Elizabeth Sue-Alert is driven to work with ...
The only way a student will not be accepted is if the school is not for them, which means they cannot function. Currently the oldest student is a 21-year-old with dyslexia who passed through the regular school system without learning to write his name. He joined the school’s population at the age of 18 and it took him an entire year to learn to write his name. It was pointed out that it would have been better if he had enrolled earlier. His disability affects his memory, his writing and computational skills.
She gave an example of his communication when he told her, ‘Miss it is right here [pointing to his head] and I bring it forward and I tell you’, instead of saying, ‘I remember and now I can tell you’.
Some 14 students are currently enrolled but more can be accommodated as they have six teachers. The only way a child is asked to leave the school is if the parent does not work along with the school, especially in the area of their life skills. Corporal punishment is not administered at the school.
‘Lash everything off’
Sue-Alert spoke of a student who joined the school at three years old, who could not speak and all she did was “lash everything off of a table”. She could not feed herself, or go to the toilet on her own. But after one year, the child is now at a grade one level and can talk. Her first word was “no.”
“Her strong point is puzzles. She can look at a brand new puzzle and you can loose it up, and she would fit it back without making one mistake. That is her strong point. She also can carry on a conversation. She is six years old now and she knows from number one to 220 and when I say she knows it I can give her individual numbers and I can call out random numbers, and she can fix them,” Sue-Alert said.
She is also good at spelling, but Sue-Alert said she has to do things in order and as such there is a routine set.
There is also a 12-year-old boy who joined the school at age eight. He could not communicate and made his needs known by throwing tantrums. Now he knows some
sign language, which he uses. He has the iPad and he uses this mainly to communicate his needs.
As for the 21-year-old student, who has indicated that he wants to financially assist his parents, Sue-Alert said he has a garden planted at the back of the school. Every morning before he enters the classroom, he waters the plants and cleans the garden. When he reaps, he sells the produce to parents as well as neighbours and takes the money home.
When COVID-19 hit Guyana, learning ceased for a while but she said with school being reopened it is one child per classroom. “...They work by sessions so no two children within a classroom…and that is how we work as of today,” she explained. One of the things the children need is social interaction, but now it can only be done with the teacher and the child.
The children regressed a lot academically during the period of closure, though they were able to receive
therapy sessions. All teachers were paid during those months even though the fees for the children were slashed.
Sue-Alert said she is in a field where she belongs and answering the phone at any hour in the day or night to assist a parent who is having a struggle with a student is also part of what she does.
“I don’t have a problem with those calls because the parent is experiencing something that they don’t know how to handle and they need help…,” she said.
While she has received offers to go abroad and offer her service, she said there is a need for her in Guyana. There are plans to do outreaches in other regions as she said she receives calls from persons as far as Essequibo and she hopes to collaborate with others to provide the services. She hopes to have collaborations as well with private and public schools to train teachers in identifying children with special needs.