1. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVISIONS AND ACCOMODATIONS FOR THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILD DETECTED WITH LD BY VIJAYA VAITHILINGAM VICE PRINCIPAL FR.AGNEL MULTIPURPOSE SCHOOL&JR.COLLEGE VASHI, NAVI MUMBAI

2. There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

3. ACCOMODATIONS The term ‘accommodations’ refers to practices seen as supporting students with disabilities in learning content material. They are usually formulated by school educational authorities to enable students with disabilities to crack board examinations ie. Level X and XII

4. NATURE OF ACCOMODATIONS. MAHRASHTRA STATE BOARD Extra time- 30 min for SSC & 60 min for HSC III language exemption for SSC. A vocational subject to be taken instead. For HSC, vocational subject may be taken in place of II language. Std. VII level Arithmetic or lower Maths in place of Maths I and a vocational subject instead of Maths II for SSC. Physiology & Hygiene or Home Science in place of Sciences for SSC Use of a writer as per rules with permission. Spelling mistakes will not be counted for LD students. 20 grace marks will be provided. Teacher in examination hall may read out questions, not explain. Typing the answers fully or partly may be allowed. Application through school, with certificate from LTMG hospital or Nair hospital. Similar provisions may be given at school level with relevant permissions.

5. NATURE OF ACCOMODATIONS CBSE BOARD Exemption from 3 rd language. 1 compulsory language as against 2. Besides one language, any 4 of the following subjects may be chosen: Maths, Science, Social Science, another language, Music, Painting, Home science. Additional 60 min for each examination Permission to use a writer as per rules. Head of institution needs to issue a certificate of school based evaluation covering past 10 years’ academic record.

6. NATURE OF MODIFICATIONS ICSE BOARD Extra time- 15 min per hr. or 25% of total time. Exemption from 2 nd language- student need not take another subject in lieu. Question paper will be read out. Writer may be allowed as per rules, if required. School principal to forward a detailed Psycho educational assessment report by a recognized professional or institution to the ICSE board, specifying areas of difficulty and type of support required for candidate to satisfactorily complete examination papers.

7. WHOM DO THEY HELP? PARENTS CHILDREN WITH LD SCHOOL MANAGEMENT TEACHERS

8. BENEFITS OF ACCOMMODATIONS They give some definite direction to the school and the teachers, to modify Curriculum Teaching methodology and Evaluation patterns. They serve as guidelines for ‘what is to come’ in the primary level. In the secondary level they provide solutions to overcome obstacles.

9. 2 IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Is education only about answering examinations? Is providing accommodations and concessions to the child detected with LD the be-all and end-all of his/her education?

10. GENERAL EDUCATION & REMEDIATION For students with LD to be able to benefit and learn from the whole educational experience, instructional interventions must be appropriately balanced between general education and remediation as soon as the disability becomes apparent, whether in kindergarten, primary school or secondary school.

11. A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT Interventions involve the family, the school, the community and the work place, depending on the needs of the individual child. In an inclusive school set up, the integration of special educators with the general classroom teachers is a model used to address the balance of remediation and general education.

12. THERE IS NO THUMB RULE Learning disabilities in children may range from mild to severe and the needs of every child need not be the same!!! Therefore, instead of looking for a single package, multimodal, learner centric, eclectic approaches need to be adopted to address specific skill deficits along with curricular material modifications.

13. AREAS TO WORK ON Learning Disabilities results from impairments in one or more processes related to perceiving, thinking, remembering and learning.

14. MANIFESTATIONS SEEN Difficulties in the acquisition and use of one or more of the following: Oral language (Listening, speaking, understanding) Reading (decoding, phonics, word recognition, comprehension) Written language ( spelling &written expression) Mathematics (computation, problem solving, multiple operations) Visual spatial processing Memory & Attention Planning & decision making

15. WHAT CAN BE TRIED OUT? Since most of the learning in school happens through hearing and seeing,  Use direct instructions, cloze technique, multisensory techniques to improve visual perception & auditory perception.  Use highlighter pens to accentuate instructions and keywords in textbooks, to facilitate reading.

16.  Audio tape pages of Language, Science & Social studies text books to allow child to listen with headphones while following the text visually.  Remediate text to improve poor comprehending skills. Break down information into smaller chunks.

17.  Provide written summaries of lessons. Instead of expecting the child to copy all the notes from the blackboard, provide some of them in print.  Replace monotonous rows of Math problems with fewer, more manageable sets of sums on each page.  Use innovative ways to help the child use his/her strengths.

18.  Teach the child to visualize concepts (imagery training) and have him verbalize what is visualized.  Use AV resources whenever possible.  Develop strategies or step by step check lists to guide children to complete assignments.  Use buddy system in the classroom. This goes a long way in improving social interaction too!

19.  Allow additional time to complete tasks.  For evaluations, use a teacher’s service to write for the child if writing is a severe problem.  Use a positive approach of giving praise for realistic achievements including partial success. This is very important.  Empower mothers to learn remediation techniques. This helps the school to a great extent.

20. IT IS WORTH TRYING Thus, given both remediation and a solid general education, the primary school children with LD can learn to almost the same levels as their peers and make a relatively smooth transition to the middle school. While formally providing accommodations for poor reading, writing and mathematical skills, secondary schools must maintain remedial services too.

21. We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. - Marian Wright Edelman

22. THANK YOU