Effectiveness of information booklet on knowledge regarding Learning disability of children among parents in selected Special School, Bangalore

INTRODUCTION

The term "Learning Disabilities "coined in the year 1960 .Learning Disability is also termed as "Specific Academic Skill Disorder "or "Specific Learning Disability". National Joint committee on Learning Disability defines Learning Disabilities as "A heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities".¹

Autism and learning disability are co-associated on the one hand. Autism is more common among individuals with learning disability and increasingly so with lower level of IQ. Usually among more severely affected individuals. The two conditions are so closely linked. That they have been some debate regarding whether they can be viewed as distinct syndrome. But whereas learning disability is characterized by global delay. Autism is synonymous with both delay and deviance.²

Learning disability, is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner ,usually caused by an unknown factor or factors .The unknown factor is the disorder that affects the brain's ability to receive and process information .This disorder can make it problematic for a person to learn as quickly or in the same way as someone who isn't affected by a learning disability .Learning disability have trouble performing specific types of skills or completing task if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways.³

Identification of disorder prior to school age is difficult due to the instability of results obtained from formal testing procedures. Teachers are the first person to notice that the child is not learning as expected. They often exhibit some challenging behaviours also. There is no magic bullet to cure learning disability. Shaw and Mac Guire stated that for students with learning disabilities skills such as "planning, monitoring, regulating and scheduling are difficult".¹⁶ These students require continuous help to adapt to learning situations. Selvin in an analysis of challenging behaviours among people with learning disability suggest that these children’s are a major challenge for teachers and members of caring families. The success of these children are determined by the response of the school personnel to the needs of these children.⁴

OBJECTIVES

1. To assess the existing level of knowledge of parents regarding the learning disability of autistic children in selected special school, Bangalore.

2. To assess the post-test knowledge level of parents regarding the learning disabilities of autism children in selected special school, Bangalore.

3. To assess the effectiveness of information booklet on knowledge of parents regarding learning disabilities of autism children.

4. To find out the association between pre and post-test knowledge score with selected score of the parents in a selected demographic variables.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Quasi: experimental one group pre-test and post-test design was used to study effectiveness of information booklet. 30 partents in Navachethana trust was recruited by non probability purposive sampling method. Necessary administrative permission was obtained from concerned authority. Oral consent was obtained from all subjects. Tools used were Demographic proforma. Structured interview schedule was used to elicit the baseline data and structured questionnaires, were used to elicit the knowledge of parents. Ethical clearance was obtained from ethical committee. Content validity of the tool was established by split of method. The obtained score was 0.95 & it was found to reliable. Pre-testing of the tools was done. A pilot study was conducted to see the feasibility. The obtained data were analyzed based on the objectives and hypothesis by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

DISCUSSION

Information booklet was found to be an effective educative method for improving the knowledge of parents who are taking care of learning disabilities children. These findings were similar to other studies, which shown that parents are having good knowledge learning disabilities. In the present study results revealed that there was significant association found at 0.05 levels between pre-test knowledge of parents and their selected demographic variables. The present study emphasizes on enhancements regarding knowledge of learning disabilities. This study also emphasizes continuing education, seminar, and conferences on learning disabilities school health nurses & school teachers. So, that they can educate the parents who are taking learning disabilities children. The findings of the research are fruitful only when incorporated into practice. It is the responsibility of school health nurses, teachers to make the parents to aware about learning disabilities. For this the school health nurses and teachers need to have adequate knowledge regarding learning disabilities and should have skills to assess the children’s who are in risk group.

CONCLUSION

The study concluded that the information booklet on learning disabilities carried out was effective in improving the knowledge of parents as evidenced by the significant change between pre-test and post-test knowledge score. The school health nurse must initiate teaching on such topic for more numbers of teachers and parents to have exposure of the concept.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We extend our thanks to management of Navachethana trust, Bangalore for giving us permission to conduct study.

CONFLICT ON INTEREST: None