Learning disorder workshops
Explaining the concept of LD
LD is an acronym for Learning Disorder or Learning Disability. Essentially the LDs comprise a series of deficits that interfere with the child’s ‘learning’. Hence we use the term ‘disorder’. The awareness of Dyslexia among parents and teachers has gone up tremendously in the recent past. Children with LD learn things in a manner that’s different from the conventional pattern. The processing of information in the brain is different and the techniques used to understand information are somehow unusual. This faulty pattern has to be corrected for appropriate learning experience to build. Dyslexia forms a part of the spectrum of learning disabilities, which may involve difficulties in reading, writing, math, or all three together. What matters is not why children develop it, the issue of concern is what we do once we know that a child is facing the trouble. Awareness and correction is the key matter of concern here.
Knowing why it occurred
Parents and teachers must realize that the precise causes of LD are not well known. Sometimes children tend to have LD if their parents/siblings had or have it. LD is set in motion early in life as the brain is developing. Imaging studies have confirmed that areas of the brain in children with LD are unalike from those of other children. The neural connects are ill established and they perceive objects (including alphabets and numbers) differently.
LDs are now becoming more common
We see more and more children with learning disorders today. Sometimes the term frequently used is ‘slow learner’. However this must be addressed with caution because when children are ‘slow’ there is a chance that the information processing in their brain is different. They can see alphabets but may not assemble them into words. Hence they make spelling errors and in spite of repeated teaching (or even thrashing) they cannot learn things. They may appear dull and bored. They need our assistance and should be brought ahead for treatment. Stigmatizing them is of no gain and we must be wary of this.
Ability versus disability
Intelligence is an overall description of ability in different dimensions. Usually we determine intelligence through words and performance. Children with LD usually may have good performance abilities. However the verbal component of intelligence, which included words, vocabulary and mathematics, will lag behind. These children are well aware of their environment and may ‘talk’ smartly and know what to do in different situations (street smart) but their intellectual performance in school is lacking. With advancing age, the ability to retain information that is essential to succeed in life becomes more and more deficient and the child loses on the potential he is capable of attaining.
Spread the word: LD is not mental retardation
Learning Disorders does not mean mental retardation. The child may not perform well in school so it may raise a doubt that this child is retarded; however dyslexia needs to be understood as a specific disability. The child’s brain looks at words differently. Letters seem to bounce up and down or they swim around the page, expand or contract in size, and even reverse themselves within the same word; so identification becomes difficult when your child is trying to read. Children thus have to reorganize their view of written material so as to understand it slightly at least. Such a child may read well eventually but may be extremely slow since the encoding and decoding process of words in the brain becomes very lengthy.
MINDFRAMES Remedial Education Workshops
Having dyslexia is not the child or parent or teachers’ fault. These are all specific disabilities in the encoding process in the brain and can be completely corrected with special teaching techniques. Early detection of Dyslexia and its appropriate management is essential so that the child does not lose out during the important years of development. If it is detected and treated late, there is a danger of intellectual, social, emotional and moral lag, which must essentially be avoided. MINDFRAMES the special remedial educator offers diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for children with specific learning disabilities and remedial training to manage the same. We conduct awareness workshops for teachers and parents to help them deal with these children better. The group workshops for children allow them to learn and adopt newer skills and attempt to gain normalcy in their learning abilities.