AICTE is organising series of webinar related to Dyslexia to address specific learning disabilities

New Delhi : In its bid to spread awareness as a part of the National Dyslexia Month in October, India’s flagship regulatory body for technical education All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has come out with ten tips that would help educators manage students with dyslexia or learning disabilities.

To spread awareness for dyslexia, AICTE organised a two-series webinar involving academicians, medical professionals, and multiple professionals, who are actively involved in working with children with dyslexia and learning disabilities to find out ways for early detection and creating a support system.

AICTE Vice-Chairman Prof. M.P. Poonia said that the regulator is in constant dialogue with all institutes on how to manage children with dyslexia and has recently come up with 10 tips that would help educators manage such children with learning disabilities.

Laying out the tips during the second series, Prof. Poonia said: “The first tip is always praise them. Never criticise them, criticism will not do any good to their confidence. Secondly, such students should not be asked to read loudly in front of the whole class. We also ask teachers not to punish students who have difficulties in learning. Fourthly, teachers should not expect much written work from them. Fifthly, teachers should use printouts to stick class work or homework on their copies. They should also not be asked to copy work from board or book. Teachers should also encourage these students to get their homework done online through computers. They should also create an environment that helps these students understand everything clearly. And, lastly such students should always be given a chance to answer orally.”

Besides Prof. Poonia, the second webinar was also attended by Dr. Indumati Rao, Founder and Regional Adviser of CBR Network, Bangalore, Mr. Balendu Sharma Dadich, Director – Localization and Accessibility, Microsoft, and Prof. Shefalli Gulati, Chief Child Neurology Division, Department of Pedriatrics, AIIMS, New Delhi.

AICTE wants the society to come forward and break the stigma around dyslexia and learning disabilities by creating a robust support system for the kids from an early stage.

“The social stigma surrounding dyslexia should be shattered, and it will be possible only by awareness programs. A dyslexic child needs emotional support from parents and teachers, and through these webinars, we strongly hope that AICTE will become a driving factor of this much appreciated change,” said Prof Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE.

Prof. Sheffali Gulati stressed on the importance of having a stimulated environment at home.

“We should have at least a six-month period to drive extra help and targeted instruction for children with learning disabilities. During this period, we must ensure that there is a stimulated environment at home. We must remember that Alexander Graham Bell had dyslexia so there is no reason why children with learning disabilities cannot make big in life,” she said.

The first series was attended by veterans like Mr Vivek Khare, Venture Capitalist, IITian and has also been a dyslexic child, Ms Rama Tandon, Certified Dyslexia Therapist and Ms Noopur Jhunjhunwala, Monitoring, Evaluation and Partnerships Coordinator at UN Women India.