By Anthony Thanasayan in The Star in Malaysia:One of the best things about last year was that I had the opportunity to meet new people. One of them was Sariah Amirin (pictured). An activist for disability rights, Sariah is president of the Dyslexia Association of Malaysia. She has been involved with people with learning disabilities for over two decades.
In 1989, Sariah played a key role in the introduction of special education in government schools in the country. It was a pilot project in a national school in Jalan Batu, Kuala Lumpur. Today there are more than a thousand such schools throughout the country. More than a hundred exist in the Klang Valley alone.
When I met up with Sariah recently, she spoke about some of the issues affecting people with learning disabilities.
“In an integrated special class programme, children with learning disabilities are placed in a normal school,” said Sariah.
“These include children with all types of learning disabilities – dyslexia, Down syndrome and even autism. However, in class, kids with the same disability are paired up,” Sariah explained. This is to ensure that they get the best attention for their special needs.
Although the disabled children are placed together with non-disabled children, they are given a special area or separate wing for their lessons.
“Students with disabilities get to mix with non-disabled children during recess or playtime,” said Sariah, pointing out that such social interaction is vital in the development of a learning disabled child.
Such exposure also helps non-disabled children to be more sensitive to their peers with special needs.
According to Sariah, without opportunities like these, children with learning disabilities will suffer isolation at home and be denied access to education like the rest of society.
“Their parents, too, will have no opportunity to bring their children out to interact with other kids,” she pointed out.
“All persons with learning disabilities are educable and should be given access to education,” Sariah stressed.
Although the ideal ratio is three to five students to a teacher, Sariah is pleased to note that most, if not all, the integrated schools in the country now have at least two qualified teachers plus one assistant to six to 10 students.
Since the children have varying levels of intellectual capabilities, the teachers and aide are able to give each child more personal attention in class.
Whilst these classrooms are a godsend in teaching the students language, and social and living skills, Sariah believes group homes provide the way forward.
These are special homes for learning disabled children to stay in with their teachers on weekdays.
The homes provide an excellent opportunity for students with learning disabilities to practise what they have learnt.
“For instance, our children often get confused about the right time for doing certain things. They can’t understand why we are asking them to make tea at lunch time or show them how to wash their clothes when they are still in school.
“In a special group home, however, special ed teachers have a chance to give them hands-on lessons on what happens after class is over, and what they have to do to prepare for school the next day. They will have a better grasp of what is expected of them, like frying an egg for breakfast in the morning, before school,” said Sariah.
These living skills will prove useful when their caregivers are not around.“The government should look into setting up group homes for these children. Corporate sponsors should come forward, too, in support of such causes,” she added.