Post by montegobayjobs on Oct 10, 2020 12:16:47 GMT
Last year, two-year-old Soul-Heart Stewart wowed STAR readers when he solved a series of mathematical problems and identified words that even some adults would find challenging.
The child has high-functioning autism, which causes him to perform exceptionally well, and he is deemed to be cognitively 'higher functioning' (with an IQ of 70 or greater) than other people with autism.
Soul-Heart's parents, Kimberly Francis and Dwayne Stewart, were finding it challenging to get their little genius into a school due to his academic brilliance. His story caught the attention of thousands, including some from the education ministry, who assisted in getting the youngster in a learning institution.
However, with schools being held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Soul-Heart, like all other students, had to turn to online platform for lessons. It has not been working out.
"The reality of it, especially in this pandemic, is that we all as parents are going to have to spend time teaching our kids, because the Zoom classes are not beneficial to the younger ones. It is difficult when you have to work, because I am working, but we just have to find a way to balance out both," he said.
The involved father said that his son, who is an avid reader, remains super bright. He also boasts his own YouTube channel called Baby Genius Soul-Heart.
"I recently found out that no matter how long a number is, he can tell you what it is. He was the one who let me know about numbers such as sextillion and how many digits are in it," Stewart said. He re-emphasised that caring for autistic children and homeschooling them can be challenging, but encourages other parents not to buckle under the pressure.
"My advice to parents is that even if you don't know as much as how you would want to, you can download the different grade syllabus off the Internet and select things that you understand and teach your child, because if your child learns a new word every day, he is still learning. I don't remember a lot of things in mathematics, but I watch a lot of YouTube videos to refresh my memory," he said.
He added: "I have spoke to parents who are having it really hard, especially the single moms who were happy to get a little break when the child is at school; but they're hanging in there because as parents, we just can't give up on our children," he added.
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