The Hindu : New Delhi News : Bringing out the best in children

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Monday, Sep 07, 2009
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Bringing out the best in children

Photo: Anu Pushkarna

Making a point: Noted educationist and author Meenakshi Dave in New Delhi.

Based on her vast experience, noted educationist Meenakshi Dave tells Madhur Tankha how vital it is for teachers to identify and to give special aid to children with learning disabilities.

It took her years to understand the complex problems of learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia among children. And not surprisingly, noted educationist Meenakshi Dave’s maiden book, “Intelligent Otherwise”, is aimed at making teachers identify, understand and tackle learning disability among children.

“As I am from the teaching profession, I was always fascinated to know what learning disability was all about. My recently released book ‘Intelligent Otherwise’ is aimed at creating awareness among the teaching community about this peculiar problem,” she says.

Pointing out that it is difficult for a teacher to figure out which student suffers from learning disability, Ms. Dave says a teacher needs to pay attention to each and every student in a class but has certain limitations.

“Normally a teacher pays attention to only the bright students because he or she wants to improve the school’s aggregate. The problem of identifying kids with learning disability is compounded by the fact that they look absolutely normal. They are different from the physically and mentally challenged kids. However, when they want to read and write they are unable to make sense of letters or words. They are blessed with a creative bent of mind and have a talent for painting, music and sports. And have a high intelligence quotient like Albert Einstein who was a dyslexic. So teachers need to harness their talent in a productive way.”

When her husband Arvind Dave was posted in the United States in the 1990s, Ms. Dave decided to use her time studying special education at Washington Lab School in Washington D. C. “Children with disability slog hard in academics but don’t get the desired results. As a result they get admonished by their parents and teachers. Even their classmates make fun of them. This problem was recognised in the US and other developed countries as far back as 1963.”

After finishing her course in the U.S., Ms. Dave got an opportunity to share her knowledge with teachers of Arunachal Pradesh from 1999 to 2003.

“When my husband was occupying the post of Governor, I was entrusted with the work of an honorary resource person who gave lectures on the characteristics of such students. I used to deliver a series of lectures in an honorary capacity to primary school teachers at the District Institutions of Educational training.”

After gaining expertise on the subject during her long years of teaching, Ms. Dave thought of writing about her experience and research for her own creative satisfaction. “When I showed some of my writing to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit she evinced keen interest in the subject and encouraged me to hunt for a publisher. Then I stumbled across one article in a supplementary that reported that Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was looking for a book on dyslexia in bookstores to help him understand the subject as his first directorial debut ‘Taare Zameen Par’ was about a child who suffers from dyslexia. But Aamir couldn’t not find a single book on the subject. This motivated me to produce a book to fill in the vacuum.”

Ms. Dave says even normal children have serious problems in proving themselves. “Our educational system is marks oriented. As we cannot change the educational system, we need to provide the right environment to these children. Teachers need to be more compassionate towards them in order to bring them at par with other students. They need to understand that children with learning disability are different from kids who are slow learners. A child with this disability might be a wizard at problem solving but due to dyslexia or dyscalculia he would have problems in becoming a part of the group.”

Advocating use of practical aids like clay in teaching, Ms. Dave said this would give every child a chance to learn through his senses -- visually, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. “In this direction, I appreciate Delhi Chief Minister’s launch of Building as Learning Aid (BALA) at Savada Gheria in Delhi where every inch of the school building -- staircase, walls and pillars -- help students in learning.”

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