A school in Wadala tackles the hurdles faced by children with learning disabilities.
This article appeared in the Hindustan Times in India on 31 August 2007:
They say never make a problem work against you, make it work for you. The therapy with Audiblox teaches children that. Audiblox is a unique development programme aimed at the inculcation of basic skills that look at easy yet effective ways to help children overcome their learning disabilities.
Room for improvement
The room at the Infinity Learning Skills, Wadala, doesn’t fit more than eight to 10 students for an Audiblox lesson. A series of cognitive or play way exercises are specially conducted to help resolve learning disorders.
The curriculum designed for pre-schoolers to 12-year-olds will be extended to 13/16-year-olds to help them focus.
The spokesperson of Infinity Learning Skills says, “Audiblox is aimed at building a child’s visual perception, auditory and tactile skills, with a kit that includes coloured blocks, flash cards for reading, and a ‘persepto’ board to help children understand numbers better.”
Pros and cons
The hour-long class that takes place twice a week costs Rs3500 per month. What works most in the child’s favour is that these classes do not require pen or paper, nor do they come with the burden of performance anxiety faced in schools.
Contrary to general perception, Audiblox classes are not restricted only to children suffering from dyslexia, but are open to any child who needs help concentrating, and building long and short-term memory. “In fact, 40 per cent of the children who come to these classes do not have any sort of learning problem,” says the spokesperson.
Sadly though, today dyslexia, dysgraphia, attention deficiency, and related problems are considered a stigma.
While for some parents this stigma is embarrassing, there are others who live in denial.
Also, only a handful of schools have the luxury of a remedial center for students. Infinity Learning Skills believes that there is a great need to counsel parents, as most find it difficult to accept their child’s problem.
“We would definitely like to take this programme to schools, to help children with learning disabilities. For positive results to show the Audiblox classes must be continued for a year to 15 months,” concludes the spokesperson.
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