KUWAIT, March 14 (KUNA) -- Integrating students with learning differences requires the training of teachers, parents and education officials , and civil societies are a valuable resource in this area, said educational psychology professor at Ein Sham University Dr. Naguib Khuzam.
Speaking at a seminar organized Saturday evening by Kuwait Association of Learning Differences (KALD), the professor called for searching for the "areas of strength" in any student and to provide support accordingly.
"Differences are enriching, and we must welcome them," he said, saying that intelligence was not only related to academic achievement, as studies have now indicated levels of emotional and social intelligence that were just as important.
Dr. Khuzam noted that the role of schools was not only to teach curricula, but also to build the characters of their students, which was why it was important to "empower" civil societies and centers specialized in dealing with children who were "differently able" or having "dif-abilities" in order to assist in different levels of integration into schools.
The professor explained that integrated education was based on the belief that children had to be "adjusted to fit" into the existing educational system, while integrational education called for the need to change the system to accommodate the differently able child.
He explained that the integration of children with dif-abilities into schools was of various levels: full integration into classrooms with their unchallenged peers, where teachers had to experiment with different teaching models to assist the student in question; partial integration, where the differently able share classes with their peers but have special classes for some subjects; social location integration, where the differently able have their own classrooms in regular schools but play with their peers during recess; and temporary location integration, where the differently able are visited by students from regular schools several times a year or vice versa.
"Studies have shown that different levels of integration are of benefit not only to the differently able, but also to unchallenged children," he noted, while stressing that parents were "partners" in the integration process and that they had to always provide the required support for their children.
On her part, KALD Chairperson Aamal Al-Sayer said that the issue of learning difficulties was an old one, but that debate about it worldwide was relatively new.
She noted that unlike those with physical challenges, children with learning difficulties were not given the attention they required, and thus the need arose for the issuance of a law that protected their rights.
This, she said, was indeed achieved with the issuance of the "Rights Law for People with Disabilities" which recognized the fact that those with learning difficulties were not disabled.
However, she expressed her concern that the law had not designated an authority to oversee the needs and requirements of those with learning disabilities, and called on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the National Assembly to recruit the assistance of civil societies that worked in this area when considering the establishment of such a body.
She also called on the Ministry of Education to study the needs of these differently able children and to train staff to provide the necessary support and assistance. - Kuna