LEARNING DISABILITIES DIAGNOSTIC PROTOCOL A PREREQUISITE FOR BASIC EDUCATION IN CAMEROON; HEAD TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
Learning disabilities is one of the hidden disabilities that affect one or more of the processes people use in learning and developing oral language, reading, writing, mathematics, social skills, executive functions, memory, and motor skills. Being a disability that is not readily observable because there are no outward signs, many pupils with this condition are often misunderstood or overlooked. Some instructors and administrators suspect that pupils’ who claim to have learning disabilities are faking it, playing the system, or lack the intelligence needed to succeed. The need for a diagnostic procedure for the identification of these conditions is but a necessity. Being a qualitative study the researcher used the phenomenology design and sampled 10 headteachers as participants in the study. The researcher with the aid of an interview guide conducted interviews with all 10 headteachers from ten government-owned primary schools in the North West and South-West regions of Cameroon. The results showed that seven categories of learning disabilities were these schools as recognized by the teachers and headteachers they include reading, attention, mathematical, spelling, comprehensive, memory and writing problems. Numerous challenges abound as headteachers struggle with the practice of identifying learning disabilities. As such, the ministry of basic education in Cameroon should establish a protocol of assessment wherein the steps of identification are presaged clearly alongside the various professionals to coordinate the process and actually conduct early identification and assessment of children with special needs.
Downloads
References
https://www.news24.com/news24/MyNews24/importance-of-education-20161004
Ahmad, Fouzia Khursheed. (2014): “Assistive Provisions for the Education of Stu-dents with
Learning Disabilities in Delhi Schools.” in International Journal of Fundamental and Applied Research, vol.2, no 9, pp.9-16. A Guide for Teachers: Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities. Province of British Columbia. September 2011.
Amartya Sen (2005) the Importance of Basic Education. Speech to the Commonwealth education
conference, Edinburgh, Global Policy Forum. Designed by JoomlArt.com the GNU General Public License.
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
DSM-5 5th Edition (z-lib.org) DSM-V index. ISBN 978-0-89042-554-1
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (1994). Issues in learning disabilities:
assessment and diagnosis. Technical Report. Available from www.asha.org/policy.
Ann Logsdon (2020), Types of Tests Used to Diagnose Learning Disabilities. Very well family
https://www.verywellfamily.com/learning-disability-tests-in-public-schools-2161894
Bender, W. (2011). Learning disabilities, characteristics, identification, and teaching strategies.
section III Placement, Services, and Educational Tr.
Diana Ginns, (2019) Special Education eligibility VS Diagnosis. Behavioral and health Temp
ttps://www.behavioralhealthtampa.com/blog/special-education-eligibility-vs-diagnosis.
Emely De Vet, Denise De Ridder ,Marijn Stok , Karen Brunso, Adriana Baban and Tania Gaspar
(2014). Assessing self-regulation strategies: development and validation of the tempest self-regulation questionnaire for eating (TESQ-E) in adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 11:106 http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/11/1/106
Fouzia Khursheed Ahmad (2015) Exploring the Invisible: Issues in Identification and Assessment of Students with Learning Disabilities in India Transcience Vol. 6, Issue 1
Imran Casoojee (2014) The Importance of Basic Education. Education Ambassadors SA.
https://educationambassadors.org.za
Margaret Adolphus (2009) Admission to higher education Supporting Professionalism in
Admissionshttp://www.spa.ac.uk/index.html
Mercer., C, & Pullen., P. (2011). Students with learning disabilities. anglais ,lavoisier S.A.S.
MINEDUB - MINESEC - MINEFOP – MINESUP (2006) Technical Committee for the
Elaboration of the Sector Wide Approach / Education SPO/CM/2006/ED/RP/1
Mirchandani, P. (2006). Dyslexia. India Parenting: An On-line Newsletter. Availableat: www.
National Center for Learning Disabilities (2006).
National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (1990) Learning Disabilities: Issues on
Definition. Available at: http://www.ldonline.org/about/partners/njcld/archives
Preeti Verma (2008), Learning Disability: Challenges in Diagnosis and Assessment
indiaparenting.com/articles/data/artl0007.shtml
Rivera, Angelica R., (2016)., Importance of Accommodating Elementary School Students with
Learning Disabilities Capstone Projects and Master's Theses. 33.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/caps thes all/33
Sara Harberson (2017)The five Most Important Principles of College Admissions.
https://www.saraharberson.com/blog/
Tchombe M.S.T (2019), Psychological Parameters in Teaching., An African Perspective to
Learning as a process for cognitive enrichment., Designed House Limbe
Thorvilson, L. (2014, March). Factors influencing student placement decisions in elementary
school assignments. Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership. Paper 42.
Thurlow, M. L., Lazarus, S. S., Thompson, S. J. & Morris, A. B. (2005). State policies on
assessment participation and accommodations for students with disabilities. Journal of Special Education, 38(4), 232-240.
Vasiliki Ioannidi, & Elli Samara (2019), Children with Learning Difficulties and Conditions of
School Inclusion -a brief report and a Constant Challenge of Inclusive Education, European Journal of Education Studies Vol 6, 3.
Copyright (c) 2021 IJSSHR - International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Author(s) and co-author(s) jointly and severally represent and warrant that the Article is original with the author(s) and does not infringe any copyright or violate any other right of any third parties, and that the Article has not been published elsewhere. Author(s) agree to the terms that the GPH Journal will have the full right to remove the published article on any misconduct found in the published article.
