Posts
There is a substantial body of research, mainly from the UK and US, to support that a whopping 10 -20 % of all school aged children are “at-risk of” or already face deficits in learning. A news paper article in the NST dated 30th January 2007, quotes the Ministry of Education in Malaysia declaring that 163 835 year one pupils who faced trouble with reading and writing difficulties in 2006. Assuming that these children were merely at risk of facing full blown learning difficulties, without proper intervention, they will indeed struggle and be at risk of failure in achieving their highest academic potentials.
While identification is important, it is also necessary for parents to equip themselves with the information necessary in order for proper intervention to be provided. The aim of this article is to provide parents with a brief introduction to possible difficulties faced by children. Again, it is important for parents to be aware that learning deficits will not miraculously disappear no matter what your mother-in-law or aged aunts may say. Having said that let me stress that their stories are important in that if you have been made aware of other relatives who have shown delays in achieving early developmental milestones, it would be wise to take any delays in your child seriously. Research has also proven that many forms of learning difficulties have been known to run in families even if they may have skipped a generation or two.
A learning difficulty can be defined as a discrepancy between a child's ability to learn and actual learning. Learning disabilities or learning difficulties affects the way a person takes in or perceives stores or recalls and uses information. It does not involve sensory impairments. The five senses are sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. There are a few ways to measure a learning difficulty from an educational point of view. A simple method of classification would be to identify the three major components of a learning difficulty - the type, severity and dimension. The type of learning difficulty can range from general to specific. It can be specific to only one part of language, for example, reading comprehension. A general difficulty, for example, would be a difficulty with mathematics as a whole.
Another example is a three year old child is not talking or communicating effectively, then this child would miss out on a lot of the intellectual development which should be taking place spontaneously. Young children as we all know, like to ask lots of questions. “What is this?”, “Why is this so?”, ” How does this work?” are all part of the repertoire of a young child who is actively trying to learn about the world in which he or she lives. Information or answers obtained from the primary care giver, is then stored in the brain and kept for use at a later date. When a child has delayed language development in the early years, then this child automatically becomes disadvantaged and at an increased risk of a learning difficulty at a later stage when compared to peers. The social development and the development of inter-personal skills will also be affected. Intellectual skills will be delayed too because this child will acquire formal skills such as reading, later as well.
Learning difficulties range from mild to profound on a continuum. An example of a mild learning difficulty would be a lack of concentration skills or poor eye contact. Some children have terrible tempers which in turn impede their learning capabilities. An example of a profound learning problem would be a child who has multiple problem areas – concentration, a medically or genetically based disorder and a speech delay.
Each child is unique and therefore, will require a detail analysis of the specific difficulties he is facing in order for it to be dealt with. Mild problems with learning include, amongst other things, difficulties such as concentration problems, problems with coordination, mild hearing impairments or inappropriate social behaviours. Early detection and intervention of a learning difficulty will benefit the child. This is so because learning difficulties are developmental in nature. The difficulty will increase with time. As the child gets older, secondary problems will be apparent thus, making it more difficult to establish the primary cause. Intervention in the early childhood years will benefit both the child and the family. As a child gets older, learning difficulties will be compounded with other problems too. This could include difficulties in social interaction - with peers, teachers and parents. The stress factor will show itself at this point. All parties will constantly feel frustrated and this can lead to power struggles at home and in school.
While learning difficulties are life long, effective intervention will enable a child to cope and compensate for the difficulties. It is vital for parents to be informed of all necessary aspects, researching the topic thoroughly and speaking to a wide range of professionals. A tip would be to choose a professional who has some formal background in learning difficulty at hand and not merely experience in it. Parents often have a tendency to brush off issues that are related to a learning problem by putting it down to laziness and playfulness. You may feel that your child may outgrow this stage or that the problem will just disappear by itself. Unless you intervene and act on it, these problems will not just suddenly go away. In fact, it will only get worse. Get help as soon as you suspect there is a problem. It is nothing to be ashamed about if your child has a learning difficulty. On the contrary, you should be proud to be taking steps in helping your child overcome his difficulties. It shows that you care about your child.
For a more details of learning difficulties, parents could get a copy of
Learning Difficulties: Guidebook 1. The book provides an in depth overview of the issues that surround learning difficulties in a Malaysian context and is useful to parents and teachers who are interested in this area of education.
0 Comments