Monday 3 June 2019

MAINTAINING HARMONY THROUGH THE CHANGES


Blog by Hilary Sherlock and Leslie Wan
(formatted by Leslie Wan)

Hilary Sherlock says ...............

Schools are ever changing landscapes of ins and outs, beginnings and exits. Children come and children go, and many times it is not an organized or regular semester entrance or leaving. Our school, because of the children we serve, is often working through those changes at all kinds of time in a semester. To say that our students are a very mixed group seems like stating the obvious. I often struggle to describe how we group the children within the many levels of individual differences. Though we strive to put into practice our favorite saying “it's ok to be different”, we do have to recognize each child’s unique place within our equally unique whole. This is always accentuated when we add a new child or adult teacher. The dynamic of the whole group changes and often reactions, challenge our assumptions about our “gentle, accepting school culture”. I work with the underlying premise that if the culture of the school is one of acceptance and affirmation, then bullying, name calling, or any other manifestation of hurtful speech, will not occur. Over the years I now believe that given the often harsh language used in the world and community that surrounds us, it does influence our children and staff, and we must constantly guard against this by being aware.

We recently added two new students and their impact was immediate and evident in very different ways. One little fella walks very well and has no clearly defined boundaries or sense of danger. So making sure that the grill doors are locked at all times becomes a priority, as does the need to keep an eye on his movements while still allowing him the freedom to explore his new surroundings . A new walker in a group of children almost all of whom use wheelchairs, brings its own demands. Another of our newest students, for health reasons, must only be fed the food he brings, and in small amounts, so all of us must resist from giving this cute little fella extra treats. His dietary restrictions and changes are something that he is finding expansive and exploratory, but not particularly within his bodily control. Ah but he does not always understand that.    

A more subtle change happens when we add a mobile child with well developed independent skills which we recently did. He can move around, go to the bathroom and feed himself, so he requires less intervention on a physical care level. However, he has his own set of needs including delayed language skills, and no prior experience of social skills in a school setting . How best do we help him adjust to being in a new group, while helping his peers accept him and his sometimes strange language. Recently, I was sitting with a group of the older students at lunch time. This group always sits together – a group formed partly because they all can feed themselves. Their wheelchairs fit that particular table’s height. They watched the newcomer closely and with his limited speech choices kept repeating “duck, duck, quack, quack” to initiate a conversation. I think I know where duck, duck, quack, quack came from because we had been looking at a book before lunch. I had cheered him on when he identified the ducks and the noise they make, but the others found it understandably strange not having been a part of that reading session. But, I was disappointed when they ridiculed him with the favorite name for one who behaves differently: “he crazy!, he cuckoo!”. A “teaching moment” followed to the other students who ridiculed him. One can only hope that by continually reinforcing that we do not hurt each other by things we say or do, and relating it back to how they feel when assumptions are made about them, we can guard against some of the harsher realities of our culture. Someone recently asked me if the kindness and compassion shown by our students to each other was an innate consequence of their own recognition of their challenges and I think that put that all into perspective - not innate - learned and reinforced. Reinforcing kindness and compassion is an ongoing need! 

On a sweeter note though, I should mention that we also have children that are kind of "watchers" and will alert us when they think that a child has strayed too far out of what they perceive are that other students personal boundaries, or when a child may have a wheel chair issue and he is leaning too far, or at a particularly uncomfortable angle. Some who are mobile, will of their own volition, push another students wheelchair to make sure the student gets in the group or will get a chair when they see someone has no place to sit. In the end our school is just a microcosm of the world at large. Sometimes kind, sometimes not so much.  
    

Leslie's thoughts.........Little of this and a little of that 

1. A new tradition has been started at STEP with a day devoted to water fun! I can not tell you how

much the children have enjoyed playing in small wading pools together, splashing around and splashing each other!! The sound of laughter is everywhere and the children and teachers are completely removed from the usual school routine to a day of total joy. Hands up for our teachers whom enjoy the day, though it does create an extra amount of work with all the clothing changes and diaper changes required. A system in and a system out of the bathroom and yet it is orderly and accomplished. No one is immune to the sound of laughter and joy and the smiles that this day brings. Hanging out in a pool on a warm day beats a workbook - ANY DAY. 


2. Some changes have been happening to the schools exterior recently. This has been something we have needed for a very long time but as in all things, we can not just "do it", but somehow eventually,  the heavens and the people and companies align to help us get it done. On one side of the building, we have been quite concerned about erosion and lack of drainage. We have had nothing to stop the gradual erosion of the embankment that holds up our privacy zinc and we so hoped that before hurricane season we could remedy this without it becoming an emergency. For now, we have abated an emergency threat. 
So Phase 1 with a BIG shout out to 
A. Maryanne Twyman - landscape architect, who designed the plan for us to make it a reality. Thank you, for your expertise and wonder. She is the best folks.  
B. Digicel Foundation - for providing the funds to do this very necessary endeavor. We are always grateful that Digicel believes in us and the magic of our children. 
C. Elie and David Rickham Family for donating all the plants whose roots will help shore up the dirt and beautify the spot. Auntie Elie is a constant friend of STEP and of the children. Thank you for sharing the beauty, and being our secret angels Rickham family - yes it is a family affair for them.   
D. Mark Swaby- Big thanks to a parent of ours who put his team in action to build it for us. Mark always seems to jump in and supply expertise and people when needed. Thank you Mark! 
..............................

We will eventually do a PHASE 2 that will see us making a trellis for climbing plants, wooden fencing will replace our zinc " privacy wall" and further wooden fencing that will block off the view of our laundry area that, while necessary, is just abit untidy looking. This too will come to pass one day when we are able, but, for now that remains a future goal. There are just not enough ways to express our gratitude for what we receive. Ever grateful, ever aware.

3. Thank you to the Brownies from Hopefield Prep. They spent a morning with us entertaining the children, playing games, reading books, feeding lunches and just being their sweet selves in the middle of a school day. Our children loved the attention. I think the Brownies learned a lot about the challenges of children like ours, and seemed to soak it all in, with such compassion and fun spirit. Lovely, lovely girls with great hearts. We spent some time explaining some of the challenges of the individual students so they could understand some of the ways the children face their differences, and also the ways they compensate and overcome. I was worried in some way that they would feel overwhelmed amongst our children, so I spoke with a group as they prepared to leave. They said they were not overwhelmed at all and they loved every minute of it and especially the children and how the children made them laugh too. Reminded me to never underestimate the compassion and ability of other children to see the spark we see amongst our school crew.
                    

Leslie's Final words for today..................


 Cherishing the spirit of others, makes our own spirit lighter as it rises to the embrace. Keep cherishing and keep embracing others.  



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