physical features.

Before I met him, I decided it was imperative to speak to his mother to gain insight and a better understanding of what I would be dealing with as I had never taught a special needs child before.

Sami’s mom told me she had put him in a special needs school at first but there was no improvement in him academically or mentally and thus she had to take him out. She then enrolled him in a public school where she felt he would have the opportunity to explore new things and become friends with the ‘normal’ children – that didn’t help either.

She then brought him to us. I won’t lie – I was very nervous when I heard about this. But at the same time, there was a part of me which was very excited also. I took this up as a challenge and told myself that I could do it – and will succeed.

A day prior to his first day at school, I decided to prepare all the material I would need. When I first started teaching him, I noticed he had quite a high IQ level and was very smart – he would catch on to topics rather quickly. But I also realized that he needed extra attention – he needed someone to sit with him and constantly guide him and have him practice.

When he was given that extra care and attention, he proved himself. In just a matter of days, he was successfully completing all tasks that were assigned to him such as puzzles, shape sorters, threading with beads, patterning with shapes, etc.

It was all too impressive. His parents were also very shocked yet proud of their little boy.

It’s easy to categorize children as special needs and discriminate against them. When teachers discriminate, so will other students – and ultimately, the world. It is important to treat such students with extra care to make sure they are able to achieve whatever their potential allows and to build confidence in them.

We are all different, and it’s the differences that make us special!

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the subject.