Learning Disability and Beyond

WEDDING & TRAFFIC WOES.

The big fat weddings have made their inroads into our city. An undeclared competition exists as to who could one outshine in venue decor, number of invitees etc . The less we think of the quality of food spread offered , the better!

The common man 👨 as always ,
has to bear the brunt of all that takes place inside the wedding venue.

How?

Traffic snarl on the roads leading to the venue in addition to the daily traffic congestion add up to the woes for daily commuters. At the end of the day we all are in an extreme low level of tolerance & definitely do get irritated easily.

So could we as responsive citizen of our city plan our wedding & weddings reception after the peak hours of traffic end ?

Say from 10 pm to 2 am on a weekday & 9pm To 2am on a Sunday?

Let’s ponder for a while. 🤔

Dear Reader's,
Hope you all are well and managing as best possible in such critical times. I am sharing an article I had written for 'Matri', An advocacy group for Child Rights, Guwahati, Assam. It is on 'Learning problems in relation to Child Rights and was also a learning experience for me as well.
I would also like to let you know that I will be taking a short break from ' Learning Disability and Beyond' as I have started to pen the sequel to 'Reverse Alphabets' in which I will be continuing with Anubhav's journey through Class 11 and 12 featuring guidelines to help other children through High School with Specific Learning Disabilities.

With Regards, Bani.

“We children have our rights”

Children are very much like the colors of the rainbow. There are so many aspects to a growing child that by not looking ‘beyond what meets the eye’ we might miss the vibrant colors of vibgyor and see only the darker shades. One has to keep an open mind as our children grow, be alert and mindful of their whims and fancies but at the same time not be so worried at each step that we lose out on the beauty of being a child once again with our children.
A child who fidgets incessantly while sitting in the class room and finds it difficult to listen attentively to what is being taught might in reality have an underlying medical condition such as ‘ Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ (ADHD).
A child who finds it difficult to interact with peers and seniors and prefers to remain aloof and alone might have an underlying condition called ‘Autism’. These children are also found to have ‘delayed speech’.
On the other hand, a child who is adept at all oral assignments and interacts freely with his or her peers and teachers yet shy’s away from reading and writing tasks might not be just ‘plain and simple’ lazy or uncooperative, but might have an under lying ‘Learning Disability’. These children have average to above intelligence but due to genetic and /or neurobiological factors that alter brain functioning in a manner which affects one or more cognitive processes related to learning they have processing problems that can interfere with basic learning skills such as reading, writing, and or mathematics.
There may be another scenario in which a child is slow at grasping or comprehending topics taught at school and also has a below average intelligence. These children are generally called ‘Slow Learners’ and go through the same basic developmental stages as other children, but will do so at a significantly slower rate.
These youngsters are often keenly aware of feeling set apart from their peers without learning problems and are susceptible to feelings of frustration and depression .They are more often than not subject to bullying by their peers and even insensitive seniors. Children can be knowingly and unknowingly cruel to any one who does not conform with their own cosy pattern of life.
Dear Readers, I would like to go a step further and mention that these already vulnerable children more often than not face emotional trauma at home and are often compared with their siblings or classmates which is so unjust. If parents are not aware of the underlying medical condition their ‘little ones’ are suffering from and think that they are being intentionally inattentive at school they often resort to harsh words and even physical punishment keeping in mind the old adage, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”. Sadly, in resorting to such measures the youngsters are pushed further away to a life of dismay. School teachers and pediatricians play an extremely important role in sensitizing the parents about the correct way to manage their children and guide them with special emphasis on the importance of a through psychological evaluation of the child.
Many parents are unaware that according to the Indian Constitution a child has ‘The Right To Protection’. In India, a child has the Right to be protected from, neglect, exploitation, abuse, commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, child labour harmful traditional practices to name a few.
To fully realize “Right to Protection”, it is important to adopt a sensitive attitude towards children and their needs. It is also necessary to invest in educating and training care givers on children’s fundamental right to protection, and prosecuting those who neglect it.
Education for a child is not only a window to the world but also prepares the child for all that the world has to offer. Our Constitution realizing the great importance of education brought about the ‘Right of Children to free and compulsory education’ which came into force on 1st April 2010. It describes the modalities of the importance of ‘free and compulsory education’ for children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under the Article 21 A of the Indian Constitution.
Let us now bring our focus to the ‘The Right to education’ of persons with disabilities until the age of 18 years, which is laid down under a separate legislation—‘The Persons with Disabilities Act’ which includes a host of concessions and relaxations to children with learning problems provided the underlying medical condition falls within the list of Disabilities mentioned in the Act.
“ Knowledge leads to empowerment”, hence only if parents are sensitized to the presence of such provisions in both the CBSE and ICSE boards will the parents be able to avail the same to help their child through school. Of equal importance is the knowledge that according to CBSE and ICSE, teaching of children with Learning Disabilities is inclusive and under no pretext can the schools authority shirk from the responsibility of taking such children.
Coming to a little insight on the history of Child Rights, “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child” was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. The CRC is the most ratified “ Child Rights Convention ” in the world and India being a signatory to it, is mandated to review the progress on child rights and undertake activities to ensure realization of child rights.The Convention affirms children entitlement to survival, development, protection and participation. It also acknowledges that the realization of these rights for children can only be accomplished through the care and assistance of adults and meaningful participation of children and youths themselves. Therefore, while children and youths have the right to advocate for and participate in the promotion of their rights, adults are the duty bearers and have the responsibility to ensure that the child’s rights are fulfilled.
Summing up, in the words of Thomas Berry a cultural historian,
The Child awakens to a universe
The mind of the child to a world of meaning
Imagination to a world of beauty
Emotions to a world of intimacy
It takes a universe to make a child
Both in outer form and inner spirit
It takes,
A universe to educate a child
A universe to fulfill a child.

Rongali Bihu and Spring

My Dear Reader’s,

Here’s wishing you all a “ Blessed, Prosperous and Happy Rongali Bihu” amidst the backdrop of glorious spring when Mother Nature is at her best.

Sharing my thoughts on Spring;

From crackling thunderstorm’s
To, hailstone’s pelting down
To, lightning flashes across the skies.

Often lovingly called “April Showers”
Life springs forth,
From the bulbs of daffodils and tulips lying dormant
Through the chilly months of Winter,
To the glorious lilies of Spring,
To the clusters of “Kapou Phul” adorning the tree’s.

Love is in the air,
Spring ushers in the colours of nature,
Vibrant yet soft.
It’s the New Year upon us,
It’s “Bohag”,
It’s “Baisakh”
Names may differ but the love of Spring is the same for all,
Bringing joy, hope and prosperity
For you,
For me and all humanity.

With love and regards to all, Bani.

The beautiful Bihu Kuwari courtesy @ Paromita, an architect at Government Polytechnic College Guwahati.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

It was a beautiful December winter’s morning, just right to be outdoors neither too warm or too cold. In fact, due to my medical profession, during the last nine to ten months of the challenging Covid Pandemic it was the first time I had been in a public gathering of any nature. Within the safe parameter’s of Covid Protocol I had the pleasure of interacting with the teachers of the junior section upto the 7th Standard of Royal Global School, Guwahati for an interactive session on “Sensitisation and Awareness Of Learning Disability in the early years”, moderated by Consultant Psychologist Meenakshi
Borthakur ,Counsellor, RGS. It was very encouraging to see that the teachers had put in sincere efforts to help the children with Learning Difficulties and learning Disabilities and was like witnessing the seeds of “Inclusive Education” germinate.
A few of the concessions given to such children in accordance to their abilities were : preference to oral examinations rather than written ones, simplified and direct question paper’s in mathematics and science. During the course of the normal school routine they had sessions with one of the teacher’s who had been trained as a special educator.
On a different occasion, I was also very fortunate to interact with Ms Manobi Deka, Founder Director & Principal SPARSH, Guwahati a primary schooling center from the pre school age of 2yrs to 5th Standard. They have been teaching regular children and those with special needs in consultation with the Special Educator of NIPCCD ( National Institute of Public Co Operation and Child Development ) and the Clinical Psychologist. So, here also we can see the pattern of Inclusive Education evolving. Tremendous work is yet left to stream line such educative practices but it is heart warming to see a concerted effort in the right direction.
This brings me to the concept of, “Inclusive Education”,
Inclusion in education is based on the belief that every child can learn and realise his or her potential if provided equal opportunities to participate in school, supported with resources required as per his or her needs. This means that general education is the placement of first choice for all wherein a child with disabilities is with his/her peers without disabilities to the maximum degree possible. Children studying in an Inclusive School develop confidence and imbibe values of sharing and participation. Of most importance is that “Inclusion”, is a basic human right and not a privilege. For Inclusion to become a reality the educative system has to both flexible and innovative.
Inclusion is defined in the United Nations General Comment No(GC4) as:
A process of systemic reform embodying changes and modifications in content, teaching methods, approaches, structures and strategies in education to overcome barriers with a vision serving to provide all students of the relevant age, range, with an equitable and participatory learning experiences and environment that best corresponds to their requirements and preference.
*All teachers should be teachers of students with disability.
*Equitable does not mean equal. It refers to compensation by giving more to those who have less to equalize opportuniti and redress disadvantage.
*Participatory refers to discussion with parents and students and considering their opinions in discussion making.
*Requirements, is a rights based term that replaces the word “needs”.
An important point to note is that, The Rights Of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 in its clause 2 (m) defines inclusive education by emphasizing on the condition that all students ( except severe cases) should learn together in the same school and teaching there should be appropriately adapted to meet the needs of different types of special children.
In short, the Inclusive School should cater to the needs of its students “ With Special Needs” rather than the children’s parents having to organize their own special educators.
For a greater insight into Inclusive Education readers may refer to the book, “HANDBOOK of INCLUSIVE EDUCATION”, a publication of the Central Board Of Secondary Education which in the present changing scenario of education is a must for all teachers.

A few glimpses of December 16th 2020 at Royal Global school.

GUIDANCE PAVES THE WAY II

The good news is that The Government of India recognizes the need for providing special assistance to the Specially abled Children for higher education and in line with the same they have made necessary provisions for Relaxations and Concessions across various Educational Institutions. Additionally, The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation have a specially designed Education Loan Scheme as well.
In an important Judgment, the Supreme Court mandated implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, with respect to admission to, and accessibility in educational institutions of the Government and aided by the Government.
The judgment mandates at least five percent (5%) seats in educational institutions and requires the institutions to report the implementation of the said reservation. Furthermore, the judgment outlines the accessibility requirements of persons with disabilities and mandates constitution of expert committees to facilitate access to persons with all disabilities.
The University Grant Commission (UGC) has implemented a scheme called Higher education for Persons with Special needs which is basically meant for creating an environment at the higher education institutions and encouraging special education activities to enrich and empower higher education learning experiences for differently-abled persons. Thereby, All important Entrance tests for different streams like Medical (NEET), Engineering (JEE) or Management (MAT/CAT) Mains follow the reservation Policy of the government of reserving 5% of the seats for the specially abled students. Even Most Colleges offering Graduation courses in the different streams offer a reservation of seats ranging from 3%-5%. However, when entrance to a course is based on a written test, the student must take the same in order to qualify for admission. Candidates who are suffering from 40% or more benchmark disability as certified by the certifying authority can claim for benefits from the reservation criteria
Having said that, the challenge is not in the absence of Reservations but the ground reality remains that Institutions are not adequately equipped to support t Specially Abled Children. Lack of trained teachers, inadequate infrastructure and disproportionate opportunities to participate on an equal basis with other students in the learning process are a major pull back. Many a times, colleges lack the will to take responsibility to initiate the extra efforts that go into bringing the levels of learning of the specially abled children at par with the levels of the other children.
But all is not gloomy. The Government has been taking steps to sensitize the colleges and spread more awareness about the needs of specially abled students and other general issues concerning their learning. The Colleges are expected to address accessibility related issues and ensure that all existing structures as well as future construction projects in their campuses are made disabled friendly. Constructions aimed at improving accessibility have been defined and purchase of equipments to enrich learning has been encouraged. Committees are being initiated to check adherence to the reservation policy. Recently, in the month of Sep,2020, the Chief Commissioner for Persons with disabilities had asked Delhi’s St. Stephen college to submit a report if it was ensuring the Rights to students of disabilities as per the Act of 2016..
The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation(NHFDC) has a specially designed Education Loan Scheme to meet tuition and other fees, maintenance cost etc. As per information from the website, Scheme for Education loan up to Rs.10 lakh for studying in India and Rs.20 lakh for studying abroad is available. For educational loans, any Indian Citizen with 40% or more disability is eligible to avail the same. For encouraging women, a rebate of 0.5% on interest to women with Disabilities has been extended by NHFDC. One may delve deeper for more information at the NHFDC Website www.nhfdc.nic.in
The silver lining is evident from the fact that the top ranking Colleges do provide reservations for Specially abled Students.
In many of the colleges under Delhi University, students with physical disabilities residing in different Hostels / Halls of the University are exempted from payment of all hostel fees and charges except refundable caution fee and the mess fees. 50% of the Mess fee is charged and the remaining 50% of the Mess Fee is met by the University.
Needless to mention, there are Institutions like the Lovely Professional University which offers special scholarship scheme of full Program fee waiver (including examination fee) where scholarship will be given to a maximum of 20 students on first come first serve basis.
With the existence of all of the aforementioned Policies and support from the Government, a little extra effort by the colleges to accommodate and handhold the children would go a long way in helping parents to identify the right colleges for their children and instill confidence of adequate support. A little more sensitivity and awareness amongst the stakeholders of the Educational Institutions can work wonders in this endeavor.

Wishing my Dear Readers a very happy, healthy, and blessed 2021
With warm wishes, Bani & Urmee .

Details of The top 10 colleges in Science & Humanities are attached in this post.

GUIDANCE PAVES THE WAY.
Tenth standard board examinations are over, the much awaited results have been declared, it is a time for jubilation and celebrations for most, reflections and retrospection for some and absolute relief for others for clearing the first board exams. Subject streams are carefully chosen by the youngsters with help from their teachers and parents. Our young adults slowly settle down in their new courses.
The early months of the eleventh standard are generally a ‘ball’ for all children.The rigors of the tenth boards gradually fading and a new found sense of independence sets in. Their subjects have already been partially streamlined into either humanities, commerce or science ( life sciences or technical ).
Some children are very clear in their minds as to what professions they would like to take and accordingly go ahead. There are others who are in ‘two’ minds or ‘three’ about future prospects. Lastly, the most unfortunate youngsters are those who have been forced into a stream they are neither emotionally or technically suited for.
It is but natural for parents to look forward to their children fulfilling their own
dreams. However, one has to be both realistic and observant as one’s child grows. It is more healthier to nuture a natural talent gently rather than to enforce one’s own ideas. Extracurricular activities at school give ample scope for a child to develop his or her inherent talents, be it from quizzing, to sports, to science, to literature, to mathematics, to computer technology, to nature, to music, to fine arts. The list in fact is endless. So, it is up to us parents to be in touch with our children’s activities and their progress to help them further their interests for both academics and extracurricular activities.
Coming back to my ‘prime focus’ the 11th standard, once the ‘honey moon’ period is over our young adults need to single out their career options from a myriad of choices. Here comes the important role of ‘Career Counselling’ or ‘Career Planning.
The detailed assessment in Career Counselling provides a direction and meaning to the child’s education and career related decisions. Due importance is given to ‘Personality assessment’, which in simple terms helps a child to understand him or herself as an individual. It helps to expand career options in alignment with their personality. The ‘Personality Type Model’ identifies four dimensions of personality; Extrovert, Observant, Thinking and Spontaneous. This ‘self-understanding’ and awareness can lead to appropriate and rewarding career choices.
In brief a Career Counselor WILL
• Help you figure out who you are and what you want out of your education, your career and your life.
• Be someone for you to talk to about your thoughts, ideas, feelings and concerns about your career and educational choices, who will help you sort out, organize and make sense of your feelings.
• Help you identify the factors influencing your career development and help you assess your interests, abilities and values. In the context of Career Planning, values generally refer to the things one values in a career. Being aware of what one values in one’s life is important because a career choice that is in line with one’s core beliefs and values is more likely to be a lasting and positive choice.
• Help you locate resources and sources of career information.
• Help you to determine the nextsteps and develop a plan to achieve your goals.
Your Career Counselor WILL NOT
• Tell you what to do, or tell you what you should major in or what career you should pursue.
• Advise you in your course selection.
Dear reader’s, my following words are from my own experiences.
The Career Planning evaluation helped our son to discover the strengths and weaknesses of his personality and then chalk out his career options. The harder part then followed, of choosing an institute for a child with a Learning Disability which had relaxations for such children. To be very truthful our son did all the ‘college hunting’ research work. Children of this generation are by and large extremely tech saavy and ‘take to surfing the net’ as ‘ducks take to water’, Anubhav was no exception. All Institutes have their own selection criteria keeping the government rules in mind. However, to our surprise he realized that many universities and colleges that offer Bachelor Degree courses in Humanities such as Delhi University and Symbiosis, Pune have admission relaxations for ‘ Specially Abled Children’. Since he was interested in a degree in either Mass communication, Journalism or Physical Education he did not explore degree courses in the science stream or technical courses.
To give a wider coverage of the relaxations and concessions offered to Specially Abled Children for degree courses in both Science (including medical and technical streams) and Humanities I will be handing over my pen ‘so to say’ to Ms Urmee Saikia Borah an HR Professional, Career Coach & NLP Practitioner in the next post!

“NEITHER HERE NOR THERE “

Just as, no two snow flake’s are ever the same and each is destined to fall in its predestined place, no to flower’s on the parent plant or bush are the same either. Similarly no two children in a classroom are ever the same. A ‘classroom’ is, in fact is a small world in itself with children from varied backgrounds, each with their own thoughts and expressions woven into a unique mental and emotional framework.
A teacher’s role is not very different from a ‘conductor’ of an ‘orchestra’ who has to know each musician’s special attribute, thus harmonizing the musicians and their instruments to create a ‘masterpiece’.
Here in, lies the importance of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each child. In a class of an average thirty students there may be at least one child with a ‘special learning disability’ or even a ‘slow learner’. As the learning needs of these two groups are different, it is imperative to be equipped with the knowledge to differentiate between them and then formulate ‘study programs’.

A ‘Slow Learner’, is a child of below average intelligence, whose thinking skills have developed significantly more slowly than the normal for his/her age. Intellectual functioning IQ is in the range of 71-84 on formal IQ testing. This child will go through the same basic developmental stages as other children, but will do so at a significantly slower rate. However, this development while being slower, nevertheless will be relatively even. These children do not have intellectual disability, but it takes them longer to understand and grasp concepts.
As ‘ Slow Learners’ have not been included in the list of disabilites as defined in the The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act – 2016 , they are unfortunately not eligible for any of the concessions granted by the CBSE and ICSE Boards of Education for their board examinations. Thus making the entire scenario of education so much more challenging for the child and the experience of learning extremely laborious.

On the other hand, a child with Specific Learning Disability, is one of average intelligence who has specific difficulties which can make learning very difficult. There may be deficits in any of the basic central nervous system functions which have to do with the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities, that is attention, memory, language, auditory and visual, perception, motor co- ordination and planning, spatial orientation, impulse control and sequencing. In short there is a discrepancy between the child’s potential and actual achievement. These children are eligible for the concessions provided by the CBSE and ICSE Boards and are thus in a more advantageous position than the Slow Learners.

The following characteristics of each group may be helpful in identification.
SLOWER LEARNER
1. Developmental: may have immature language patterns or speech problems. This means the the child may take longer to start speaking than other others or may need more prolonged and repetitive lessons to learn most concepts.
2. Social: poor judgement, immature social behavior and prefers the company of younger children.
3. Personal: They may seem to have less control over their emotions. They tend to fall back to anger quickly, get frustrated faster than most , express emotions like anxiety for seemingly minor issues or get depressed over set backs.
4. Educational: They take longer to process and understand the information provided to them and may show proficiency with particular tasks rather than subject areas. They may have poor memory and experience difficulties understanding several steps in a task. Need’s to have new information linked to old and also experience difficulties transferring information learned in one situation to others.
However, I would like to add that all the features might not present at the same time and a basic criteria is the low IQ.

SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY
1. Academic:
Reading—confuses similar words and letters, loses place, repeats words, does not read fluently, persists in using fingers to follow along, does not like to read.
Spelling—uses incorrect order of letters in words, has difficulty of associating correct sound with appropriate letter, reverses letters
Mathematics—has difficulty associating number with symbol, cannot remember number facts, confuses columns and spacing, has difficulties with story problems, has difficulty comprehending maths concepts.
2. Physical:
-- perceptual motor difficulties
--visual perception difficulties
--poor visual coding
--general coordination deficits (balance, eye—hand)
--poor auditory memory (difficulty following sequence of directions)
--attention deficit
--mixed dominance ( hand, foot, eye )
3. Psychological
--emotional instability
--difficulty learning by ordinary methods
--low social acceptance ( disturbed peer relations)
--low self concept/self-esteem
--general disorganization ( time and actions )
4. Social/emotional/behavioural
--hyperactivity (gross, noisy, constant movements)
--hypoactivity (quiet, nervous, fidgety)
--poor concentration span (distractability)
--low frustration tolerance
--emotional lability (highs and lows)
--seems paradoxical ( may remember past events in minute detail but cannot remember number facts and spellings just learnt.
Would like to mention here that the child may have one or more of the above features depending on the type and severity of the learning disability.

There are similarities between ‘Slow Learners’ and children with , ‘Learning Disability’, for eg errors in number and letter productions, reading errors, behavioural aspects, but the differences are what influence the type of instruction used and hence the timely IQ evaluation is important.
If a child has a history of a delay in developmental milestones then the child can be tested as early as 6 months for developmental age which correlates with the cognitive scale. If the young one has had an overall normal new born ( 0-4 weeks ), Infancy (4 weeks- 1year ), toddler (1yr- 2yrs ), pre- school ( 2yrs-5rs) period then if required the IQ test can be done from 6yrs to 16 yrs ( Malins Intelligence Scale for Indian Children ). Here also a word of caution is required, one should not only go by an IQ score alone, a detailed social history and mental status examination should be done.

As a care giver or a teacher one must always ‘ Adjust ones expectations’, Slow learners will always be behind their chronological peers—which doesn’t mean they cannot be expected to improve. It just means it will be slow. LD children can, with the right help, be expected to attain chronologically appropriate academic levels in time. Systemic developmental instruction paced at a rate consistent with their learning ability is best for slow learners. Highly specialized remedial instruction focusing on the specific learning disabilities is needed for the LD child.
Here also, I would like to mention the importance of timely evaluation of the child with the IQ test so that the teacher and parents can plan out the teaching modalities and also apply for the concessions as provided by the CBSE or ICSE Board of Examination as and when eligible. Parents should also consider ‘ ‘National Institute of Open School’, for children who fall in the Slow Learner category as the time frame offerered by the NIOS is very flexible and advantageous for such children.

Dear readers, I close my narrative with hope that the newly proposed Education Program will also include Slow Learners in the Disability Act so that they too can be helped during their formative schooling and 10th and 12th Board Examinations.

With regards Bani 💐