Don't fidget

Singing forbidden

Don’t look out of the window

As a child, I would love to remember lessons by reading them out loud, along with a tune. That enabled me to remember faster. I’d set texts of books to the music of songs I knew. Once, while learning how the squid protects itself, I was reading it out in the tempo of a Sanskrit hymn. My tuition teacher snapped at me, “You are studying about a sea creature, it’s not God. Don’t insult our religion.”

Personally, I can concentrate much better if I look out of the window while someone is teaching or speaking. I find it very uncomfortable to look at people’s faces steadfast in general, especially if the talk is long. I love to gaze on at a bird, cloud, a leaf, or the rain; interestingly that helps me absorb more of what’s being taught.

As a child I’d do acrobatics while solving mental math, learning poems, etc. While I was in mid air hopping from a table to another, I was giving correct answers of math problems, spelling difficult words, etc. My tuition teacher thought I was very naughty.

I have a problem in paying attention, and according to some psychologists I may even have a few traits of autism. For people like me, moving about in class, swinging legs, humming, fidgeting, smiling without ‘reason’, etc, may help us to concentrate better. In hindsight, I am happy that I didn’t stop that boy I talk about from eating chips in class. He had absorbed the core of that lesson much better than other students of the class.

 

I just read that there are fidget toys for kids with ADHD and autism. I would advise educationists to encourage the manufacture and innovation of these toys. Pay the ones who make them well, but keep the price affordable especially for schools where rich kids don’t study. Let schools be encouraged to add a new room to their infrastructure, the playroom, or toyroom. Many toys strongly help in improving learning. Unfortunately many think that toys, even when given to  children in few numbers, are useless, and a means of spoiling them.

#autism, #ADHD, #toys, #play, #acrobatics, #teaching, #schools, #disability, #specialeducation, #fidgettoys, #music, #math, #spelling, #children

https://pixabay.com/photos/elephant-toy-plush-play-fun-428287/: Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay: Picture courtesy