This month, ReadON conducted a workshop at Pakistan School Bahrain discussing learning disabilities and ways to tackle them effectively.
It is estimated that over 20% of all children in the GCC suffer with some from of learning difficulties or have specific learning disabilities like Dyslexia.
Learning disabilities in general have received a good deal of attention across most of the Arab world recently.
This increased awareness of learning problems, including dyslexia has led to an increase in the
number of special educational needs units, schools, and learning disabilities centers across the region. Parents, Caregivers and Therapists work non-stop to care for such children and the Governments of the GCC have taken special steps in ensuring quality education to these children. Here in Bahrain alone, in the 2019/20 academic year there were 179 schools that had implemented the special education programs at different education levels as set by the
ministry.
Pakistan School is one of the oldest schools in Bahrain and was established in 1968. Pakistan
School Bahrain provides quality education right from early years till high school. Under its new leadership led by Mr. Attiq Ur Rahman, Principal, they are focused on ensuring children are equipped to face challenges in real life while developing their hidden potential.
The workshop focused on specific challenges being faced by the teachers in the school. Over 26% of the teachers said they had children with special needs or learning disabilities in their class. Most of the teachers surveyed also had other accompanying problems in their students such as handwriting, behavior and reading and could only attribute these to some form of learning difficulty.
Conditions like ADHD, Autism and many Learning Difficulties begin from brain activity. As a result,
Cognitive therapy is one of the most widely researched and effective treatments out there to
assist individuals with learning difficulties.
