What’s Up Jeddah: Lets start from the beginning, the whole concept behind the Bright Talk School and why?

Arwa El Khereiji: I love kids and that started from a very young age, back then I used to take care and babysit my sisters. After finishing my university studies, I started joining charities that are concerned with children.

I noticed when I started studying about children that the more attention and care you give in the better results you get out.

WUJ: It sounds like taking care of a plant.

AK: That’s true, I studied children education here in Riyadh, then I got my administration studies in The University of Cambridge. I then worked at the King Faisal schools in Riyadh, and I loved the fact that I started as an assistant teacher, and that is considered as the very first level, the best part is that I got a chance to see all levels of the teaching system, and got the best training there is.

WUJ: Is there someone who influenced or directed you to take a certain path a long the way?

AK: Mr.Osama EL-Khereiji  helped me so much during my first days in work, and DR. Mohmad Al-kateeb influenced me to get a diploma in the methods of Maria Montessori.

WUJ: Why Maria Montessori?

AK: I was fascinated with her approach, plus the method treat each child as an individual. Once a child joins the school we get to observe him or her to know all the weaknesses and strengths he or she has.

Then we will determine the ways and methods we will be using to build up the character. So each child will have his or her own special program.

Another thing that encouraged me to study Maria Montessori methods was the main focuses of the method which emphasizes on six aspects: math, language, sensorial, culture, practical life, and art.

WUJ: I have always heard that everyone of us is born with a gift, do you focus or try to look for such gifts?

AK: Every child is unique, and every child has a talent, but it all lies on the teacher’s shoulders to find ways that would encourage and direct these talents to materialize them.

WUJ: Now regarding the location of the school, was opening next to Dr. Suleman Faqih’s hospital had any effect on the focus of the school?

AK: Well the fact that we are open next to the hospital gives us a great opportunity to have professional nurses who can handle underage children for our daycare service. Plus when we need a therapist for any special case we can always rely on the hospital to provide us with their experts in any field.

WUJ: In blunt business terms, you are providing a service, is it available to any one?

AK: Of course any one can send their child to our school, especially working wives, you see a working woman would feel more secure leaving her child in a daycare with a specialist, who can develop and improve their children. rather then leaving them at home where they are so young to be around a house maid.

WUJ: I am sure you get trouble kids, how do you handle them? I am talking about the ones that makes you want to climb walls.

AK: I have noticed in the past couple of years the dramatic increase of kids suffering from ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and the increase of violent troubling kids. In some cases it is food related, I have noticed that if you stop giving a child sugar after 3 PM they tend to sleep more relaxed, and be less active towards the end of the day, simply because his or her energy reserves are getting low and they would eventually sleep.

What’s Up Jeddah: Is it easy to spot an ADHD kid?

Arwa El Khereiji: It isn’t easy to say that this child has ADHD or hyper active, you have to monitor that child for at least six months to make sure that they are ADHD, if we suspect that a child might be suffering from that we would assign what we call a shadow teacher who’s job is to observe the child’s behavior without directly interacting with them. So if we have a trouble child on our hands we contact the parents first and start to structure a constant method that all parties will commit to, so if that child is doing something we think is wrong, we will make him or her know that it is wrong in both the school and at home. Now if the child is suffering from ADHD then you have three parts to maintain the consistency, the school, the home, and the therapist.

WUJ: I don’t know why I get the feeling that boys get ADHD more then girls is that true?

AK: Well I have noticed that boys tend to suffer from ADHD more then girls in most cases, but I also noticed that girls would suffer from Autism.

WUJ: Here’s an important question, How could the parents indicate early on whether or not their child has problems?

AK: When the baby is delivered, the doctor’s task is to determine if the child is generally physically fine, the doctor won’t be able to tell if the ears and eyes are working properly since it is too early to tell. But the doctor would tell you if the child has everything in order.

After that when you get the baby back home you should try to snap your fingers next to each ear, not too close though, if the baby responded to the correct direction then you would know that everything is okay with his or her ears.

After that you can check the palm of the baby’s hand if they are responding when you slide your finger upward on his or her palms, if the baby opens its hand in response then the sense of touch is working fine. You can also check its feet the same way as if you’re tickling him or her.

To check on the eyes you can either move something in front of him or her, or you can use a baby hanging toy, but never leave it in front of the baby for too long since this could result in crossing his or her eyes.

You can also check on the baby’s vocal cords by making humming sounds for some time, a week or two later you will notice that the baby will start making sounds when he or she sees you.

WUJ: Wow that’s great info! Now to wrap things up, I think we really need more schools and daycare centers that focuses on what the children need in terms of nurturing and developing them, I think that we need more professional daycare centers around Jeddah.

AK: Again I think it is like a good plant, if you spend the time and effort to nourish and teach a child he or she will always maintain that no matter where they end up later on in life and no matter how bad their teenage friends would be like, they will have an invisible shield that will always protect them and you are the one who should create that shield for them from a very young age.