Dyslexia children find haven in Munyonyo

After years of struggling to speak, Musa Njuki is finally learning how to read. But this milestone never came automatically for him. The 12-year-old primary school pupil of Rise and Shine Dyslexic Organization (RASDO) in Munyonyo is one of the best athletes the institution boasts of.

During last term’s sports day, he emerged the second in the whole school in the running event.

Before getting help, Njuki used to dread the time when teachers said he had to write or spell words. The firstborn of three, he grew up with a speech disorder that limited his words. He hardly spoke.

“I had a hard time in my former school because I could hardly speak with other children and whenever I would fail the exams, I was beaten,” Njuki, a former pupil at Lungujja Infant School chokes out. 

Njuki at the Centre

Luckily, a teacher at his former school noticed his problem and recommended he joins the Munyonyo centre. His parents agreed and he enrolled this year.

“The teachers here are patient with me and slowly, I am beginning to learn how to talk, read and spell…I love Science,” the soft spoken, small-bodied, primary five pupil says.

He looks forward to becoming a pilot in future.

With an ever increasing emphasis on education and literacy, more and more children like Njuki are finding themselves in need of help in learning to read, spell and write.

 One particularly damaging general misunderstanding of the condition is the belief that children who suffer from dyslexia possess diminished academic potential, says Jesca Nakibirango, the executive director, RASDO.

She says dyslexia is a neuro-developmental disability where a child experiences difficulty in reading and writing, and not a thinking disability.

“Dyslexic children usually have mirror-writing problem in which, for example, they substitute the number 9 for letter P, mispronounce words, have ineligible handwriting and have difficulty in coping with work on the chalkboard,” Nakibirango explains.

Children will also produce incomplete work because of the difficulty in reading, they read haltingly, word by word, and may have difficulty in buttoning their clothes or tying up their shoelaces, when younger.

However, children afflicted with the condition may possess extraordinary talent. For example Fred Kizza, 16 employs excellent leadership skills that go a long way in disguising his condition. 

Fred Kizza tries to write what is teacher has written on the chalk board

Teacher Nakibirango (c) leads Kizza (L) and Njuki (R) through a Maths lesson using rubber cuttings

Kizza, a P.6 pupil, is currently the head boy at Munyonyo primary school, a government school affiliated to RASDO. He also presides over the school’s peace court where he arbitrates cases of conflicting and undisciplined pupils.

But these aside, Kizza knows that he has trouble spelling and pronouncing words. He is however hopeful that if others can, then he can, something that is in keeping with the organization’s ideals.

Internationally, actor Tom Cruise, legendary artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci and inventor Graham Bell all suffered from dyslexia, the learning disability that is supposedly the most common.

Tragically, however, the public knows too little about the condition and therefore too few children get identified early enough while many more do not get identified at all.

“There is inadequate knowledge, a hurdle that presents itself right from the parent and teacher level. Many private schools turn away such children while others are forced to repeat classes over and over. Some end up being abused and beaten by their parents when they do not perform to their expectation,” says Richard Semanda, the chairman of RASDO.

DYSLEXIA EFFECTS

MedicineNet, an online medical dictionary, defines dyslexia as a specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain’s processing of graphic materials.

The dictionary notes that children with dyslexia have impairment with the visual and auditory system and this makes it important to use touch and movement during teaching.

“Afflicted children may have problems related to concentration, for example daydreaming, getting lost easily and losing track of time,” the dictionary reads.

Such children also get frustrated about reading and testing and may experience difficulty in expressing themselves clearly and understanding what others mean when they speak.

Esther Nakaita, a P.5 pupil at Munyonyo primary, says she usually finishes a two hour exam within 30 minutes because of the difficulty that comes with reading and comprehending the questions. 

Nakibirango attributes dyslexia to poor nutrition during pregnancy, breech birth (birth of a baby in which the baby exits the pelvis with the buttocks or feet first as opposed to the normal head-first) and is a condition that may manifest itself in left handed children. She recently presented a paper on how to handle dyslexic children at the 10th conference in Language and Development in South Africa that was sponsored by the British Council.

A NEW WAY TO LEARN

According to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), multisensory teaching is an effective approach to teaching children with dyslexia. In traditional teaching, students typically use two senses: sight and hearing. Learners see words when reading and they hear the teacher speaking. But children with dyslexia may have problems processing visual and auditory information.

“By including more of the senses, making lessons come alive by incorporating touch, smell and taste into their lessons, teachers can reach more students and help those with dyslexia learn and retain information,” the article on the IDA website reads.

ILLUSTRATIONS

By using letter diagrams of items shaped out of plastic, rubber, wood and  cardboard box material, Nakibirango says it enables the children keep a mental picture of the words in their heads.

For Maths, using beans for counting, blocks, cutting shapes for fractions and measuring liquids is helpful.

“To improve comprehension, talk to the children about trips, adventures and activities and encourage them to visualise the picture. Illustrate it; write a sentence about it, dictated by the child. Make a mind map or concept map about it for older children,” writes Dr Gloria Thomas on the lrien Dyslexia Centre website.

She adds that in order to improve oral language processing, one should play games, such as giving the child two or three short sentences, the aim being that the child should put them together into a sentence. Then the child could give you three sentences and learn how you string them into one.

RASDO CHANGING LIVES

Located a few hundred meters away from the Munyonyo-Salaama main road, RASDO stands out as a lone building. Its quiet environs, save for the chirping of birds and the blowing of soft winds, makes it appear desolate.

However, it is here that two special-needs teachers, Nakibirango and Semanda, are trying to turn around the fortunes of 15 dyslexic pupils − five whom are enrolled for fulltime learning at the centre while 10 are enrolled at Munyonyo primary school.

RASDO was established in March 2003 as a community-based organization with a mission of creating a centre that would handle learners with specific learning difficulties.

Its vision is to eventually integrate dyslexic children within schools and communities so that they can fully participate in activities with the other children and its key objective is to create more awareness of learning disabilities.

The organization handles three categories of learners: dyslexic, those with general intellectual disabilities, such as slow learners, and those with cognitive dysfunctions.

Because of the difficulties they experience in coping with academics, the children are sometimes referred to as ‘bimwongwa’- dull, ‘basilu’or ‘bifanta’- stupid, by their age mates, or even parents.

The writing on the wall

Semanda says teachers should learn to be patient with each child and must have the children’s success at heart.

“We use an individualized approach to teach the students so that we can repeat, over and over again, a concept they have not grasped, unlike in ordinary schools,” Semanda says.

In 2010, one of their pupils scored 19 aggregates in the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and is currently pursuing a course in carpentry in a technical school. Last year, another sat for the same exams, but orally, and excelled, achieving aggregate 25. These are some of the milestones the organization has notched since its inception.

To raise income, the school charges every pupil Shs 250,000 per term.

Semanda appeals to government to train and recruit more special-needs teachers on top of motivating them with better pay and work incentives, such as bursaries.

In Uganda, Kyambogo University is the only institute of higher learning mandated to train instructors in special needs education. It offers a two year Diploma and Bachelor of Education in Special Needs Education.

RASDO is considering expansion of its services to include practical skills, such as sewing and weaving.

“Anyone who can make an offer to this cause is welcome,” Semanda says.

Regardless of the stigma attached to the condition, one fact will always stand out; dyslexics are not about to give up and have set out to be lifelong learners.