Give equal chances to children with learning disabilities

KUALA LUMPUR Dec 4 - Imagine your child being deprived of the chance to get an education, a basic right that many of us take for granted, just because he or she is a child with learning disabilities (LD). That is the scenario that many parents of children with learning disabilities like Down syndrome, Dyslexia and Austism fear, according to the President of the Parent Support Group for the Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation (KDSF), Petaling Jaya Centre, Wan Mohd Hanizam. Wan Hanizam, who has a six-year-old Down Syndrome daughter, said the fears are founded as some parents are worried that their children might not pass the Special Education Department's Assessment Test. With his daughter approaching schooling age soon, he is naturally concerned with her chances of securing a place in the mainstream schools to enable her to learn just like normal children of her age. However, foremost on his mind is whether she can cross the hurdle for the Assessment Test, which every children with LD have to take in order to gauge their competence level to get admitted to the mainstream schools. He said the Education Ministry should review this current practice and come up with a system whereby children who fail the test would still be given a chance to begin their formal education. Wan Hanizam said that even if his daughter manages to get a place in the school, chances are she would be placed in a special class, where children with all types of LD would be combined and taught by specially trained teachers. Besides, he said that combining children with multi LD into the same class is not advisable as these children have different temperament and conditions that need specific focus and attention from their teachers. Echoing his feelings is Jamaliah Moonier, a mother of a nine-year-old boy with Down Sydrome, enrolled in one of the special classes in Sekolah Kebangsaan Desa Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. She said that the teachers, even those trained in special education are usually ill-prepared to handle children with different LD and this situation would slowly lead to a decline in their morale and dedication. "I have seen teachers at their wits end as they need to deal with Down Syndrome, hyperactive, spastic and autistic kids in the same class. "In the end, many of them will be pushed to the limits and give up as they have run out of patience," said Jamaliah, whose son underwent the Early Intervention Programme (EIP) in the Kiwanis PJ Centre from age four to six. However, she thinks that the Assessment Test is a good way, which is necessary to ascertain the competence level of children with LD to ensure that they would be able to cope once they begin formal education. "Some parents became very angry when their children fail the test but what is the point of putting them in the special classes if they have not mastered the basic skills like arranging objects and differentiating things," she questioned. Wan Hanizam also pointed out that some mainstream schools were reluctant to accept children with LD for fear that this may affect their academic performance. In these instances, the school authorities would usually give the lame excuse that they have no trained teachers to cater to the needs of special children with LDs, said Wan Hanizam. "In the end, their discouraging attitude would stop the parents from sending their children with LD to the schools given that they won't be able to learn," he said. He said this problem is compounded by the shortage of qualified and trained teachers in the field of special education. "This is caused by the public perception that special education training is only something that you go into if you have nothing better to do," he lamented. He suggested that one solution could be to include the special education subject as part of the teacher training syllabus so that every teacher would acquire the necessary qualifications to teach children with LDs if and when the need arise. As for Jamaliah, she said the government could consider building more centres especially in the rural areas to help parents with children with LDs especially Down Syndrome. "The waiting list to enrol in the EIP at the NGO-run centres is very long. I registered with the Kiwanis centre once my son was born but he was only accepted when he was four years old," she said. Wan Hanizam seconded her opinion, saying that at present it is the NGOs that are taking the lead in building and creating centres to cater to the needs of these parents. "At the moment, there's no government-funded centres which actually address the different types of LD, although we have multi-disability centres," he said. But, these centres were not really effective in teaching children with LD as these children required very specific and specialised kind of EIP to stimulate their cognitive and motor skills, he said. 05/12/2000 - Utusan Express

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