By Olaolu Fawole
Khalifa Sanusi, a 9 year old Basic 4 Pupil in Abuja, Nigeria, has proved many people wrong after he emerged second position in a spelling Bee organised by his school.
Khalifa, who is a stammerer, passed through many stages in the competition to win the second position, and will on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, be among his school’s representatives at a national spelling bee in Abuja.
Speaking with Radio Nigeria, Mr. Titus Tsehemba, Head of Khalifa’s school, Ayis Academy Lugbe, Abuja, said the Spelling Bee Genius was discovered when he started challenging himself in so many ways.
“We observe that he stammers too, so one of our ways to help him is to involve him in everything that we do from class presentations to assembly coordinations to class competitions”.
Mr Tsehemba, who described Khalifa as a smart and intelligent boy, said the school had been encouraging him after he was unable to go far in last year’s class competitions.
“We had to sit him down and encouraged him that he has something in him and if he calms himself down, he will go far and he should not allow the fact that he finds it difficult to talk to weigh him down and as you can see, he is now number two on the list”.
The Head Teacher said the forthcoming Spelling Bee was the second time Khalifa would be representing the school.
“He is a good drummer, a good religious personality all round, he is bold, courageous and confident and he is always saying his mind no matter what”.
Also speaking with Radio Nigeria, the mother of Khalifa, Mrs. Hadiza Abubakar Sanusi who is a Teacher of Interior Designing, said her son started stuttering at the age of two.
“He started talking, stuttering, and this has been a big challenge on his part but with the help of his school, myself and his younger ones, I made it a rule that nobody should laugh at him because he gets angry when he is laughed at”.
“He is a very obedient boy and very intelligent, he teaches himself and I don’t need a lesson teacher for him. He is a child that does his homework from school and when we are doing homework with his siblings, he does not bring his homework to me because he must have done it in school. Even in Arabic school, he does well, calls for prayers and at last Ramadan, he did twenty seven”.
Mrs Sanusi said Khalifa had one time contested for the post of Sports Prefect in his school and after many weeks of practice with his father, he was unable to say a word on the day of the election which made him to lose the election.
“He is very good in English and Mathematics, right from when he was in nursery school, he could spell anything written, that was when I knew he is good at Spelling”
Mrs. Sanusi said there have been so many efforts for him to overcome the challenge.
“We have been doing some breathing exercises, there was one episode of Steve Harvey’s Show where I saw how he helped a girl that stuttered, so I played the show for him and I’ve been telling him not to say anything when he is angry. Also, I told him to read what he wants to say in his head first”.
“Another recent method we have is for him to sing while talking but he said he didn’t like that”.
Mrs. Sanusi and Mr. Tsehemba advised Parents to always encourage their children who stammer and said Parents must be the first to believe in their children.
They maintained that Parents must not instill low self esteem in such children but be their cheerleaders and should not allow people to bully them, even by their siblings.
Mrs. Sanusi, who said she is aware of some children that have overcome stuttering, appealed to teachers not to contribute to the low self esteem of children who are stutterers.
On the forthcoming National Spelling Bee, Mrs Sanusi said Khalifa has been undergoing rigorous practice and she is optimistic that her son will triumph at the competition.
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