Mendoza, Marry Ann N.

BECE 2
Inclusive Education for Early Childhood Settings
January 24, 2020

Every Child is Special: A Reaction Paper

Every one of us has a way of expressing what we want to do. We have given the ability to
portrait it and show to the world that we excel in our way of living and not needing the expectation
of others. Even those people who are not directly attached in the environment of others. These are
the people who were unique in the eyes of those who genuinely see their real value and existence
in the community. They have broad imaginative skills that tour themselves on those out of the
world idea like Ishaan Awasthi, who is a child with learning disabilities. His teachers and
classmates always misunderstood him, and it seemed like no else appreciated him, including his
parents, other children, and teachers in their school. Most of them were thinking that he was just
only crazy, lazy, and disobedient. He always gets low grades and gets into trouble. It seems like
he enjoys defying orders that his parents feel anxious about him. They didn’t even try to examine
why the child is having difficulties in his studies. Instead of knowing what really the problem of
the child is that his parents decided to send him to a boarding school to be disciplined he even
suffered more from his strict teachers. They didn’t know that being apart from them will made the
child more emotional and not wanting to communicate with other people. These incidents crushed
Ishaan’s confidence in him and he became depressed, very depressed. He did not speak to anyone,
not even to his mother or his brother. No one didn’t even try to help him because they did not try
to understand him.

The kind of relationship we build to the young ones greatly affects how they perceive
themselves and what they will become. The lack of patience, love and kindness and most especially
knowledge of one’s physical, intellectual and emotional condition can make one feels unworthy
and unwanted. In the movie, Ishaan met Mr. Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a substitute art teacher at
boarding school. Through his unconventional teaching methods and graceful presence, Ishaan’s
attention was caught up. He checked the background of Ishaan, asked Ishaan’s classmate, checked
the past books, then he knew that Ishaan was struggling from dyslexia and the child was a very
talented and intelligent. He consulted Ishaan’s parents and told them his condition, wherein he
finds it hard to recognize letters and numbers. His parents especially his father cannot accept his
condition. Mr. Ram offered some extra time to teach him in areas he had not mastered yet. He
taught Ishaan using different methods; he made learning fun by applying games to his lessons.
Gradually, Ishaan begun to improve in his studies, he has now little trouble in reading, he can write
properly and can solve math problems. Through his patience, effort and care to make the child to
learn more despite of his condition, Ishaan was motivated to finish his studies and he became more
expressive to others more through painting.

Oftentimes we are blinded by the strict rules and high standards in meeting academic
requirements, that, we fail to see the person’s worth. We believe that an underperforming child,
someone who can hardly read and write and demonstrate certain skills and knowledge in the given
situation is not worth of our time. Children whether they have disabilities or not must be treated
with love and encouragement. It’s sad to hear that parents would always want their children to
become geniuses. They force their own desires onto the fragile minds of children but somehow, I
understand their part. All they wanted was the best for their child that is why they tried so hard to
push him and discipline him at the same time.

Teaching should not only be done in one way; we should use different ways to teach our
students because each and every one of us has a unique and special talent. It is also good to
understand the needs of our students; let them be free to imagine, free to learn in their own special
way. Listen to your students’ opinions and learn from it. The theory of multiple intelligence in
education plays an important role here and that can be a vessel in informing the teachers and most
importantly the parents for them to assist their children. With time, patience and care, he ultimately
helps Ishaan find himself and the harsh father realized his child’s worth and needs.