Special school helps children overcome learning difficulties
Special school helps children overcome learning difficulties
JAKARTA (JP): Ronny is a smart, healthy and energetic boy, but
he never sits still. He is always getting into trouble for being
disruptive in class.
But his teachers have found more serious problems as the boy
is still unable to write legibly despite trying extremely hard.
The 10-year-old Ronny, now in the fourth grade, is making
little progress in school despite having an IQ level of 140 (the
normal range is between 90 and 110).
Amanda, aged eight, is described by her parents and teachers
as a bright girl. Her intelligence is above average but her
reading ability is that of a six year old. Neither her parents,
teachers nor a psychologist have been able to find any reason why
she should find reading so difficult.
Amanda's parents are puzzled and concerned because her
teachers have given up hope, meaning she will have to move
school.
Psychologists and medical experts describe students like Ronny
and Amanda as intelligent children who have significant but
unexplained difficulties in learning.
There are hundreds or even thousands of students like them who
suffer from specific learning difficulties (LDs) in one or more
areas of learning such as reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic
and language as well as motor coordination. All are basic skills
which are vital for a child's success at school.
Data from the Ministry of Education and Culture shows that
about two million children fail and drop out of school every
year. The data also shows that 40 percent of the students failed
because they have learning difficulties and 25.4 percent of them
have an above-average IQ.
There are clear indications that this group of pupils has
always been ignored or overlooked by the national education
system. Such students have been found in almost every classroom
since the early l970s, but only a very few ever received
professional help.
Because of inappropriate academic and emotional handling,
these students are easily labeled by teachers, parents and
society as naughty and unintelligent or simply lazy. Experts,
however, do not agree with this stereotyped judgment.
Dr. Atie W. Sukandar, together with a number of prominent
figures such as Karlina Umar Wirahadikusumah -- the wife of
former vice president Umar Wirahadikusumah -- and noted fashion
designer Harry Darsono, made a breakthrough by opening the
Pantara elementary school in South Jakarta in August l997.
It is mainly aimed at students with LDs, including those
suffering from dyslexia, discalculia, disgraphia, disphasia and
attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity.
"Our main objective is to change people's attitude toward
these children. It is important for people -- teachers, parents
and the public, to understand that children with LDs are capable
and talented in many ways," said Atik, the chairwoman of the
Pantara Foundation.
Those children deserve a formal education and a proper place
in society, added Atik during a recent meeting of Pantara's
parents group. Unfortunately, most schools' academic programs are
not designed to accommodate children with LDs.
"To further complicate the problem, educators and facilities
needed to help such children are still lacking. This is mainly
due to people's poor understanding of the issue," she added.
In the standard schooling system, these children are often
unable to perform to their best. Ironically, the kids that fail
behaviorally and academically in the mainstream schools have very
high IQ levels. This, she said, further emphasized the need for
an adaptive schooling system.
"These students need different styles of learning which
combine flexible teaching methods, smaller class size, warm
learning atmosphere, and qualified and cooperative teachers,
things that are rarely available in ordinary schools," she noted.
Pantara Elementary School currently has classes for four age
groups, ranging from first to sixth grade, each with 33 students.
Each class is limited to only seven students with two to three
teachers per class.
Pantara adopts the l994 national curriculum, dubbed by many
educators as being too rigid and burdensome for normal students,
let alone for those suffering from LDs.
Ida Farida, the school's principal, however, argues that the
curriculum has been modified enough to meet the needs of each
child. The school readjusts its programs to set more realistic
goals that the students can fulfill.
"We are still in the nursery stage and we need a lot of
improvements in our teaching methods," Ida admitted.
Despite its shortcomings, the school management was encouraged
to see the results of the l997/l998 academic year, which showed
that most of Pantara's students were able to follow all the
school subjects in accordance with the national curriculum.
The establishment of this special school has provided
indicators that pupils with learning difficulties are able to
study the mainstream curriculum.
Atik said the school planned to implement many programs in the
near future, such as adding physical education facilities and
expanding other facilities, training teachers and joint programs
with other related education institutions both in Indonesia and
abroad.
A student has to pay Rp 150,000/month, excluding the fee for
extra curricular activities and necessary therapy.
However, the school is facing serious financial problems in
carrying out all the planned programs. Running a special school
such as Pantara requires considerable sums of money, not only to
provide supporting facilities but also for a permanent school
building.
At present, the school rents part of a teacher training
college building on Jl. Akhmad Dahlan, Kebayoran Baru, South
Jakarta.
Unless support from related institutions, both private and
government becomes available soon, the chance for children with
learning problems to gain access to a good education will slim
significantly slim and they might well join the country's
mounting number of school dropouts. (raw)