Learning Disabilities

          Would we deny a blind person a white cane? What about a hearing aid to a hearing impaired child? Why then do we routinely deny help to a child struggling in school? It seems cruel to say so, but this happens with surprising regularity.

          Children with learning disabilities are not easily distinguishable from the regular school population. One cannot tell just by looking if a child has a learning disability or not. This is also true of a few other disabilities like mild autism, ADD (attention deficit disorder) or PDD (pervasive developmental disorder). Many mild disabilities are masked. This does not mean that they don’t exist, or that they are trivial. If anything, it is harder for the child to cope because society expects him or her to respond in a certain way, and the child can’t. The surprise, irritation and negative reaction from people at such times is difficult for the child to understand and cope with. Such repeated experiences break the child’s spirit and condition a child to think of himself or herself as a failure. In contrast, we are much more gentle and empathetic toward a child with a visible disability. We would never overtly verbally abuse or shame a child in a wheelchair on account of his disability, for example. This is not at all to suggest that any kind of disability is preferable to any other, or to minimize anybody's problems; absolutely not. This is merely to demonstrate that kids with invisible disabilities suffer in their own unique way.

          Learning disabilities manifest as dyslexia, dyscalcia, dysgraphia, attention deficit, memory problems, auditory processing problems, visual processing problems, etc. None of these can be identified without careful assessment of the student.

          I was recently in the office of the commissioner of disabilities. I needed some data, and while talking to some officials there, I discovered that they didn’t accept that learning disabilities was a disability. Laziness, stupidity, even poverty, was offered as an explanation for poor academic performance. While it is true that there are unmotivated (lazy?) children who skip school, what is called stupidity by people could be a learning disability. And poverty! Sure, students from socioeconomically depressed families have a harder time in school, but it is for reasons that have nothing to do with brain chemistry. They have less than ideal conditions at home to cope with, little food, large families, crying siblings, no place or time to study, chores to do, less educated parents, the list goes on… Is it any surprise they can’t focus on schoolwork? None of this has anything to do with learning disabilities.

          Learning disabilities is indeed a disability. It affects rich and poor alike, and if such kids appear apathetic (lazy?), it could be because of having experienced repeated failure. It is high time for it to be formally declared as a disability, so that the government can act to provide struggling students with special education support in schools. Not all struggling students have a disability; but maybe some do; and those that do certainly need support.

          After all, who would dare call Einstein, da Vinci, Napoleon, Churchill, Edison, George Bernard Shaw or Alexander Graham Bell stupid?

          

Accommodations and Modifications

          Why do teachers get all hung up about trivial stuff? Does it really matter how fast a child writes, especially in this digital age of typing? The purpose of writing is communication. Is writing speed or legibility a barrier to effective communication? Should lack of motor control be a barrier to Science education? Can’t a child in a wheelchair get a Science education? Will our education system stop the development of our own future Stephen Hawking?

When we assess like this, what exactly are we assessing? When a child fails a Math test, are we assessing his Math skills or his skill in reading and understanding directions? When a child fails an English test, did we just test his learning or was it a writing speed test? When we test a child’s comprehension, do we test his understanding of the subject, or do we test his reading speed? Timed tests- what information do they really give teachers and parents about a child’s learning?

Are tests really constructed to measure learning or the child’s weakest link? This is where accommodations and modifications come in. Accommodations are not a free ride to a child with limitations. We are not handing the child an easy pass. Accommodations are meant to level the playing field. After giving a child accommodations and modifications, the difficulty level then becomes the same for all in the class. That is the purpose of accommodations. As the name implies, accommodations help the child get past his or her weakest link. Only then can the child gain access to the actual intended learning.

School administrators and teachers are moderately generous, even if only in spirit, when accommodating a child with a visible disability. Children with invisible disabilities get a really raw deal under the present educational system. Things need to change, or many potential thinkers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, philosophers will fall through the cracks… What a loss that would be!