|
Akeem left Africa because his whole family had been killed
in the wars and he now lives with his uncle in the UK.
His English and his reading are good. But at school his
attention is poor. He never watches what the teacher is doing
and doesn't like reading – books or worksheets. Some
of the teachers wonder if it's because he's not eating properly
– his weight is low and he's quite thin.
One day he gets into a fight; the teacher tries to find
out what went on. It turns out that the other youngsters were
laughing at him because he couldn't catch a ball. This made
him angry. The teachers watch him playing and notice that
he can't judge where the ball is. They can see that Akeem
has a slight squint (his left eye is turned outwards).
They ask Akeem's uncle to take Akeem to his doctor (his GP).
The doctor thinks Akeem should see an eye specialist an
Orthoptist
– to check. The orthoptist sees that there is some damage
to his eye; she thinks this may have happened during the wars
in Sierra Leone. The result is that Akeem sees double, so
he can't easily work out how far away things are (you need
two eyes for this). However, she says she can easily treat
this.
Once Akeem has his sight treated his attention at school
is much better – though his class teacher still describes
him as "a real rascal".
A Dietitian
also meets with Akeem and his uncle to talk about a healthy
diet for him. Akeem doesn't like talking about his bad experiences
in Sierra Leone. But he likes playing music. A teacher comes
across him showing the other children some drumming - he's
doing it on a classroom table. And he's very good. Akeem works
with a Music
Therapist, he works on the sort of drumming he learnt
in Africa - he and his family loved marking music together,
something they did everyday. He learns new styles of drumming
and soon he becomes a member of a school group.
 Which
AHPs help Akeem?
|
What
stops young Akeem paying attention in class? 
