Sunday, Oct 28, 2012
Muscat: Schools run by the Ministry of Education in Oman lack in facilities for children with dyslexia, according to an expert at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).
“There is also no provision for remedial services and rehabilitation for children with dyslexia in the country, nor even culture-specific tools for diagnosing dyslexia,” Professor Lamk Al Lamki, chief editor of Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, said in a statement released to the media on Monday.
However, Prof Al Lamki noted that some private schools were providing the services of special education teachers. “They are able to give special attention to dyslexic pupils, helping them to compensate for or cope with their learning disorder,” he said, adding that affected children are given more time to do their tests.
“We need to implement these actions at the Ministry of Education-run (MoE) schools,” Prof Al Lamki said. “The answer to managing dyslexia is not to have special schools, as the disabilities are subtle and often mild, but to get these children accommodated in the mainstream schools, with special support.”
The expert observed that while teachers have a big role in guiding dyslexic children, parents need to do much more at home. “Empowering caregivers should be an integral part of devising mechanisms for remedial intervention,” he suggested.
“Parents can specifically help the dyslexic child by listening to them, not over-pressuring them, by talking about their disability, pointing out specific problems and helping them, and by giving them plenty of praise and encouragement,” he said.
“In Oman, we need to take steps to educate the parents and the public,” Prof Al Lamki stressed.
He observed that the MoE has recognised the lack of facilities for children with dyslexia at its own schools and has given special permission for pupils needing special attention to go to private schools. “However, what we really need is specially trained teachers in MoE schools,” he said.
“The MoE, perhaps together with the Ministry of Health, needs to recognise officially that dyslexia is a condition requiring special attention and to provide resources for rehabilitation,” he added.
Prof Al Lamki remarked that the MoE needs to focus more on this common disability and build appropriate infrastructure to deal with it. “We need specialised teachers and we need education of parents and the community as a whole,” he said. There is also a dearth of empirical information on the prevalence of such learning disorders in Oman, he added.
Medical experts at the SQU have urged the government authorities concerned to recognise officially that dyslexia is a condition requiring special attention and to provide resources for rehabilitation as has been done for other children with special needs.
Researchers from the College of Education and the College of Medicine at SQU were recently given a grant from the Sultan’s Strategic Research Fund to study dyslexia, specifically the authentication of diagnostic tests for dyslexia.
By Sunil K. Vaidya Bureau Chief
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
