Specially-Abled

By Meenali Gulati

Who is hu not wuh

I am tired of telling you,

Why can’t you read properly

Why are you so lazy?

Don’t be scared, let’s make friends

No-no mummy, they laugh at me,

They feel I am slow, I cannot run

Nobody wants me.

You have again failed your second grade

Let’s keep more tutions for you,

You need to learn how to write

You need to become big, don’t you?

Daddy take me to the park

I want to play and swing,

Promise me dear, you will not make faces

You will not break anything.

There is something wrong with her

Should we consult a doctor,

Why is our child like this

It’s beyond my capacity to look after!

Yes, let’s fix this thing

Let’s take proper medicine and make her ‘normal’

Next year if she fails again

Teachers and school will raise a complain.

Your daughter is dyslexic, she is a special child

We will perform some tests on her

To know the level of her problem

Please be patient with her.

She can study in special schools

You need to love and accept her,

She needs to be taught differently

As alphabets and words don’t make sense to her.

Give her tasks, that she can do

You are her family,

Don’t worry about the people around

Educate yourself on how to be!

Each child is unique, some specially abled

Some are prodigies,

But God has distributed tough times

In lives of everybody.

Study more on how to teach her

Don’t worry about her grades,

Make her skillful and independent

It’s her independent race.

She needs multi-sensory tools and visual-aids too

To make sense of the world just like you,

She needs practice and attention

So that the tasks do not give any tension!

Don’t let anxiety cripple her down

It is a difficult path indeed,

But nothing is impossible for anyone

Even a special child is gifted with almighty’s grace!

By Meenali Gulati