GML Enterprise Team
MICHAEL RAMSINGH and
OTTO CARRINGTON
Imagine at five years old being able to read fluently, carry a conversation with adults and do multiplication without any real effort.
Well it’s what Alejandro Guevara does and more than that he knows the body anatomy and can describe the importance of each body part to the full functioning of the human body. Alejandro is described by his parents Kevin and Reshma Guevara as a “child genius.”
Alejandro’s father Kevin tells Guardian Media Ltd’s enterprise team of Michael Ramsingh and Otto Carrington that Alejandro said his first words when he was a mere five months old. Seven months later at age one year old he was reading. This did not come about by chance, however, as the parents said they committed themselves that Alejandro would never face the learning struggles which they had when they were growing up.
Kevin is a security guard at the Piarco International Airport. His qualifications were the bare basics to get him the job. Alejandro’s mother, Reshma, was a store clerk and when she became pregnant she and her husband decided that she would become a stay-at-home mom and educate their baby.
The learning process started while Alejandro was in his mother’s womb. She and Kevin would read to their unborn baby, speak to him about the things going on in their lives and around them and so started his education from the womb.
Five months after he was born Alejandro spoke his first word, not the Mummy and Daddy we know most kids say first but his own name,—Alejandro—his father Kevin admits it was “rather shocking, mind blowing.” They knew then that their son was just as special as they had hoped he would be.
Over the coming months Reshma and her sister would spend every waking minute making learning fun. They read baby books to Alejandro, built puzzles and used lego building blocks to encourage his motor skills. Alejandro according to Kevin and Reshma became bored once he was taught something and became familiar with it.
Kevin tells us “for his reading ability he went through the baby books rather fast. We had to go higher up the reading level. We realise he was interested in science books, books with dinosaurs and animals.”
At just over one year old Alejandro continued to surprise his parents with his pronunciation of not just bigger words, but some of the names of the dinosaurs which even they had problems pronouncing.
But it was not the only thing that would make them realise their son was special, he soon grew tired of children his own age. According to Kevin “the normal chat for his age group was not cutting it.” Their son liked to speak to adults and older children.
Alejandro was eager to get his voice heard during the interview and often times would interrupt his parents to speak with us. His diction was clear, concise and fluent, and his pronunciation of words was impressive. He loves his “big school” and boasts that he and his family attends the St Helena Presbyterian Church.
Admittedly he gets bored easily, he is always in a hurry to move on to something else. Kevin says “to keep his interest is a little tough when he already knows he covered something, we have to keep getting advanced stuff to keep him occupied.”
Reshma says her son’s special interest is the body anatomy, he knows every body part and it’s significance to the functioning of the human body, “when he does the body anatomy he tells you how the body works.” At age five he tells his parents he wants to be a Doctor.”
Reshma says he is also eager to learn Spanish and even speaks a few words fluently. He loves the challenge of multiplication and if he does not know something eagerly seeks her help by asking questions. Reshma says it means she also has to constantly challenge herself to learn new things to keep up with Alejandro.
She describes her son as a “child genius” because according to her “he accelerates at a much quicker level than any other children I know. He reads and understands, you ask him questions about what he read and he answers, he does comprehension.”
Advanced beyond his years
By the time he entered primary school Alejandro was advanced beyond his years and his parents started calling around various organisations and the Ministry of Education to find out what was in place for so called “special children” like their son who developed beyond their years.
They hit stumbling blocks at every turn. The Ministry promised to get in touch with them but one year later they say they are still waiting.
In the meantime Alejandro is in first year at the St Helena Presbyterian School, but his teachers also recognise he has abilities beyond his years. Often the Standard Five teacher would take Alejandro away from his class and allow him to read to the Standard Five students.
Both teachers and students we are told were impressed with how “fluent” he reads. His father tells us that because of this Alejandro has built many friendships with students at the Standard Five level.
Assistance needed
Alejandro’s parents say all they want is for something to be done by the state to assist children like their son. Without the help of the education system to push them Kevin fears that his son and others like him would “revert to normal to fit in with those around them and lose the edge which they have by the time they reach secondary school.” His fear is that children like Alejandro would “suppress everything they know in order to fit in with the kids around them.”
Reshma believes that every child is special, you don’t need to hit them to learn. According to her every child has a window of opportunity where they would soak in stuff. When that window is open she says it should not be wasted. In Alejandro’s case it was between five months old and one year. In other children it may be later. But whatever the age Reshma believes the onus is on parents to give their time to their children.
She tells us “don’t waste opportunities with children, instead of investing in yourself focus your attention on your children, the earlier you start the better because once the time goes that’s it. Just invest your time into them and they will learn.”