Lalitha Balasubramanian

Drama

4.3  

Lalitha Balasubramanian

Drama

A Special Child

A Special Child

5 mins
240


Latika just couldn’t believe it. Her beloved daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia.


“Oh my God, I never expected this,” she exclaimed. Seeing her devastated look, the doctor patted her on her shoulder with compassion.


“It is not easy to take it, I know,” she said. “But let me tell you, dyslexia is quite a common learning issue, Latika,” said the doctor. “And there are so many people who have become successful even after having dyslexia. It all depends on parental and peer support. And rest assured, there are many ways by which you can help Amita overcome her learning disability.”


Latika could not bring herself to accept the reality. Her darling daughter was dyslexic.


‘Oh God! This cannot be true,’ she thought.


Her thoughts sped over the last few days. She had seen her daughter struggling with spellings. At first, she had not given it much thought. Most children are generally playful at that age, and probably with some push, she would be able to do better.


But a few days later, Amita had come home weeping inconsolably. Latika had been alarmed.


“What happened dear, tell me?” coaxed Latika with concern.


“Ma, teacher said that I am very slow, and that she would complain to you that I am not paying attention in class.” Amita replied between her sobs.


Latika held her close in her arms and asked softly, “Did you really not pay attention, dear?”


“No Ma, I am listening to whatever teacher says. But, some words I am not able to repeat or understand.” She just could not control her tears.


Latika could sense that she was speaking the truth. She wondered what the problem with her child was. She then took it on herself to test her with reading a small story in a picture book with just a few words describing the pictures to make it interesting. That was when she discovered, that her daughter was finding it difficult to read some words, especially those with more syllables. Even then she did not think too much of it. But when Amita made a lot of apparently silly mistakes while writing, inspite of repeating the spelling many times, she knew that she had to take notice. Though Amita was just seven years old, she did not want to ignore this problem. She then decided to go for medical advice. 


Her family doctor was an old man.


He said, “I can't find anything wrong with her, as of now. But since you have a doubt about her comprehension, I suggest you get her evaluation done with an educational evaluator or a child psychologist. Most schools nowadays have an evaluator on board. If Amita’s school has one, you can get it done there itself. Otherwise, I will give you a reference to a psychologist.”


He referred her to the best child psychologist in town. As Lathika was not sure about the school having an educational evaluator, she decided to get the evaluation done by the child psychologist.


 And this was the diagnosis handed out.


She tried to calm her frayed nerves. A new found determination to help her daughter rose within her.


“I will help my darling daughter in whatever way possible,” she said. “Please can you tell me what I can do?”


“Your support is what she needs,” said the doctor. “First of all, let me explain that dyslexia is most commonly associated with a child’s ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in language. Ninety percent of slow learners are dyslexic. Kids with dyslexia have a hard time decoding new words. They find it difficult to break them down into smaller chunks which they can use to sound out. So they have difficulty with reading, writing, spelling and sometimes even maths.”


“Tell me what can be done to help Amita, doctor, please,” pleaded Latika.


“There is something you have to understand,” said the doctor. “Just because a child is dyslexic does not mean she has less intelligence. But not keeping pace with her peers can result in low self-esteem. So if possible, contact her teacher and discuss Amita’s problem with her. I am sure she will immediately understand. She will no longer call out on her for inattentiveness if she knows her problem. Another thing you could do is get a special tutor or therapist to help her with decoding words.”


The doctor paused.


“Is there anything that I can personally do to improve her ability?” asked Latika.


“Yes dear. There are some small changes you can introduce to make it easy for her. Try audio books instead of print books, or tell her to type on a computer or tablet instead of writing. Also spend time with her to make learning an enjoyable experience for her. Appreciating every small success and trying to make reading a game could increase her appetite for learning.”


The doctor continued, “Latika, when you spend a lot of time with her, you will also be able to find out what are her strengths. It could be music, sports or even art. Encourage her to follow her strengths. This will help her regain her self confidence. Only emphasizing on her weakness could lead to depression.”


“Yes, doctor,” replied Latika. “Now that you mention, I know she is very good in tennis and swimming. I will encourage her in sporting activities. I will definitely keep this in mind. Thank you so much.”


“And Latika, one more thing I would like to add,” said the doctor. “Did you know that the famous hollywood director, Steven Spielberg, was dyslexic?”


“Oh,” exclaimed Latika.


“As was TV actress Jennifer Anniston, boxing champion Mohammad Ali, actress Anne Bancroft and multi-talented, multi-award winner Whoopie Goldberg,” smiled the doctor. “Some of these famous personalities did not know they were dyslexic till they were older and dropped out of college. Some of them were bullied in school, called stupid, but they made it to the top didn’t they? Closer home, we have Abhishek Bachhan and Boman Irani who were diagnosed with dyslexia. Share this information with Amita whenever she derides herself or loses her confidence. And don’t worry too much. Amita will be fine as long as you support and encourage her.” 


Latika smiled wanly, but went home determined to help her daughter to achieve success.

 

 



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