Developmental disorders are a set of physical and mental conditions that cause an obstruction in the normal functioning of various biological systems in the human body. They can also be defined as chronic conditions that originate in childhood, during the developmental stages. These conditions may occur during pregnancy, early childhood, or they may occur anytime till the person attains the adulthood. They are biological defects which may hamper the proper functioning of a body part or a body system. These impairments usually improve as the child grows and becomes an adult, but are still evident nevertheless. The acquisition of such conditions is based on various factors ,some of which are genetic inheritance , conditions of uterus during pregnancy ,complications in pregnancy, pregnancy after the maternal age of 35, trauma to internal organs, brain injury during childhood , nerve degeneration etc.

Researcher and child psychiatrist Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D, theorizes that developmental disorders can be caused by early childhood traumatization (shock). In his works he compares developmental disorders in traumatized children to adults with post-traumatic stress disorder, linking extreme environmental stress to the cause of developmental difficulties. Other stress theories suggest that even small stresses can accumulate result in emotional, behavioral or social disorders in children.

AUTISM : It is developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and non-verbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.Autism being a developmental disorder, the learning challenges of the children are also hindered.

So Autism can also be partially considered in learning disability.

DEAF-BLINDNESS is a combination of sight and hearing impairment that affects how you communicate. Being deaf blind does not necessarily mean that the child is totally deaf or totally blind – most individuals who are deaf blind have some residual sight and/or hearing.
In fact, most children who are deaf blind have a little bit of hearing or vision. They can use the sight or hearing they have, along with their other senses, to learn how to communicate with others. Deaf blindness is a lifelong condition.
In Deaf blindness the teacher needs to use each of the senses, hearing and sight of the child independently. They can take support of other students in classroom who have clear speech to help child with deaf blindness. Peer tutoring can enhance learning of both the children. Touch is one of the best ways they learn.
Strategies to be used in the classroom:
• Make use of the student’s usable hearing and vision. Know what the student can and cannot hear or see and how that changes in different environments.
• Consider the use of all or any of the five senses to help the student learn.
• Respect the student’s use of touch as his hands may be the link to everything and everybody.
• Allow plenty of time for reactions and decisions. Since understanding the whole picture is difficult, it may take longer to ‘put the pieces together.’
• Develop positive self-esteem by giving the student opportunities to make choices.

Did we ever give a thought that Deafness and Hearing Impairment can be different from each other? Lets find out !

DEAFNESS : It means a hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

HEARING IMPAIRMENT : It depicts the impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but it is not included under the definition of “Deafness”. It can be partial, too. The lip reading mentioned in the video is a strong strategy which might sound difficult in a classroom of 30-40 students.
The 2 simple ways to do it are:
a.When all children are doing written work the teacher can do one to one lip reading with the child.
b.Teacher takes support of a fast learning child to perform lip reading for this child.

SAD BUT TRUE , that number of children with emotional disturbance is on an increase due modern life style issues.

EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE : It is a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:
(i) An inability to learn .
(ii) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers or teachers.
(iii) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
(iv) A general consistent mood of unhappiness or depression.
(v) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
Strategies to help children with Emotional Disturbance

· Develop empathy with the student and understand that you are not the cause off this condition, but rather an outlet for it.

· It is important to remain objective when interacting with the student.

· Identify skills or attributes that you can reinforce.

· Remain positive; give praise and positive reinforcement when the student demonstrates flexibility and/or co-operation.

· Be approachable and act as a positive role model.

MENTAL RETARDATION OR INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
Intellectual disability (ID), once called mental retardation, is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. Children with intellectual disabilities can and do learn new skills, but they learn them more slowly.. It can be considered as a neurological disorder.
The I Q test for mental retardation is conducted by the psychologist , your role as an Inclusive teacher is to identify such kids as early as possible. Children with such intellectual disability cannot cope up with mainstream education so a resource room support in schools is more beneficial for such children.
They could be a part of the classroom during assemblies, games , drama, art craft and other lighter periods.
An Inclusive teacher and her classroom could provide abundance of love for such children.

Disabilities can be multiple!
MULTIPLE DISABILITIES is a disorder that exhibits simultaneous impairments such as intellectual disability – blindness , deafness – orthopedic impairment . The combination of such disabilities causes severe ailments . Hence a child with multiple disabilities cannot be accommodated in special education programmes solely for one of the impairments . They require specially designed educational programmes to fulfill their needs of combination of disabilities.
As an Inclusive Teacher ,it is very important for you to be able to identify such children at an early stage.
If such children have physical challenges and are intellectually high , they can be accommodated in inclusive classroom with some changes in the classroom physical structure. He may not write but can acquire knowledge by listening to the interaction in the classroom. The child may not write , so he can be supported with a scribe for examination. If he attends inclusive classroom he will be able to enhance learning much better than being in a special school.

What other disorders can be an outcome of physical immobility?
ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT includes impairments caused during birth , impairments caused by diseases (e.g. Poliomyelitis, Bone Tuberculosis ), and impairments from other causes like cerebral palsy, amputations and fractures . It hinders the physical movement of the child.
Children with orthopedic impairment can do well in a regular school studying with other children. However, an orthopedic disability requires little adaptation and preparation. Children with orthopedic impairments face many challenges on a daily basis.
Here are some suggestions and adaptations teachers of Inclusive Classroom.
1.Accessibility and Classroom Layout:
If the child is in a wheelchair, the class should be accessible by wheelchair.
2.Special Furniture:
A child in a wheelchair, or a child with a spinal problem, may require some special chair or table. Discuss these issues with the parents. If the child is finding it difficult to sit on the regular classroom chair, please inform parent to get special chair for him for the classroom
3.Modified Writing aids:
A child with a disability in their upper limb may benefit from writing boards, special paper, pencil grips, and special pencil holders. As a teacher you can help by emphasizing on learning the concept and giving the child a little extra time to write.
Children with orthopedic impairment have normal intelligence and don’t need a special curriculum. What they need from you is acceptance, and a little adjustment. They’ll contribute more to your classroom than what you could ever contribute to them.

Can there be any disabilities related to environment influence?

OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENTS means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment. It can be due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, heart- issues, hemophilia, hyper activity, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia and thalasemia.
Here are some suggestions you can do in Inclusive Classroom

· Check knowledge through verbal responses.

· Modify assignments only as needed.

· Arrange room to accommodate students’ equipment.

· Mark or circle correct answers on worksheets rather than filling in blanks.

· Break tasks into small parts.

· Assist or delegate another child to help with organization of materials and lesson.

· Reduce homework amount.

· Maintain a communication link with all individuals involved with the student – parent(s), doctors, instructional assistant, therapists, special and general education teachers – to assure appropriate and coordinated instruction.

SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY : When one or more of the basic psychological processes are not in harmony then a child faces specific learning disability. It involves difficulty in understanding or using languages, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual dis abilities, brain injuries, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities; of intellectual disability; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental cultural or economic disadvantage.
The prevalence of specific learning disabilities was 15.17% in sampled children, whereas 12.5%, 11.2% and 10.5% had dysgraphia, dyslexia and dyscalculia respectively. This study suggests that the prevalence of SpLDs is at the higher side of previous estimations in India.Apr 7, 2018.
As the percentage of these children born are on an increase, you will be specialising about this topic in a seperate module in this course. This developmental disorder is also called hidden disorder/disability. Today 15% -20% of children in your classroom go unnoticed as physically they look normal and have normal intelligence.
In our next module we will learn more about them.

Communication disorders! What are they?

SPEECH OR LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT is a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, stammering, language impairment, or a voice impairment. It affects a child socially, emotionally and academically.
The students who have speech disorder may or may not have hearing problem.
If the hearing is good , you should continue speaking clearly and loudly with adequate pauses and intonations. Your facial expression will also help the child to understand better. In an Inclusive classroom our attempt should be to support all learners.
Following are some of the strategies which you can immediately practice.

· Train the student to ask for help.

· Speak directly to the student.

· Have easy and good interactive communication in classroom. inform your Supervisor or Principal to consult a speech language pathologist concerning the child 's needs.

· Be aware that students may require another form of communication, like sign language.

· Be patient when student is speaking, since rushing may result in frustration

· Be near the student when giving instructions and ask the student to repeat the instructions and prompt when necessary.

You can also enquire from parents , what strategies they are adopting to to communicate at home.

Brain injuries can be classified further:

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY is an acquired injury caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psycho-social impairment, or both. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgement; problem –solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psycho-social behavior; physical functions; information processing and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT / VISION LOSS is a decreased ability to see to a degree that causes problems not fixable by usual means, such as glasses. It may be partial vision loss or blindness. Some babies may have congenital blindness, which means they are visually impaired at birth.

Learning disabilities are neurologically-based processing problems. These processing problems can interfere with learning basic skills such as reading, writing and/or math. They can also interfere with higher level skills such as organization, time planning, abstract reasoning, long or short term memory and attention. It is important to realize that learning disabilities can affect an individual’s life beyond academics and can impact relationships with family, friends and in the workplace.

Generally speaking, people with learning disabilities are of average or above average intelligence.

Learning disabilities should not be confused with learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps; of intellectual disability; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantages. Brief definition and description of LD

These are the common signs and symptoms of  children with Learning Disability

Preschool

• Speaks later than most children

• Pronunciation problems

• Slow vocabulary growth, often unable to find the right word

• Difficulty rhyming words

• Trouble learning numbers, alphabet, days of the week, colors, shapes

• Extremely restless and easily distracted

• Trouble interacting with peers

• Difficulty following directions or routines

• Fine motor skills slow to develop

Grades K-4

• Slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds

• Confuses basic words (run, eat, want)

• Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including letter reversals (b/d), inversions (m/w), transpositions (felt/left), and substitutions (house/home)

• Transposes number sequences and confuses arithmetic signs (+, -, x, /, =)

• Slow to remember facts

• Slow to learn new skills, relies heavily on memorization

• Impulsive, difficulty planning

• Unstable pencil grip

• Trouble learning about time

• Poor coordination, unaware of physical surroundings, prone to accidents

Grades 5-8

• Reverses letter sequences (soiled/solid, left/felt)

• Slow to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other spelling strategies

• Avoids reading aloud

• Trouble with word problems

• Difficulty with handwriting

• Awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil grip

• Avoids writing assignments

• Slow or poor recall of facts

• Difficulty making friends

• Trouble understanding body language and facial expressions

High School Students and Adults

• Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing

• Avoids reading and writing tasks

• Trouble summarizing

• Trouble with open-ended questions on tests

• Weak memory skills

• Difficulty adjusting to new settings

• Works slowly

• Poor grasp of abstract concepts

• Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much

• Misreads information

There are 2 kinds of Learning Disabilities

1. VERBAL

2. NON VERBAL

Under verbal there are 4 types.

1. Dyslexia

2. Dysgraphia

3. Dyscalculia

4. Dyspraxia

Each type is explained in the video attached.

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty in reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (. Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.

Children with dyslexia have normal intelligence and usually have normal vision. Most children with dyslexia can succeed in school with remedial education or a specialized education program. Emotional support also plays an important role.

Even though there may be no cure for dyslexia, early assessment and intervention result in the best outcome. Sometimes dyslexia goes  without being diagnosed for years and isn't recognized until adulthood.

But fear not. My Course Effective Strategies for Teaching Differently (ESTeD) is precisely designed to empower you to help tour child overcome Dyslexia like LDs. If you are certain that your child is  exhibiting symptoms of Dyslexia only then you can even join the component of ESTeD dealing with Dyslexia alone rather than the entire course. However, I would recommend that you complete the full ESTeD course as it would arm you with many more strategies and teaching techniques.

Children suffering with cognitive learning disability have challenges in sequencing, putting things in order while narrating a story or reproducing an incident.
These kids have average or above average intelligence, but because of a different pattern of wiring in their brain many segments of cognition gets hampered.
This video will explain elaborately what cognitive areas these kids suffer with.

My Course Effective Strategies for Teaching Differently (ESTeD) is precisely designed to empower you to help tour child overcome LDs. If you are certain that your child is  exhibiting symptoms of Cognitive Challengea only then you can even join the component of ESTeD dealing with Cognitive Challenges alone rather than the entire course. However, I would recommend that you complete the full STeD course as it would arm you with many more strategies and teaching techniques.

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects writing ability and fine motor skills. It interferes with spelling, word spacing, and the general ability to put thoughts on paper, and makes the process of writing laboriously slow. Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder that can affect both children and adults.

Symptoms of Dysgraphia

1.Trouble forming letters or spacing words consistently

2.Awkward or painful grip on a pencil

3.Difficulty following a line or staying within margins

4.Trouble with sentence structure or following rules of grammar when writing, but not when speaking

5.Difficulty organizing or articulating thoughts on paper

6.Pronounced difference between spoken and written understanding of a topic

My Course Effective Strategies for Teaching Differently (ESTeD) is precisely designed to empower you to help tour child overcome LDs. If you are certain that your child is  exhibiting symptoms of Dysgraphia only then you can even join the component of ESTeD dealing with Dysgraphia alone rather than the entire course. However, I would recommend that you complete the full ESTeD course as it would arm you with many more strategies and teaching techniques.

Dyscalculia is a math learning disability that impairs an individual’s ability to represent and process numerical magnitude in a typical way. Dyscalculia is sometimes called “number dyslexia” or “math dyslexia.”
Dyscalculia Symptoms

· Trouble recalling basic math facts

· Difficulty linking numbers and symbols to amounts and directions

· Difficulty making sense of money (handing a cashier a fistful of bills and change rather than counting it out, for example)

· Unable to tell time on an analog clock

· Difficulty immediately sorting out right from left.

My Course Effective Strategies for Teaching Differently (ESTeD) is precisely designed to empower you to help tour child overcome LDs. If you are certain that your child is  exhibiting symptoms of Dyscalculia only then you can even join the component of ESTeD dealing with Dyscalculia alone rather than the entire course. However, I would recommend that you complete the full ESTeD course as it would arm you with many more strategies and teaching techniques.

Children with LD in certain area invariably depict some extraordinary ability in some other area. A great LD Remedial Coach is one who can identify this ability and nurture it. This is my area of specialization for last 20 years. In my video I have given examples of some real life achievers who passed out of my Center. There are many more.  You as parent or a teacher can become Teaching Different Expert and change your child's future.  Having successfully completed the previous sections you have become empowered to be become your child/students coach. You can even start earning a decent income by becoming a successful Remedial Coach  To learn more about this and help your child to learn and out perform I suggest join my exclusive course on "Effective Strategies for Teaching Differently (ESTeD)".  Email me at dir.vedasignite@outlook.com for any queries.  After the video below on general strategies in dealing with LD children, I have included one bonus video exclusively for from my STeD course on Strategies to Teach Differently. This advance course will prepare and skill you to successfully support and coach your child to become a better learner. Join now. I will hand hold you through it. Follow me on facebook.com/Balasarswthy & instagram.com/vedasignite. Visit my website www.vedasedu.com.

The term Non-verbal Learning Disabilities or Non-verbal Learning Disorder (NVLD or NLD) is used to describe a cluster of difficulties that are primarily in non-language areas. Other terms that is seen are Visual-spatial LDs or Right Hemisphere LDs (since the areas of difficulty are mostly right hemisphere functions).

What are the causes of non verbal learning disability?

1. Severe or moderate head injury at prenatal or post natal stages.

2. Repeated exposure to radiation near head can cause NVLD.

3. Congenital absence of corpus colossus can be one of the reasons.

4. Treated for hydro cephalous i.e water accumulation.

5.Removal of brain tissue near the right hemisphere.

Some Signs and Symptoms of NVLD

• Auditory memory better than visual memory

• Basic reading and spelling skills better than mathematics skills

• Verbal expression and reasoning better than written expression

• Difficulties with sense of direction, estimation of size, shape, distance, and time

• Difficulties with spatial orientation, e.g. knowing how things will look when they are rotated

• Visual figure-ground weakness, e.g. problems finding things on a messy desk

Some Signs and Symptoms of NVLD (cont)

• Problems interpreting graphs, charts, and maps

• Difficulties with motor skills such as graphomotor skills (related to printing and cursive writing), physical coordination, and balance

• Trouble estimating how long tasks take, managing time

• Trouble seeing the “whole picture” or knowing what details are important

• Trouble organizing, especially nonverbal information

• May become easily lost in an unfamiliar environment

Teaching Strategies For Teachers

• Give assignments in chunks

• Give constructive feedback

• Create a daily class routine and stick to them

• Write the class schedule on the board

• Provide several verbal cues before transition

• Give the student time to preview and prepare for new activities such as group projects

• Minimize transitions

• Offer added verbal explanations when the student or child seems confused

More Strategies  help children with NVLD. (cont)

• We need to implement a modified schedule or a creative program for them.

• They get very board with the monotonous activity and so you have to keep thinking of creative ideas of new creative ideas to keep these kids engaged.

• We should never assume or understand that he or she can parrot repeat what he has actually understood.

• Most important is offer verbal explanations, when the child feel lost or registers confusion. Now from their facial expression we will be not be able to understand the loss, even looking at us, they are not able to assess our expression.

• We have to repeatedly ask the child by calling his name, whether the child is on the same page with us.

The term “learning styles” speaks to the understanding that every student learns differently. Technically, an individual’s learning style refers to the preferential way in which the student absorbs, processes, comprehends and retains information. For example, when learning how to build a clock, some students understand the process by following verbal instructions, while others have to physically manipulate the clock themselves. This notion of individualized learning styles has gained widespread recognition in education theory and classroom management strategy. Individual learning styles depend on cognitive, emotional and environmental factors, as well as one’s prior experience. In other words: everyone’s different. It is important for educators to understand the differences in their students’ learning styles, so that they can implement best practice strategies into their daily activities, curriculum and assessment.

Visual learners

How to recognize visual learners in your class: Someone with a preference for visual learning is partial to seeing and observing things, including pictures, diagrams, written directions and more. This is also referred to as the “spatial” learning style.

How to cater to visual learners: The whiteboard is your best friend when teaching visual learners! Teachers should create opportunities to draw pictures and diagrams on the board, or ask students to doodle examples based on the topic they’re learning. Teachers catering to visual learners should regularly make handouts and use presentations

2. Auditory learners

How to recognize auditory learners in your class:

Auditory learners tend to learn better when the subject matter is reinforced by sound. These students would much rather listen to a lecture than read written notes, and they often use their own voices to reinforce new concepts and ideas. These are the students who like to read out loud to themselves, aren’t afraid to speak up in class and are great at verbally explaining things.

How to cater to auditory learners:

Since these students can sometimes find it hard to keep quiet for long periods of time, get your auditory learners involved in the lecture by asking them to repeat back new concepts to you. Ask questions and let them answer.3. Kinesthetic learners

How to recognize kinesthetic learners in your class:

Kinesthetic learners or “tactile” learners learn through experiencing or doing things. They like to get right in the thick of things by acting out events or using their hands to touch and handle in order to understand concepts. These are the students who might struggle to sit still, might be good at sports or like to dance, need to take breaks when studying and might not have great handwriting.

How to cater to kinesthetic learners:

The best way teachers can help these students learn is by getting them moving. Teachers should instruct students to act out a certain scene from a history lesson they’re teaching. Additionally they should encourage these students by incorporating movement into lessons: pacing to help memorize, learning games that involve moving around the classroom or having students write on the whiteboard as part of an activity.

                                                                                                LEARNING STYLES

Characteristics of Learning Styles

Three of your senses are primarily used in learning, storing, remembering and recalling information. Your eyes, ears, and sense of touch play essential roles in the way you communicate, perceive reality and relate to others. Because you learn form and communicate best with someone who shares your dominant modality, it is a great advantage for you to know the characteristics of visual, auditory and kinesthetic styles and to be able to identify them in others.

Visual

 Mind sometimes strays during verbal activities

 Observe rather than acts or talks

 Likes to read

 Usually a good speller

 Memorizes by seeing graphics or pictures

 Not too distractible

 Finds verbal instruction difficult

 Has good handwriting

 Remembers faces

 Uses advanced planning

 Doodles

 Quiet by nature

 Meticulous, neat in appearance

 Notices details

Auditory

 Talks to self-aloud

 Enjoys talking

 Easily distracted

 Has difficulty with written directions

 Likes to be read to Memorizes sequentially

 Enjoys music

 Whispers to self while reading

 Distracted by noise

 Hums or sings

 Outgoing by nature

 Enjoys listening activities

Kinesthetic

 Likes physical rewards

 In motion most of the time

 Likes to touch people when talking

 Taps pencil or foot when studying

 Enjoys doing activities

 Reading not a priority

 Poor speller

 Likes to solve problems by physically working through them

 Will try new things

 Outgoing by nature; expresses emotions by physical means

 Uses hands while talking

 Dresses for comfort

Each learning style responds best to a different method of teaching or self-help.

Here are some methods which as an educator, you can imply while teaching in the class or may be individually to a child, to make them learn things in a better way and to utilize well their potential.

SOUND: Hints for the Auditory Learner

1. Make child say aloud the information to be learned/have someone read the information to you/read it into a tape recorder and replay it.

2. Read his/her work out loud. Summarize what you have read on tape.

3. Inspire him/her to say words inside his/her head silently.

4. Make them brainstorm ideas with others. Form study groups for them.

5. When possible, tell them to learn information through tapes, television, oral reports, rhymes and songs, radio, lectures, book reviews, panel and group discussions, guest lectures, and oral questions and answers.

6. Use a straight-edge marker or guide to assist child in keeping in place while s/he is reading or working with printed materials.

7. Tape class lectures for them.

8. Let them meet with classmates before and/or after class to discuss material.

Writing

1. Instruct them to plan each sentence they want to write by saying it out loud or silently in his/her head.

2. Say each sentence several times for them.

3. Guide them to write each sentence as they say it, or talk into a tape recorder, dictating each sentence of paragraph; then play the tape back.

Spelling

1. Pronounce spelling of the word, letter by letter.

2. Say the word – then say each letter out loud.

3. Tell them to close their eyes and spell the word out loud; then check spelling.

4. Close eyes and spell the word out loud again; and again check the spelling.

5. Now, tell the child to write the word, trying to hear it in his/her mind.

6. Then instruct them to verbally review spellings, words and lectures with a friend.

Mathematics

1. You can make the child learn math while saying the concept, fact, theorem, etc., aloud.

2. Explain math problems, concepts, facts, etc., to child, relating the information out loud.

3. Use a tape recorder and replay the information.

SIGHT: Hints for the Visual Learner

1. Give them notes, make pictures, graphs, and charts.

Use flashcards and highlight key details.

2. Sit close to the child so that s/he can watch your face and gestures.

3. Give them notes or make lists as you provide directions.

4. Instruct them to carefully check instructions written on the chalkboard and on handouts.

5. As you are delivering lectures, make some visual aids to grab child’s attention such as the following:

- Drawing, maps, graphs, charts

- Transparencies, posters, films, books

6. Advise them to imagine pictures of the information, they are supposed to remember.

7. Use color coding as cues to important information.

8. Tell them to, read assignments silently.

9. Motivate them to maintain class notes and outlines of important information to study.

10. Try to teach them in well lit, quiet place.

11. Record homework assignments in a date book, on a note pad, or a specially designed assignment sheet, and tell them to listen carefully, at home.

12. If possible, then child can keep a note pad with him/her at all times. In order to write out everything for frequent and quick visual review.

Reading

1. Use sight words, flashcards, note cards and experience stories; don’t try to sound words out, but inspire them to determine if the new word or words has words they already know. For example, the “systematic” has the word “system”, “stem” and “mat” within it.

2. Visual learners are “look-and-say” learner. Hence make sure that s/he is looking at words carefully; then saying it.

Writing

1. Guide them to jot down ideas as they form in their mind.

2. Outline their ideas or help them to do so.

3. Instruct them to make a rough draft, skipping lines. Let them correct/revise work on their own.

4. Child can be helped by re-copying his/her paper.

5. ESSAY TEST: First, make them, draw quick outlines on scratch paper or in the margin of the test before writing their answer.

Spelling

1. Step by step, instruct them to see the word – close their eyes.

2. Then say “Make a picture – then read from your picture.”

3. “Write the word – match the picture.”

4. After that tell them to check their work immediately.

Mathematics

1. Help them to visualize the problem.

2. Make pictures or tallies of the problem on scratch paper for them.

3. Tell them to write the problem.

TOUCH: Hints for the Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner

1. Motivate them to keep their desk clear of distracting objects.

2. Cover the page which they are not reading.

3. If they distracted by noise, tell them to wear earplugs or wear an earphone in the learning center to block out the noise. If they want sound, arrange soft music for them.

4. Divide their work into short study sessions. Get a timer. After 20 minutes or when a task is completed, give them a reward, a cookie, a walk around the block, or play a song for them etc.

5. Sit as close to the child (one by one) as possible, or sit in the center of the room.

6. Make arranges for student when s/he is studying, use a multi-sensory approach (hearing, seeing, touching and doing) as much as possible.

7. Instruct their parent that they make sure for child is having plenty of sleep.

8. Make sure that child is having a nutritious breakfast and lunch. They should have snack like fruits or nutritional food if s/he need extra energy.

9. Make them study in a carrel( a small cabin ) or in an office where there is a desk for text books and notebook.

10. Use models, real objects, and materials that can be touched and moved. For example, teach geography through handling and studying a globe.

11. When possible draw what you are teaching.

12. Tell them to trace spelling words as they practice them.

13. Record in writing information, they have learned. Keep a supply of paper on hand.

14. When possible, role play, type, provide notes, or construct models to deliver the information.

Everyone—learning disability or not—has their own unique learning style. Some people learn best by seeing or reading, others by listening, and still others by doing. You can help a child with a learning disability by identifying their primary learning style.

Is the child a visual learner, an auditory learner, or a kinesthetic learner? Once you’ve figured out how they learn best, you can take steps to make sure that type of learning is reinforced in the classroom and during home study.

Teach differently as they learn differently. Learning Disabled child's brain is wired differently so the way they see an image and comprehend is very unique. They will produce much better results once teacher uses multidimensional approach to teaching learning process.

This course explains many strategies and methods to help LD child learn better.

Remedial Education primarily means methods of instruction to correct deficits of students performance and is an in vogue technical synonym for Teaching Differently. In fact, I strongly advocate that in the world of Inclusive Education the use of term Remedial Education should be avoided. This will also prevent a slow or differently learning child from being stereotyped or branded as a special child. Such branding actually acts as detrimental the normal psychological growth of the child.  However, it may take a few more years for the world to adopt this new term called Teaching differently. Hence, for the purpose of the course and also to help you earn a formal qualification I will use the term Remedial Education more frequently.

Which category of children will benefit from these strategies and for whom we can plan our remedial programs?

1. Children with weak memory

2. Children who have problem with attention and who are easily distracted by on goings in their environment

3. Weak comprehensive power.

4. Lack of learning motivation

5. Lack of self-confidence and self-expectation

6. Weak problem solving power

7. Low grasping power and confusion in understanding things

8. Difficulty in understanding new/abstract concepts

9. Unable to transfer knowledge between learning areas

10. Takes time to complete given assignments / tasks

Apart from all these, a child may have a different ability of understanding and style of learning. Some may learn better visually while some are better in audio learning. Certain children have to learn through sense of touch or practical experiences. Therefore, a remedial teacher or parent should design diversified and assorted teaching activities and adopt different teaching methods to help children develop their potential and get rid of challenges in learning.
Let us now learn Objectives of Teaching Differently and Principles of Remedial Program by viewing the attached Video.

If I can't learn the way you teach, can you teach me the way I learn?" - essence of Teaching Differently.

An important objective of TEACHING DIFFERENTLY is to provide learning support to children who lag far behind their counterparts in school.

A teacher should intelligently plan and provide learning activities and practical experiments to the children as per their understanding, needs and abilities.

Let's see what strategies need to be adopted by the teacher to provide remedial instruction. Watch Video.

In Motor Skills, work is specifically done on Fine motor and Gross motor skills of a child i.e. his ability to hold things properly, ability to write, etc.

Fine-motor control is an essential foundation for writing skills. Without it the accuracy necessary to guide the pencil through the required formations will be severely affected.

Motor planning is required so that the child can accurately reproduce the required shapes.

In Academic Skills, the biggest mistake we make is to treat everyone equally when it comes to learning.

Children process information differently from one another; some form images, others form words and others form sentences.

Teacher can adopt different strategies to bring strengths in children with different challenges.
What are these strategies, lets watch!

Instead of the teacher being the only source of help in a classroom, technology can be used to improve learning and thus help children learn faster. Thus while learning the child should be allowed flexibility.
Lets see what technologies can be used and how it helps the child to learn.

The language experience approach is an approach to reading instruction based on activities and stories developed from personal experiences of the learner.
The stories about personal experiences are written down by a teacher and read together until the learner associates the written form of the word with the spoken.
The benefits of this approach are:
# It brings together writing, reading, art, and language.
# It extends the learners' creativity in storytelling through writing.
# It helps learners understand that what they think and say can be written.
# It is learner-centered and demonstrates that the learners' thoughts and
language are valued.
# It provides reading material that is predictable and readable because it uses the
learners' natural language.
Let's see how this approach can be practiced to make learning fun.

Why Reading? Because .......

Reading is the key 

•To all school based learning

•To general knowledge, spelling, writing abilities and vocabulary

•To love of learning

•To success in most academic and occupational fields

•To a healthy self-concept

Poor readers, by end of first grade, have lowered self-esteem and self-concept and motivation

Let's watch another strategy to improve READING.

Look and Say Teaching Method is based on having children recognize full short sentences, which can be done through flash cards with pictures, where parents can read each word on the card while the child repeats it.
By pointing at each word as the parent reads the sentences, children will start to learn each word.
Once having gone over many cards, and hopefully backed by other techniques like the Phonetics Method, children will eventually start understanding written language.

Visual skills required for Reading, Writing and Mathematics are:

· Ability to distinguish shapes, sizes and colors: - This should be introduced at the concrete level first by using matching and sorting activities

· Directionality: - The ability to distinguish between left, right, front, back, up, down etc.

· Figure ground: - The ability to attend to relevant stimuli and push irrelevant stimuli to the background.

The process of doing remediation for Visual Skills are

(1) Visual Memory - The ability to recollect what one has seen previously.

(2) Sequencing - The ability to reproduce visually presented information in the same order.

(3) Rhythm - The repetition of a sequence is a rhythm.

(4) Closure - The ability to relate parts to a whole.

Lets watch how this process can be undergone to do remediation for visual skills!

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects handwriting and fine motor skills.
It interferes with spelling, word spacing, and the general ability to put thoughts on paper.
It makes the process of writing laboriously slow, and the written product difficult to read.

Lets see how Dysgraphia can be remedied.

Interest needs to be developed in children for writing using various aids:

· Posters and pictures

· Illustrated stories/ charts/pictures/words/labels

· Bulletin boards - a good medium for fostering interest in the written word and its meaning

· Informative books

· Story books with more written content

· Display children’s written work

· Domino cards

· Flashcards

· Various games and activities- Making small words from one big word

Lets see how these aids can be used for remediation in writing.

Story Books can also be of great help in developing writing skills.

In the INITIAL stage the story books should be with bigger fonts, lesser content and more of pictures and then gradually we progress to a story book with more written content and lesser pictures.

What does Ideation mean?

Ideation is the process of forming and relating ideas.

Ideation means to conceive or generate an idea and implement it. Ideas are the result of mental activity that can be based on past or present knowledge, thoughts, opinions, convictions or principles.

Lets see in this video ideation is a technique to improve writing.

It is very important not to confuse the inability to read with the inability to learn.

Learning is a process of getting information, remembering it and using it in various subjects.

All children are born creative , the smartness lies in the ability of the parent or the teacher to use it to achieve learning outcomes.
Lets see how over learning and creativity improves learning.

                                                                                  REMEDIAL STRATEGIES-1

Before we try and understand what are REMEDIAL STRATEGIES, let us first see the problems that children face, who are in need of these strategies and for whom we can plan our remedial programs and they are: -

1) Children with poor memory

2) Children who have problem with attention and who are easily distracted by on goings in their environment

3) Poor – to –worse comprehensive power

4) Lack of learning motivation

5) Lack of self-confidence and self-expectation

6) Weak problem solving power

7) Low grasping power and confusion in understanding things

8) Difficulty in understanding new/abstract concepts

9) Fail to transfer knowledge between learning areas

10) Takes time to complete given assignments / tasks

Apart from all these a child may have a different ability of understanding and style of learning. Some may learn better visually, and some are better in audio learning. Certain children have to learn through sense of touch or practical experiences. Therefore, a remedial teacher should design diversified and assorted teaching activities and adopt different teaching methods to help children develop their potential and get rid of observation in learning.

OBJECTIVES: -

An important objective of REMEDIAL TEACHING is to provide learning support to children who lag far behind their counterparts in school. Not just adopting to school curricular and teaching starts, a teacher should strategically plan and provide learning activities and practical experiments to the children as per their understanding, needs and abilities. One can successfully intensify remedial support through designing individualized educational program to children to develop their basic knowledge in different subjects, master the learning methods, bolster their confidence, intensify the effectiveness of learning. This kind of learning process will be able to lay the foundation for pupil’s lifelong learning and help them build positive attitudes and values by providing systematic training to develop a child’s generic skills that includes interpersonal relationships, communication, problem-solving, self-management, self-learning, independent thinking, creativity and the use of information technology. Such attitudes will help a child prepare for a future in education and career.

PRINCIPLES OF REMEDIAL PROGRAMMES: -

Some of the points to ponder up on before we start a Remedial Program are:

a) IEPs

b) Assessment of child’s present level

c) Annual goal and short term objective

d) Nature of services and time Evaluation

Now let us discuss in detail about the Remedial Strategies, basic principles and its effects………

1) Teaching Preparation: - Individualized Education Plan: -

Before preparing lessons for pupils, an educator should identify each child’s diverse learning needs and based on which one may deliver appropriate teaching plan to provide a child an effective way of learning.

2) Concoction of Various Learning Activities: -

Each child has a certain way of learning, an educator must formulate a medley of various learning activities with same teaching objective to contrive pupil’s varied abilities and skills in problem solving. It is more effective for an educator to endorse a series of relevant and simple teaching activities than assigning one long teaching activity since pupils may acquire the required knowledge and skills through variegated activities.

3) Meaningful Learning Architecture: -

Remedial teachers should specifically architect meaningful learning situations, language environments, games, activities to facilitate personal learning experiences for children to trigger their interest in learning and inspire them to take an initiative. All a child needs is encouragement, and positive encouragement is always healthy.

4) Teaching approaches: -

A teacher should give explicit illustrations before proceeding to hypothetical concepts by way of simple and easy methods at a striding in line with the learning abilities of a child. Any new concept can be taught to a child from different aspects of understanding which the child would embrace through meaningful and repeated illustrations. An educator should encourage the child’s active participation through relevant use of teaching aids, games, activities, etc.

5) Administer clear instructions: -

A child arriving at remedial programs are less competent in understanding and so is their inclusion in such programs is very important. Thereupon it is a compulsion on the part of an educator to give such children a clear and short instructions to avoid confusion. Each learning activity and its provision must be explained briefly. A child can be instructed about the occurrence of such activities so as to observe whether the child has understood all the instructions.

6) Expect the Unexpected: -

During the Remedial Programs, as an educator one may come up on a situation where a child may show significant progress. Remember children appearing for Remedial Programs may not always remain or dwell there, but can also prove ready to get out of it and perform like their other co-leagues in class. Keep reminding the child after each success in their Progress Milestones they achieve, that their aim is nearing and can see themselves a day sitting with the other batch mates. And they should be aware that the Remedial Programs are just temporary, just to give them a little push to jump higher to achieve success.

7) Encapsulating the Essentials: -

During the course of teaching, an educator should always rehash he essential points in teaching and write down crucial phrases of the topic being taught which helps the child to enhance their audio and visual memory. It also strengthens the educator’s teaching process and keeps them reminding to stay attached to the subject. Remedial hours can be made interesting by providing an opportunity to the child to connect between what they are learning with their life experiences which enhances their understanding. Also guide children to repeat the crucial phrases in verbal/written form which is another strong and effective way of learning.

8) Adorn Learning Interest and Motivation: -

Children lose their interest in learning gradually due to various reasons like previous unsuccessful attempts, lack of interest, lack of motivation. Children tend to get disheartened in their work. Therefore, an educator should customize the curriculum to accommodate child’s needs(requirements). A remedial program should always help a child to overcome their learning difficulties which makes a child acquire a sense of achievement and repossess their confidence and interest in learning.

9) Enhearten a Child’s Active Participation in Class Activities: -

Child in Remedial Programs usually lack self-confidence and are more laid back in class. They might not ask questions or express their views. Remedial Teaching should patiently boost active participation in class. Remember pleasurable learning experience helps enhance child’s interest in learning.

10) Converge the Learning Processes: -

Teaching should not be the only way to transmit knowledge. It is also crucial to assess the benefits a child acquires by all the other learning processes. An educator can create a bountiful of opportunities in class rooms for children to practice and give a thought to what they have learnt and concede them to solve problems on their own through different means. Appropriate assistance, feedback and encouragement need to be carefully distributed by observing the performances of each child which further helps them in mastering over learning skills, solve their problems, and understand their own capabilities. This results in enhancing self-confidence, improvement in learning skills and eradicating self-doubts in a child.

11) Show Concern for the Performances of Individuals: -

Children confront with different problems in learning at different levels, therefore a meticulous observation is very important. Remedial guidance can keep happening between the classes, during intervals, lunch breaks in a positive way to make an individual get rid of their obstructions in learning. For instance, when giving away home works, marking assignments, an educator should be aware of the common errors a child can make and convey them in a way easily understood by them.

Hence, we can conclusively derive some strategies which can help in an inclusive class setup.

 Remedial education requires friendly environment for child where s/he can become frank with special educator and can share anything without hesitation.

 Depending upon his/her learning style, educator must pre-plan for the lessons.

 Capitalize on the students learning.

 Implying positive reinforcement enhances learning of children.

 Using flash cards will help in improving reading and comprehensive skills.

 Performing the activities in the class which integrates audio, visual, reading and writing.

 Give explicit instructions.

 Providing enlarged notes to children with special education needs.

 Simplify notes .Distribute the paragraph into points.

Visual Perception refers to the brain’s ability to make sense of what the eyes see. This is not the same as visual acuity which refers to how clearly a child sees.

A Visual Perceptual Deficit refers to a reduced ability to make sense of information taken in through the eyes.

Difficulties with visual perception affect how visual information is interpreted or processed. The child may have a difficulty to discriminate in terms of foreground-background, forms, size, and position in space. He / She may be unable to synthesize and analyse, and may have a problem with visual closure.

Visual processing problems can interfere with many areas of a child’s learning, particularly reading and mathematics.

Let's see what are the remedial strategies to overcome such weakness.

Visual Perception allows us to interpret information, analyze information, and make sense of what we are seeing. It’s important for educators and parents to understand that when we say to students,

“Look at the word closely,” or, “Use your eyes! What do you see?” we’re referring to much more than their 20/20 vision. Before a child even begins to read, he or she must have obtained competency in visual processing skills. These important skills allow students to recognize words they’ve already seen, see how letters work together to form a whole word, recognize the difference between the letter b and the letter d, and so much more! Without these skills, our students would just be seeing words on the page, not understanding them. That’s a pretty important difference, isn't it? If students have weaknesses in some areas of their visual perceptual skills, it could affect their ability to reach their highest level of potential at reading.
Lets see how the weakness in reading can be remedied.

Visual Motor Deficit Learning Disability is a disorder that affects the understanding of information that a person sees, or the ability to draw or copy.

It can result in missing subtle differences in shapes or printed letters, losing place frequently struggling with cutting, holding a pencil too tightly or poor eye / hand coordination.

Visual motor (eye-hand coordination) problems in children are often not discovered until a child is in elementary school. Problems with learning to write, draw simple pictures and use classroom tools may be the first signs that there is a problem.

Let's learn how to Overcome this Weakness through this Video.

Visual Motor Coordination is the ability to coordinate vision with the movements of the body or parts of the body and visual perception is the ability to recognize, recall, discriminate and make sense of what we see. Both are underlying components of catching a ball, forming letters properly between lines, reading and cutting on lines.

How to help children to improve their visual motor coordination? Let's watch !

Visual Motor Integration involves effective, efficient communication between the eyes and the hands, so that a child is able to copy, draw or write what he/she sees.

Children who struggle to integrate or coordinate their visual systems and their motor systems may struggle with handwriting as well as with other school skills.

Visual Motor Integration is more than simple eye-hand coordination, although there is a lot of overlap between the two skills.

Working on eye-hand coordination does help the visual and motor systems to work together, but there may be a subtle difference in the way they affect a child's written work. for eg. Children with poor eye-hand coordination may struggle to start and stop the pencil in the space given, and may miss or overshoot the lines.

Visual motor integration delays may cause a child to struggle to copy numbers and letters correctly. The child’s handwriting may seem disjointed and lacking in flow. Handwriting may require lots of conscious effort, out of proportion to the task.

Let's learn how to overcome the struggle of handwriting by watching the video.

Does Behaviour Management mean Discipline?

No. Behaviour Management is a larger concept than Discipline.

Discipline is implemented after a problem occurs whereas behavior management seeks to prevent problems in the first place. So let's check how to manage behavior in the classroom through this video.

To learn some tips on how to manage behavior in the classroom, we first need to determine our own beliefs as a teacher.

What can be those beliefs? Is it that we just have to teach the curriculum and complete our syllabus? No it's not just that. There are many other things which a teacher has to do while teaching the curriculum like setting some norms for expected behavior and various other segments of child's life in class. What are those various segments?
Let's watch the video and find out.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT TRUTH

1. Lasting change takes time.

2. You cannot make anyone do anything.

3. Behavior is a symptom of a larger issue.

4. Reacting to a problem generally escalates the problem, while being proactive usually helps to de-escalate or avoid the problem in the first place.

Let's watch these Truths through this video.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT TRUTHS 5-9

5. Consistency is the key!

6. If students are engaged, they are not causing trouble.

7.You can win the battle but lose the war.

8. Choose your battles wisely. Parents can be allies or enemies.

9. Assigning blame is ineffective.

Let's find out through this video

GIVE IT TIME:

•Implications for the Classroom

* Be patient with students as they begin to work toward change.
* Assist students with designing and implementing a plan to improve.
* Give private praise if appropriate for positive changes.
* Understand that behavior will slip sometimes and don't give up on the child.

CHOICES:

You cannot make anyone do anything unless they choose to cooperate.

Children allow us to do what we do in our classrooms.

We can manage the situation by what we choose to do and say in response to a given situation.

Implications for the Classroom

Admit to students you cannot "make" them do anything, but that they may not like what you choose to do in response.

Use student choice statements when addressing students about their inappropriate behavior:

Ex: "You can choose to get on task and work with your group, or you can choose to sit over here by yourself, fill out a reflection sheet, and take an F on the assignment for the day. Of course, I will have to inform your parent if you choose the latter, but it's still your choice. You know what is best for you

Teachers need to have the following competencies to strengthen qualities for Inclusive Teacher:-

1. Sensitivity towards learners with diverse abilities/ disabilities and avoid labelling.

2. Inclusive Classroom management

3. Understanding the significance of Collaboration

4.Skills for Inclusive Assessment and evaluation

5.Knowledge of Assistive Technology and Assistive devices

6. Awareness regarding stereotypes and myths about disabilities

Regular teachers need to  play a pivotal role in implementing inclusive education to meet the educational and social needs of learners with varying abilities including children with disabilities. The teachers are now required to strengthen their skills and competencies from the perspective of developing inclusive practices at school and classroom level besides to facilitate learning for children with diverse needs and disabilities, providing support to learners through collaboration with special educators, parents and other stake holders of education besides working outside the traditional subject limitations with a sensitive approach.

Technology for facilitating communication skills:

Technology can refer to any device that helps a person with hearing loss or a voice, speech or language disorder to communicate. These terms often refer to devices that help a person to hear and understand what is being said more clearly or to express thoughts more easily. Reading, writing and listening are the three most vital components of communication skills for students; and with the development of digital and wireless technologies, more and more devices are becoming available to help people with hearing, voice, speech and language disorders to communicate more meaningfully and participate more fully in their daily lives. These technological devices can be classified into following categories:

(a) Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs):

They help amplify the sound you want to hear, especially where there’s a lot of background noise. These devices can be used with a hearing aid or cochlear implant to help a wearer hear certain sounds better. For example:

Hearing/Induction loop system, Frequency-Modulated (FM) systems, Infrared systems and Personal amplifiers.

(b) Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices:

They help people with communication disorders to express themselves. These devices can range from a simple picture board, keyboard, touchscreens to speech synthesizing and speech generating computer program that synthesizes speech from text.

(c) Alerting Devices:

They connect to doorbell, telephone, clock or alarm that emits a loud sound, vibration, light or a combination of these; to let someone with hearing loss know that an event is taking place. Visual or vibration alert signalers can help monitor a variety of household devices and carry out other significant activities. Technology plays a very supportive role in enhancing student’s communication skills, both written and oral.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the most important one to understand. As a special education law, IDEA provides rights and protections to children with disabilities and to their parents. Learning your rights under IDEA can make it easier for the child to get the help he needs (and is legally entitled to) at school. The Purpose of IDEA was first passed in 1975. (At that time, it was called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act.) The primary purposes of IDEA are:

· To provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with disabilities. IDEA requires schools to find and evaluate students suspected of having disabilities, at no cost to parents. Once kids are identified as having a disability, schools must provide them with special education and related services (like speech therapy and counseling) to meet their unique needs. The goal is to help students make progress in school.

· To give parents a voice in their child’s education under IDEA, you have a say in the educational decisions the school makes about the  child. At every point of the process, the law gives the child specific rights and protections. These are called procedural safeguards. For example, one safeguard is that the school must get the parents consent before providing services to the child.

IDEA covers kids from birth through high school graduation or age 21 (whichever comes first). It provides early intervention services up to age 3, and special education for older kids in public school.
Who’s Eligible?
Not every child with learning and attention issues is eligible for special education under IDEA. To qualify, your child’s issues must fall under one of the 13 disability categories that IDEA covers.
However, having one of the 13 disabilities doesn’t automatically qualify a child under IDEA. To be eligible, a student must:
Have a disability and, as a result of that disability, need special education in order to make progress in school. If, for instance, a student has ADHD and is doing well in school, he might not be covered by IDEA. Sometimes schools and parents disagree over whether a child is covered. When that happens, IDEA provides options for resolving the dispute.

Education is a tool that can play a vital role in improving the socio-economic condition of the nation. It empowers citizens with analytical abilities, leads to better confidence levels and fortifies one with will power and goal setting competencies. Education involves not only textbook learning but also a growth of values, skills and capacities. This helps individuals to plan for their career as well as play a useful part in building a new society with progressive values. Hence, education results in changing both individual lives as well as that of the entire community for the better. The education sector has been of vital importance to the Indian Government which has been regularly formulating provisions and schemes for promoting elementary education.

The Right to Education has also been enshrined as a Fundamental Right by the Constitution of India. It states that "The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine." To promote literacy among its citizens, the Government of India has launched several schemes such as the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalya Scheme. One of the most fundamental and promising of these schemes is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan is also known as the 'Education for All' movement or 'Each One Teach One'. It was introduced in 2000-2001 as the flagship programme run by the Government of India. This scheme is framed to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the age group of six to fourteen by 2010.

Aim of SSA
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan aims to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools. All efforts to support preschool learning in ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) centres or special preschool centres in non ICDS areas are made to supplement the efforts of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Objectives of SSA
The SSA programme is an endeavour to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities of all children, through the provision of community owned quality education in a mission mode. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had been set with specific targets. These are:

· All children in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School or 'Back-to-School' camp by 2003.

· All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007.

· Children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010.

· Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life.

· Bridge all gender and social category gaps at the primary stage by 2007 and at the elementary education level by 2010.

· Universal retention by 2010.

To achieve these objectives, strategies have been framed that include active involvement of local community groups and institutional capacity building for setting up of block level resource centres. These centres impart district elementary education plans. The framework of SSA includes appointment of teachers, their training, motivating parents and students, provision of incentives, like, scholarships, uniforms, textbooks, etc. The programme also aims to open new schools in areas having inadequate schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure through the construction of additional class rooms, provision of toilets, drinking water facilities and so on.

Role of Private Sector in SSA
Though the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is being administered through government and government aided schools, some private unaided schools are also actively involved in contributing towards universal elementary education. Recently, the government entered into an agreement with World Bank; for assistance to the tune of US $ 600 million to fund the second phase of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a valuable endeavour of the Government of India, in the universalization of elementary education, which strives to help citizens to realise the importance of elementary education. Social justice and equity are by themselves a strong argument for providing basic education for all. Provision of basic education also improves the standard of living, especially with regard to life expectancy, infant mortality and nutritional status of children.