Keith Kitson had serious learning challenges at age 14.

He was bounced from school to school here and abroad and then he met Melvina Chapman Pearman.

“He was like an empty shell,” said Mrs Pearman, who was then a paraeducator with the Department of Education. “He could understand very little of what was said to him. His mother, Sharnitha Kitson, was at a loss as to what to do with him. He hated school. No one knew how to address his problems. His mother kept getting calls from the school to come and get him. He wasn’t doing well at all, and Keith’s family was feeling a lot of disappointment.”

Her work with Keith and his family drove her to write a book, What Does ‘Today’ Mean?. The family was happy to have the book written, Mrs Pearman said. Keith and his mother are now living in the United States.

“They really wanted his story to be told to help other children,” she said. “They saw what he came from and how hopeless he was and what he is now.”

Mrs Pearman started out as a school secretary, but grew bored with the position.

“I wanted to do something else and when the chance to train as a paraeducator came up, I took it,” she said.

In the 1990s, many students with learning challenges were moved out of special schools and into the mainstream education system. Some of these students were assigned a paraeducator to help them through their school day.

“It seemed like it worked out well for many students, but now things have changed,” said Mrs Pearman. “Children [with special learning needs] are still in the classroom but they don’t have the assistance like they used to have.”

She knew very little about Keith when assigned to him.

“Before I work with a child I don’t want to hear too much about them,” she said. “I like to know a little, but I prefer to just see how I can work with them.”

She learned fairly quickly that she had to try something different with Keith if she was going to reach him.

“It was about him as an individual,” she said. “I don’t want to say what I did, or what exactly Keith is doing now, because I don’t want to give too much away. I did find a way to help him. I want people to read the book to find out about it.”

Mrs Pearman retired in 2007. She’s been writing her book for several years.

“This is my first book and likely to be my last,” she said. “Writing is not something I have ever enjoyed doing. I decided to write it because of the impact this young man had on me. I kept going because I knew it would help a lot of people whose children were born a little bit different. The child [with learning issues] can feel like they are losing all hope. People don’t understand them and the parents don’t know where to go for help.”

Many children are still getting lost, both in public and private schools, she said.

“Children with special learning needs are not getting the help they need at all,” she said. “In one school I was at, I was assigned to work with two boys in the classroom. I noticed there were four other boys walking around. I said, ‘Get your work done’. One of them said, ‘I can’t read’.”

At first she thought he was just making excuses but soon realised he was telling the truth. She ended up assisting all six children in the classroom.

“I couldn’t watch them suffer,” she said. “You have to find out where the student is and help them.”

What Does ‘Today’ Mean? is available at Robertson’s Drugstore in St George’s, Caesar’s Pharmacy in Sandys, Handmade Bermuda in the Clocktower Mall in Dockyard and at Bermuda Bookstore in Hamilton.