Special school for special children, super moms take the rein | India News
After switching multiple schools, failing to find special educators and seeing their child isolated from the rest of the
After switching multiple schools, failing to find special educators and seeing their child isolated from the rest of the class, two mothers of autistic children in the city have started their own special schools to provide better education to children with special needs.Sindhura Reddy, mother to a nine-year-old mildly autistic and non-verbal child, has started a maintream CBSE school which is inclusive to children with special needs and a special school for children with higher special needs called Teach and Learn Child Development Centre.
Kids face Isolation
Seema Shet, co-founder of Beyond Spectrum who started the special school in Manikonda in 2022 had a similar story to share. “When my child was young, we went for play groups and those were fine,” she said. But, things were not as simple as he grew up, as his sitting tolerance reduced, she said.
No special education wing
Other parents say schools put their regular teachers through 5-6 day courses and expect them to handle emotional needs of autistic kids. “There are days my child has an emotional breakdown and only needs someone to hug him, but I realised most neuro-typical schools could not offer that personalisation,” said mother from Miyapur.
Individual education plans
By starting their own schools, the duo are helping children have shadow teachers, therapists and individual education plans.
“The biggest benefit of inclusive schools is that individual education plans can be made. So for my son, we go with the CBSE curriculum but do not insist on languages and instead focus more on maths and science concepts and have oral exams,” said Reddy.
Seema said they also conduct therapies like speech, occupational and behavioural therapies for kids and ensure that all kids, right from age four to 16, learn basic daily life skills
Kids face Isolation
Seema Shet, co-founder of Beyond Spectrum who started the special school in Manikonda in 2022 had a similar story to share. “When my child was young, we went for play groups and those were fine,” she said. But, things were not as simple as he grew up, as his sitting tolerance reduced, she said.
No special education wing
Other parents say schools put their regular teachers through 5-6 day courses and expect them to handle emotional needs of autistic kids. “There are days my child has an emotional breakdown and only needs someone to hug him, but I realised most neuro-typical schools could not offer that personalisation,” said mother from Miyapur.
Individual education plans
By starting their own schools, the duo are helping children have shadow teachers, therapists and individual education plans.
“The biggest benefit of inclusive schools is that individual education plans can be made. So for my son, we go with the CBSE curriculum but do not insist on languages and instead focus more on maths and science concepts and have oral exams,” said Reddy.
Seema said they also conduct therapies like speech, occupational and behavioural therapies for kids and ensure that all kids, right from age four to 16, learn basic daily life skills
