ANTHONY McPherson will not glide effortlessly through life without much difficulty.

The 14-year-old paraplegic’s gateway to his educational goals was opened only last Tuesday morning when he attended school for the very first time, his custom-made wheelchair rolling on to the grounds of Windsor School of Special Education in Denbigh, Clarendon, a few minutes past eight. Behind him, his mother Nadine Graham smiled broadly as she guided him towards the group of students and teachers assembled beneath a tree where the morning’s devotion was being conducted.

Following the publication of McPherson’s story by the Jamaica Observer on December 15 last year, the Ministry of Education placed him at the school, which caters to physically and intellectually challenged students between six and 18 years old.

McPherson, whose head shakes involuntarily, was attired in the school’s stipulated grey shirt and black pants, and his dreadlocks in a pigtail. He received an exuberant welcome from Neleshia Ferguson who oversees student affairs at the school. She rallied the students to perform the Windsor welcome song, signalling McPherson’s entry into the school family.

Radiating with much happiness about his academic prospects, McPherson, who has been disabled since birth, expressed an unfettered ambition to become a wheelchair police officer. He is not daunted by the constraints of his physical disability, and he sees school as a platform to achieve mastery in literacy, numeracy and other skills for the adult world.

“I am glad to go to school because I want to be a police. So I have to learn to read and write good first. Mi tired a di yard so mi want to meet new friends, but mi nuh want to play a school, mi want to be inna mi book to help mi to be a police,” he told the Observer.

His class teacher, Juliet Christian, explained that Anthony was placed in her early childhood class to gauge his academic readiness. Of her 11 students, who — except for McPherson — range in age from nine to 12, eight are performing at the early childhood level due to the level of their intellectual impairment.

“This would be an appropriate class for him because we would want to place him at the earliest level to assess him. I am going to do a test to know what level he is functioning at so I can know which group to put him in. We are starting him from the basic skills,” she informed the Observer.

Normally, Christian shared, children of McPherson’s age would spend an average of three years in her class, but because he is a late starter he will require far more supervision to advance to his age-group class. She vowed to use intense individual attention as a strategy to accomplish this objective. His eagerness detected in the introductory class that morning was a good sign, she said.

“I will be sitting with him on a one-and-one basis because he’s starting late at 14 and he should be at the intermediary preparing for skills already,” she pledged.

During the session, Christian appeared to be in her element, infusing much enthusiasm in the lesson. Assisted by teacher’s aide Cynthia Brown, Christian worked at smoothly integrating McPherson into the class culture. She engaged the class in identifying letters and numbers prominently displayed on cards and the chalkboard, along with saying their names in a simple sentence. Her voice suffused with passion, Christian in one instance dramatised the spelling of some words in a sing-along. This elicited smiles from the children, with some rhythmically drumming the desks as they joined her. Christian punctuated the session with praise such as “very good” as well as applause when they gave the correct responses. In another segment, the children did a sing-along of the months of the year. But McPherson, his voice rising a pitch higher, rattled off his knowledge

of the 12 months in an animated tone.

Christian assured the Observer that under her tutelage, McPherson will blossom despite the setback of starting school so late. She also implored his mom to work with the school to help him achive his full potential.

“It will work out. It’s not a ‘hope it wil’ work out’. It will, because he’s eager to learn,” she declared confidently.

In the meantime, Graham is gratified by the public’s response to her plea for help.

“I am overwhelmed and thankful to the Ministry of Education for placing my son in a school. I also thank Food for the Poor for the wheelchair and other help; Mrs Angela Brown from the Clarendon Group for the Disabled for giving my son some classes; Miss Jacqueline Brown in Canada; Miss Jasmine Minott in Cayman; and (a gentleman) from Spanish Town. They reached out to my son in different ways,” she said.

Constrained by inadequate resources at the Denbigh campus, the school requires Graham to be present at school throughout the teaching time to assist with changing her son’s diapers if the need arises. Vice-principal Claire Jackson-Davis, who is in charge of the Denbigh campus, regretted the limitation in services at school.

“It’s not just the infrastructure that’s limited for us. It’s the support system, and we are talking about the number of teachers’ aides. The main concern is the supervision for Anthony because normally we don’t accept students unless they are potty-trained,” she said . However, Jackson-Davis promised that the issue would be raised at a meeting of the Clarendon Group for the Disabled set for tomorrow, Tuesday, to solicit help in identifying an aide.