You write ‘on’, she reads ‘No’

Why dyslexia and other learning disabilities take so long to be discovered. By FRANC OGONGO

All parents want to see their children prosper academically. To this end, some try to do everything in their power to ensure their children have no hindrances to achieving excellence. But despite this dedication, the report forms bear the same remarks term after term after term: “John is slow to grasp simple concepts”, “John needs to put more effort into his work”, “John shows no interest in classwork” and on and on.

What the remarks never point out is that John’s poor grades could have everything to do with the fact that he has a learning disability. As difficult as this is to accept about one’s child, it is something that requires serious consideration and intervention. It could be the single most important thing a parent does for his or her child’s future development and success.

Mary, a 39-year-old mother of two, was at her wits’ end due to her first-born son’s inability to read or write properly. At the age of eight, Ngugi still could not write his name let alone recognise and read it aloud.

“I first noticed it when Ngugi was in Standard Three. He had difficulty reading and even writing sentences. I thought my boy was a bit slow in learning. At some point, I even blamed the school and the teachers for being ineffective. I kept transferring Ngugi from one school to another before realising that his learning problem was not improving but getting worse,” explains Mary, who works as a receptionist in Nairobi.

This concerned her a lot but she thought there was nothing she could do about it. “I thought maybe he would improve as he grew older.”

As time went by, Ngugi’s teachers at a local city council school became increasingly frustrated by his inability to comprehend simple English letters and sentences. Most of them labelled him daft and gave up trying to help him catch up. As a result, the boy’s performance was dismal and he was always ranked among the last five in class tests.

As far as Mary was concerned, she was stuck with a child who could not read or write properly. “When Ngugi would come home with his test results, I would look at the scores and cry. I don’t know why I cried; maybe it was out of disappointment. I wanted him to perform well in school and instead there he was, little, sweet, chubby — and helpless.

“My husband’s comments did not make me feel any better. Once in a while when Ngugi made a mistake at home, my husband would tell the little boy how stupid he was like me. I felt hurt but kept it to myself. Being a senior accountant made him feel clever, so he was clear about where Ngugi got his ‘daftness’ from. Me.”

Mary finally decided to set a little of her hard-earned salary aside to hire a private tutor. After three weeks of non-productive tutoring, the teacher realised that Ngugi had a learning problem. She couldn’t diagnose the exact condition but she referred Mary to The Centre for Learning Disabilities in Kenya, situated in Parklands, Nairobi.

“I called the centre and was advised to book an appointment for evaluation,” Mary says. “After one hour of evaluation, Ngugi was diagnosed with dyslexia. It was the first time I was hearing about learning disorders and I didn’t know what that meant until it was explained to me in detail.”

Ngugi’s evaluation report read in part “…the child has difficulty with understanding letters and some sentences when reading or writing. He has a problem writing words with letters “b” and “d”. For example, he writes the word ‘boy’ as ‘doy’. He occasionally reverses and rotates the letters he reads and writes. To him, “b” looks like “d”. He writes ‘on’ when he really means ‘no’ and reverses 6 to make 9 and vice-versa…”

These, Mary was told, were classic signs of dyslexia. The staff at the centre advised Mary to take her son to a special school that would help Ngugi learn effectively. The report also described the best school environment as one where teachers would be patient and where his condition would be treated as it deserved.

Mary regrets that she wasn’t aware of her son’s condition earlier. However, she is happy to see her son receiving specialised education that has enabled him cope with reading and writing like other kids his age.

Like Mary, many parents are unaware that their child has learning difficulties or a learning disorder, sometimes until it’s too late to apply effective remedial actions. The problem is that most conventional schools have no structures in place to help identify and diagnose learning disabilities.

“Dyslexia is a term that describes serious problems with reading,” says Mrs Victoria Mukite, a learning disabilities professional. “A child with dyslexia may not understand letters, groups of letters, sentences or paragraphs. At the beginning of their primary schooling, children may occasionally reverse and rotate the letters they read and write. This is normal when a child is first learning to read. By the third term (and with maturity) these problems should disappear,” she adds. “However, a young child with dyslexia may not be able to overcome these problems easily. The difficulty can continue as the child grows.”

Contrary to many parents’ beliefs, dyslexia is common and affect up to 12 per cent of children in elementary stage.

“Ngugi’s condition is not a vision problem, rather it is a problem with how the brain interprets the information it ‘sees’,” says Mukite.

What exactly are learning difficulties or disabilities and how can they be diagnosed? And, more importantly, can they be treated? Mukite says, “Learning difficulties or disabilities are conditions that affect your ability to interpret what you see and hear, or to connect information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write, or to do number work.”

She adds that learning disabilities can be lifelong conditions that, in some cases, affect many parts of a person’s existence: school or work, daily routines, family situations and, sometimes, even friendships and play.“In some people, many overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Others may have a single, isolated learning problem that has little impact on other areas of their lives.”

She is, however, quick to point out that not all difficulties fall into the category of learning disabilities. “Many children are simply slower in developing certain skills. Because children show natural differences in their rate of development, sometimes what seems to be a learning disability may simply be a delay in maturation.”

The good news is that these disabilities can be treated. “The most common treatment for learning disabilities is special education. Once the evaluation is complete, the basic approach is to teach learning skills by building on the child’s abilities and strengths, while correcting and compensating for disabilities and weaknesses. Other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, may also be involved. Some medications may be effective in helping the child learn by enhancing attention and concentration. Psychological therapies may also be used,” says Mukite.