PRAYATNA
PRAYATNA IN THE PRESS
When Less is More, Aruna Sankaranarayanan,The HINDU, Sunday Magazine, 13 June 2010
Beyond Chalk & Talk, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Published in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, 3 Sept 2011
A Rose is a Rose is a Flower, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Published in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, 14 Nov 2010
Special Courses for Dyslexic Children, Tamara D'mello, The Times of India, Bangalore 24 May, 1999
Coping With Invisible Learning Disability, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, School, July, 1999
Benevolent Intervention, Vidya Hegde, Deccan Herald, Bangalore 8 August, 1999
Prayatna Tries to Make a Difference to Dyslexic children, Indu L. Prasad, The Asian Age, Bangalore 23 August, 1999
Centre to Help Children Conquer Learning Disability, Vaijayantni K.M., Mylapore Times, Chennai, 30 June-6 July 2001
Focus on Skill-Building, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, The Hindu, Chennai, 5 February, 2002
A Child's Cognitive Profile, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, The Hindu, Chennai, 9 April, 2002
Combating Disability, The Fun Way,Vidya Hegde, Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 12 May, 2002
When your child thinks that 'bat' is 'dat' ,Alankar Bandyopadhyay, The New Indian Express, City Express, Chennai, Monday, June 10, 2002
What is Intelligence, Aruna Sankaranarayanan, The Hindu, Chennai , 22 July, 2003
Value Addition, Chinmayee Manjunath,Deccan Herald, 21 November 2003
Spell that Well, Lakshmi Nagappan, Economic Times, 19 February 2004
We Shall Overcome, Charumathi Supraja The Week, 26 Sept,2004
Room with a Difference, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The Hindu,9 December, 2005
For a world standard education system, Aruna Sankaranarayanan Business Line, 11 May, 2007
From a child's point of view, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, 9 March 2008
Make it Truly Special, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The HINDU, Sunday Magazine, 18 January 2009
Perceptions of Failure, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The HINDU, 22 February 2009
Get them to read, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The HINDU, 8 November 2009
The Glass is Always Half-full, Aruna Sankaranarayanan The HINDU, 7 February 2009
Special Courses for Dyslexic Children
Tamara D'mello
The Times of India, Bangalore, 24 May, 1999
Is your child not performing well at school? Has he been labelled dull and unable to cope with reading, writing and spelling lessons that have been assigned to him?
Before being labelled a failure, seek professional help for he may be suffering from dyslexia or learning disability. About five to 10 per cent of all school-going children are dyslexic.
A relatively new knowledge in India, some of Bangalore's schools have woken up to the special needs of these children. Institutions such as St. Annes and Sophia have designed special courses for such children for about a year now.
Says Aruna Sankaranarayanan who runs Prayatna to train both teachers and children with dyslexia: "It is essential for students to be given the right kind of intervention, using the correct approach. Parents and teachers of these children need to be especially patient when dealing with such children." The design of the course also allows the instructor to distinguish between students who are genuinely dyslexic and those who are slow learners.
According to Ms. Sankaranarayanan, adults or children classified as dyslexic usually show below-average performance in areas that require reading, writing or spelling.
There are also various kinds of dyslexia-- certain children suffering from the disorder have an "impaired phonological processing ability," where they are unable to identify phonological segments in words; others suffer from a "lack of automaticity," where, although they can identify simple words, have difficulty identifying complex words.
The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) and the Spastic Society also organise intervention programmes for children with learning deficiencies. For information on learning disabilities contact Prayatna.
Coping With Invisible Learning Disability,
Aruna Sankaranarayanan,
School, July, 1999
My good friend Dr. Murali was prodded by his wife to meet me because he had, the previous night, belted his son black and blue.
The principal had threatened to detain the child if his performance in the ongoing exams was as bad as in the previous year. Murali sat up the whole night teaching Hari. The boy verbally answered all questions that Murali asked him that night. To Murali's horror, in the exam, the boy merely copied the questions on the answer sheets! This was the last straw, resulting in the belting.
When I saw Hari, my heart went out to him. The child felt helpless. He was a quiet and lively child, fairly quick on the uptake. He answered my questions smartly, but as I had expected, he could not write even one sentence correctly!
I explained to Murali that Hari's problem was a neurological (developmental) disability-a learning disability.
Dr. Philip John (Consultant Psychiatrist, Kochi)
The above excerpt from an article published in THE WEEK (January 6, 1997) illustrates the frustration and utter despair that results from not recognizing a genuine need of a child. Not only does Hari have to cope with a learning disability, but he also has to bear the burden of emotional turmoil and abuse that results from the inexplicable discrepancy between his performance in school and his intellectual abilities
PERPLEXED PARENTS
The consequences of not recognizing a learning disability can be severe. Unable to explain their child's poor performance, perplexed parents may punish the child for being lazy and unmotivated. Parents are often at loose ends trying to understand why their child may not be performing on par with his/her abilities. The child is sent to private tutors who have little or no understanding of the actual problem. The child is subjected to hours of instruction that do not necessarily address their specific and special needs. Teachers may blame the child for slowing down the pace of instruction. The child may be branded as being dull and unmotivated and is pushed to strive harder. The child tries, but continues to fail in school. His self-confidence drops. Fearing ridicule, she withdraws from her peers. Finally, the child quits.
The importance of identifying learning disabilities early in a child's school career is underscored by the "Matthew effects" involved in reading where the "educationally rich get richer and the educationally poor get poorer" (Stanovich, 1985). The downward spiral that results from a failure to diagnose and remedy a learning disability can sap the energy of the child, parents and teachers. The child may be retained in a grade for the wrong reasons, and resources of schools may be misdirected as teachers are pushed to intensively tutor children who continue to fail to learn.
DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES
The scale of the problem is not insignificant. An estimated 5-10 percent of school-going children suffer from learning disabilities to a greater or lesser extent and are likely to benefit from special education services. A failure to recognize and provide intervention for children with learning disabilities could slow down a class of 40-60 students. Thus, it is imperative that learn to recognize diagnostic features of learning disabilities and guide students to remedial centres.
What is a learning disability?
Children who exhibit a discrepancy between their performance and potential are said to have a "learning disability". A disorder or impairment in one or several, but not many, basic psychological processes can lead to learning difficulties. Children with learning disabilities usually exhibit vast intra-individual differences in their learning profiles.
Both parents and educators often claim that there are a few children who, despite being intelligent and motivated, fail to perform well in school. Typically, children with learning disabilities appear very bright on oral tests. They are able to think critically and reason analytically. However, there is a significant dip in their academic performance. The most prevalent learning disability is 'dyslexia', or specific reading disability, which refers to a difficulty in learning to read despite adequate intelligence and literacy instruction.
COGNITVE PROFILE
However, children with learning disabilities can cope with a regular curriculum provided they receive the right type of intervention. It is possible to identify a child's learning style and cognitive profile by administering a battery of psychological tests. These tests provide an index of the child's strengths and weaknesses. Further, they can help identify the specific skills that are impaired in a child.
Intervention programmes that cater to the specific deficits exhibited by the child can then be designed. Special educational programmes typically use a skill-based approach. Children are not instructed in the content of the school curriculum, like regular tuition classes. Rather, they focus on helping the child develop a specific skill like reading, spelling or writing.
Appropriately chosen psychological tests usually indicate why the child fails to master a basic academic skill. For example, a child who has a reading disability may have impaired phonological processing skills (which refers to the ability to manipulate sound segments of speech) or have a deficit in automatically evoking the verbal name of a visual symbol. A suitable intervention programme that emphasizes sound segments or one that teaches a child how to form a network of semantic associations for a written word, can help a child overcome his/her difficulties. Upon receiving the right kind of intervention, the child will begin to cope better in the classroom. Given the appropriate support, the child may finally be able to perform according to his/her potential and achieve many milestones. Thus, by recognizing an "invisible" disability, the downward spiral can be arrested. From being a "no good" and a potential "school dropout", the child may rise up to meet his/her own untapped potential.
Benevolent Intervention,
Vidya Hegde,
Deccan Herald, Bangalore 8 August, 1999
Prayatna Tries to Make a Difference to Dyslexic children,
Indu L. Prasad,
The Asian Age, Bangalore 23 August, 1999
Anu is hard at work on the game board in front of her. It seems like a simple enough task for the rest of us. for Anu, this is challenging and something that she has to tackle. She is dyslexic, a learning disability. And she is at Prayatna, an intervention centre for dyslexic children.
A brainchild of Dr. Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Prayatna recently completed its first anniversary. Dr. Aruna who is a graduate from Mount Holyoke College in the United States of America, went on to complete her doctoral thesis from Harvard University in developmental psychology.
"During my first summer holidays, I worked in a deaf and mute school in Bangalore. I realised that these children were in no way inferior to other children, they were not given a fair chance," she says. This led to the establishment of Prayatna.
This centre mainly concentrates on developing reading skills by developing their phonetics and sounds rather than their spelling. "Dyslexia is not the same as mental retardation. Dyslexic children do attend normal schools but are termed weak. This is a misconception. Dyslexia is a learning disability which can easily be cured," says Dr. Aruna. The children are first tested, using various standardised tests and it is determined whether they can be helped. The programmes used are a combination of standard intervention packages and the ones developed at the centre. Dr. Aruna and her twin-team, Chinmayi and Tanmayi Hattangady, develop all the programme materials on their own, which include colourful cards, game boards and storybooks. Though this seems to be an unconventional method to cure a learning problem, Dr. Aruna points out "there is a rationale behind the game boards and storybooks. The aim is to sharpen the reading skills of the children. For instance, in a particular game, children match words, which are shaped liked butterflies with their consonant sounds.
A parent, Ms. Hendriks, whose child receives intervention at the centre says, "Earlier, she hesitated to read any thing because she felt that she could not read fluently. Now, not only has her reading improved, her self confidence has also shot up."
Children enjoy participating in these programmes because they are different from school activities. Anu, a third standard student says that she likes to come to Prayatna even if classes are held after school hours. She says that the help she receives has improved her spelling and she no longer feels shy in class. Even her marks in tests have improved considerably.
The centre also provides its services to students of Sophia High School. The children are from the third standard and have been attending the special classes for the past few months. Ms. Mythili Ramprasad, a teacher in the school says the children feel a sense of achievement because the work done at Prayatna is something they can handle easily. This in turn allows them to perform better in class. There are also plans to incorporate computer aided training using packages designed for dyslexic children.
*Names of children have been changed.
Centre to Help Children Conquer Learning Disability,
Vaijayantni K.M.,
Mylapore Times, Chennai, 30 June-6 July 2001
'Prayatna', a non governmental organisation aimed at helping children with learning disabilities, has opened a new branch at Abhiramapuram recently.
The centre at Abhiramapuram functions at the Goodbooks Bookstore.
"Normal, intelligent children with an average, or above-average IQ, sometimes have a learning disability in specific areas. This may be due to various reasons like dyslexia, birth trauma and epileptic seizures or a neurological problem," says Aruna Sankaranarayanan, who runs the centre. "Such children can be helped to keep up with their counterparts in regular school with a little more help."
Aruna started Prayatna in Bangalore in 1998.
Prayatna does a psychological or cognitive profile to find out the areas of disability like reading and language-skills, after which the child can attend sessions to improve their capabilities. A cognitive profile is basically concerned with the skills of a person with regard to thinking and memory.
"For example, when I was associated with a school for deaf children, I found out that if intelligent children who seem to understand topics at the time of teaching, but come up short later due to problems in remembering, they can be helped." Says Aruna, who feels that the Indian school lays too much emphasis on the auditory mode of learning.
Prayatna was formed to help the learning disabled children to overcome their problem with a little effort. Aruna, who has a doctorate in psychology, helps the children with various skills like reading, elementary maths, writing and language skills which are taught with the help of special aids developed by Prayatna.
Children as young as kindergarten and as old as 13 or 14 can be assisted with this supplementary help.
Children studying in regular schools can attend the sessions after school and get assisted in their area of difficulty.
Prayatna also conducts regular workshops for teachers and volunteers on special education training.
"A child facing any learning disability should always be given the benefit of doubt and should not be labelled as lazy, unmotivated or stupid. Instead the best way to help the child must be recognised," is Aruna's plea.
Prayatna is open from 10 am to 6pm on weekdays and 10 to 1 pm on Saturdays, and functions from Goodbooks Bookstore, 76, 4th Street, Abhiramapuram, Ph: 4986618.
Focus on Skill-Building
Aruna Sankaranarayanan
The Hindu, Chennai, 5 February, 2002
Academic progress in higher classes depends on the quality of the foundation received in elementary classes. This foundation primarily involves skill-building in the three R's-- namely reading, 'riting & 'rithmetic. If a child fails to acquire these skills in a timely manner, a downward spiral ensues in the higher classes. Thus, it is important for elementary school teachers to focus on skill-building as opposed to teaching content of various lessons. In contrast, the thrust in higher classes should be given to learning content. Content learning in later grades, however, presupposes a skill-set that is usually acquired in the elementary classes. The most fundamental skill that is acquired in the younger classes is reading, as the acquisition of later academic knowledge depends, largely, on the ability to read fluently and accurately. A skill-based view of reading is helpful for educators who are assessing and teaching children this fundamental skill.
In the elementary grades, most schools assess children on 'reading'. In the conventional system, a child brings home a report card with grades for reading, spelling, mathematics and handwriting. Parents are happy to observe that their child has received good grades in reading and spelling as these are the building blocks for future academic success. Few parents question how the child was assessed, except perhaps when the child's grades are abysmal, and the parents would like an explanation for their child's poor performance. On average, most parents trust the school authorities to track their child's learning curve for each academic year.
But how is reading actually assessed in most schools? In the average Indian classroom, where there are 40-60 children per teacher, children typically read a paragraph from a chosen lesson in the textbook. Very often, the child is so familiar with the text, that she is able to recite the lesson flawlessly from memory. As the child 'reads' each word correctly, the teacher gives him an 'A+' on the report card. However, the same child may fare quite differently if she is presented with an unfamiliar text, or if she has to read a passage from a slightly more complex storybook.
While conducting workshops for elementary school teachers on reading enhancement, I present teachers with the following exercise. I ask them to estimate the percentage of students in their class who can do the following fluently-- Task 1: Read the previous lesson from the textbook; Task 2: Read the current lesson; Task 3: Read a lesson from a slightly higher level book; Task 4: Decode a set of non words (muncherbun, ploody, numbrikistle etc.). Elementary school teachers from various schools across the country, by and large, agree that the percentage of students who can perform the various tasks decreases from Task 1 to Task 4.
The reason that teachers observe this decline in performance across the four tasks is that reading instruction is often merged with teaching an English lesson from the textbook. Likewise, reading is assessed as the ability to 'read' the textbook. If, however, reading instruction involves a skill-based approach, children should be able to perform all four tasks with the same amount of ease.
Distinguishing between skill instruction and the teaching of content relating to various subject areas is especially useful for elementary school teachers. The main difference between building a skill and learning content is that once a skill is mastered it becomes automatised. Any function that is automatised, is fast and is performed without conscious thought of how one is performing the activity. Another difference is that once a skill is mastered, it becomes a part of implicit knowledge. Learning content, on the other hand, requires conscious processing, and it becomes part of our explicit knowledge. Furthermore, building a skill requires practice and it cannot be acquired through rote learning, whereas learning content requires understanding. Timing is also a criterion while performing a skill, but is not so crucial for understanding content. Different processes have to occur concurrently, or in quick succession, often within nanoseconds, for a skill to be performed successfully. Finally, a person does not forget a skill after she has mastered it, though she may be likely to forget content related to a specific lesson.
Reading is a complex process that encompasses a number of perceptual and cognitive skills. An understanding of the main sub-skills that are necessary for reading will help educators devise appropriate teaching and assessment tools. Phonological and orthographic awareness are the two main sub-skills involved in reading. The former refers to a sensitivity to sounds segments of speech, while the latter deals with the fluency with which spelling patterns are perceived.
In order to read and spell an alphabetic script like English, the child must realise that speech comprises of smaller sounds, and furthermore, that these sounds can be represented by particular symbols. To most adults who read fluently, it would seem obvious that the words cat and plan comprise of three and four sounds respectively. However, this is not necessarily obvious to a child, because there is no information in the acoustic signal that indicates that these words are made up of smaller sound segments. The awareness that cat comprises of three sounds involves an abstract mode of processing that does not occur at the sensory level. The various sub-components of speech (words, syllables & phonemes) are abstract units that are not physically discernible in the speech stream.
An example of a task used to assess phonological awareness, developed by Torgesen, is called elision. In this activity, the child is asked to say a word by deleting a given sound. For example, the teacher asks the child to say tiger without saying the 'g' sound, and the child responds by saying tire. Other tasks used to assess phonological awareness include detection and production of rhymes and alliterations, word segmentation, blending and forced choice rhyming. For example, a child is presented orally with a series of words (pat, sat, lit, mat), and is asked to pick the one that does not rhyme with the others in the set.
There is robust evidence linking phonological awareness and reading ability. In fact, studies show that tests of phonological awareness predict reading ability better than standard measures of intelligence. In order to promote phonological awareness, a child can first be made aware of global segments of speech, by counting the number of words in a spoken sentence. The child can also play rhyming games in order to become aware of sub-syllabic units. As the child becomes more aware of the smaller sounds, (s)he can be given systematic instruction in the sounds of the language (English has 26 letters but 43 sounds). Activities like phoneme deletion, sorting, counting, segmenting and blending promote phonemic awareness. These activities may also used to introduce two- and then three-letter consonant clusters (e.g., bl, pr, scr) to the child.
The second sub-skill, orthographic awareness, plays a crucial role as reading becomes automatised. Orthographic awareness refers to the fluency with which spelling patterns are perceived in print. During the early stages of reading, words are primarily decoded phonologically. In order to access meaning of a word, one has to decode it phonologically. However, as the reader gains print exposure, (s)he begins to recognise familiar spelling patterns. With increasing exposure, the reader may recognise these familiar patterns, more or less automatically, by-passing a phonological route. Unfamiliar orthographic patterns, however, would still be processed phonologically. Furthermore, a language like English, has a number of irregular words which cannot be decoded on the basis of sound. Words that have irregular spellings have to be recognised visually.
Maryanne Wolf and her colleagues (1993) hypothesise that poor readers may fail to achieve automaticity in reading because of a deficit in a "precise timing mechanism" that integrates phonological and orthographic representations. A word may be recognised automatically only if its spelling is paired repeatedly with its pronunciation. Some of the cognitive processes that mediate automaticity in reading may be similar or the same as those underlying naming speeds tests. A number of studies also find a correlation between speed of naming numbers, letters, colours, & pictures of common objects and reading ability. While naming speed tests have been found to correlate with reading ability in younger children, older children may require tests that directly assess their orthographic fluency with words that have irregular spellings.
In order to promote orthographic fluency in reading, a child should be exposed to "frequent orthographic, multiletter patterns in the language" (Wolf, Miller & Donnelly, 1998). Systematic instruction in various spelling patterns, that may seem intuitive to most people, but which the struggling reader fails to see is also beneficial. These patterns include various ways in which words with long-vowel sounds are spelt. For example, in English the four most common long-a patterns are the following; Magic-e (e.g., mate, rate, hate); ai (e.g., rain, chain, pain); ay (e.g., pray, hay); ey (e.g., grey, prey). Frequent exposures to words that have irregular spellings (e.g., could, match) should also be a part of a programme for a child.
Finally, while intervention programmes may enhance specific sub-skills, children should also be made aware of the fact that the goal of reading is to extract meaning from print. Even if the child is receiving instruction in phonics, (s)he should be taught to focus of meaning while reading right from the start. For children who are not fluent in the medium of instruction, activities that promote oral fluency in the language may also be included.
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan completed her doctorate in developmental psychology from Harvard University. She is the Founder & Director of Prayatna, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention, Bangalore & Chennai.)
A Child's Cognitive Profile
Aruna Sankaranarayanan
The Hindu, 9 April 2002
The past decade has witnessed a sudden spurt in the incidence and recognition of learning disabilities (LD) in India. This growing awareness has prompted many parents to seek intervention for their child's learning problem. A few progressive school administrators have also taken the initiative of providing resource room facilities on campus for their school children. Special education centres have mushroomed in the cities. Parents nowadays seek the advice of counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists to solve their children's behavioural or academic problems. The number of parents who approach psychologists or special educators for their children's assessments is also increasing by the day. After intense persuasion and lobbying by parents and educationists, the I.C.S.E. and C.B.S.E. Boards now provide special provisions for children with learning disabilities. The media has also contributed to the growing awareness of learning disabilities. The terms 'dyslexia', 'ADHD' or 'learning disabled' no longer belong to an esoteric domain but have entered the vocabulary of the lay person.
This increased awareness and sensitivity has benefited a large number of children who have to cope with an invisible learning disability. However, along with this growing awareness, there are a number of misconceptions that are associated with the term 'learning disabilities'. The reasons for these misconceptions are manifold. Firstly, learning disabilities are heterogeneous with different manifestations. So, the clinical definition of LD is more of an umbrella concept that does not specify diagnostic pointers. The concept of learning disabilities has had a fairly chequered history in the West. The definition was altered many times before it was recognised as a genuine learning impairment. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition), a person has a learning disability "when the individual's achievement on individually administered, standardised tests in reading, mathematics, or written expression is substantially below that expected for age, schooling, and level of intelligence". Furthermore, the manual says that a discrepancy of more than two standard deviations can be considered as the criterion for identifying a learning disability.
While the definition is fairly unambiguous, its operational measures are not as precise as it may seem. 'Intelligence' is an abstract construct, and is typically gauged by standardised tests of intelligence. However, even standardised tests of intelligence do not necessarily provide the same "intelligence quotient". Different tests may indicate fairly different I.Q. scores for the same child. Sometimes, a child can also obtain different scores on the same test if it is administered a few days apart. However, standardised tests cannot be dismissed summarily simply because a child may obtain different scores. Rather than focussing on the final score per se, psychologists may use these tests as tools to understand how the child processes information in different domains. These tests are a window to the child's strengths and weaknesses, and are helpful in drawing up a child's cognitive profile. Thus, a statistical approach in conjunction with a medical model that gathers relevant clinical data is useful in identifying LD.
It should also be noted that there are few standardised tests available in India whose norms have been developed based on data gathered on Indian children. Even with myriad standardised tests available, diagnoses in the U.S. and U.K. remains a fairly subjective issue, and only a competent professional can make an accurate diagnosis. While formal assessments provide information on the child's information processing abilities, only a qualified professional can interpret these results. A medical model that uses a combination of the child's familial and medical history, assessment scores, and anecdotal evidence from parents and teachers is useful in diagnosing a learning disability.
Another misconception associated with learning disabilities, which has been highlighted in the media, has caught the fancy of the lay person. While dyslexic children tend to reverse letters like 'b' and 'd' and read 'top' as 'pot', the presence of this feature alone in a child is viewed as conclusive evidence of dyslexia. Many children tend to reverse the letters 'b' and 'd' when they are introduced to the alphabet. Only if the reversal problem persists should it be treated as an "at-risk" sign. Labelling a child on a basis of a single feature without a complete assessment is dangerous for two reasons. One, a child who does not have a learning disability gets labelled, and second, the clinical validity of learning disabilities get mitigated when inaccurate diagnoses are made. As a result, children who have a genuine learning disability do not receive the necessary support they deserve. Some school administrators and principals have made dismissive statements like "Dyslexia does not exist," "I don't believe in dyslexia," or "We don't have such children in our school." These sweeping generalisations are probably due to the many misconceptions that have, unfortunately, been linked with learning disabilities.
Many parents complain that the school management is not sensitive to the needs of leaning disabled students. I met a parent whose child has a genuine specific learning disability. The child is very bright orally but is struggling to cope on reading tasks. As a result, his performance on written assignments is abysmal. The mother being a doctor herself understands the child's difficulty. However, when she approached the school authorities to find out if the school could make special provisions for her child, she was told that there is no such thing as dyslexia. When the school management takes a stand that is based on misconceptions associated with learning disabilities, then children with genuine learning impairments are left to struggle on their own. Most learning disabilities are 'invisible', and are often masked by the child's intelligence, especially on oral tasks. Parents say that the teachers complain that their child is unmotivated as the child is able to answer questions on oral tasks. Often, children are branded as "dull", "stubborn" or "lazy". Thus, it is important for teachers and parents to familiarise themselves with the diagnostic features of learning disabilities, so that they may approach a professional if they feel that a child has a number of "at-risk" features and is performing poorly in school for no apparent reason.
Children with learning disabilities are likely to have suffered from minor injuries to the brain either during birth or through a fall or an accident. Premature children are more likely than full-term babies to have learning problems later on in life. A significant delay in achieving milestones for walking or talking may also be indicative of a learning problem. Many children who suffer from epilepsy or seizures also tend to experience learning disabilities. Children who have difficulties on fine-motor tasks like buttoning their shirts or tying shoelaces are likely to have problems in handwriting. Some children with poor visual-spatial skills find handwriting challenging and are unable to write between lines, or judge the amount of space a word needs on a line. A few children also find copying from the blackboard an arduous task and do not complete written work on time.
Children with learning disabilities also tend to be bright on oral tasks, but when it comes to reading or written assignments there is a considerable dip in performance. Their reading is slow and laboured, and they usually shun reading. They also find reading an unseen passage extremely difficult. The habit of spelling each word before 'reading' is a strategy employed by these children. They often learn spellings by rote and do not have any inkling that a word may be read phonetically. Most children with reading disabilities have poor phonics skills, and find activities like segmenting a word into its component sounds challenging. Some children with LD make innumerable mistakes on sight words despite seeing them over and over again. A few children with reading disabilities are also slower to name sets of numbers, letters, colours and pictures of common objects, despite knowing their names. A subset of these children also has difficulties in concepts of numeracy and cannot remember arithmetic facts like multiplication tables.
Thus, the manifestations of learning disabilities are quite varied. If parents and educators keep a look out for these signs, a child may be formally assessed and receive intervention early on. The earlier one intervenes, the greater the chances that the child can cope successfully in the mainstream classroom. Furthermore, parents and educators should remember that the goal of assessment is not to label children, but to identify the children's difficulties so that they may receive instruction on how to build the skills they are deficient in. Instead of focusing on giving a child a label, we need to work on how to help him/her realise his/her full potential.
Combating Disability, The Fun Way
Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 12 May, 2002
Vidya Hegde
With a facilitator and a good reading of the reader-friendly manual, RASE Ahead, the Reading and Spelling Enhancement Kit launched by Prayatna , can be a fun way of learnin for every child with reading and spelling difficulties, says Vidya Hegde.
It was a beautiful gathering filled with beautiful people: parents, teachers and specialists in children’s issues. Most people had a good word or two to say about Prayatna, the Centre for Educational Assessment and Intervention. But there were others who were more than grateful to Dr Aruna Sankarnaryanan, Founder / Director of Prayatna, for having made a difference in their children’s lives.
Prayatna launched its Reading and Spelling Enhancement Kit, RASE Ahead, last weekend. Specifically designed for children in the age group 6-10 (who might be intelligent and motivated, but experience academic difficulties), the kit consists of 15 innovative, fun and colourful board games with pictures and word cards.
Conceptualised and designed by Prayatna, RASE Ahead has been developed based on research findings in educational and developmental psychology. The kit adopts a skill-based view of learning, with activities that enhance phonological and orthographic awareness involved in the reading process. A phonological skill is the ability to segment words into smaller sound units, while an orthographic skill would mean the ability to recognise spelling patterns fluently. Games with fun names like ‘Give the dog a bone,’ ‘Hatching Eggs,’ ‘Sobbing Joey,’ ‘Baby’s Pram,’ ‘Tossed Salad,’ and so on, teach children the sounds of two-letter consonant blends, provide instructions in short and long vowel sounds, help segment words at the right place and improve their vocabulary.
Each game has two worksheets that target the skill taught in the game at two different levels: elementary and intermediate. These games can be played by anywhere between one and six players. They can be played in a classroom environment or anywhere else where the child is comfortable. As long as the child has a good grasp of the letters of the English alphabet, (s)he can play it with ease. Each game may take anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes to finish, including the time taken to fill up the worksheet. The game may be repeated until the child has mastered the skill being targeted by it.
Although RASE Ahead has been launched only now, its materials have been used to impart skills of effective reading and spelling to over 300 children attending classes at Dr Aruna’s Prayatna in Bangalore and Chennai for over 4 years now. With a facilitator (maybe a parent, teacher or a child who can spell well) in the play-group and a good reading of the reader-friendly and simple manual that accompanies the kit, RASE Ahead should be a fun way of essential learning for every child with any degree of difficulty in reading and spelling.
The kit ensures that children learn not just to read a particular story or piece of text, but the method of ‘how’ to read. Playing the various games, children will begin to try and read any word they come across. With good practice and sufficient exposure to the printed word, the kit is said to help them become fluent readers.
Prayatna has children coming over to their centres in Bangalore and Chennai for intervention, while Dr Aruna and her team reach out to the National Academy for Learning (NAFL), Bangalore, through their resource room. It has also helped children in schools like St Anne’s and Sophia’s in Bangalore, that are open to the idea of specific aid and intercession. Workshops and training programmes have been held for teachers and facilitators since the time Prayatna was set up in Bangalore in July 1998.
Principal of NAFL, Mrs Benjamin, remarks, Dr Aruna’s role has been charismatic. Her gentleness and concern have rubbed off on our faculty. Besides, sessions and discussions held twice a year with her have helped dispel any doubt that teachers here might have had. Mrs Benjamin goes on to mention that the success behind Prayatna’s efforts is the gentle affirmations about a child’s prognosis. We tell our teachers that since these children cannot learn the way we teach, we have to teach them the way they can learn, she adds.
Who are these children who find it difficult to read and spell right? Children with a discrepancy between their performance and potential are said to have a ‘learning disability.’ There are different types of learning disabilities. Dr Shekhar Seshadri, Additional Professor of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, explains, learning disability may be behavioural or emotional. The term encompasses a large group of varied people. Between 10 and 20 percent of children in schools may face a learning difficulty, but they are not children with a learning disability. ‘Dyslexia,’ the special area of concern at Prayatna, is a specific problem wherein a child finds it difficult to read despite being intelligent and receiving adequate literacy instruction.
For good reading and comprehension, a child needs to think, reflect and jump to conclusions as they read. Says Sister Mary Aneeta, Primary School Principal, Sophia High School, learning must not be a mere exercise in memorising. Teaching aids and flash cards are needed to help learn better. She speaks from her experience with young children when she says that all children are ever willing to demonstrate that they are clever. And that’s something we need to believe ourselves.
After all, every child is bright and intelligent in his / her own way. As Mr Harsh Bahadur, proud father of Himamshu, who received help from Prayatna, expresses, success in life does not come from marks and academic records. What is important is what the child learns and what (s)he does to make him / her feel good.
Dr.Shekhar Seshadri, Sister Mary Aneeta and Mrs. Benjamin
at the launch of the "R.A.S.E. Ahead" kit
When your child thinks that 'bat' is 'dat'
The New Indian Express, City Express, Chennai, Monday, June 10, 2002
Alankar Bandyopadhyay
For Chandrashekhar's mother Anuradha, the last four months have been most fruitful and rewarding. Among other things, for Chandrashekhar today, 'b' is definitely different from 'd'. "Initially he was unsure of both these letters. But at Prayatna, they used an artificial caterpillar to tell the difference. He was told of how a b-shaped caterpillar changed its outline and became a 'd', says Anuradha.
Prayatna, a centre for educational assessment and intervention, ws primarily set up to help children suffering from dyslexia. "Dyslexia usually refers to a discrepancy between potential and performance, " explains Aruna Sankaranarayanan, founder/ director of Prayatna. "But unfortunately due to the present mode of education in the country, which emphasises on the auditory mode of learning, most instructions are not equipped to deal with children who suffer from such a discrepancy," she adds.
Her perception was manifested when she came home one summer while doing her undergraduate course from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. While interning with a school for the hearing impaired in Bangalore, she realised that the curriculum did not cater to children with learning disabilities.
Resolving to develop a courseware exclusively for such children, she, in the course of the next six years equipped herself with the requisite knowledge to start a centre. Having completed her Ph. D. from Harvard, she set up Prayatna in Bangalore in 1998. Following its success, the Chennai chapter was started in April last year.
"There are different types of learning disorders and dyslexia is just one of them, " says Aruna. Parents and teachers often come across students who have a good grasping power, but their performance is mediocre, and that's when they realise that the child could be suffering from dyslexia.
"On perceiving a discrepancy, parents or school teachers approach us," says Aruna. "In order to ascertain what the child is suffering from, we ask for the child's case-history," she adds. The assessment primarily includes standardised psychological tests. The case study usually answers the following questions:
"If the above have 'yes' for an answer, then there are chances that the child could be suffering from dyslexia," says Aruna. That's when the child is enrolled into Prayatna. "Once a child enrolls, there is no segmenting of the child. The curriculum followed is skill-based," says Aruna. "Most children who attend classes in Prayatna attend mainstream schools, hence what we are trying to do is impart skills that transfer to the school."
In order to improve reading, spelling and numerical skills of the child, Prayatna has developed a number of teaching aids that promote fluency and accuracy. "When I returned from the U.S., I did bring along with me kits that were used in that country. However, they did not prove to be effective mainly because of the difference in the educational systems of the two countries, " says Aruna. However, the sequence and the levels at which the course is introduced depends on the child's cognitive profile. Therefore, the teaching aids that have been introduced at various levels range from reading, spelling, language, individual phonetics and consonant blends.
THE HINDU, 22 July
2003
Aruna
Sankaranarayanan
The terms ‘intelligent’,
‘brilliant’, ‘slow’, ‘dull’ etc. are used in free abandon by teachers and
parents to categorize children according to their intellect. While we all have an intuitive grasp of
what intelligence is, we are hard pressed when we have to define it. Intelligence is an abstract construct
that eludes definition. Yet, we
feel that it is something that can be measured and quantified. Furthermore, we have woven a web of
biases of what an intelligent person should or shouldn’t do. For example, a more intelligent child is
encouraged to pursue a professional degree, while a less intelligent child is
streamlined into ‘softer’ options like the humanities. The history of formal intelligence
testing dates back to the 1800’s when Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, was
commissioned by the French Ministry of Education to construct certain tests to
determine which children were not likely to succeed in school so that they could
receive special attention. This
test was later adapted by Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman, who developed the
Standford-Binet Test. A number of
intelligence tests have sprung up since then—the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
children and adults, Kaufman’s Intelligence Test, Raven’s Progressive Matrices
etc.
Most intelligence tests consist of a number of subtests that assess
abilities like verbal and mathematical reasoning, logical thinking, vocabulary
and general knowledge—abilities that are generally required in a traditional
scholastic environment. A
significant contribution to intelligence testing was made by Charles Spearman
who used the statistical procedure of factor analyses to show that a “general
faculty” subserved all intelligence subtests. While different subtests tapped
independent and separate abilities, a “general faculty” also operated upon
them. Spearman based his
supposition on the fact that most of the subtests of traditional psychometric
tests of intelligence tend to correlate with each other to some
extent.
In India, the Standford-Binet test has been adapted
as the Binet-Kamath Test. Most
intelligence tests are designed to provide an I.Q. (intelligence quotient) score
which is defined as:
I.Q.= Mental Age X100
Chronological Age
Thus, a ten-year old child
who has a mental age of a 12 year-old, will have an I.Q. of 120. The mental age is based on a set of
norms that have been devised by collecting data on a fairly large sample of
children of different ages, whom the test makers believe are representative of a
population at large. One of the
criticisms of I.Q. tests is that most tests are not truly representative,
especially regarding lower income and minority groups.
Even if I.Q. tests are truly representative, they have some
drawbacks. Foremost, traditional
psychometric tests of intelligence are based on the proposition that human
beings are endowed with a single, “general faculty” for acquiring
information. Secondly, as a person
is given a fixed I.Q. score, his/her intelligence is taken to be a fixed,
unchanging entity. Traditional
tests of intelligence do not take situational and contextual information into
account. Thirdly, they penalize a
child for a creative or unconventional answer.
Fortunately, I.Q. tests are used selectively in India, mainly by
psychologists who assess children with learning problems. In such situations, an intelligence test
may provide valuable information regarding a child’s cognitive profile over and
above the single I.Q. score. Even
though I.Q. testing has not pervaded the Indian educational scene in a big way,
our conception of intelligence in school settings is similar to those who
developed psychometric assessments.
Parents and educators view intelligence within a
narrow framework. Thus, even though
most children do not undergo formal I.Q. testing, the school tests and
examinations serve as proxy intelligence tests. Children who score high marks in school
are deemed more intelligent than those who do not. Our marks-oriented approach, wherein we
streamline children into future careers as early as Class XI, has a number of
drawbacks.
First, we use the term ‘intelligence’ quite narrowly
and measure it based on performance on academic tests which, by and large, do
not provide an index of a student’s creative or critical reasoning skills. Performance on mathematical and
linguistic tasks, which form the bulk of academic assessments, are taken as a
yardstick of the student’s overall intelligence. Second, we neglect other abilities and
do not provide sufficient opportunities for students to explore and excel in
other domains. The cultivation of
positive self-esteem is often neglected in schools as children are judged solely
by their marks in scholastic tasks.
Children who excel in sports, music, dance or drawing are often not given
due recognition by the system.
Third, we often overlook the contribution of environmental factors for
the development of intelligence. As
a culture we tend to view ‘intelligence’ as being more innate; and do not give
due recognition to the external factors that are as important as, if not more,
than our biological endowment.
An alternative view to the traditional conception of
intelligence has been put forth by the neuropsychologist, Howard Gardner. His theory of multiple intelligences
looks at human potential in its broadest sense. He defines ‘intelligences’ as a
“biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a
cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a
culture”. Thus, he broadens the
scope of ‘intelligence’ by pluralizing it.
He believes that we are endowed with separate faculties for dealing with
different kinds of symbol systems.
Drawing evidence from eclectic sources, including neuropsychology,
experimental and developmental psychology, Gardner claims that there are at
least eight distinct intelligences.
These are 1) linguistic; 2) logical-mathematical; 3) bodily-kinesthetic;
4) spatial; 5) musical; 6) interpersonal; 7) intrapersonal; and 8)
naturalist. The first two
intelligences are those required for scholastic tasks and have been
traditionally viewed as the faculties comprising intellect. However, the theory of multiple
intelligences has broadened the scope of how we conceive of intelligence—Gardner
argues that people who excel in other areas such as dance or music should also
be considered as ‘intelligent’.
Gardner also stresses the importance of sociocultural
variables in the development of an intelligence. While a child may be endowed with an
innate proclivity towards a particular type of intelligence, he/she is not going
to excel in that field unless given an opportunity to cultivate and hone
it. We need to be aware that our
school system stresses the importance of linguistic and mathematical
intelligences, often to the exclusion of other faculties.
What are the implications of the theory of multiple
intelligences for educators and school administrators? First, the theory questions the
disproportionate importance given to linguistic and mathematical skills in
traditional forms of testing. Most
schools also tend to evaluate students solely on these skills. Thus, educators need to be aware of the
fact that different types of intelligences exist, and that a child who does not
perform well on a task that requires a certain type of intelligence may excel at
a task that taps a different type of intelligence. Second, the fact that Gardner used
eclectic sources of data while formulating his theory also throw light on the
nature of the intelligences and their assessment. Each intelligence is complex, and a
number of tasks in appropriate contexts are required to assess them. Plain paper
and pencil tasks simply will not do.
Gardner, however, remains wary regarding assessment, and is aware of the
pitfalls of any standardized test.
Teachers need to be aware of the fact that traditional tests do not
necessarily reveal a student’s potential.
While the theory of multiple intelligences has gained
popularity in many schools all over the world, Gardner remains skeptical of
whether his theory is being misunderstood or misrepresented when applied in
school settings. As he himself does
not offer concrete application criteria and leaves it to the educators to
develop for themselves, his skepticism is fair. Even in India there are a few elite
schools who claim to be applying MI theory. Often, this application is at a very
superficial level—a pitfall that Gardner himself has warned against. He has also cautioned educators from
labeling children according to types of intelligences.
However, what MI theory can offer at this point to
educators is a framework to shape their philosophy of how they view children and
intelligence—two areas of concern for any institution dedicated to the cause of
education. The theory of multiple
intelligences offers a broad framework for educators to review their pedagogical
goals and priorities. As assessment
is an integral component of most schools, educators will benefit from critiquing
their own assessment standards and criteria.
Deccan Herald, 21 November 2003
Chinmayee Manjunath
Generalisations are dangerous things to go by, particularly when it comes to matters that determine a child’s future. And generalisations say that a child has a learning disability only if it shows drastic tendencies like not being able to read at all or seeing alphabets as a jumble. However, clinically speaking, a child could have a learning disability if it shows any discrepancy between its performance and its potential.
In a manner of speaking, this could refer to a child who finds it easy to grasp concepts but cannot pick up specific skills. Such children need help in order to enhance their skills. And this is where Prayatna steps in.
A school founded by Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Prayatna specialises in intervention programmes that will help the child cope with its academic curriculum and develop other requisite skills. So it’s not tuition in the conventional sense. “We do not work on the child’s school curriculum but rather coach him/her to grasp the content better,” says Aruna.
A learning disability could be caused by various factors, but it can aggravate if it is not recognised and helped. Late intervention is often difficult, points out Aruna, since the gap between where the child is and where it should be, increases. Although most parents educate themselves about the disability and also inform the child’s teachers, some have inhibitions about accepting it.
When a child is brought to Prayatna, the school conducts various tests in spelling, reading, language skills, syntax, writing and numeracy in order to prepare a cognitive profile which helps them identify the ‘problem areas’, so to speak. A meeting with the parents is also held in order to gather information about birth and academic histories and the personality of the child.
However, there is no one acid test to determine whether or not the child really does have a learning disability, and often, children do not fall into one conventional category. “We do have students who progress in leaps and bounds with just a little help while others still find it difficult to read after being here for months,” says Aruna, adding that there are children who progress in spurts, often hitting a “learning plateau”.
She goes on to explain that the skills taught at Prayatna must be reinforced at school. “It is important to understand that these children must not be compared to others and teachers should look out for subtle signs of progress. They may be excellent in extra-curricular activities and must be encouraged for that,” she emphasises.
Having finished her Ph.D. in the US, Aruna returned to India with some packages meant for helping with the retraining process. However, these were not culturally suitable to be used here and thus, Prayatna uses its own teaching aids, developed by Aruna and her staff. These are all in the form of interesting games.
For example, there is one to teach children to identify silent consonants (like ‘w’ in ‘wrap’ and ‘gh’ in ‘ought’). The game is in the form of a tree on whose green leaves are the words without the silent consonants, and there is a set of yellow leaves which have the complete word. The child has to pick out the complete word and place it on the incomplete one and in this process, the tree also turns golden, as in autumn, thus depicting a change in season as well.
The team at Prayatna has created RASE (Read and Spelling Enhancement), a kit of 15 such educational games which is meant for children (even those without learning disabilities) aged between six and ten years. Priced at Rs. 1500, it contains games and worksheets dealing with parts of speech, reading and spelling. Aruna says that RASE can be used by children who do not have learning disabilities since it is basically aimed at enhancing skills that every child can use.
Spell that Well!
Lakshmi Nagappan
Economic Times, 19 February 2004
The only statute of spelling that remains transfixed in my grey matter all these years is �I before E except after C.� Spellings are my bete noire and hence I an indebted to the faculty of Word. Ours is a civilization that brands even the living. Dyslexic is one such classification. It indicates, �there is a discrepancy between performance and potential and an inexplicable difficulty to read and spell�.
I am sure many in my generation would have been labelled dyslexic, but such stickers were not invented when we were at school. And Dr. Aruna Sankaranarayana does not want to see such tags prevail. Aruna is a Developmental Psychologist tutored in the US. She has read between the lines of reading troubles for eight years. Her centre is a Prayatna, or a resolute effort towards the educational assessment of children and a subsequent intervention. Prayatna has two homes, one in Bangalore and the other in Chennai.
Aruna is conscious �not to make Prayatna a tuition for children with learning difficulties.� She and her team have evolved 150 odd games to instill in the child competency in numeracy, spelling and reading. Individual attention is accorded to every ward at Prayatna. Aruna explains, �Since it is in the primary years that the foundation of skills is laid, our focus is mostly on grade one and two pupils.�
The children attend the centre twice a week at least for a period of a year. Prayatna has also initiated a model English Lab at AMM School and has trained a supervisor to oversee this facility. Aruna also engages in interactive workshops for parents and teachers. She certainly seems to RASE ahead with her recently published Reading and Spelling Enhacement kit for 6 to 10-year olds.
As part of Prayatna�s endeavour to �promote spelling and get a child more curious about spelling�, Aruna has launched this year, an annual Spell Well contest. Eighty-five students from classes four and five participated and the nine finalists will have to spell orally in the climax of the event that takes place tomorrow at AMM School. The test will include homophones, silent consonants and compound words. It will be time to put a brake on their mugging mastery and break their heads over the idiosyncrasies of the English language!
We Shall Overcome
By Charumathi Supraja
The Week, 26 Sept,2004
The teacher's angry face swam before his eyes and derisive laughter rang in his ears. The blackboard was as full of unrecognizable squiggles as ever. Kushal cried again the next morning that he didn't want to go to school, leaving his parents puzzled and irritated.
Though Kushal gave correct answers orally, he never did well in written tests. A psychologist confirmed that he had a mild learning disorder and referred him to Prayatna in Bangalore. Four years later the 12-year old today enjoys school and copes well with letters and digits.
Kushal is one of about 450 children who have received help at Prayatna, an after-school help zone where children with learning disorders-difficulty to learn by using skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic-are taught the way they learn best. The centre (it has a Web site www.prayatna.org) also conducts workshops to sensitise schools to learning problems in children. Their Reading and Spelling Enhancement (RASE) kit has sparked interest in teachers and learners for its "colourful approach to learning."
The kit, priced at Rs. 1,500, consists of 15 games and promotes a fun approach to learning. It is aimed at honing the phonics skills of children and thus their ability to read and spell. Though a resource room head from a south Bangalore school says "it is a little westernised," the kit has been well received. Says Aparna Kalyanpur, a special educator in Bangalore, "We used to make our own learning games. Now that this kit has everything and is so colourful, we use this. Even parents can use this on their own."
At Prayatna, each child gets an individualised programme depending on his learning levels and needs that are assessed when he enrolls. "We have four teachers in Bangalore and three in our Chennai centre who take personal interest in each child," says Aruna Sankaranarayanan, founder. The time-plan of the programme depends on the child and is anywhere between one and four years. The average age of children at the centre is between six and eight years. "From when I started this in 1998, there is a lot more awareness about learning disability," Aruna says. "Many schools are open to the idea of resource rooms."
Children who reach Prayatna are often emotionally scarred and have low self-esteem. "They often slip through the sieve till the third of fourth class," says Chandrika Chandrasekaran, special educator. Only severe cases are detected early.
In his earlier school, Gaurav was labeled antisocial because he reacted to the teasing of his classmates. His notes were never complete, and his test marks were poor. "I suspected the disability after reading about it in a magazine," says his mother Dr. Pratibha Pereira, who moved from Mangalore to Bangalore so that her son could go to Prayatna. "I got him tested at Kochi and consulted a friend in Bangalore. She suggested Prayatna. I also met the principal of National Academy of Learning (in Bangalore). Thanks to their policy of admitting children with learning disability, Gaurav got a seat in the school."
But Prayatna has not yet worked with government schools. "We don’t have the staff for that yet," says Aruna. "Also, a lot of government schools do not have English as the medium of instruction. Though we don’t have the means now, we are open to other language instruction in future."
The growing awareness of learning disabilities has prompted mainstream schools to set up resource rooms. Having a resource room on campus has many benefits. First, teachers of schools that have this facility are usually sensitized to learning differences in children. As a result, they are more likely to identify children who are at-risk for a learning problem. Second, children may receive remedial instruction in school itself, without having to commute to a centre after school hours. Third, when a resource room is part of a school, special education teachers may communicate and liaise with the regular classroom teacher. This interaction is beneficial as the resource room teacher and the classroom teacher can exchange notes on progress and work on feedback.
However, though a number of schools do have a resource room, the actual implementation is a far cry from the original purpose it was set up with. Most often, resource rooms are "tuition" centres. When a child is unable to cope in the regular classroom, the teacher may refer the child to the resource room. The child is given a worksheet and a list of exercises to be completed. So, the resource room teacher merely reviews lessons covered in class and helps the children complete assigned work. This reduces the onus on the classroom teacher, as children with difficulties are now the responsibility of the resource room teacher. This kind of instruction is unlikely to benefit the child in the long run, especially if he or she has an inherent learning disability like dyslexia.
Support and practice
The purpose of a resource room should be the enhancement of skills involved in learning. Performing academic tasks involves skills like the ability to read accurately and fluently, to spell correctly, to write legibly, and to compute quickly, are not tied to specific content areas, but are required across subject domains. Success depends, to a large extent, on the mastery of these skills. Thus, it is important that children with learning difficulties acquiring these skills are given adequate support and practice.
In order to set up a resource room, a school has to hire a qualified teacher, trained in working with children with learning difficulties. In addition, all teachers in the school must be made aware of what remedial instruction entails. One reason why resource rooms do not function as they should is that classroom teachers expect the resource room staff to review and often teach the curriculum. As a result, the resource room teacher does not have time to work on enhancing the skills that the child has difficulties with.
When a teacher feels that a child may have a learning difficulty, the child may be referred to the resource room teacher, who then assesses the child on various skills involved in learning. By analysing the child's specific areas of difficulty, the teacher then draws up a plan to target specific areas of difficulty for each child and includes expected levels of progress. Resource room teachers also rely on a number of visually appealing teaching aids to capture the interest of children. Skills are usually imparted through a play-way method of instruction.
Periodic assessments help track the progress of the child. While a child may not show dramatic gains in class immediately, the resource room teacher is more likely to notice the small steps of progress made by the child in specific skill areas. Gradually, these skills will transfer to the mainstream classroom.
For a program to be successful, the special educator, teachers and parents must work together as a team and be extremely supportive of the child. School administrators must also ensure that remedial instruction involves skill-enhancement. If properly implemented, resource rooms can be an invaluable asset to schools, both from the perspective of children and teachers.
The defeat of the NDA government in the 2004 elections clearly indicated that India was not shining for all her citizens. However, despite the electoral mandate, the country is gaining recognition in the global stage and its potential for growth suggests that it is a power to be reckoned with. An August 2005 issue of Business Week dedicated its lead article to the two emerging Asian powers—China and India. The article pointed out that given its apparent poverty and lack of infrastructure, India does not look like an emerging superpower on the face of it. Nevertheless, this has not deterred industrial giants like Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Google etc. to set up offices in India. A series of graphs in the article indicate that China has overtaken India in terms of per capita GDP. However, the very next figure paints an optimistic picture as India has a younger workforce and its growing population is likely to help her catch up with neighbouring China. In 2004, India contributed to 2% of the world economy. By 2025 and 2050, it is estimated that we will contribute 5% and 17% respectively.
Many urban Indians, especially those in the IT & BPO industries, swell with pride when they see such projections. The future seems to hold much promise for India. Indians, especially those from elite academic institutions, advertise the fact that our education is world-class. We feel we have gained a feather in our caps when Westerners marvel at the superior quality of Indian education. For example, in his bestselling book, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman quotes Mike Arguello, an IT systems architect in San Antonio:.
The Indians that I work with are the cream of the crop. They are educated by the equivalents of MIT back in India and there are plenty of them. If you were to follow me in my daily meetings it would become very obvious that a great deal of my time is spent working with Indians. Most managers are probably still under the impression that all Indians are doing is lower-end software development—“software assembly.” But technologies, such as Linux, are allowing them to start taking higher-paying system design jobs that had previously been the exclusive domain of American workers. It has provided them with the means to move up the technology food chain, putting them on par with domestic workers. It’s brain power against brain power, and in this area they are formidable.
True, India does produce some of the world’s most talented scientists, doctors, engineers and writers. But the cream is by no means representative of the average. An article in the very same issue of Business Week cited statistics relating to Indian education that should put a dampener on soaring spirits. 75% of children enrolled in schools drop out by Grade 8, while 85% discontinue by Grade 12. Less than half of those remaining manage to graduate. Moreover, ensuring that children complete school is only half the battle won. A study conducted by Pratham, an NGO, revealed that 41% of children in Uttar Pradesh were unable to read grade-level material in the language of instruction. As most of these children were first generation learners, only 21% of parents were aware that their children were illiterate despite being schooled (Economist, 15 July 2006). The abysmal performance of these children should serve as a wake-up call for the quality of Indian education. By failing to ensure that children attending school achieve a basic level of literacy and numeracy, we are jeopardizing their futures with false promises. Moreover, we will be unable to embrace our potential for growth if we do not create and tap talent within the country.
Urban folk, living in metros with sprawling flyovers and impressive glass facade buildings, might summarily dismiss this alarm call by asserting that poor performance is probably a rural phenomenon. Furthermore, they may revel in the fact that our institutions of higher learning are respected worldwide and produce premium candidates. Unfortunately, the facts speak otherwise as this utopian vision is limited to a few select institutions like the IITs, BITs, RECs & IIMs. What about the average student graduating from an average institution?
Kiran Karnik, President of NASSCOM, wrote in The Hindu (18 July 06) that the “market is providing strong signs about failure of our education system”. He was not referring to graduates from rural schools, but to graduates of colleges of higher education in urban areas. According to him, only 10% of engineering and other graduates are employable in the IT industry. He bemoans that the average quality of a graduate is below par. Hence, despite a number of graduates being unemployed, industry continues to face a shortage of talent. Thus, numbers, in and of themselves, do not mean much, unless our education system can guarantee an acceptable minimum standard that is acceptable to industry. In a similar vein, Mohandas Pai, the HR Chief of Infosys, complained in an interview to Business Line (5 Sept 2006), that our higher education system is “deteriorating rapidly”. According to him, twenty years from now, India will require six crore ‘educated’ people. At present, we produce 30 lakh graduates per year.
So what do we need to do to improve the state of education? First, we need more schools with adequate infrastructure. According to the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, 33% of schools lack basic amenities like toilets and 50,000 do not have blackboards (India Today, 16 October 2006). Second, schools should be made accountable for student performance. While it is unreasonable to expect all schools to churn out top scorers, we have to ensure that basic minimum standards of literacy and numeracy are attained by all students. Every student graduating from high school should be able to converse in the medium of instruction, read text in the language fluently, demonstrate adequate comprehension of grade-level material and exhibit understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts. If schools can ensure that all graduates have acquired these basic skills, they will be more successful at mastering knowledge at the collegiate level and will not necessarily struggle to acquire soft skills that are essential for performance in the work place.
Moreover, schemes may be implemented whereby schools are rewarded for improvement shown by students over time as opposed to merely gauging performance in a single exam. Schools serving disadvantaged students may be provided additional incentives to better the performance of students. Attendance of students and teachers may also be a criterion for rating schools as absenteeism is a rampant problem in schools that cater to children from low-income households. Corporate houses may provide partial sponsorships when schools demonstrate that their students are making tangible gains from being in school.
The country must also invest in meaningful teacher training at all levels, right from preschool to college. As needs of students at different stages vary tremendously, we have to equip teachers with necessary skill sets to cope with the challenges of teaching children of different abilities and backgrounds. The teaching profession also has to be made more attractive to draw creative and talented people. Teacher shortages are being felt right from Kindergarten to institutes of higher learning. The Human Resources Ministry sanctioned 5.96 lakh posts of teachers, of which only 3.29 lakh have been filled (India Today, 16 October 2006). In fact, UNESCO and the International Labour Organisation have forecasted that a global teacher shortage is only going to get more acute in the future. Teachers from India are already migrating to the US and UK where staffing shortages are compelling these countries to import teachers. In addition, teachers are being lured by other professions as teaching is no longer held in high-esteem. If schools and colleges are staffed by substandard faculty, the very pulse of the nation is threatened. In order to attract a talented pool of teachers, we need to restructure remuneration packages and provide opportunities for self-growth through career development programs for teachers.
We also need to revamp our current education system that stresses rote learning and does not necessarily foster creativity or critical thinking. Students are under immense pressure to memorize vast amounts of information, only to forget what was learned after the exam. The main challenge of our exam system is committing vast amounts of information to memory. Exams at the high-school level tend to be mainly objective and factual. Most questions may be answered without requiring students to pause and think. Even mathematics curricula tend to emphasise computations and procedural knowledge at the cost of neglecting conceptual analysis. Right from primary school, students should be encouraged to think creatively and express themselves cogently
The demand for talented people is only going to increase as India continues to grow. The fact that there is a global shortage of talent should not make us complacent. World over there appears to be a decline in standards and quality of education. According to the Corporate Executive Board in Washington D.C., since 2004, the average quality of candidates has fallen by 10% (Economist, 7 October 06). Moreover, over a third of managers interviewed admitted that they had hired substandard candidates due to a talent shortage
As ripples of this global dearth of talent is being felt at home, we need to make a concerted effort to overhaul our education system. Governments, educationists, corporates and policy makers need to join hands to ensure that we capitalize on our biggest strength—our people. Only by guaranteeing that every child who passes through our schooling and college systems attains a respectable level of competence, can we say that our education is truly world-class
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan, Ph.D., did her doctorate in psychology from Harvard University and is the founder & director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention, B’lore & Chennai. She may be reached at arunasankara@gmail.com)
While awareness of learning disabilities has grown in India over the past two decades, the impact of "Tare Zameen Par"cannot be underestimated as it has made 'dyslexia' a household word. The struggles of a dyslexic child, as he tries to survive in an inflexible and insensitive educational system, have been succinctly portrayed. The appeal of the movie, however, lies in its subtext as it turns the spotlight on our educational system and cultural mindset.
Looked at objectively, the protagonist's father and mother are "good parents" who provide for their children, care for them and wish them well. However, despite a strong emotional bond, Mr. and Mrs. Awasthi fail to connect with their child. They think they have the child's best interests in mind, but their perception of "best interests" does not factor in the child's feelings and interests. There are many Ishaans in India, not necessarily dyslexic, but children whose needs are not understood by well-meaning parents.
Cultural trend
This reflects a cultural trend where parents are deemed to know what is best for their children. Most Indian parents will not accept the idea that well-intentioned parents can unknowingly inflict long-term harm on a child. When the child is in step with parental expectations, there is little cause for concern. However, when a child marches to the beat of a different drum, the space between parent and child can gradually widen into a chasm
Just as Ishaan's troubles first surface as relatively minor issues, most problems start as mild conflicts. For example, Anup does not complete his notes in class and gets yelled at by his mother; Shreya, a fourth-grade student, keeps losing her belongings and, as a result, stops receiving lunch money from her parents; Suman, a fifth-grader, cries every Monday morning and her father calls her a "cry-baby"; Kabir, a seventh-grader, is unable to wake up in time for school and his parents get increasingly infuriated by his tardiness. These are small ripples that may grow into stronger currents and morph into stormy waters if parents and teachers ignore these cries for help.
Cry for help
A child who loses things and fails to finish copying notes in class is not necessarily willfully inattentive. Seema is the fattest girl in class and is teased incessantly by her peers. As a result, the child tries to "shut out" the world by entering a fantasy world. Even at home she prefers being in her make-believe world because her mother yells at her for getting two 'incompletes'. The child tries to communicate by refusing to eat. The mother ignores this plea for help. Seema's reluctance to eat only makes her mother angrier and more resolved to straighten out her daughter.
Mother and daughter fail to connect even though Seema's mother tries to be a conscientious parent. She checks her daughter's notebooks every day to see if Seema has any 'incompletes', counts the number of pencils she gives her daughter every morning and makes sure that her child eats all the puris on her plate. Seema's mother is oblivious to the fact that her daughter's weight may be a cause for concern; both physical and psychological.
Similar scenes exist across many homes. If parents are sensitive and share a bond of trust, there is a greater likelihood of problems coming to the fore. Possible solutions can be explored. But if parents turn a deaf ear to their children's silent pleas, then stress builds within the child. Each scolding, each tantrum, each scene continues to increase internal tension until, one day, the valve gives way to an outburst. Many parents wake up only at this point; often, it is too late.
Most problems relating to children do not crop up overnight. However, parents' and teachers' attitude often determines the outcome. Ganesh's parents could not understand why their otherwise bright child was not able to read and spell as well as his peers. His mother stumbled upon an article on learning disabilities and had Ganesh assessed by a psychologist. She learnt that her son was dyslexic. Initially, the parents were stunned, but they gradually began to accept their child's problem. The family moved cities so that Ganesh could receive special education.
Ganesh's reading disability was quite severe. He could grasp concepts, think critically and logically, but reading was a major stumbling block. Ganesh's mathematical skills were also below-average as he could not remember basic arithmetic computations. His parents were very supportive when the principal of the new school felt that he should repeat Grade IV. Ganesh began intervention classes, and made gradual progress. His parents had been told that they must be patient and encourage the child to persevere. After about two months of intervention, his mother was jubilant when her son scored 20 per cent in his English Comprehension test. This was the first time he had attempted to read and answer an unseen passage.
Her optimism was contagious. Her son's grades continued to improve steadily, and moreover, the child began to grow in confidence. When Ganesh scored 90 per cent in his Grade X exams, the family and school were ecstatic. While Ganesh's success is largely due to his efforts, his parents' attitude was also instrumental in motivating him. Had his mother not commended his 'failing' grade of 20 per cent, the child would not be where he is today.
Defeatist attitude
In contrast, Pavan's parents exhibited a defeatist attitude. The child was enrolled in a remedial programme as he was dyslexic. After three months of intervention, his parents felt that they had seen no progress and their child was still obtaining "failing grades". As they were fixated on marks alone as a benchmark of progress, they had not noticed that their child was beginning to "sound out" ; words and was less reluctant to pick up a book. By ignoring the small steps of progress, his parents failed to motivate him.
The movie also captures another urban middle-class phenomenon: the threat of boarding school. When parents are overwhelmed by a child's academic or behaviour problems, residential schools are considered the solution.
This "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" attitude is the last thing the child needs. Even though most parents do not actually act on the threat, simply being threatened makes a troubled child more insecure.
The movie also highlights the role of schools in making or breaking children's lives.
Teachers' role
Just like parents, teachers have a responsibility to listen to students. Not just the ones who talk in class and know the 'right' answers. In fact, they have a greater responsibility to those who do not voice themselves. With class sizes ranging from 40-60, many teachers feel that they simply cannot give individual attention. While teachers cannot attend to every child, they can help identify children who cannot cope. Many schools are trying to do this with teacher education programmes and resource rooms. But, it is the teacher's attitude and passion that determines who will make the extra effort to befriend a child.
Our inflexible education system does not provide room for individual differences and expression. All children are expected to run at a predetermined pace, and the system does not have patience for tail-enders. The fact that India is an 'able-ist' society is mirrored in our attitudes towards disability. However, the movie brought out the relative nature of constructs like 'ability' and 'disability' by portraying a boy with crutches as a class topper.
Even though children are prized highly in Indian culture, they often get a raw deal when they do not conform to parental and societal standards. We need to view "best interests" of children, not from adult pedestals, but from the point of children. In order to do this, parents and teachers have to first shed their expectations and preconditioned notions and embrace children for who they are as opposed to whom we want them to be.
The writer is the founder and director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment and Intervention, Bangalore and Chennai.
Kavya's promotion was doubtful. The school principal asked her parents to have the child assessed by a psychologist as Kavya was simply not coping in Grade IV. Her parents, understandably stressed, followed the school's directive. A psychological assessment was conducted and the report concluded that the child had "specific learning disability" and required "remedial education". While the report mentioned these terms in the final diagnosis, it did not explain what they meant and, more importantly, did not spell out how these conclusions were reached. However, her parents did not wish to question expert opinion and enrolled the child for classes with a special educator. Kavya initially made some progress in school and started scoring better marks; however, while Kavya could read her school textbooks to an extent, she faltered while reading her younger brother's English lessons. When her parents leafed through Kavya's books from her special education class, the lessons covered were mostly from her school books. On questioning the child, her parents felt Kavya's classes resembled regular tuition. As they could not discern any ‘special’ inputs, they wondered what was really special about her special education classes.
Suman's parents were dismayed for different reasons. Their son, who was born with mild cerebral palsy, walked unaided at the age of four. He underwent two corrective surgeries to improve his gait. His speech was normal and his socio-emotional development was age-appropriate. Though he exhibited slight cognitive delay and had a short attention span, Suman definitely did not fit into the "mentally retarded" clinical category. After much debate, his parents opted for a special school as they did not want to pressure the child. Suman enrolled in a school for children with various disabilities. He fared well in the early years. However, after three years, the child developed an aversion for school. During an emotional outburst, he complained to his mother that he was being beaten regularly at school for not writing fast. Aghast, his parents withdrew him from the school and enrolled the child in another special school, hoping for a more humane environment.
Hari's parents faced a different dilemma. They discovered their child was deaf when he was about eighteen months old. Hari underwent a cochlear implant surgery at two years and attended intensive speech therapy. His language skills improved at a considerable pace and by age four, he was able to communicate fairly fluently. When his parents approached a number of mainstream schools for his LKG admission, the child was turned away as his hearing apparatus was visible. Even though Hari could communicate effectively in a mainstream environment, his parents were asked to seek admission in a special school. Finally, Hari enrolled in a school that was open to inclusion.
These three scenarios depict the complexities surrounding the term "special education". As it is broad in scope, definitional clarity is missing. Special education is generally believed to involve instruction for children with disabilities as their needs are not met in regular classrooms. However, this, in and of itself, does not spell out what special education is or who needs it. In Kavya's case, the child was attending a regular school and her disability was not readily apparent. Moreover, her special education classes did not seem to differ from regular tuition. In Suman’s case, the fact that child was beaten by his teacher, made his parents wonder how special his school really was. In the third situation, Hari was asked to enroll in special school even though he could learn effectively in regular classrooms.
Parents need to know what special education is in order to make informed decisions. Instruction that passes as "special education" often does not conform to all the criteria that true special education demands. Instruction in a school that caters to special children cannot automatically qualify as special education as Suman's experience attests. The most basic criterion of special education is that teachers are sensitive to children's needs. Working with special children, in and of itself, need not qualify as special education. Hari, who had circumvented his disability with a cochlear implant, did not require special assistance after he acquired proficiency in speech. Individualized or small group instruction also does not merit the term "special education". In Kavya's case, her special education classes seemed like regular tuition.
There are fundamental differences between special education and tuition, in the regular sense of the word. First, most tuition classes follow the school curriculum to the letter. Tutors teach children mainly with the aim of scoring higher marks in an exam. Most tutors do not assess children formally on their own; they rely on school tests to identify what a child knows and doesn't. Tuition teachers also tend to adopt the "chalk-and-talk" method that epitomizes Indian education. Most tutors do not rely on teaching aids to impart skills or knowledge in creative ways. The average tutor also lacks specialized training in pedagogy or instructional practices.
As "special education" in some schools and centres resembles tuition classes in spirit and deed, parents need yardsticks by which they can gauge the quality and effectiveness of various programs. A number of factors distinguish special education from tuition. Similar to Kavya's case, special education first involves a comprehensive assessment which includes learning about a child's family background, medical and academic histories, personality and interests. Then formal testing is conducted to identify a child's level in different areas. The assessment varies depending on the child's profile. In Kavya's case, her assessment would involve academic skills like reading, spelling, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension and mathematical reasoning and computation and observations of her behaviour. Suman's assessment, on the other hand, will include academic skills and observations regarding his attention span for various tasks. In addition, Suman's gross- and fine-motor development needs to be charted. While special schools may not be able to provide all services under one roof due to space and monetary constraints, they will refer the child to appropriate specialists, like an occupational therapist, speech therapist etc. Special educators are also trained to work with different populations and one special educator may not be able to serve the needs of all special children. Special education involves specialization in different disabilities like autism, mental retardation, hearing impairment, learning disabilities etc.
The focus of special education is on learning, not just to pass exams, but to make the child a more effective and independent learner. A special educator usually prepares a learning plan for each child based on the initial assessment. For Kavya, her plan would target increasing her reading accuracy and speed and improving her spelling. Suman's plan may include phonics instruction, introduction to sight words, improving pencil grasp and handwriting, in addition to his occupational therapy sessions which he attends after school hours. For promoting his attention span, a behaviour modification program may be implemented where the child is rewarded for focusing on activities. These plans are reviewed and revised periodically depending on the child's progress. While flexibility is a hallmark of special education, good practice also demands a clearly defined structure with measurable goals. Creative teaching aids are used to impart skills in an interesting manner. Finally, special educators are trained to work with specific populations and are expected to be sensitive to individual needs of a child. The physical, behavioural, emotional and academic profile of each child has to be kept in mind. In Hari's case, a discerning teacher would realize he does not require special education though he has a visible disability.
In an ideal world, general education should reflect the basic principles embodied in special education as all children are special in their own way. But given the reality of large class sizes, heavy teaching loads and inadequate teacher training, special education evolved as a field as the needs of some children were simply not being addressed in the general system. We have to ensure that special education does not lose its "special" focus.
As her twelfth standard Board exam looms ahead, Indu awakens at night in a cold sweat. Though sleep-deprived, she is unable to fall into a restful sleep. During the day, she is jittery and unable to focus on her studies . Tension pervades her entire house. Her younger brother is debarred from calling friends home as they might disturb Indu. Her mother, high-strung about the impending Boards, religiously wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to ensure that Indu has not slept through the alarm. Even her dad's T.V. time is rationed, lest Indu is tempted. Her mother's watchful gaze shadows Indu's every movement—Why is she taking so long for a bath? Why does Indu get up to answer the phone? Why is she wasting time chatting with the tutor?
The atmosphere at school does little to alleviate Indu's anxiety. Between mock exams and revision tests, students are chastised about their poor performance. "You cannot afford to make such mistakes on the Board exam," reprimands her Maths teacher. Frenzied, frenetic friends shuttle between school and various tuition classes and have little time for each other. A teacher even threatens students that if they score below 60% on the mock exam, they will not be allowed to appear for the Boards.
Not surprisingly, Indu believes that the Std. XII exam is the be-all and end-all of life. A do well-or-die scenario is thrust on adolescents, who are just beginning to make a foray into our competitive world. Not only are students repeatedly told that failure is the end of the road, but are also made to believe that anything less than 90% is "just not good enough".
While it is natural to feel some amount of stress during exams, the intensity of fear that throttles students in India is alarming. Various cultural forces compel us to pressurize children. Foremost, as a culture, we are generally unforgiving of failure. One reason why Board exams assume a larger than life status is that children are made to believe that there are no second chances. This mindset that we have to succeed in the first shot pervades our educational system right from Kindergarten. In certain metros, two- and three-year old children are sent to coaching classes for the admission interview so that they "make it" to a prestigious school. Many parents believe that a child's academic destiny is determined in L.K.G.
Students are seldom given a second chance when they do poorly. The rigidity of our educational system is a reflection of our inflexible standards. If a child does not make the cut-off of 95%, her life long passion of becoming a doctor may be thwarted. Admission criteria usually involve fixed scores—the Boards and possibly admission tests. The rest of the child's academic history is paid scant regard. Colleges do not value extracurricular activities and focus solely on academic achievement. Attributes like perseverance and tenacity for hard work are not necessarily prized by educators.
Carol Dweck, the Stanford psychologist, describes two types of mindsets with which we might approach any task. The fixed mindset views abilities or qualities as entrenched within an individual, and, thereby, fixed or determined for life. In contrast, the growth mindset involves viewing various abilities and qualities as mutable based on experience and effort.
In India, parents and educators tend to subscribe to the fixed mindset. We view attributes like intelligence and athleticism as inherent. When a student does well, she is complimented for her intelligence. However, if the child fails, he is made to feel dejected that he is a "no-good". People with the fixed mindset overplay talent and downplay effort. In contrast, those with the growth mindset value perseverance and hard work.
According to Dweck, it is possible for people to change their mindsets. Parents and educators should appreciate effort and improvement rather than bestow praise for sheer talent. Instead of rewarding success with comments like "You are so talented", we need to reward the effort that children put in. Likewise, when a child fails to do well, we need to motivate him to try harder the next time. Dweck also noticed that children who are praised for their abilities as opposed to effort shy away from challenging tasks for fear of failure. Thus, we need to shift the locus of attribution so that students feel empowered to learn from failure. People with the growth mindset do not necessarily see failure as a permanent setback; rather, they embrace the lessons gleaned from it.
Martin Seligman, a pioneer of positive psychology, rightly says that it is not failure per se that is damaging, but rather our interpretation of it. By elevating Board exams as the pinnacle of a child's school career, we view poor performance on them as catastrophic. Parents and educators need to ‘decatastrophize’ this perception so that children see failure as a temporary setback and continue to persevere despite the odds
We also need to point out to children that the journey is as, if not more, important than the destination. Schools and families should foster a spirit of enquiry that is not based solely on outcomes or what other people think. It is our obsession with outcomes that drives students to cheat on exams. What starts as a minor peccadillo on a school test may grow into a criminal offence if left unchecked.
Following the Enron scandal, Malcolm Gladwell wrote in the New Yorker on the "talent myth" that gripped corporate America. Besotted by the talent pool that corporations were attracting, they begun to see themselves as indispensable. Individuals with prestigious degrees were paid enormous sums for their ‘talent’. This culture pushed people into the fixed mindset. So what do such people do when times get tough and their image jeopardized? According to Gladwell, "They will not take the remedial course. They will not stand up to investors and the public and admit that they were wrong. They'd sooner lie." These words could just as well apply to the Satyam fiasco.
There are no shortcuts to success. Seligman says, "Failure and feeling bad are necessary building blocks for ultimate success and feeling good". As scores of students across the country appear for their Boards in March, parents and teachers may temper fraught nerves with positive, flexible mindsets.
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan is the Director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention. She may be reached at arunasankara@gmail.com)
.Dyslexic with features of ADHD,. .intellectually deficient,. .severely autistic. and .learning disabled. are labels that the mental health and special education fraternities stamp on children with resolute certainty. But the ramifications of such classifications are seldom questioned. While diagnostic labels do carry merit and can transform a child.s life positively, a label is also a cross that the child has to bear. Analyzing the pros and cons of labeling can better orient parents and teachers on how to deal with a diagnosis of a child. Just as a label can enable a child to receive appropriate interventions, the potential drawbacks can also be circumvented if parents are aware of the limiting scope of psychological diagnoses.
In many instances, a label imposes order on unfathomable behaviour. Ravi.s parents were flummoxed by their son.s inability to perform in school as the child seemed bright and even precocious otherwise. From tutors to beatings, from late night coaching to tantalizing rewards, his parents had tried every trick under their belt. Was the child simply lazy, stubborn or stupid? His parents had heated arguments. Finally, when a diagnosis of dyslexia was made, a sense of calm returned to their house. Ravi.s reluctance to read for pleasure, his misspellings, his tendency to by-heart his texts, his asking his granny to read aloud to him.suddenly, the child.s inexplicable behaviour fell into a coherent pattern. His parents were then able to seek the right kind of remedial instruction and were also able to avail of accommodations on exams.
Likewise, when Amita received a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, her parents were able to connect the disparate dots. In addition to putting a stop to misguided treatments, they felt they understood their child. Her inability to sustain eye contact was not just shyness, her inattention not just naughtiness, her inability to adapt to new routines not just adamancy. The frustration of getting her to make friends and follow instructions now morphed into a positive resolve to provide the best help for their special child. As a result, Amita’s parents started handling her issues more maturely. “Before she was formerly diagnosed, I thought she was being plain stubborn,” confessed her mother.
Thus, while labels can help parents understand and deal with a child in more humane ways, a label can also be extremely confining. Even though diagnostic labels are accorded with black-and-white conviction, often psychological and psychiatric diagnoses encompass many shades of grey. Most psychological constructs like attention, intelligence and depression fall on a continuum; thus, a person’s dysphoric mood may range from mild sadness to extreme dejection. Every one of us has periods of inattentiveness, bouts of sadness and a feeling of being intellectually compromised. When does ‘normal’ inattentiveness turn into ADHD, regular sadness into depression and incompetence into “borderline intellectual capacity”? While clinical diagnoses are typically made on severity, frequency and duration of symptoms, we must remember that the categorical distinctness implied by a label is not set in stone. Moreover, symptoms across disorders often overlap and two disorders may coexist in a person, thus making diagnosis a rather thorny affair.
Second, a label boxes a child within a clinical frame and brings the disability into focus. As sociologist Erving Goffman points out, a person with a label has to be extremely mindful of “minor failings” as all his behaviour is perceived through the lens of his disability. Thus, if a child who is known to be mildly autistic throws a tantrum, his misbehavior is seen as a manifestation of his autism. However, if his autism is not known to the observer, his tantrum may be viewed as a regular part of growing up.
Labels also highlight a child’s deficits without paying any heed to her individual strengths. A child may have ADHD, but can have extraordinary musical talent; a child with Asperger’s may be a gifted painter; a dyslexic may be an avid bird-watcher and a slow-learner very compassionate towards pets. A label also ignores environmental features that may exacerbate a problem. A child with ADHD may be inattentive in an academic setting but may be able to sustain focus and build elaborate models while playing with a Lego set. While the label points a finger at the child, it does not brand the context that may exacerbate a child’s difficulties.
Moreover, labels tend to perpetuate stereotypes and disregard individual differences. According to psychologists Beatrice Wright and Shane Lopez, “human perception is coerced by the mere act of grouping things together.” While we readily accept that ‘normal’ kids can be quite different in terms of their personalities, preferences and proclivities, we tend to assume that all children with a particular clinical tag are alike. However, we do not realize that children are labeled based on a finite number of attributes. Thus, kids with the same label can differ considerably on other dimensions. So while most children with autism have difficulties with communication and social skills, they vary not only in terms of the severity of their deficiencies, but also with regard to their interests, hobbies and intellectual capacities.
Finally, labels are not as neutral as they seem on a clinical report. Parents and children have to cope with the social stigma that sticks like static to clinical labels and the discrimination that results from them. As a society, we Indians tend to be rather unforgiving and categorize people for life. The idea that an individual can change and succeed despite failing early on is not readily embraced by the average Indian. Once a child acquires a label, she has to carry its load on her fragile shoulders for life.
Even the developers of DSM-IV, the Bible of psychiatric classification, emphasize that it is essential to “capture additional information that goes far beyond diagnosis”. As Wright and Lopez point out, when a child receives a label, parents and teachers may try and reduce the child’s deficits by providing the child with various interventions. But it is equally important that we pay attention to a child’s strengths and nurture them. Furthermore, we need to assess the environments in which children operate and provide as many resources and opportunities so that each child can flourish in unique and different ways.
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan is the Director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention. She may be reached at arunasankara@gmail.com)
Snazzy video-games, 24/7 online access, instant messaging & the omnipresent TV have children in their thrall. In today's pixilated world, youngsters, reared on a diet of gadgets & gizmos, have little time for books. While parents are proud of their e-savvy kids, getting children to read nowadays can be a herculean task. Parents complain that children have short attention spans, read only comics and tire easily of chapter books. Even the Harry Potter magic hasn't really worked as most children sheepishly admit that they have only watched the movies. As we raise a new generation of e-readers who seamlessly navigate virtual terrain, are we losing certain skills? And despite dizzying digital distractions, is it possible for parents to raise a reader, not just the e-variety, but the traditional sort who can enjoy a book, cover to cover?
Vinod, a quintessential NXgener, usually does research for school projects on the internet. Like many kids his age, he begins his project on magnetism that is due the next day at 6 p.m. on a Sunday evening, even though the assignment was given weeks in advance, knowing that he just has to Google key words for information to "pop up" in a jiffy. He skims and scans four or five websites, barely glancing at each one for more than a few seconds. He then copy-pastes and prints information and illustrations. As his teacher insists that he handwrites projects, Vinod dutifully copies fragmented pieces of text, interspersed with visuals printed from the net.
This kind of project barely promotes skills essential for meaningful research which include the ability to think analytically and inferentially, synthesize information from various sources and critically evaluate the legitimacy of sources and information. As information is literally available on people's fingertips nowadays, we need to foster these skills to a greater degree because the internet also misinforms and misdirects. Ironically, the good, old-fashioned art of reading books helps cultivate discerning minds that are necessary for making informed decisions in the Information Age
According to the noted educationist, David Olson, reading changes the cognitive landscape of the reader and makes him more observant. In spoken language, a speaker's intentions are often conveyed in more than just words. When a person speaks, she conveys meaning through tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures in addition to words. However, in writing, these extralinguistic features are absent and meaning has to be conveyed through words only. Thus, the reader is introduced to a new vocabulary, not usually used in speech. By learning words to describe nonverbal cues, readers and writers become more aware of these nuances of communication.
Reading also allows a child to take on the perspective of another. As the child identifies with a character in a book, she may show greater empathy towards others as she is used to viewing situations from multiple lenses. Most stories centre around a conflict and attempts at its resolution. These literary problem-solving experiences serve as fodder when a child is confronted with similar issues, be it with friends, parents or teachers.
TAs children become "mind readers", not only their thoughts but also their behaviour changes. According to psychologist, Penelope Vinden, children "become not just little reactors to the world, but little reflectors on the world." The art of reflection gradually extends to different domains and flickering attention spans get lengthened.
What can parents and teachers do to foster the reading habit in children? First, it is important to talk to children and engage in narrative dialogue. While this may seem self-evident to most parents, very often, in the humdrum of running our lives, we 'tell' children what to do without actually talking to them. As far as possible, parents should expand on their utterances to children and use a variety of words and sentence forms. Speaking in more than one language, which is the rule rather than the exception in most middle-class Indian homes, is also beneficial as early bilingual exposure, before age three, has a positive impact on reading and language development, according to neuroscientist, Laura-Ann Petitto of Dartmouth College.
And when is the best time to get children interested in books? As early as possible. Reading aloud to an infant is a stimulating and bonding experience for both parent and child. As a two-year old hears the cadences of her father's voice rise and fall, the warm, fuzzy emotion of being soothed on a parent's lap is paired with the act of reading, which is then perceived as a pleasurable activity. The child also gains print awareness, starting with the recognition that squiggles on a page stand for spoken words.
Victoria Purcell-Gates, a reading researcher, examined the language competence of two groups of five-year olds—those who were read to at least five times a week versus those who had not been read to over the past two years. The "well-read-to" group exhibited a more extensive vocabulary, used longer phrases and a greater variety of sentence structures.
Parents sometimes bemoan that their kids have tons of books at home but still don’t read. However, simply stocking bookshelves does not create a conducive environment for reading. It is not books per se that distinguish literacy-enriched homes from literacy-impoverished ones but the culture that pervades the house. After all, being 'literate', in the broad sense of the term, involves becoming 'enculturated'.
Few parents actually serve as role models by reading themselves. When parents engage in literary pursuits, children are likely to follow suit. A literacy-enriched home is one in which all members of the family can be found snuggled with books. At dinner time, parents discuss news stories and ask children for their views. The tedium of long car journeys is broken by playing hangman and word building. Sunday afternoons are spent around a Scrabble board. Regular visits to libraries are another feature of these homes
Some children, in spite of being immersed in such an environment, fail to develop into readers. Exasperated parents complain that their kids have short attention spans and only pick books below their reading or grade level. Children's attention spans for reading may be cultivated by reading aloud, even to older children. As the child does not have to put effort into decoding words, she may get drawn into the story more easily. Parent and child may also take turns reading aloud. For silent reading, allow the child to pick a book, regardless of the level. As the child's facility with reading improves, he will graduate to more mature choices. Audio books may also be used to entice children into reading.
Teachers also play a significant role in promoting reading. Most Indian schools think that the job of reading instruction is done once children can decode words accurately. However, reading accurately is only one dimension of instruction. A critical aspect of reading instruction that is severely neglected in our schools is fluency, which, according to eminent reading researcher Maryanne Wolf, involves reading text accurately at an age-appropriate speed with suitable intonation and expression and, most importantly, comprehension. Our system of education does not place adequate emphasis on reading for meaning. Teachers may model comprehension strategies like making connections between the text and the self, the world and other books. Children may be guided, initially through pictures, on how to visualize vivid descriptions, how to make inferences and decipher meaning of unknown words from contextual cues. Finally, just as homes can promote a literate culture, schools may motivate students to read by inviting local authors, recognizing readers of the month and organising language labs, book clubs and reading-related projects.
For India to achieve 100% literacy in the fullest sense, it is not enough to simply teach the mechanics of reading and writing. Ultimately, literacy informs a way of life. Instead of children reading under pressure, we should strive to be a nation full of children reading for pleasure.
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan is the Director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention. She may be reached at arunasankara@gmail.com)
As the mercury soars in summer, suicide rates peak. The anguish, when Board exam results are announced, compels some children to contemplate this drastic step. Some form of mental illness afflicts one in five youth in the age group of 18 to 24. Teachers complain of decreasing attention spans. Kids have easy and ready access to "inappropriate content" on the internet. Police-and-robber games of yesteryear are replaced by terrorist threats and suicide bombers. Exposed to unrelenting visuals of violence and gore on television, the average Indian child, is undoubtedly, witnessing greater forms of stress and strain than previous generations. Being a "cool teenager" nowadays entails affecting a cynical and derisive attitude. Despite government regulations, ragging crosses unacceptable limits in some hostels. Moreover, changing family dynamics with double-income households, strenuous commutes and BlackBerries that blur work-life boundaries further take their toll on familial well-being.
In these increasingly tumultuous times, a barrage of doubts clouds our minds. As parents and educators, should we remain passive and hope for the best or do we let our paranoia get the better of us? While we can't shield our children from the troughs of life forever, should we handhold them for longer? Many parents give their teenagers cell phones, not to empower them, but to keep a perennial tab on their whereabouts. However, remote monitoring is not a stress-proof buffer. Moreover, overprotecting our wards may actually harm them in the long haul as we may deprive them of opportunities for developing essential life skills. Thus, when children are more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of our times, how can we equip them to handle these pressures with a more even keel?
The science of positive psychology can inform us of tried-and-tested programs and practices to maximize human potential, in all its myriad forms. Until the nineties, psychology focused on causes, diagnoses and treatment of various forms of mental illness. As researchers mainly studied problems like depression, inattention and obsessions, psychology as a field was perceived as dealing with mental ill-health.
This notion was turned on its head in 1998 when Martin Seligman proposed that psychology should also focus on mental health and well-being. What factors boost happiness and longevity? How does one find meaning in life? As psychologists began to grapple with these issues, a vast body of knowledge has grown that can be of immense beneficial to parents and teachers.
For example, Seligman and his colleagues devised a program to make children more resilient and optimistic. When a child faces a setback, she may either succumb to its pressures or rise above it depending on how she perceives and interprets the problem to herself. For example, when Tanya fails her math exam, she exclaims, "I am such a loser. If I didn't pass my half-yearly, how will I cope on the final with its vast portions? I may not get promoted and everyone will think I am dumb." Rajiv, on the other hand, consoles himself saying, "The exam was really tough. Even the highest mark was lower than usual. Now, I know that this teacher gives hard exams and I have to prepare even harder for the finals." Tanya perceives the problem through a pessimistic lens: she takes her failure personally ("I am a loser"), feels that the exam will impact her entire academic performance ("I may not get promoted") and views academics as permanently challenging. In contrast, Rajiv feels that his failure was due to external circumstances and he can make a proactive effort to study harder. Thus, by systematically teaching children ways to challenge their pessimistic thoughts, we can help them function more optimally.
Another path-breaking program, developed by Mark Greenberg of Penn State University, attempts to promote children's social-emotional intelligence. Through stories, role plays and cartoons, the program fosters self-awareness of emotions in children. Many children, especially those with attention problems, are usually unable to curb their "gut reactions." By learning how to identify and label feelings and use self-calming techniques, a child can conquer the "impulse of the moment" and react in a more measured manner.
Indian schools typically emphasize cognitive tasks over other aspects of a child’s personality. Catherine Lewis describes the refreshingly different outlook of Japanese elementary education. In stark contrast to the intense pressure-cooker environment of higher grades in Japan, primary education focuses on children's social and emotional development. A typical 5-year old spends only 5% of the school day in direct academic instruction. Children are given a lot of time for free, unstructured play so that they may forge bonds and learn how to cooperate with one another. An integral component of Japanese schooling is asking children engage in hansei or reflection after a group activity. Fighting and crying episodes serve as catalysts to promote self-awareness. Misbehaviour is typically met with questions and discussions to promote understanding rather than evoking blind compliance. Teachers ask children to focus on feelings of others when viewing consequences of their actions. The three pivots of Japanese elementary education are fun, participation of all members and a focus on a group's growth as opposed to individual achievements.
CBSE schools are poised for change. With Class X Board exams being abolished and schools adopting a more holistic approach with their continuous assessment, education is likely to acquire a qualitatively different feel. While many teachers and parents are apprehensive about this transition, educators may draw upon findings from concrete, evidence-based positive psychology programs when trying to promote children's social and emotional intelligences. The shift in emphasis from purely cognitive tasks may, thus, usher a truly positive change in our children.
(Aruna Sankaranarayanan is the Director of PRAYATNA, Centre for Educational Assessment & Intervention. She may be reached at arunasankara@gmail.com)