A Tale of two schools

Notes from Suhrid’s experiences

My son, Suhrid, studied in two private South Delhi schools: Vasant Valley and Step By Step Nursery School. But, I consider, only Vasant Valley to be his alma mater for it set him free from the ‘social prison’ of autism, gave him liberty with colors and unfurled his interest in art to such an extent that it has now become his vocation.  

Not all of Suhrid’s schooling though was a happy experience. His first school, Step By Step, was a congested cobweb, with teachers who went around sticking labels of high functioning and low functioning autism on children. Those who were non-verbal were scorned as severely autistic. The teachers knew less and less, had no perspective and parroted some stock phrases without any understanding of the basics of special education. They engaged in parent blaming while they themselves had very poor education program planning skills. I have tried to purge from my memory this experience without much success. Discriminatory insults are difficult to bear and equally hard to evict from one’s consciousness. Both I and Suhrid were miserable. More on this later.  

Meanwhile, Suhrid now 16, bid a fond adieu to his beloved Vasant Valley School (VVS) in November this year. An emerging artist in the abstract genre, he has his own studio and works with mentor networks. Just yesterday (December 24, 2021), his online art store, went live with a new look and five galleries, https://suhrid.art.

None of this was easy and would not have been possible without a sound initiation at VVS; it was his pivot for long years. It was not just his school, it was his emotional well-being zone. During the monsoon season in Delhi, when the rain comes down in heavy torrents and many children take off, the conversational repartee among his teachers would be: even if no one came to school, Suhrid would! His attachment to the school was deeply valued by everyone.

Presently, Suhrid puts in many hours each week for art. He is learning new techniques and trying out different mediums. Mostly he works for the love of his craft, participating in exhibitions is a bi-product of this process, it is not his intent, goal or defined target. He is happy when he is appreciated and smiles when he is applauded with claps and praise.

The Beautiful Spring

Suhrid began his art journey in 2013, after his admission to VVS at the age of 8. The Special Section of the school called the ‘Blue Room’ was a nurturing haven for him, it valued his preoccupation with colors and harvested this modality to the fullest. They gave him an Easel, his drawing papers and of course colors. He was encouraged to explore his special interest, it became his identity. In any conversation about Suhrid, this was the pre-eminent point.

Vasant Valley School (VVS): Gave Suhrid Liberty, Colors & his Art experiences

Other regular aspects related to his learning profile were equally attended to. With tender care, friendly teaching and supervision VVS guided him; the school even took charge of administering his epilepsy medication dosages after breakfast, they were steadfast in this dimension. Suhrid flourished in the wide-open spaces of VVS. They turned him into a curriculum-based student and their faith in Suhrid gave wings to his art. He participated in exhibitions and his works got sold. Dheepa Sekar, VVS, Art Teacher was there to cheer for him.

Suhrid’s exhibit @ Kapilaya 2019: With Dheepa Sekar, VVS, Art Teacher, Buddy Moments!

Considering his attention and interest in art, I felt that an extensive and innovative curriculum was the need of the hour for Suhrid. The curriculum had now to keep pace with his learning and experimenting momentum. New elements had to be introduced on a monthly and weekly basis.

The school was most receptive about these ideas. I conveyed to them that the following maybe considered:

(I)             Preparation of a database of Elements of Design (EOD) which can be implemented with Suhrid. This was to be put together by researching the best practices in this field.

(II)            Investigating the Art Syllabus of Grade XII level and extracting elements which Suhrid could learn.

(III)          Preparing a list of Artists who do tutorials on the web for students to follow. Suhrid could follow one Artist/month.

(IV)          In-depth review of Abstract Acrylic techniques and choosing a set of 12 such techniques for Suhrid to master.

(V)           Internet based research to find out about tutorials of Expressionist/Modern Art masters.

True to the brief, at the height of the pandemic, Dheepa produced a 43-page Art Curriculum for Suhrid to follow and learn from. 

Courtesy: Curriculum Content Prepared By Dheepa Sekar

In large measure, Suhrid’s growth story was made possible because of VVS. It freed my mind space, helped me focus and dream big for my son. Above all, it gave me the administrative and psychological maneuverability to address the challenges my son faced. I began to take a hard look at autism, began my research which took me to the UK, US and Japan. Grounded in the cultural traditions of Indian knowledge system, I was determined. I never gave up trying and kept up the relentless search for the perfect mix of methods to educate my son.

My research output can be hived off into a series, which I will undertake at some later date. I made up my mind on three things. First, I will assume total control of Suhrid’s education content. Second, there will be a multi-disciplinary domestic faculty which would be paired with school teaching and both will move in a centripetal direction i.e towards a common centre though their lesson plans would be different. Third, Suhrid would come out of the vicious cycle of therapy hopping. All three happened and with astounding results.

The school fully understood my exertions and supported me in all my decisions.

Birinder Kalra, the feisty, sport-loving class teacher of Blue room, who had a big role in Suhrid’s personality development and grooming into a capable, well-behaved boy told me ahead of my travel plans, ‘you proceed with your work, we will look after him.’ The school kept in touch with designated members of my household. In the spirit of sisterhood, Birinder leaned in while I was away. On weekends, she would drop by and both she and Suhrid would go for a ride in her jeep followed by lunches. Birinder would even tell the restaurateur, ‘my child has special needs, give us a less noisy corner.’ Birinder and Suhrid have always shared a close bond.

If ever there is a hit Teacher-Student pair, this was it: Birinder & Suhrid

In every facet of Suhrid’s life there is a VVS imprint. Birinder imparted digital navigation skills to Suhrid, this now enables him to manage AAC training workloads. Suhrid is learning communication skills in the digital format. He is being trained through home tuitions to use Avaz, an Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) app for his speech and language needs. This was necessary since Suhrid is non-verbal; he has receptive language but due to lack of speech, expressive language had become a big challenge. A course work of core-fringe vocabulary and selected sections of the eight parts of speech of English language has been prepared for him. He does these lessons with great interest, the goal for him is to attain full keyboard usage and acquire abilities in written language.   

Sushmita Mitra, Head of Special School VVS, who calls Suhrid, ‘Shona’ (a Bengali endearment for a young kid), told me, ‘I think you have chalked out the best trajectory for him. Super planning.’ Thank you VVS for believing in my son’s abilities and my commitment.

The Dark Chapter

In contrast, Suhrid’s first school, Step By Step Nursery School in Panchsheel Park, New Delhi were lessons in misery. Suhrid enrolled in the school’s special section at the age of 3 and he continued there till he was 7.

Children with special needs - Autistic, Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy – all sat cheek by jowl in a circular formation around a low-lying table. Teachers and helpers also sat at this table. A therapy room on the first floor of the school was partitioned into small cubbies where ostensibly occupational and speech therapy were conducted. This set up they called the Special Section.

The education program they ran and homework instructions they gave were utterly mortifying. Peeling peas and sorting kidney beans and chickpeas for attention building, tearing old newspapers for fine motor activities. Teachers would place pictures of vegetables, fruits, and physically prompt the child to touch these pictures, thereafter they would declare to the parent that the child knows apple, guava etc. This module they called Special Education.

For Communication, the biggest hurdle for autistic children there was no practice, theory or philosophy. There was neither speech nor language in speech therapy sessions. Therapists did not carry out any evaluations, their only plan was to make the child produce some random sounds or isolated words. Yes, they used the term functional language but did not have anything to offer. Vocabulary building was unheard of.

Highly deficient teachers ran irrelevant programs through so-called Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). For instance, Suhrid’s copy book had pages of some silly jottings patched with the words ‘More’ & ‘Less’ as an introduction to quantitative concepts, when no effort was made to settle basic handwriting, language formation, letter and object cognition. His world of colors did not even feature in the IEPs. Suhrid was always driven by visual and tactile inputs, these aspects of his learning personality were never investigated.

Years in Step By Step School, New Delhi were dark & miserable

For me watching all this was like sitting in a swamp. So why I did I let my son be there? I was grappling with the autism diagnosis. There weren’t many options before me. I did not want my son to go to badly functioning NGO schools or basement learning centres that operated from residential areas. I was exhausted.  And I was not ready for decisive action. These were my reasons for continuing.

Step By Step Nursery School was inadequate physically, socially and morally. Though Suhrid’s loving and obedient nature was recorded in the school reports, the teachers were cruelly judgmental about Suhrid’s autism and bunched it with acerbic amounts of Mom-blaming. Blame-Complain-Castigating Continuum was their usual framework. In nearly all interactions with me, teachers lectured me in a hectoring manner about how professionals made for negligent mothers. They attacked my work identity. These dustbin ideas were thrown at me and I endured it all in silence. They labelled Suhrid low-functioning in comparison to other children.    

Postscript

Suhrid survived all this to shine another day, as subsequent developments have proven. He remains absorbed in Mother Nature, trees, leaves, the sounds of birds chirping and the rustling of breeze. It has been his one constant love and communion. And this is what finds expression on his canvases.