A Parent Speaks
Parenting
By Sanjay Kumar
My son was always an average student in school, scoring mostly B grades in his primary classes. His teachers put it down to playfulness, being the youngest in class, and felt that he would improve his grades with age and maturity. Though honestly, I never felt that marks had anything to do with success in life, but this was the very principle that we were made to feel back then at school.
In middle-school he started finding Maths difficult to understand and from the 9th grade he also started finding language, Sanskrit difficult. The changes in his learning abilities became evident when he stopped submitting his assignments on time. He would also hide his test/exam marks, which I could sense immediately.
On meeting his teachers, we found out that he was unable to understand and cope with the subjects. It also came to light that he had hidden the answer sheets of some subjects. It was during this period that one of his teachers suggested that we should get him evaluated. He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
It was tough for us, as parents, to learn about this issue and we did discuss this with few educationists and we got varying degrees of advice from them. We did realise his inability to focus and concentrate and decided that the best course for him would be to shift to Ananya Learning Centre run by the Madras Dyslexia Association. My son also took this change in the right spirit and wanted it.
The teachers, at Ananya, were able to give my son individual attention. He started showing immense improvement in his attitude towards various subjects. His confidence improved. There was a remarkable change in him as compared to his experience in the earlier school. Now, he was eager to answer all the questions in class and his grades improved.
In the 10th board exams he scored an overall average of 91% with 93% in Maths. It was time for him to be mainstreamed and he got admission in AMM Matriculation in 11th grade in the Commerce stream. He adjusted quickly and well to the new environment with 40+ students in class. He fared well from the beginning. He scored 86% in his 12th board exams and did get 95% in Sanskrit. He wanted to do BBA and applied to three colleges Vivekananda, Vaishnav and Loyola College.
He was accepted into Vivekananda College. When he was interviewed for admission by the head of the department and the principal, my son handled their questions with confidence on why he wanted to do BBA and not B.Com. The principal of the college also told him, ‘Whatever you do in life do it with the same focus and confidence that you show today’.
For me the very purpose of the shift in schooling had served its purpose well that he came out with flying colours. He got admission in all three colleges and finally joined Loyola where he’s finishing his 1st year now. I am very confident that he will do well in life and as parents we took the right decision at the right time in all his steps.