It was just an ordinary day. Those were the early years of practice when the patients were few and far between. There was this banker, a promising one at that. Professionally he was doing very well. He had 2 daughters. Normally all 4 would come together for any one's consultation. I thought it was a happy family.
That day they came for the elder daughter who was about 6 years old studying in the first standard. . She was weeping. Body had bruises. It looked like she had been beaten black and blue. On inquiry, I was in for a surprise. She had been badly beaten up by the father! This was a delicate issue and I had to tread the path very carefully. I asked the mother how she sustained the injuries. She promptly replied that the father her reprimanded her for her poor scholastic performance. I was surprised. I asked her what she meant. She said that the girl was very backward in studies and stupid. This was an irritating factor for the father who was busy with his profession. When he came home after a hard day's work, mother would complain to him about the daughter. Her performance in school was awful. Tuition teacher had almost given up. She never finished home work. She hardly ever did anything right in the school. Teacher and the mother were very worried. Feeling irritated after a hard day's work, the father would lose his cool and beat her up real bad!
I decided to interact with the girl. She was shy. She was a bit reluctant to interact with me. After a little bit of coaxing, she opened up. I asked her her name and she replied correctly. I asked her to write it. She tried but was all wrong. I asked her about alphabets and she could not answer - unusual for a 1st standard girl. I wrote an alphabet - she read it wrong. I have a bad handwriting. So I now wrote in big size capital letter and she was still wrong. I told her that the alphabet was A and asked her to name something starting with that alphabet. She said Zebra! Obviously wrong. Then I showed her some pictures and asked her to identify them. A house, a tree and the like. She could not. She was bad in repeating what was tols. She could not recite even one nursery rhyme. I realized what the diagnosis was - Learning Disability - Dyslexia. Faculty of recognition of alphabets / pictures / numbers was all wrong. LBLD -Language Based Learning Disability could consist of calculation problems, reading problems, difficulty in auditory processing, repetition, and sometimes motor incoordination.
I took the parents into confidence. I explained to them what dyslexia was. I also told them that the child was not doing it intentionally. They were surprised. They still felt that the girl was beyond education and therefore stupid whatever the label was. She was a abnormal child and a academic liability. It took me a lot of effort to tell them that there is indeed a solution. She would have to be trained in a special school and would require personal attention and training there. They were a bit reluctant because they saw it as a means of segregation and also felt that the child would be marked as 'different from the est' if she attended a special school. After counselling them and also sending them for special counsellers finally they agreed with the suggestion o send her to a special school. I am glad to say the girl improved a lot and did well for herself.
It is very interesting to note that children with these disorders get easily marked in an ordinary school. They manage well in their later life. Obviously the skills required for a career later are much less than those required in the years of schooling! The father went on to become a very successful a banker and held one of the topmost possible position in the banking industry just before his retirement. This also shows that skills of very fine understanding of human nature and man management are not really necessary to be an outstanding professional . They get easily overshadowed by the extraordinary professional skills!
That day they came for the elder daughter who was about 6 years old studying in the first standard. . She was weeping. Body had bruises. It looked like she had been beaten black and blue. On inquiry, I was in for a surprise. She had been badly beaten up by the father! This was a delicate issue and I had to tread the path very carefully. I asked the mother how she sustained the injuries. She promptly replied that the father her reprimanded her for her poor scholastic performance. I was surprised. I asked her what she meant. She said that the girl was very backward in studies and stupid. This was an irritating factor for the father who was busy with his profession. When he came home after a hard day's work, mother would complain to him about the daughter. Her performance in school was awful. Tuition teacher had almost given up. She never finished home work. She hardly ever did anything right in the school. Teacher and the mother were very worried. Feeling irritated after a hard day's work, the father would lose his cool and beat her up real bad!
I decided to interact with the girl. She was shy. She was a bit reluctant to interact with me. After a little bit of coaxing, she opened up. I asked her her name and she replied correctly. I asked her to write it. She tried but was all wrong. I asked her about alphabets and she could not answer - unusual for a 1st standard girl. I wrote an alphabet - she read it wrong. I have a bad handwriting. So I now wrote in big size capital letter and she was still wrong. I told her that the alphabet was A and asked her to name something starting with that alphabet. She said Zebra! Obviously wrong. Then I showed her some pictures and asked her to identify them. A house, a tree and the like. She could not. She was bad in repeating what was tols. She could not recite even one nursery rhyme. I realized what the diagnosis was - Learning Disability - Dyslexia. Faculty of recognition of alphabets / pictures / numbers was all wrong. LBLD -Language Based Learning Disability could consist of calculation problems, reading problems, difficulty in auditory processing, repetition, and sometimes motor incoordination.
I took the parents into confidence. I explained to them what dyslexia was. I also told them that the child was not doing it intentionally. They were surprised. They still felt that the girl was beyond education and therefore stupid whatever the label was. She was a abnormal child and a academic liability. It took me a lot of effort to tell them that there is indeed a solution. She would have to be trained in a special school and would require personal attention and training there. They were a bit reluctant because they saw it as a means of segregation and also felt that the child would be marked as 'different from the est' if she attended a special school. After counselling them and also sending them for special counsellers finally they agreed with the suggestion o send her to a special school. I am glad to say the girl improved a lot and did well for herself.
It is very interesting to note that children with these disorders get easily marked in an ordinary school. They manage well in their later life. Obviously the skills required for a career later are much less than those required in the years of schooling! The father went on to become a very successful a banker and held one of the topmost possible position in the banking industry just before his retirement. This also shows that skills of very fine understanding of human nature and man management are not really necessary to be an outstanding professional . They get easily overshadowed by the extraordinary professional skills!
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