“Education is the movement from darkness to light.”

                                                ~Allan Bloom

It is that time of year that brings both joy and sadness for school children and parents alike.  As the leaves on the trees are starting to change for a new season, so are the thoughts and actions of children all across the nation.  It is time to wear the new school clothes, to experience new teachers, to meet new friends and to worry over new tests.  The school bells are ringing all across the land and the school buses are running their routes.

Attending school is more than just learning about reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is also about meeting new people and learning how to interact with others who are different.  The years spent in school will help children learn friendships through social interactions with people of different races, the opposite sex, people with different languages, and peers with different abilities.

Most every child would like to succeed in school, proving their learning abilities despite of who they are or where they come from, or how they look or act.  From an early age, most people want to be a part of the whole, to be able to get along with others and be part of the group.  It is a comfortable feeling for a child to feel wanted by his or her peers.  Building self-esteem within a social system is as important for a child in a school setting as it is for an adult within a working environment.  To be accepted by others as children forms the basic foundation to be confident in our differences, and those of others, when we grow into adulthood.

"What is the most important thing one learns in school? Self-esteem, support, and friendship." 

                                                                                       - Terry Tempest Williams

Rehabmart can help children to feel included with their school population by offering some items to help kids learn their school lessons quicker and easier.

The Wanchik’s Pediatric Writer #2 will assist those with weakened hand, finger and/or wrist dexterity problems.  The Pediatric Writer is a plastic-covered, aluminum hand and hand/wrist orthoses that extends up the forearm, providing additional wrist support.  The Writer wraps around the palm and opens on the ulnar side, and features two Velcro closures with easy-to-release D-rings. Once it is on the user’s hand, the child can write with either pencils and/or thin ballpoint pens.

For the young children who are hard-of-hearing or who are deaf and are nervous about going to school for the first time, the Electronic Book – School Days: An American Sign Language Word Book is a good start to preparing the child about what to expect at school.  Each page has an ASL sign for things in or about school, in video, a picture, and print, accumulating 76 signs in all.

The typical school chair if fine for most kids but sometimes special school seating is needed in the classroom.  The First Class School Activity Chair is a comfortable, attractive and adjustable school chair designed to assure good seating posture.  The seat is adjustable in height and depth with a 15-degree anterior or posterior tilt, and comes with a pelvic seat belt to help the child to stay in proper hip position.  The chair also comes with several accessories that are available to customize the chair to each individual child’s needs.

The TherAdapt Adjustable Classroom Chair is another type of school-room chair that was designed for children with mild to moderate physical involvement.  Promoting spinal alignment and head position, this chair has a 10-degree anterior angle on the seat which increases the hip to back angle and allows the pelvis to tilt anteriorly.  The chair's look is streamlined which will encourage the child to get on and off the chair, increasing his or her independence and allowing more peer interaction.  This inclusive and adjustable classroom chair comes with adjustable-depth knee pads, a sacral block, and a pelvic positioning belt.

Sometimes a child’s chair is a wheelchair and when this happens he or she will need a Wheelchair-Accessible Desk with Storage.  This ADA-compliant school desk has a comfort-curve that allows a wheelchaired student to sit closer to the desk while also offering a convenient easy-to-reach storage space.  This desk is available in either a flat or a tilt-table work surface and can be adjusted in height to accommodate students of various sizes and ages.

Lastly, for those with homework to do and who also enjoy a touch of nostalgia, there is the Old School Wooden Lap Desk.  This solid wood table top of yesteryear has the brass-hinged lid that lifts up to offer plenty of storage space.  When the lid is down, the surface is reminiscent of the classroom desks of the 50s and 60s, with the pencil-holding groove toward the bottom of the desk top.  The storage space is big enough to hold an 'old school' three-ring binder and gobs of paper and pencils or a new laptop computer. Both internal sections of the desk are lined in a protective green felt.  Underneath this richly stained wood desk is a non-removable, foam bead-filled pillow which will provide solid, non-slipping support for the desk and comfort for your child's lap.

“What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.”
                                                                                                   ~George Bernard Shaw

A new school year creates feelings of both excitement and nervousness which every child should experience and learn.  Every new day is a new journey and all children should have an equal opportunity to go forth in wonderment and create, little by little every day, the type of adult that they will become by interacting with their peers while learning about the differences in people, yet realizing that all-in-all, everybody is really the same.  School is more than learning the “three R’s” and every child should be able to go to school to learn how to read and write while also learning how to get along with others.

"Just don't take any class where you have to read BEOWULF." 
                                                  -  Woody Allen

Bill Stock
Executive Editor,
Content & Social Media Services
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO