School support for Learning Disabilities and ADHD
The rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016) is the central act that governs the rights of people with disabilities in India. Of the 21 disabilities mentioned in the act, speech and language disability, specific learning disabilities, intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, etc. are also included. School support for Learning disabilities, therefore, becomes one of the legally recognized disabilities eligible for provisions and concessions provided by the government. The Right to Education Act mandates, along with the RPWD Act, that no child can be denied admission to any educational institution on account of their disability, learning or otherwise, and neither can they be discriminated against.
All CBSE-recognized schools, under law, must provide the necessary support and rights to students with disabilities mentioned in these two Acts. CBSE decrees that all schools recognized by it have:
School support for Learning Disabilities and ADHD
- at least one RCI-certified Special Educator
- a school-counsellor (for behaviour management at home and school).
- The board mandates that every school affiliated to it should have provisions for enabling a child with a disability to be fully functional within its school, and have equal learning opportunities, that is, equal access to the curriculum and the co-curriculum as far as possible. The advisory on inclusive education is outlined clearly on the board’s website:
- ensuring that no child with special needs is refused admission into any mainstream school
- monitoring the enrolment and performance of children with learning disabilities in school
- modification of existing physical infrastructure, and the teaching methodology in terms of physical access and differentiated learning, respectively
- ensuring that hostels, infirmaries, libraries, etc. are all barrier-free, so that the school premises are disabled friendly
- provision of study material like talking text-books, reading machines, computers with speech and other assistive software (if the school can afford all of this, the advisory says that they have the freedom to acquire and use it, as children with special needs are entitled to such provisions
- assistive devices and trained teachers for supporting children with LD
- ensuring regular in-service training of all teachers in inclusive education
- revisiting classroom organization for education, from time to time, to see how things are being managed