* Book may be obtained from Arenabuku Book Store at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail and all major bookstores nationwide.

Special education is a critical component of worldwide education planning and development. Children with learning difficulties deserve the awareness of their communities of the challenges they face and ways in which they can be supported in order for them to achieve their highest potentials.

This book provides an introductory overview of mild to moderate learning difficulties among children and offers practical guidelines and suggestions to parents and educators on how to handle these issues positively. Topics include child development norms, various types of learning difficulties, special education programmes, sources of professional help, methods of positive intervention and learning support provision.

FOREWORD

After working in the Special Education field for many years, and meeting numerous parents of varying backgrounds, it is obvious that the effect of having a special child is basically the same for parents. No matter what degree of special need a child has, it is still heart-breaking to find out.

Parents are, at first, devastated, then shocked, and then, consumed by guilt thinking that they had caused their child to have special needs. Next, come the questions, "What do we do? Where do we go from here? Who do we go to? How do we handle this?"

Although the book focuses mainly on mild to moderate learning difficulties mainly in the early childhood age range, parents with children who have severe difficulties and older children can also use it as a handbook.

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INTRODUCTION

Learning Difficulties: Guidebook 1 is targeted at parents and mainstream teachers who require a general introduction to the field of special education. The chapters in this book are carefully divided into shorter sections that are directly relevant to learning difficulties. This book illustrates the relationships between a learning disabled child and all aspects of his or her environment.

The first part of this book provides a little background information required to fully understand the core aspects of learning difficulties faced by the child or youth. Readers need not dissect any part of this book, rather just be aware and informed.

An overview of child development is introduced to help readers gauge whether or not the child is developing at an age – appropriate level. Very often, parents and industry professionals feel powerless when there is little understanding of how special education differs from mainstream education.

Learning difficulties present themselves in many different ways. It is helpful to understand different aspects of these difficulties before appropriate help can be obtained for the child. Just as each of us has a unique set of fingerprints, so does a child or youth with learning difficulties. It is genetics that makes us unique rather than duplicates of each other.

Any given individual may possess a unique set of difficulties that causes barriers in learning. Students with learning difficulties can be found in every classroom and unless they are identified and supported appropriately, they will become the product of a failed educational system.

In Malaysia, there is currently no legislation nor sufficient trained professionals in the special education field. The legislative process is not in place simply because care givers are not equipped with relevant information to request the additional services required to make special education a part of mainstream education. This book is aimed at equipping readers with some basic knowledge crucial to the understanding of learning difficulties. I hope this book will motivate parents and educators to make a difference be it to create a support system, collaborate for legislation changes, or to help an individual at a time.

It is also important at this point in time for readers to realize that there is no cure for many learning difficulties. However, with structured intervention, learning difficulties can be overcome. In many cases children with mild to moderate learning difficulties can assimilate into the mainstream education system with adequate and continued support.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosh Vettiveloo
Intl.Dip.ECE, Dip.Ch.Psych., Dip.Tchg.SpLD, Adv.Dip.Psych., Cert.SEN, MEd(SpEd)

Rosh is an educational & learning therapist with extensive experience in the education and support of children with mild to moderate learning difficulties. A well-known authority in the field of special education, she writes widely for the media and travels around the region giving talks and lectures. She is a member of the International Dyslexia Association (USA) and the National Association of Special Education Needs (UK). Sri Rafelsia, the centre to which she is currently attached, is recognised as a provision for Specific Learning Difficulties in Malaysia by the Dyslexia Association of Singapore . Sri Rafelsia also offers early intervention and learning support programmes.

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