Empowering Learning Differences: Embracing a New Perspective on Learning and Ability

The lexicon of the developed world thrives on superlatives, from a pop-up on your home screen to the massive expanse of neon-lit billboards, the fervent claims are:

Best! Superior! Excellent! One of a Kind! Exclusive! Unchallenged! Superhero! Mega!

Whether it is a product, an experience, or a creative enterprise, every endeavorer that touches human life has to conform to a seemingly unbreachable code of excellence.

Schools, since times immemorial have been cradles of nurturing and honing human potential, and the measurement thereof has been the ubiquitous “Report Card” which establishes you as a winner or loser in the race of intellectual supremacy (as perceived by some!). With the growing understanding of individual learning patterns there has been a gradual shift from the one-shoe-fits-all mode of academic delivery & assessment and yet, much needs to be done to address those who hover in the twilight zone of performative excellence-the children with Learning Disabilities.

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I chose to use the phrase ‘twilight zone’ consciously because the child with a learning disability truly lives in a half-light world. Most educational systems for want of better understanding label these children as slow, lazy, demotivated, or indifferent; in short difficult to assimilate into the mainstream. The label however is more of a qualifier for the perceived attitude/behavior of the child rather than an astute diagnosis of his or her impairment. Simply put, a learning disability is a ‘neurological condition that affects the brain’s ability to send, receive, and process information. A child with a learning disability may have difficulties in reading, writing, speaking, listening, understanding mathematical concepts, and general comprehension.

Educational psychology today has evolved to a recognition of 7 specific ‘Learning Disabilities’ that may be present in the classroom and one needs to be vigilant

to identify their manifestations. They are

1. Dyslexia: Dyslexia typically presents with impaired language. Processing abilities that impact reading writing and comprehension. Difficulty in decoding words, identifying individual sounds within words, or the lack of phonemic awareness is the underlying cause of a dyslexic’s poor performance at school.
2. Dysgraphia: Often the child whose copy gets remarks for poor handwriting, or sloppy work struggles to translate thoughts into writing or drawing. Poor letter spacing shows an utter lack of spatial awareness, multiple erasing shows the inability of the child to think and write simultaneously.
3. Dyscalculia: Math class becomes a trial for these otherwise happy children who seem to have a battle with understanding time, reading clocks, counting, sequentially arranging numbers, and solving seemingly easy math problems.
4. Auditory Processing Disorder: APD impairs the ability to filter sounds and separate them in order. For example, the teacher’s voice and the noise in the corridor do not get identified as two separate sounds but get overlapped and confused. Very often such children may not reply to a question asked by the teacher or may ask her to repeat which could be misinterpreted as deliberated disobedience.
5. Language Processing Disorder: According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America in language processing disorder, “there is difficulty attaching meaning to sound groups, that form words, sentences, and stories.”
6. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: This refers to an individual’s inability to decode nonverbal behaviors or social cues. The children typically suffer difficulties in understanding body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice or the non-verbal aspects of communication.
7. Visual Perceptual / Visual Motor Deficit: Poor hand-eye coordination, impaired ability to dexterously use pencils, crayons, glue, and scissors, confusion with similar-looking letters, and losing places while reading are some of the typical manifestations of this disability. Contrary to the general assumption, the slow, diffident child in the class may not be just indifferent to learning but could be trying to surmount the above-mentioned hurdles. The issue gets further complicated when there is a focused effort to effect change in a sectarian fashion i.e., the entire thrust of the parent/teacher/ school triad is towards effecting better grades in the report card without taking cognizance of the multiple ripples one learning disability causes in the child’s social milieu. One of the most child-sensitive and pioneering works in understanding children with Learning Disabilities has been done by Richard Lavoie. In his book. “It’s so much work to be your friend”, he talks about “Childhood versatility”- how some children have “a packet of well-rounded abilities plus a keen sense of how and when to deploy them to please the outside world”.

Every Classroom has such children who by these attributes tend to lead the group. One often sees them as choir leaders, monitors, well-loved and popular. For them, the academic and social challenges of a school routine become forums for honing these skills. They are quick to learn, intuitively sharp at decoding behavior cues, and confident of their place in the milieu.

As opposed to them for the learning-disabled children, school years may be a constant trial to measure up to impossible standards, at times so ego-lacerating that they start believing in their inadequacy and lose all desire to be better. Lavoie says “every child needs to feel wanted”, but the inability of a learning-disabled child to understand words in their meaning, to string together a context and weave it to decode social behavior renders them inept at the social exchange. Their failure to understand how relationships work and not being able to interpret social data often renders them friendless and undesired fringe members of the class groups. Some turn inwards and refuse to engage, others may exhibit aggression as it gets their attention, some resort to being the ‘class clown’, the butt of jokes and often exhibit a complete lack of sensitivity at being laughed at or jeered.

The key to effecting change lies not only in the concentrated effort towards improving grades but also inculcating appropriate socio-emotional learning to effect better self-esteem and feeling of worth. More often than not, these children become victims of bullying and harassment. It is important to address such issues and set norms for classroom behavior. Helping children in the class understand that some of us find it difficult to do certain tasks and therefore responsibility for everyone’s success is a shared duty will help in creating a more accepting environment for the learning disability children.

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A teacher needs to use definitive and appropriate body language to communicate emotions. At times the tone and words may not align with the body language. Sarcasm and double-bind communication confuse children and they are unable to decode the implied innuendo, reprimand, or advice and hence do not comply in accordance. Clear, short sentences with non-threatening body language get the message across. Remaining sensitive to the fact that children look for cues, it’s important at interactions to preserve all niceties of etiquette and warmth.

Remember acceptance and a sense of belonging are quintessential to a child’s emotional equilibrium. “Acting right” with their significant others does not come naturally to children with learning disabilities. For those with impaired visual/motor abilities, staying still in class, listening quietly to elders, not fidgeting, and dropping things is a herculean task because they do not relate it to expected appropriate behavior as they cannot understand connections between physical behavior and spoken words. Adults often misinterpret this as deliberate mischief and end up chastising the child, which further sends him/her in a downward spiral.

It’s important that the school boards and the parents in the key management strategies for the learning disabled and the same acceptance are ensured in the social milieu away from school. Realistic goal setting for performance, with a clear understanding of the child’s abilities, will help in encouraging him/her to perform without the fear of being judged unfairly against prevailing standards.

In an equal world, there is a place for everyone, provided they are given the space to grow and evolve at their own pace. The 21st century envisages professionals and professions whose core skills are different from their predecessors. There is a greater emphasis on life skills and never before have the universal human values of acceptance, empathy, inclusivity, and equality of opportunity held so much significance. What every educator needs to understand is that the ability to lead a meaningful life as a responsible being, socially well-adjusted and in equilibrium with the self is more important than the ability to ace complex mathematical computations. Problem-solving in real-life situations takes precedence over solving chemical equations. It’s the grades in the report card of life that ultimately decide your index of success and not exclusively the grades of your high school report card.

Author – Pratima Gupta, Asst. Director, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions (SGEI) Varanasi

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