Reaching out: We're Best Buddies

Dubai:  Sonali Chopra, a grade XII student at the Millennium School in Dubai, loves to chill out with friends. Her outings with one of them are particularly special. They invariably end up at the amusement zone of Sahara Centre in Sharjah where the Tidal Wave ride is a hot favourite.

Integration programme

Similarly, Leon Aaron Lewis, the head boy of the school, has a close friend with whom he regularly hangs out, playing air hockey at a mall or basketball in the park or even visiting the zoo.

It's nothing unusual except that Chopra's and Lewis' friends are special needs children. These ‘Best Buddies' are part of a programme initiated by the Millennium School three and a half years ago.

Called Best Buddies International, the programme has around 40 students from class X to XII who have buddy pairs from special needs schools such as Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre and Manzil School for Special Needs. They regularly phone each other, exchange mails whenever possible and meet up once or twice a month under the supervision of their parents.

"It helps in mainstreaming and integrating the children," said Millennium School Principal Michael Guzder, adding that the school also runs a partial integration programme under which seven children from Manzil attend classes with support teachers twice a week.

Lewis, who had never interacted with a special needs child before he first met his best buddy in Class IX, said he had gained a lot from the experience. "It has changed my life and it has taught me patience and unconditional love," he said.

Chopra's mother Meeta said her daughter's best buddy had helped her focus on the positive aspects of a person.

The learning is well documented as the students prepare log sheets in which they talk about their interaction with the special needs children.