A New Experience

My morning English club was able to participate in something brand new for them.  They went with me to do some activities with the 11 children I work with on a weekly basis.  They have a wide range of disabilities, from cleft palates to Cerebral Palsy.  Most of these children had never interacted individually with an individual with a disability.  We spent a couple weeks preparing as we looked at pictures of the children and baked cupcakes.

Last week we spent the morning with the children.  Since New Years is coming up and here they have New Years trees, we had a couple activities related to what we would call a Christmas tree in the States.  The children love having guests, although it does cause a change in routine which causes some of them to act out a bit.  We started off by allowing everyone to introduce themselves as we sat in a circle on the floor.  After introductions, each of the English club students paired off with one child and helped them color a Christmas Tree.

Then came the real fun.  We used construction paper, scissors, and glue to make Christmas trees of our own.  This was a bit of an adventure and I was thankful for the one-on-one interaction.  As I expected, none of the children had ever used scissors or glue.  As a result, our English club students worked with them to teach them how to hold the scissors.  The goal was to have each child do as much of the project as possible.  I was free to help each of the students figure out how to help each child along the way.  The most challenging ones for them included helping Baghdat (who has Cerebral Palsy) and Nurbol (who was born with no arms).  I gave some suggestions and helped out where needed, but they did a great job.

After our craft activity, we moved onto snack time.  Everyone enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes as well as some candy and cookies that were brought by the English club students.  Some of the students had also collected some used stuffed animals to give the children as well as some clothing.  It was fun to see them take the initiative to collect things on their own to bring.

As we drove back to the office, I asked the students what surprised them the most.  One of the answers they gave was that it surprised them how smart the children were.  Often times people assume that because someone has a physical disability they also have a mental disability.  If nothing else came of our visit, these youth now realize that this concept is a false stereotype.  They were touched by these children and will likely want to go back again with me.  I was proud of them for stepping up and interacting in a great way without showing the children their fear or uncertainty.