Double the blessings from SHINE

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, it removed almost every supporting structure in 44-year-old Mdm Norashidah’s life.

Her seven-year-old twins Irdina Batrisya and Irdina Barniyah, who struggle with reading and word recognition, had barely started Primary 1 when they found themselves back at home.

Her 85-year-old grandmother, who has dementia and suffers mood swings, could not go to her day-care centre, and was also at home.

The sole breadwinner, Mdm Norashidah, a single mom, had to deal with the added pressure of Home-Based Learning and her grandmother’s daily care, plus the financial strain of providing all three meals a day more daily necessities like adult diapers.

At a time of utter despair, YOUR help provided a lifeline.

Through our donor-funded Actualizing Learning Potential Promoting Social skills Programme (ALPS) Elementary classes, a weekly language and literacy intervention support programme, Batrisya and Barniyah got the help they needed with schoolwork.

SHINE’s Associate Psychologist, Ms. Jolene, provided the twins with weekly scaffolded assignments, a sequence of assignments that gradually increases complexity on the topics taught, followed by a one-on-one video call.

Supermarket vouchers also helped defray some of the household expenses.

When SHINE first saw the twins at the start of 2020, they could barely read common English words.

The last we assessed them, they have jumped three levels in the Dolch Word List.

Today, they have improved so much that they are working on comprehension instead of word recognition now.

“THANKS TO SHINE’S DONORS, my family and I have been able to GET THROUGH THE DIFFICULTIES WE FACED during the Circuit Breaker, especially when I was out of A job. MS JOLENE’S VIDEO CALLS truly MADE A difference TO MY CHILDREN, and I am extremely grateful,” she said.

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