“Your child has a Learning disability, he needs a special school to help him …” The mention of these words brings a cold shiver to any parent. The jargon of thoughts that run through the parent’s mind is unthinkable.
“Now what ? … Where will my child go ? … What will he/she do in life ?
Who will help him/her ? … Who can I approach ? … Which school is right for
him/her ?”
… and so on.
The solution to such kind of mayhem among the parent community, lies solely in the hands of the schools. Mainstream schools that incorporate learners of all talents, try their best to equip their learners with new-age skills and techniques to empower and boost their students’ intellectual abilities. Most of the special education schools are in their nascent years, striving hard to help their students integrate with the mainstream curriculum by equipping them with important life skills as well as building their academic rigour. There are a few schools who integrate their students into the IGCSE curriculum as well, giving them wider horizons to explore their potential.
Even in a city as busy and advanced as Mumbai, the parent community lacks adequate awareness about schools with individualised differentiated learning programmes on special education, for children with learning disabilities. It is the need of the hour to increase and spread the awareness of schools for special education among the parent community.
The Aditya Birla Integrated School (TABIS) at Fort, in the heart of central Mumbai is one such school for specialised education in Dyslexia and Learning difficulties . TABIS also caters to students with ADHD . Parents with children on the autism spectrum have also expressed immense faith and confidence in TABIS in enabling their children towards better academic and social skills.
The mission, philosophy and overview of the various specialised learning programmes at TABIS, could be reviewed through their official website link .
To hear of TABIS from a student himself, would put all your doubts to rest. Read alumni Ashtad Deboo’s thoughts on his life at TABIS school life .
The multi-disciplinary faculty at TABIS is continually updated through professional development programs, with current trends and techniques, skills and strategies along with expert counselling guidelines given by Dr. Zirak Marker, Medical Director at TABIS.
Increasing awareness among the parent community towards the available options in specialised education, is truly the need of the hour. Early acceptance from parents, timely intervention from the teachers at school along with sustained remediation, can bring great success to their learning curves. Children as small as 6 year olds can be identified in mainstream classrooms by their teachers, who thereafter may offer help with differentiated teaching and assessment methods prescribed by the school and in sync with the students’ requirements. If this is not adequate, then students need enrol for schools that have specialised education curriculum to help these students.
Schools can offer specialised weekend workshops for their learners, especially those who are identified with learning difficulties. Professional educators, teachers and therapists that are brought in by the school, guide the parents and learners on the benefits of early intervention and provide sustained remediation workshops, for those who are interested.
Parent community in sync with the teachers could bring about a huge change to the lives of their young Einsteins.
Learning difficulty is not a disease, but merely a different way of learning. It may be difficult for us to grapple with their unique, out-of-the-box learning styles, but, for these students, it’s absolutely normal. They know what is expected out of them, they need help, patience and understanding, from their parents and teachers, to guide and help them with ways to cope.
Let us change this viewpoint, let future generations know that all of us have our unique learning style, none of us have disabilities – we can harness our strengths to overcome our weaknesses.
Mrs. Tenaz Batliwalla
Teaching Faculty – Junior School
