Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1369939
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 MAY 2021 10 NEWS CHILDREN with learning chal- lenges face a daunting future as the slowdown in COVID infec- tions now raises the question of how they will recuperate once the pandemic was over. "As it is, without COVID-19 we already have children falling between the cracks, and that is a worry," Malta Dyslexia Associ- ation (MDA) secretary Dr Ruth Falzon told MaltaToday. COVID-19 had a profound im- pact on people's health but also how they learn, work, and live. Among the most important challenges created by COV- ID-19 was how to adapt a sys- tem of education built around physical schools. With schools physically closed during the height of the pandemic, many students struggled to adapt to online learning. Perhaps some of the hardest-hit students, are those with learning difficulties, who may already struggle in a traditional school setting. Falzon said that while some children were struggling, some were not accessing education at all. "An example of this would be two parents who work full time, who need the money to live, and have to send their child with learning difficulties to their grandparents. The grandpar- ents, because of their age, and vulnerability can't go out, so obviously the child doesn't go to school, there may also be prob- lems with the internet. So those with least social capital are the ones getting the least support." The only way forward she sees is changing the curriculum to include summer school, in such a fashion as to allow children to get a break. "It should be fun learning, but you still have to gauge what they missed." It's also about how teachers can undersatnd what children have missed out on and where the holes in learning are. "If a student can't multiply, the teacher needs to see why. It could be because 'I don't have number value'. So while we are in this recuperation stage, we need to make sure that the foundation learning that needed to be there is actually there." Falzon said there was already a problem when it came to maths. "The failure rate in primary schools is 10%, increasing to over 30% in secondary school... a reason for this could be be- cause it is being taught too fast to younger children, so the con- cepts are not automatic, so they can't do higher-level maths. "When you get children with difficulties who need more rein- forcement, we need to find the time when to do it. It's done in summer to make sure there is support throughout the year, because kids need to be in class with their friends. You need to find a system... but it's not go- ing to be easy," Falzon said. Falzon said some children have benefited from repeating a 'lost' year while others have found it traumatic. "Repeating a year would need to be done in consultation with the child and how they feel about it. Some- times they change schools, but repeating a year then does not affect you because you get new friends." "The majority of cases where repetition is recommended is in the early years. We're had posi- tive results there. But it's not a decision just based on what has academically been lost; the psy- chological aspect is more im- portant. If the child is sad, it will be a wasted year. They won't learn anything because they will be depressed." For that reason Falzon said she would rather see extra lessons helping children catch up in a summer programme. "Apart from the pandemic, the curriculum was too packed, an issue that has been brought up but which fell on deaf ears. We have had teachers tell us they are very frustrated because they are teaching too rushed, let alone the child with learn- ing difficulties. Where will they end up? We have had numerous reports that had said they gone slower in the early years, the faster we could go later on." But Falzon says the use of technology in schools also helped students with dyslexia, such as at University. "Before students weren't allowed to use the computer or speech-to- text; now because schooling is done oneline, everybody could use speech-to-text. So students at university with dyslexia felt more comfortable because they could dictate into the comput- er if they wanted. So one thing about COVID-19 that was pos- itive was that they have realised the use of technology does not detract from children's learn- ing." Research and online lessons Research by the Malta Dys- lexia Association during the pandemic with 31 parents of children at primary and second- ary level with reading or writing difficulties, ADD, ADHD, au- tism, dyslexia or a combination, found that Teleskola and online support via teams proved bene- ficial. However, support varied depending on the school and the educators concerned. There was a mixed reaction regarding online live lessons, depending on the severity and learning dif- ficulty. When it came to ADD, some parents said their child was more focused because there were not many distractions since mics were muted, so they could only hear the teachers. Another parent said the lessons were less engaging for students with a short attention span. Parents of dyslexic children said, on the one hand, that there were fewer distractions and qui- eter; however, others felt online lessons were not suitable for dyslexic children. As fpr recorded lessons, par- ents said while they could be re-visited or followed at con- venient times by learners and parents, the need to receive some feedback from the teacher was felt. Summer lessons can help kids with learning difficulties catch up after pandemic Students with learning disabilities had to weather the COVID-19 pandemic: what's next now, asks LAURA CALLEJA? Dr Ruth Falzon: "Apart from the pandemic, the curriculum was too packed, an issue that has been brought up but which fell on deaf ears. We have had teachers tell us they are very frustrated because they are teaching too rushed, let alone the child with learning difficulties. Where will they end up?" "As it is, without COVID-19 we already have children falling between the cracks, and that is a worry."