Pawan’s Tryst withInclusive Education

By: Surpreet Oberoi

The Incident

It was a normal day in school sometime back. I was in my room, working on a report from an earlier session, when a boy from fifth class came. He looked very worried.“Pawan is not letting ma’am teach. He is not listening to anyone. He is spitting on everyone. Please come, urgently!”

We rushed to the class. Pawan was sitting alone. Angry and talking to himself. I took him aside for aconfidential discussion.

“What happened?” He didn’t answer me. Instead he looked at me angrily. I insisted. After a few attempts, he finallyreplied.

“Ankit was troubling me.”His words were loud and in a broken tone. I was barely able to make sense of the sentence. I had to calm him.

Holding his hand tightly I said “Breathe deeply.  In… Out… In… Out…”

Ankit was reprimanded. He wasstrictly told to refrain from trouble Pawan and made to apologiseto him.

“Sit down, Pawan.” I gave him a paper to crumple.It took some time and effort, but he was calmer now.

The Background

Most students in the class knew Pawan very well.After all, they had studied with him since Nursery. He plays and enjoys all the activities with them. But, at times, unintentionally they become subject to his wrath.

As I sat there looking at him, I was reminded of the day when a child in nursery was referred to me for peculiar behavior.He was – not sitting at one place, not respondingwhen his name was called, constantly flapping a pencil, difficulty making an eye contact and not speaking a single word.

Yes, he had the signs of Autism.

I called for the parents. The father came,along with an oldman whohad a 1 year old baby in his arms. Surprised, I tried to understand what was going on.

“I’ve recently been transferred from [another country] as an expat. My wife committed suicide a few months back. It’s very difficult for me to take care of the children, as there is no woman in the house”, he said.

The situation was very complicated. After adetailed session,where I listened to their situation and explained the concerns regardingPawan, I referred him for an assessment.

The report was available soon. My prognosis was confirmed. Autism it was.

While Pawan started getting Occupational and Speech therapy, a question came up in my mind – a question that will probably never be answered – was his mother suffering from an undiagnosed disorder?

The Present – A Present (pun intended)

As I sat there looking at him, I felt happy. Now, Pawan has friends with whom he laughs and enjoys. He’s able to express his emotions and share his everyday experiences.There are a few students with higher empathy, who understand him well.In academics also he is performing well in all areas, except ones which require higher analytical and reasoning ability.This is an important achievement for an inclusive school, and the inclusive education approach, in general.

Instead of creating an artificial safe haven, inclusion provides him with a real environment. A world  where he faces real life challenges, and learns to respond to them. The theory of plasticity and synaptic development under stimulating conditions talks about the development of the brain in response to the conditions a person is exposed to.

By allowing Pawan to grow in an inclusive environment, we have allowed his brain to learn to respond to real life situations where he has to function independently.Lab experiments cannotdo that.The best part – and the reason why we said the present is a present – other behaviours typicallyassociated with Autism, like repetitive movements, lack of eye contact etc. are also less.

Considering the condition, there will obviously be issues from time to time. Especially, now that he is 11 year old, like any other adolescent child, he is having issues related to puberty. We, as specialists in the field,will have to continue to help and support him.For now, let us celebrate the achievement of helping a young boy acquire the skills of living life independently.

Let us end with these beautiful words adapted from Making PreSchool Inclusion Work,

“Something very magical happensin those classrooms, where skilled and caring adults who celebrate diversity are committed to truly inclusive teaching and learning.”