CAUSE FOR CONCERN
Law needed to monitor learning disability cases in schools: Expert
Mumbai: Every year, around 1,000 children visit Sion hospital to test for Learning Disability (LD). Out of these, at least 70% have LD and around 20% have other learning problems that hamper their performance at school, said doctors and child specialists, at the inauguration of a conference on LD organised by the Tata Learning Disability Forum.
With the rise in awareness about LD, more and more parents, whose children have learning difficulties, are seeking assistance. However, reported cases constitute a small proportion of the total number of children with LD.
Awareness among parents is growing. Many schools are also willing to change their attitude and help kids with LD, said Dr Madhuri Kulkarni, Dean, Sion hospital. Doctors believe that awareness about LD had helped many children in getting proper help with studies, on both the parental and school front. However, they also feel that the number grossly under-represents the actual figure of children suffering from LD, as the tests at the hospital are done only when a school refers the child for testing.
Though cooperation from schools is much more than what it used to be 10 years ago, there are still many schools that resist and dont want to admit children with LD, said Dr Kulkarni. This forces many children to struggle on their own. Schools often fear that including children with LD might affect their results.
The scene is worse in BMC schools, as there is hardly any awareness about LD, both among the school staff and parents. Maharashtra Dyslexia Association (MDA), an NGO working with kids having specific learning and language disabilities, has around 60 schools under its aegis, of which, only one is a BMC school. Despite workshops and training sessions with BMC school teachers, the trickle-down effect is very low. Unless the government institutes some sort of formal procedure to be followed with respect to children with LD, the cases will remain underdetected and under-reported, said Kate Currawalla, president of MDA.
The high court order of 2006 on LD, which gives children with this disorder extra time to finish their exams and exemption from learning languages, other than English, has given parents the confidence to procure rights for their child. However, doctors and activists point out the absence of facilities to help children with LD. In the city, Sion and Nair hospitals are the only centres that offer diagnosis for LD.
Sion hospital, which was the first to open a centre in 1996, has people queuing up 3-4 months in advance. There have to be more centres in public hospitals. Moreover, we need many more workshops, training programmes and counselling sessions for teachers as well as parents. Above all, there has to be a proper government law for schools to abide by, said Currawalla.
With the rise in awareness about LD, more and more parents, whose children have learning difficulties, are seeking assistance. However, reported cases constitute a small proportion of the total number of children with LD.
Awareness among parents is growing. Many schools are also willing to change their attitude and help kids with LD, said Dr Madhuri Kulkarni, Dean, Sion hospital. Doctors believe that awareness about LD had helped many children in getting proper help with studies, on both the parental and school front. However, they also feel that the number grossly under-represents the actual figure of children suffering from LD, as the tests at the hospital are done only when a school refers the child for testing.
Though cooperation from schools is much more than what it used to be 10 years ago, there are still many schools that resist and dont want to admit children with LD, said Dr Kulkarni. This forces many children to struggle on their own. Schools often fear that including children with LD might affect their results.
The scene is worse in BMC schools, as there is hardly any awareness about LD, both among the school staff and parents. Maharashtra Dyslexia Association (MDA), an NGO working with kids having specific learning and language disabilities, has around 60 schools under its aegis, of which, only one is a BMC school. Despite workshops and training sessions with BMC school teachers, the trickle-down effect is very low. Unless the government institutes some sort of formal procedure to be followed with respect to children with LD, the cases will remain underdetected and under-reported, said Kate Currawalla, president of MDA.
The high court order of 2006 on LD, which gives children with this disorder extra time to finish their exams and exemption from learning languages, other than English, has given parents the confidence to procure rights for their child. However, doctors and activists point out the absence of facilities to help children with LD. In the city, Sion and Nair hospitals are the only centres that offer diagnosis for LD.
Sion hospital, which was the first to open a centre in 1996, has people queuing up 3-4 months in advance. There have to be more centres in public hospitals. Moreover, we need many more workshops, training programmes and counselling sessions for teachers as well as parents. Above all, there has to be a proper government law for schools to abide by, said Currawalla.