WEEKEND VIEW WHEEL POWER
AMONG
the disabled community, people with learning disabilities remain one of the
least reached out to and forgotten lot in society.
No
dispute about that.
Just
ask anyone who has worked with them or for their cause and they will tell you.
They
are not just children but also adults with problems with learning.
They
have issues connected with their thinking and understanding skills (cognitive
ability).
The
more difficult ones also face problems with their sight and hearing as well.
People
with autism and Down’s syndrome are also learning disabled.
But
one of the least understood are persons with dyslexia.
These
are people who have a difficulty with reading
and writing caused by the brain's being unable to see the difference between
some of the shapes in letters.
It
has been estimated that there are as many as 400,000 children with dyslexia in Malaysia.
In every 20 children there is one child who has dyslexia in either a mild,
moderate or profound form.
One
of the biggest handicaps that children and young persons with dyslexia face is
a most unfair labeling of their condition.
“They
are seen as ‘stupid’ and ‘lazy’ in our society,” laments Puan Sariah Amirin who
is president of the Dyslexia Association of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
“This
is a terrible misnomer of who they actually are and what people like them
suffer from,” adds Sariah who spoke to Wheel Power last week.
“Although
people with dyslexia can’t read or write and frequently fail in school because
of the lack of proper support – especially in their academic qualifications –
they are, on the contrary a highly intelligent lot.”
Sariah
goes on to explain that Malaysians with a mild form of dyslexia may be able to
cope with a class teacher if they have a good educator.
“These
are often caring and understanding teachers who go the extra mile in helping a dyslexic
child get through his exam despite his spelling disability.
“Such
teachers should be lauded for their exemplary attitude in looking after the
interest of each child’s abilities.”
Other
students with moderate to profound dyslexia, according to Sariah, however, will
need to undergo remedial programmes such as special reading classes to help
them to cope with their learning.
These
are currently however not available in special education classes conducted in
government schools. Part of the reason could be that they involve extra costs.
The
good news, however, is that dyslexia reading classes are available in the
Dyslexia Association of Malaysia’s nine centres throughout the country.
But
getting special children to get there isn’t easy.
Part
of the problem is the ignorance of their benefits by some headmasters. They
stop their students from attending it citing excuses such as “their students’
absence for the 3-month classes would disrupt the schools’ own programme”.
“But
it’s the dyslexic child who loses in the end by not participating in the sessions,”
argues Sariah.
“They
end up not learning anything at all as they are in their own school because of not
being equipped with skills on how to effectively read and learn – resulting in
exam failure and the authorities asking why later.”
Students
with dyslexia frequently spell words according to how they sound. They need to
be given indicators when and why words like “table” and “cable”, for example,
are not spelt as “tabel” and “cabel”.
The
special reading classes have proven to be effective with dyslexic students in
Sariah’s NGO.
One
graduate is now training to become a pilot in Australia. He is scheduled to
give a talk to parents of dyslexic children here this week.
“When
he came to us at eight years old, he could hardly read anything,” recalls
Sariah.
“But
after successfully completing our course – and extended another 3 months, he
managed to overcome his difficulties.”
Universities
should also consider looking at the individual skills of high-performing
dyslexic students as being done in overseas countries instead of only academic
qualifications, says Sariah.
“We
had one brilliant student with exceptional skills in computer animation who
wanted admission in a local university.
“Although
the Uni itself was very keen to take him in, they finally had to reject him because
of the strict regulation of the Ministry Of Education that requires specific academic
qualifications.”
Sariah
also cites a case of another female dyslexic student who couldn’t get into a local
school for actors for the same reason even though she had been performing
exceptionally well in Istana Budaya in Kuala Lumpur.
Sariah
who was one of the pioneers of special education in the ministry in the
eighties, calls for a special job placement officer for people with
disabilities in the government.
“It’s
high time Malaysia has one,” she insists.
His
role? To help school leavers with disabilities to be gainfully employed so that
they can be contributing to the country instead of staying at home because of
apathy and discrimination.
For
more, please contact the Dyslexia Association of Malaysia at 03 42515618 or
visit www.dyslexiamalaysia.org.my
The
End
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