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)