A different way of learning

There isn’t one single person in the world who is capable of doing everything he or she sets his or her mind on. There might be some individuals who think they are, but that is a different matter altogether. Even daily activities which are mastered by many and are thus taken for granted tend to categorise us into good, not so good and even bad performers.

Reading is no different from any other daily activity especially for children in their developmental phase. If one had to follow the reading progress of a class of children, one will find that while some of them can read fluently from an early age, others take longer to master the activity while others still never really do completely.

There could be many reasons why a child is unable to read well. Dyslexia is but one of them. Dyslexia is a learning disability that impairs a person’s ability to read. Despite being classified as a learning disability, dyslexia does not affect the person’s intelligence quotient (IQ) since reading and cognition develop independently in our brain pathways. Maria Cauchi noticed that there was something not quite right with her son Ryan by the time he was four. “The first thing I noticed was that he could not get used to the different colours,” she explained. “Initially I thought he was colour-blind but then realised it was something different as then he could recognise the colour if I associated it with something from everyday life,” and continued, “For example if I asked him to find something yellow he wouldn’t but then if I asked him to find me something the colour of a banana he understood me straight away.” The diagnosis of dyslexia was clinched two years later.

Maria confesses the biggest hurdle at the time was the lack of information and support. “I had little idea what my son’s condition was about and so had even less of an idea how to deal with it,” she exclaims, “so I got myself on the internet and read all the information I could get about the condition and the latest developments to be able to support him the best way I could.”

She continued to explain that although she did her best to understand him he did not always get this kind of empathy in class. “Ryan tries his best to read and understand but unfortunately he continuously gets stuck unless he gets help, especially on long words,” she says. “However, he only got a reader for the first time during his half-yearly exams when he was in Grade 4,” she sighs shaking her head sadly.

On a positive note, Maria admits that things started moving a little when Ryan was in Grade 6 with the setting up of the Specific Learning Difficulties Service (SpLD) headed by Christine Firman. “It was at this time that Ryan had the first proper assessment; we also used to have weekly informative meetings and at least in his secondary school years he used to have a reader during his exams,” she explains.

In Maria’s opinion, too much importance is given locally to the reading and writing aspect of learning and this blocks dyslexic students like her son, who despite being quite intelligent, are set back due to their inability to channel their capabilities in the conventional academic ways. “Although it used to take Ryan a long time to do homework, he was always good at crafts and very often got school prizes in subjects like religion, drama and design and technology,” she says her voice saturated with pride.

Maria feels that throughout the years, from the diagnoses till today, dealing with her son’s condition has been one continuous uphill struggle. “The irony about this is that listening to experts talking on television they seem so well versed about the condition and what needs to be done to help children affected with it,” she expresses with a wry smile “however, in reality, even though the situation is much better, progress achieved is still very slow,” she concludes.

Maria believes that the one basic thing that those involved need to work on is to accept the fact that despite their reading disability these children usually have higher skills in other fields which if explored and supported could allow the child to express them and develop them to the full. “The sun rises for all of us,” she says softly with a pained look in her beautiful hazel eyes “and we all have the right for equal opportunities to achieve in one way or the other”.

Support for all dyslexics

The SpLD Service was set up 13 years ago with the aim of raising awareness and give support to those children with dyslexia. “At the time there were just three of us but then we only had to cater for about 50 children,” Christine Firman, education officer for literacy reminisces.

Now, due to the intiatives of the director, Raymond Camilleri, the SpLD Unit has a complement of 11 teachers and one head of department with a specialist qualification in the area of dyslexia.

“This is still a relatively small number of teachers,” Dr Firman explains “especially since the specialist teachers are generating more awareness in schools and this in turn leads to greater demands for assessment and intervention,” she continues. “The directorate has, in fact, issued calls to employ more teachers to work at SpLD Service and eventually take up specialist training but, unfortunately, few have responded positively and enthusiastically,” she adds.

To make up for this shortage the SpLD Service is recommending class-based strategies which could contribute to further motivate other students and facilitate their learning opportunities. “Parental support and understanding continue to be of paramount importance; for this reason we have regularly organised courses to empower parents, to give them information on the implications of the condition and sensitise them to the particular needs of their child,” explains Dr Firman. “Dyslexic children simply need more time and perseverance and can show gradual but consistent progress if both the teacher and the parents support them appropriately,” she adds.

Dr Firman hopes that the more awareness is raised the more dyslexic individuals can be accepted and integrated even as adults. “Employers need to understand that people with dyslexia can be very creative and have a lot to offer despite some limitations in reading and writing,” she says.

“At the moment we have a situation where adults with dyslexia often choose to hide their condition for fear of not being considered for the post,” she concludes with feeling.

In today’s world where boundaries in learning, new discoveries in every field and ways of living have been stretched beyond any limits, I guess it is time for us to also stretch our capacity of acceptance and understanding that what is different does not necessarily mean inferior. This could go a long way to support the sterling and dedicated work done by so many people in the fields of education, health and social welfare to allow people with different needs to be integrated in our society to the full. This, after all, is the right of every human being and no one should come in the way of stopping it.