Call for attention to dyslexic children
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E-mail China Daily, May 8, 2013
According to Lan, to have a definite diagnosis, one should go through a nuclear magnetic resonance scanning of the brain in the 306 Hospital of the PLA (the only hospital in Beijing offering the diagnosis) or take a test on reading and writing abilities in the center.
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Dyslexic children cannot be cured with medicine or surgery. Instead, they can only be helped with special education. [Photos/China Daily] |
"Dyslexia can't be cured with medicine or operation, and can only be corrected with special education," Lan says.
She says children should undergo the right trainings to help them improve reading and writing abilities.
Children below the age of 8 show up to 80 percent improvement after one year's training in the center.
Lan says the progress rate drops gradually as the children become older, to as low as 40 percent at the age of 12. After 12 years old, she advises parents and teachers to allow the children to develop naturally according to their talents.
In Lan's center, children are divided into groups according to their levels and taught by multi-sensory and associative memory. For example, teachers put Chinese character radicals in different colors to help the kids remember.
About one third of the students' families find online about the center.
One third is introduced by parents who send children to the center, and the rest are those who participate in the center's activities.
According to Lan, dyslexia not only affects children's academic life and relationships with families and classmates, but also their psychological health. Some may have a proclivity toward violence and some are self-abased.
She says about 14 percent of her students are receiving psychotherapy at the same time. Some refuse to go to school because they had a hard time there.
"Teachers and parents should acknowledge their difference and not blame the kids for their poor reading and writing abilities. A healthy personality is the most important, and kids should live in a relaxed environment," she says.
Lan used to own a publication company. In 2007, she got to know about dyslexia by accident and started to research about it with the help of an NGO in Hong Kong.
"It was at that time that I realized dyslexia is a serious social problem in China," says Lan, who closed down her company and established Langlang.
In 2007, when she searched the word "dyslexia" on Baidu.com, the largest Chinese search engine, there were about 100 related results. Now there are more than 230,000. As far as she knows, there are about three such centers in China.
She thinks the center's greatest contribution is creating public awareness about dyslexia, and it's also the biggest challenge.
Its public awareness activities include delivering speeches in schools and communities. The Chaoyang district government has also purchased Langlang's training program to help dyslexic children from impoverished families.
During the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March, a delegate submitted a proposal about the establishment of a national system to identify dyslexia among children and professional training centers.
But there is still a long way to go in China, where dyslexia is still something new to the public.
In Western countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, there are policies for those with dyslexia and the members of the public are very familiar with it. The US even has primary schools, middle schools and universities with centers that are exclusively for this group of people.
"It will be a success only when most people know about dyslexia. We need more support and related laws and regulations to help people with dyslexia," she says.
According to Lan, the children are no different from others, and some are genius.
Wu says, "My son may have some difficulties in writing, but has a gift for identifying solid shapes and likes designs very much. I want him to develop what he's good at.
"We need to be patient because it takes time for kids to improve reading and writing abilities. We should understand and tolerate our own children, by appreciating their advantages."
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