Learning disabilities need prompt action
Learning disabilities need prompt action
JAKARTA (JP): If your child has to repeat a year at school, it
is possible that he or she suffers from a learning disability, an
expert says.
Learning disabilities should be treated properly and promptly
before they hamper the child's future, Ika Widyawati of the
Children and Adolescent Psychiatry Division of Cipto Mangunkusumo
Hospital said Saturday.
Learning disabilities are one of the major reasons why many
elementary school students fail to pass their year, Ika said,
adding that the average failure rate was 9 percent a year.
It is normal for children to have difficulties reading,
writing, spelling and calculating in the first two years at
school, she said.
But if the problems persist, the child may have a learning
disability, she said in a seminar on the handicap.
The seminar was sponsored by PT Astra CMG Life to mark its
fifth anniversary. Proceeds from the seminar will be donated to
the Pantara Foundation, which has just opened a school for
children with learning disabilities in the Mayestik area, South
Jakarta.
The foundation is chaired by Atie Wardiman, the wife of
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro.
Learning disabilities include dyslexia (a disturbance of the
ability to read), dyscalculia (an inability to calculate) and
dysgraphia (an inability to write, as a result of brain
dysfunction), Ika said.
Psychological and social factors, as well as physical factors
contribute to the condition, she said.
The condition could develop as a result of the child having
either above or below average intelligence.
Children who start school before turning six years old were
probably not ready and could develop learning disabilities.
Parental pressures, and abnormal relations with peers,
teachers or parents can also trigger problems.
A child with learning disabilities should be treated by a team
comprising education, psychological and medical experts.
"With the establishment of Pantara foundation, we are now
moving to the direction of one-roof service to help students with
learning disability," Ika told The Jakarta Post.
Pantara school, the first in the country that specializes in
educating children between six and 12 years old with learning
disabilities, was scheduled to begin classes on Aug. 1. The
foundation has waived tuition fees for the 1997/1998 school year.
Ika, who has been hired by the school as a consultant, sensed
parents' hesitation in sending children to a special school.
Attendance at the school is temporary and children will be
able to return to ordinary schools once they overcome their
individual problems, she said.
The Indonesian bureaucracy however could make it difficult for
children to switch schools.
"In Indonesia, there are too many procedures, and the student
will have to pay an entrance fee again," Ika said. "In some
foreign countries, students can easily return to an ordinary
school after treatment," she said. (10)