Daily Times

A group of senior professionals was sitting in a briefing room, very keenly listening to the findings of a study, carried out to estimate students with special needs already enrolled in govt. run regular education schools of Punjab. An international tool was adapted and piloted very skillfully, using teachers as primary informer. But a major concern shared by the house was regarding identification of children labelled as “slow learners”.

An effective policy cycle is informed by reliable and representative data. Now that Pakistan is gradually moving towards official acceptance and implementation of inclusive education, availability of statistics on diversity within and out of school becomes a big question mark. National census of 1998 and 2016 drastically failed in incorporating a realistic instrument for gathering data on special needs. So, we often have to rely on statistics provided by international organizations e.g. World Health Organization.

International community has done commendable work in development of data collection instruments and certain well-developed instruments are backed by considerable research evidence. Its not necessary and desirable to reinvent the wheel. Adapting existing tools according to our socio-cultural realities can be an intelligent and resource efficient move. It is vital to take into account the orientation and awareness level of our key informants, who will be teachers in case of school census.

Recent past has witnessed a gradual increase in indigenous surveys and sample studies to estimate the prevalence of disability in Pakistan. It is comparatively easy to report a suspected case of sensory impairment e.g. visual or auditory challenges. Similarly, physical challenges are usually very easy to observe and report. But anything related to what is inside a student’s head like processing, leaning, memorizing and retrieving information is not that easy to observe or report. It not easy to observe one’s learning potential by sheer observation.

It is noteworthy that “slow learner” is not a diagnostic classification. Rather it can be considered a symptom or manifestation of an underlying condition or challenge. If a condition is not a part of a diagnostic criteria, it cannot be verified or suspected due to unavailability of certain criteria

It is noteworthy that “slow learner” is not a diagnostic classification. Rather it can be considered a symptom or manifestation of an underlying condition or challenge. If a condition is not a part of a diagnostic criteria, it cannot be verified or suspected due to unavailability of certain criteria.

Having difficulty in physical mobility due to certain muscular-skeletal problems can easily be observed by the teachers whereas challenges in visual acuity can be suspected if a student finds it hard to follow written instructions on the board or paper. But due to unavailability of any reference material, definition or developmental red flags, “Slow Learner” is not that easy to be reported.

There is an argument that academic results of a student can be a source of verification for a student’s low potential of learning. But even school grades can be misleading. A student facing psychological or emotional challenges due to socio-economic or family constraints can also perform bad in studies. Many students in our public schools come from economically under privileged families, where lack of home preparation andl ack of family support can lead to unsatisfactory performance in academics.

Having been an agricultural society, we are aware that in harvest season whole families, including children, engage in “Waadi” (harvest of crops) to secure some extra finances for the family. This seasonal absenteeism of students coming from such families can contribute to lower grades in academic tests.

Specific learning disabilities usually remain un-diagnosed and many children despite having good learning potential fail to cope up with academic challenges. According to US department of education, specific learning disabilities are high prevalence disorder, only in United States approx. 3 million students are receiving special education services to manage learning disabilities. These students have average or above average intellectual level but due to certain challenges in processing language, cannot perform good in certain academic areas like reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia) or mathematics (dyscalculia). Many a times students having specific learning disabilities are also erroneously labelled as slow learners.

Learning requires a significant level of attention and concentration. In certain conditions children are unable to focus their attention on a specific task for long, similarly few children are hyper active and cannot sit calmly for long. In a relatively common conditions known as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder) children have difficulty in maintaining their selective attention and controlling their purposeful behaviour. Teachers might label these students as slow learners.

At times students labelled as slow learners are actually victims of poor teaching. In such cases teachers might find it easy to over report on slow learner dimension to justify underachieving students.

In order to be more specific in data collection process, use of term “slow learner” can be avoided, because it can be misinterpreted by most of the teachers. If objective is to gather information on students having “academic challenges” or performing behind grade level, more descriptive and representative terms should be used. Similarly, brief guide / instructions can be added to elaborate the nature of “academic challenges”. This information can further be strengthened with a short video. Provincial govt. can make this video accessible through official portal of school education department.

Devising a mechanism of verification of teacher reported cases by experts can help in validating the reports, adapting the instruction accordingly and providing required support to teachers in teaching – learning process.

An active collaboration between govt. special education schools and school education department at tehsil level can be one very effective way of developing such collaboration.

The writer is a freelance Columnist who writes on topics which have a social and cultural impact as well as on notable figures