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and sense of self-worth heightens and although episodes do happen, there are good days for the child as well.

When a good day does happen, the teacher can call up the parents to inform them of the good things that have happened that day and get the parents to reinforce the good in their child by informing the child that his teacher has called to let them know that he has been exceptionally great that day. In this way, I have often been able to win the parents over and subsequently work out positive reinforcement methods that straddle both parents as well as all colleagues who have dealings with the child, including canteen vendors, bus drivers, other teachers as well as the head. This is when labeling has a positive end rather than a dangerous one.

A few months back just before I resigned, I was dismissing a child who was attending a school camp early when from across the road, a boy called out to me. This boy has a special disability which was worsened by an abusive father in his early days and left him suicidal at times. Any anger bout would lead to suicidal thoughts. On one such a rare occasion when he was in Primary Four, I was teaching another class across the common corner staircase. He had one of his angry bouts and the teacher let him leave his classroom to cool off. His teacher and I had a working understanding that when he was out of the classroom, I would be informed and I would occasionally pop my head out to ensure that he was safe as it was easy for me to do so from my classroom. On that occasion, he opened the emergency exit window and I approached him and brought him into my cool classroom when he said that he was feeling hot in that corner. If I had over-reacted, knowing that he had a suicidal tendency, I would have screamed my head off and probably scared him into really jumping out of the window. It was through such collaborations that his teacher and I had helped our special children cope in the mainstream.

When we study the development of children with learning disabilities well into their adulthood, we will have many stories of how some are able to successfully integrate into the mainstream and learn to cope with their own disability as well as work on their strengths to become a productive contributor to their community. We will also learn of those who end up in some obscure asylum and if we bother to trace their history, we will probably learn how they have been mishandled from the time they were born, through their school days and well into adulthood and made to feel as if they were the scum of the earth. If only they were given a chance like others who have had their strengths nurtured and their disability dealt with such that they learnt to cope with it successfully!

Let us be mindful that every one of us has been wonderfully created by God and that every one of us has areas to improve as well as strengths to contribute positively to our community. Let us remember that it is the visually handicapped that bring us the best music, the autistic that give us bright ideas and solutions to our normal' problems. Let us remember that it was because some normal' people stood behind them in their struggles and hence help them turn around and become the great persons they are now. Will we choose to be the myopic ones who think we are holier than others or will we choose to be the normal' people who help bring them into greatness?

Learn more about this author, Lokemun Magar.
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