After being a Nursery/Kindergarten teacher for ten years, to my joy and surprise, I was asked to receive a child with some special needs into my already large group. Just a little background to continue this story is in order. The 3-year-old boy was the tenth child of an alcoholic mother in Romania and, when found as a baby living with his mother in a hallway of a building, was put into an orphanage there and labeled retarded. But a parent in the school I worked in happened to be in Romania and saw something in this child, and immediately began the process to adopt him.
At age two, he was brought to America, rescued from a Romanian orphanage with a high death rate. And there he was before me, at three, with red rashes on his face and dry straw for hair and a great need to move, wiggle, and explore everywhere. Yes, I had heard the word “hyperactive”, but I also knew that malnutrition in early months and lack of freedom to move can take time for all areas of health to heal and come together well. Education is not just what the “brain” can perform as functions. The parent begged me to take him, knowing that the nurturing and social environment I created was his best chance.
At the time, I had twins of German lineage, who were two years older than the little fellow, and somehow they took him up as the little brother they would never have. When I needed him to sit still, I just placed him between these two girls, and all their holding and comforting had such an effect that I could get on with the story or puppet show, all the children loved. We never expected much from this child that first year. He was just with us and loved all the singing we did, and especially loved bread baking day and making soup. Though his own speech was slowly coming, his interest in what his hands could create was where his intelligence shone.
The girls and he were together for two years, and with health support from a doctor, and the right nutritional support, the medical prediction that “his second teeth would come in rotten”, didn’t come true. But most of all, the joy from all the other children was something to behold, as he slowly made advances in skills of drawing, painting, singing and little fun games we played.
Being a summer birthday, he stayed an extra year in the Kindergarten, and as he was coming along so well, he continued with this group into the grades. Although he required remedial support, he was much loved socially. The last time I saw him, he was a tall vibrant young man in his early 20’s enjoying snow skiing and his studies in college.
Many school community families were involved in his development and support to the family. The saying, “It takes a village to raise a child” was very true for this child.
