Discovering new talents and new challenges…..
It is indeed a big blessing that, my daughter never had to be taught spellings! She looked at words and learnt their spellings from such an young age; when just one year and four months old! Her vocabulary increased over the years and she figured out word meanings with reference to context. For instance, she knew the difference between ‘bored’ and ‘board’ without ever being explained. This special talent helped her in passing her examinations and now in workplace as well.
I noticed, when she learnt to do stock taking, she read the name of the book and author at one go and noted down the details quickly and correctly! As a result her speed was high and she completed a lot of work in less time. This brought us to the challenge of what can she do next? She did not know how to ‘NOT DO ANY WORK’ while working she is so focused that she doesn’t care who is coming or going, speaking to her or ignoring! This also meant that she accomplished her work in much lesser time than us!
So after understanding her work load, her strengths and limitations, her environment and expectations from her, I had started making a schedule. This schedule/plan included the various things she needed to keep in mind, starting from wishing everyone she met, keeping her work area neat, completing the given task, taking a break and so on. This also included soft skills like informing ma’am in library while going to washroom, before eating her snack and returning home.
One day she got stuck while working, refused to continue and was unable to share her concern. After a lot of research we discovered that, the battery of keyboard was weak. So we learnt together about the possible obstacles like, internet slow/not working, pen not writing, mouse not functioning and so on. We had daily discussions on these issues and the same were mentioned in her daily plan.
By December 2015, she was pretty settled, working independently thrice week. I was in touch with the HOD of library and the head of special education team, who gave me suggestions and regular feedback. A friend suggested that we enroll her in the course of library science which would be a huge advantage in her profession. NIOS offers a Certificate Course in Library Sciences which looked interesting and quite doable! Now our focus was:
* My daughter’s maintenance of skills needed for the job
* Beginning the process of learning Library Science by making notes with understanding
* To keep her interest and energy level upto the mark
Son seemed to be doing well in academics, as well as in cocurricular activities in school, along with exercising his role as the vice-captain. I had taken a long break from my work in 2015 to explore options and place my daughter in some training or workplace. God has been kind like always and here was a huge opportunity for her learning. She was happy! Life seemed to be good but I experienced fear within and felt emotional when alone. I started seeing my counselor who helped me to get in touch with my fear and feelings, to identify and acknowledge them!
What if she stops working and refuses to go to work? What if, people around her do not like her or her work? What if she makes errors in her work which impacts the organization? What if the organization does not want her to continue after six months?
If any of these happens, what will I do…..
WILL SEE…
Zindagi ek safar hai suhana….Yahan kal kya ho, kisne jana??
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