‘Motivate kids with LD to attain self-respect’

Pune: Children with learning disabilities (LD) must be helped to attain self respect. During a dyslexia awareness programme, experts talked about the role of parents, schools and educators. “It is a conception that children with dyslexia see the alphabets dancing and so they find it difficult to read and write. But, it is the phonological component of language that creates difficulties for most of these children,” said Diya Basu from Maharashtra Dyslexia Association (MDA).

She was speaking at an event held for dyslexia awareness organised by Kaveri Counseling Centre of Kaveri Group of Institutes recently. At the event, Principal of Vidya Jyoti School for Slow Learners Medha Marathe, Diya Basu from Maharashtra Dyslexia Association, Psychiatric social worker Preeti Broker and Psychologist from Sassoon Hospital Manali Contractor discussed the role of parents, schools and educators.

“For example, the English alphabet ‘A’ has 5 different sounds associated with it. Like, in A for Apple and A for Above, the sound of the letter is different. Not only children with Learning Disabilities (LD), but other children too get confused with it in the beginning. If the teacher tells them about the language structure and explains rules of language, kids with LD can also cope up with it. So, when such problems arise, we must not think that the child is lazy. Actually, they happen to put twice the effort to cope up than other children,” said Basu.

Medha Marathe added that our education system is such that the academic marks are looked upon as the personality.

“Students with ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ (ADHD) or Learning Disability (LD) look otherwise normal and hence they suffer a lot. But every child needs self respect, and we must help the kid to attain that. For children having ADHD or LD, or for slow learners or epileptic, autistic children, vocational training works wonders. May it be painting, file and folder making, jewellery making or paper cutting. It enables these children to concentrate, improves hand and eye coordination and their staying power,” said Marathe.

Manali Contractor spoke about the process of obtaining a certificate for Learning Disability from the government. “This certificate helps the child in getting some concessions during the 10th and 12th examinations. But otherwise, the schools should help and accommodate the child with LD from the 1st standard itself and no government certification should be needed for that,” said Contractor.