DR RADICA MAHASE

My name is Carlene Sharpe and I am 33 years of age. I have recently completed my four-year bachelor’s degree in primary and special education at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. I work at Ad Astra Private School, specialising in children with different exceptionalities and I volunteer at Rahul’s Clubhouse.

My future goals are to pursue my masters degree in special education and a PhD in special education.

My aim is to ensure that no child is being left behind and to provide a safe and enjoyable learning experience for them. I enjoy interacting with children, regardless of their race, culture, gender, ethnicity and different exceptionalities, as I believe that all children should be given equal opportunities in society. Every day for me is a learning experience and I appreciate learning about everyone's differences and I want to make a positive impact in their lives.

I decided to become a teacher because I have observed my mother, who was struggling to take care of my special-needs brother. As a single parent, she worked really hard to ensure that he was well looked after.

I realised that when people were giving up on him, my mother would always stand by his side, regardless of the circumstances. I realised that no one would take care of your special-needs children the way you would, as a parent.

I became a special-needs teacher because I wanted to make a change and to be someone's second mother – simply by being patient with them, loving, kind, providing a safe environment in which they can trust you, but most importantly, allowing them to be included in society.

I choose SPED because I have a passion and love for special-needs children and I want to make a difference in their lives every day. I want to be able to provide them with academic, social, behavioural, and personal skills that they can use throughout their lives. I want to help them to be as independent as possible and one day, able to fend for themselves in an effective manner.

My experience thus far working with children, specifically on the autism spectrum, has been amazing and challenging.

One thing I've learned is that you can be in a classroom full with autistic children and yet each of them is different. Not every child with autism is the same, so therefore we will encounter different personalities and characteristics, and as an educator, it is important to learn about them individually, so that we can tailor our approach to meet the needs of each child.

This experience has taught me to be more patient, innovative, proactive, interactive, creative, and gentle, apart from being loving and kind.

[caption id="attachment_979653" align="alignnone" width="691"] Carelene Sharpe is a special-needs teacher.- Courtesy Carlene Sharpe[/caption]

I am now learning to be a little stern at times, but as I said, it's also a learning experience for me.

Working amongst autistic children I've experienced the very shy ones, and the very selective ones, who are nonverbal, so facial and body language is very important an