Small steps to thinking

Have you thought of preparing your child for a job that doesn't exist yet? An obvious revert to this question is, "Let's just enjoy the present." But counsellor and special educator Bella Raja begs to disagree - getting you and, in the process, getting your child to think is the crux of her latest book Sparks of Genius (Rupa Publications), which releases in the city this evening. So, we decided to get an occupational therapist and parent to review it since they would find its context more meaningful - Andheri resident Aarti Pereira, who is a paediatric occupational therapist at Prafulta Psychological Services and a mother of a five-year-old.

Aarti Pereira

What worked

"There's a reason behind why a child writes 'b' instead of 'd', and if he/she is doing it in class 1, they are going to experience difficulties later" Pereira says, stressing the need to know your child, which mirror's Raja's point. The author gives an extreme but fitting example of one of renowned psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty's cases where a class 7 student who had failed in four subjects was blamed for not working harder when in fact his parents only failed to identify his learning disability.

The first chapter deals with something that is largely ignored when it comes to children - stress. "I like that she gave it importance and also outlined executive functions. She has also outlined steps to help children who have poor planning skills like sticking up the timetable near their desk and school bag. Because, if a seven-year-old is having trouble packing their bag and putting books in order, they're going to have this problem when they're in the 7th grade when they will have to write essays," Pereira explains. Another thing that stood out for her was a section on movement. "With technology, kids don't go out and play and rely on it for their homework."

What was missing

As an OT, Pereira wished that the author had included her domain. "Most of my cases are that of children with learning difficulties and we also look at the neurology behind it," she says, adding that there should've been more sample exercises in the end, instead of them being spelt out on only a few pages.

Pick it up if…

Pereira recommends the book mainly for parents whose kids are in primary school. "If you have kids younger than that, it's difficult even for an experienced kindergarten teacher to pick signs up that the child is slow. It's more suitable for parents dealing with that age group because there's also a chapter that deals with styles of parenting," she says. Another reason to pick it up is because it's pretty compact. "The tasks outlined are doable and with 189 pages, it's a breezy read and can fit into your bag."

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