Daily Lessons from Life 05 December 2009

"Sat, Dec 05, 2009 The New Paper - Down syndrome girl well-liked by classmates

A POSITIVE, kind student who was well-liked by her peers.

This is how Mrs Sandra Wong, who taught Chung Xin En maths, science and English at Zhangde Primary School, described her former student."

This is a heart warming story of how a child whom nature dealt a lousy hand making the impossible possible. A story of how the parents, who are both normally and in fact the father an Associate Professor, who studied in Standford University, and lectured in the National University of Singapore, never give up on their child. Of how the stay in USA during that formative years helped them to see how children with Down Syndrome can be treated differently and make progress!

Lessons for me are:

1. what nature can take away, nurture can try to replenish. With love and devotion. With the right knowledge and patience and application. With an environment that is supportive where everyone knows what need to be done to help such a child!;

2. the child responded in such a loving and caring environment. A child can learn despite a lower than normal IQ. I am not very comfortable working with mentally challenged people and I really admired those who can work with them and help them;

3. Singapore is perhaps a wee bit further away from having this conducive environment to nurture the naturally challenged people. Much like a lot of Asian countries. Perhaps this is one area where we can really learn from the Western society. I am not saying that everyone in the Western society are behaving properly towards mentally challenged people. I am saying they have more people who researched into this field and provided care in this area a longer time and better than us in Asia. We are catching up as long as we can put aside the social stigma.

She has become the 1st student with Down Syndrome to pass the PSLE in Singapore. History has been made. She is moving on to studying in the secondary school system, for each year that she progresses in the future, she will continue to make history. May she have all the successes that she can achieve.

May I salute the parents who have achieved much with their dedication and love.