New project…new campus….new challenges…apprehension….satisfaction
Taking a board exam for the year 2011-12, for my daughter with the condition she has, seemed to be difficult. The questions on my mind were:
1. Will she be able to comprehend, learn and recall everything she is taught?
2. Can she cover the entire syllabus? And then solve test papers too?
3. Is it possible for her to sit through the long examination hours?
4. In a new examination centre, will she be able to adjust well?
5. Will she be able to manage her moods in the examination hall? What if she doesn’t know an answer?
6. Her handwriting is immature and when she writes fast, it may not be legible!
She had to shift to a new campus for the next four years of NIOS. This meant that she would have a new environment, new educators and a new curriculum. I connected with the teachers almost on daily basis for me to understand the lessons taught and for them to understand my daughter. We chose 5 subjects: English, Home Science, Data Entry, Business Studies and Bakery. The board offered the flexibility of taking examination of 1 to 3 subjects at a time and clear all, over a span of 5 years. But we wanted to clear all 5 subjects within 2 years. NIOS had provisions for appointing a scribe/amanuensis (reader) to assist a special child, while writing an examination. To avail this facility we needed to get a medical certificate from a government hospital stating her condition and need for provision. Then along with other necessary documents, we needed to go to NIOS head office and collect the permission letter for the same.
On one side as we made preparations for the examination to be held in April 2012, we also needed to work hard on her skills. In the August mid-term examination, the educators observed the areas in which she would need support. Then, after getting a detailed feedback I created a set of guidelines for her writer during the examination. We discovered that:
1. When my daughter started dictating the answer, she went so fast that the writer could not keep up to the pace. When asked to repeat, she lost the flow of her thoughts.This could cause frustration in her and hence, we needed to brainstorm.
2. If a question was asked in an indirect manner, she got confused. She needed to understand different versions of the same question.
3. If she would get stuck at times. For example, if she did not know the answer for the third question, she would not proceed to the fourth one before completing question 3.
4. She did not understand that for a 2 marker we need to write a short answer and for a 5 marker we need to write all 5 points.
We started preparing ourselves at home and at school. We changed the role of the support person, from ‘writer’ to ‘reader’. She would need to encourage my daughter to read the question, understand it, see the marks alloted and write accordingly. A friend of my daughter showed eagerness in being her interpreter (reader) and I began training her on how to get the best out of her friend, while writing the paper. We checked out the examination centre in advance which was thankfully a place with sensitive people.
She managed to write her English paper reasonably well and came out of the examination hall with a smile. She did quite well in her Home Science paper. In Data Entry, she completed her paper quickly, as she either knew the complete answer or did not know it. We all were happy and waited eagerly for the results!
We ALL had done our best…God would decide and do the rest….AS ALWAYS!
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