Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

These children are at ease with sounds of alphabet

— Photo: R. Ashok

special care: Geetha Ragavan of Madras Dyslexia Association addressing teachers of Sri Sivananda Balalaya in Tiruchi.

TIRUCHI: ‘Ishaan’ (Darsheel Safari) of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ might be a composite of scores of children we bump into everyday. But how many ‘Nikumbh’s (Aamir Khan) have we come across who see through the academic life of school children with care?

The question was raised by Geetha Ragavan and Vilasini Diwakar of Madras Dyslexia Association at a workshop on dyslexia at Sri Sivananda Balalaya on Saturday. With every behavioural problems listed out by the speakers, one could not help but relate to the Aamir Khan-starred Bollywood blockbuster.

Remember Ishaan, when asked by his class teacher to point out adjectives, complaining ‘letters are dancing?’ Well, that’s what most of the dyslexic students feel when they begin to read sentences. “These students have difficulty in remembering alphabets and numbers,” Ms. Ragavan told the teachers, who attended the workshop.

Dyslexic students will have no idea of punctuation and no sense of direction. “We would have noticed many students fumbling with their books and arranging their bags clumsily. Keep a watch on them. They might suffer from dyslexia,” she said. These students could be frustrated with slightest provocation and their tolerance level will be very low, and find it hard to accept changes.

If one of your students at the class gets distracted easily, acts impulsively and either too withdrawn or extremely aggressive, the student needs immediate attention, Ms. Ragavan said. Their poor gross motor skills make them bad writers, clumsy in joining dots, lines and filling colours with shapes. Parents and teachers set up goals for these children who are, unfortunately, not equipped to achieve it.

Failing to identify and help these children will take a toll on their self-esteem and increase their frustration. Ms. Diwakar gave a beginners’ guide for teachers who handle dyslexic children. “Teach the students the sounds of alphabets rather than the names. Phonemes and images are likely to stay in their memory for a longer time than letters and numbers.”

Students with dyslexia are brilliant in every other sphere such as arts and crafts but lag behind in reading, writing and spelling. “Dyslexia is not a disease, it is a condition,” she said, in reply to a question on overcoming it. “A dyslexic child is always dyslexic. However, we can design strategies to help them learn to live with it,” she said.

School correspondent K. G. Meenakshi hoped that the workshop would help teachers identify and guide students with a right approach.

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