‘I feel like I’ve failed my son’

For almost two years, Stacy Ann Hynes has been trying to get a shadow for her 11-year-old son, who has attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Children with ADD have great difficulty concentrating.

Shadows provide one-on-one support in classrooms to special needs students across Jamaica, assisting them with their personal care and safety and in developing their independence as well as their academic, social and behavioural skills.

A frustrated Hynes told The Gleaner that after noticing her son’s lack of academic progress, she took him to a psychologist in June 2022, who recommended that he receive a shadow after an assessment.

The mother said she took this information to the Ministry of Education, where she was advised that he be transferred to West Indies Preparatory in Mandeville, Manchester, where he could access a shadow.

Then 10 years old, Hynes said her son was barely reading at the grade one level.

Upon matriculation to West Indies Preparatory, he was made to repeat grade three and then transferred into the school enrichment programme, which caters to slow learners.

But soon after, Hynes said she started experiencing financial difficulties and was forced to move him from the school as she could no longer afford the almost $80,000 school fee for each term.

LOST

Now a student at Broadleaf Primary in Manchester, Hynes said she was advised by school administrators that due to his age, he had to matriculate to a higher grade.

“Coming from the enrichment programme, he is now in grade five. He has no idea as to what is happening. He has no idea in regard to material; he’s lost,” she said.

Stating that it has been difficult watching her son struggle academically, Hynes said she has been relentless in trying to get him the proposed help from the Ministry of Education, but she feels as though she is being slighted.

“One thing with the ministry, it’s so tedious to speak to people. They’re always in meetings, they’re always ‘on lunch’. I go there, come back the next day, ... they’re not there. It’s just a runaround, runaround, and who am I gonna get help from if it’s not them?” she stressed.

The single mother of three, who works as a customer care representative, said it would be too expensive to seek assistance elsewhere.

“I feel disappointed and I feel as though I’ve failed my son,” she told The Gleaner.

However, head of the Special Education Unit in the Ministry of Education, Dionne Gayle, said she was informed that Hynes had enquired about a shadow for her son in August 2022 at the ministry’s Region Five office in Manchester.

At that time, she indicated that she would find a school to place her child and return with that information. There are no records of visits since.

Further, in allaying concerns about the number of shadows available to assist special needs students, Gayle told The Gleaner that the education ministry currently has enough in employment. At the moment, she said, there are 454 active shadows, inclusive of 313 who were recently trained.

“Once the child qualifies for the shadow, we usually give the child a shadow,” she said. “Our doors are open. If she (Hynes) wants to come back and start the application process again, if she wants to go back to the Region Five office or come to us here in Kingston, our doors are open and we will facilitate.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com