25/10/2019
- Looking out for genius –
By Chandra Thanabalan
October 25, 2019
The word genius has been reserved for a handful of individuals, with a broad range of brilliance, but in the case of young students, who are still in the midst of figuring out about themselves, having someone to be their champion, and bring out the genius in the child or student, is a heaven sent these days. Dr. Rita Pierson, an educator for over 30 years, stood by this philosophy, as did her mother before her.
My team members and I, from Inclusion Therapy, have the utmost privilege of stepping into classrooms across Singapore, as a "Shadow" for students with special needs, in mainstream schools.
Since I started in the role in 2008, of what we now refer to as, an Inclusion Support Advocate, I worked with about 50 of our clients, whom we refer to as our focus students, which is best left unknown to them for the entire period of our support, if we have carried out our role successfully. This unusual arrangement has also resulted in the additional privilege of seamlessly helping the other students in the same classrooms, who are referred to as “neurotypical”, but may also need some form of additional assistance, in specific areas they struggle with.
Two instances come to mind, when I was in a mainstream classroom, and spotted genius, not only in my focus student, but two other neurotypical students in the classroom who were usually penalized and seated aside from the rest, usually for not following the expectations, which would be considered common knowledge. Some of the teachers thankfully noticed these sparks of genius from the students, and they were quick to reinforce them, and if you watched closely, a tiny smile appears from beneath the constant frown of these children's mouths.
During a music lesson, the class was singing together to a pop song, and I immediately noticed the head of the boy, who usually keeps his head fixed on a table or in a storybook, pop up, and smiling like he never did before and making a significant attempt to sing along. I kept my gaze towards him, which may have led the teacher to also notice what had caught my eye, and she picked him to join the group in front and sing together, and he did so, without hesitation.
Where is the genius in this you may wonder, and this is exactly what our organization stands for when we say “Celebrating Personal Best”, which is to find even one remote strength a child may have, in relation to Dr. Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences, and manipulating this to its fullest, to the benefit of the child.
Another student, from the same classroom, seemed to constantly be underestimated, or receive some form of verbal punishment for not following along, and his constant response was to smile and keep quiet, or not respond when spoken to. His instance of genius was while he was sitting on his own, and he spontaneously stated a few greetings fluently in Japanese, which I overheard. When I asked if he has been to Japan, he mentioned not having visited this country yet, and I suggested he should, since he was great at verbalizing greetings fluently.
A few moments later, when his classmate was struggling with an English worksheet, I walked over and gave her some idea of what to look out for. Upon hearing this, the boy stood up, confidently flipped open his textbook and started locating and brilliantly helping her, by calling out what the difficult answers could be, as he was working on the same worksheet, which was until then, incomplete.
Looking out for genius is easier than one would think, especially with these two steps for parents and teachers, which when implemented, can have a higher success rate of genius presenting itself:
1) Daily practice of Least Dangerous Assumption - keep away from negative discussions and complaints with other adults, about your student or child, preferably not at all. Such communication within audible distance of your student or child, can result in an increase of the same behavior you complain about.
2) Daily practice of Least Restrictive Environment – this is to ensure each student and child, receives equal opportunity within a classroom and home, and therefore enjoy being a member of these environments.
Chandra Thanabalan is the Founder and Director of Inclusion Therapy Pte. Ltd. and he has also provided support for students of various exceptionalities, in over 20 public and international schools in Singapore. He also started the Inclusion Support program in 2018, which is the culmination of various evidence based, positive approaches and strategies, and individualised for each student it helps.
