PART 1 THE COMMISSION’S REPORT ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES – FOCUSING ON PRIMARY EDUCATION • Assessment by Medical Officer – -- It was highlighted that there were medical officers who were not able to identify correctly children with learning disabilities, possibly because of the limited, if not absence of, a suitable training curriculum for medical students to identify learning disabilities. -- It was also alleged that many specialists, including paediatricians, lacked the skills to assess and identify adequately the milder types of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, high functioning autism and dyspraxia. -- There was a serious lack of Educational Psychologists, Developmental Paediatricians, Community Paediatricians, and other trained professional to aid in the assessment or diagnosis of these children both in the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. -- Difficulties in obtaining cooperation of a child in a short time. -- High cost of purchasing some of the tests. 68. In addition, IQ tests are not part of the screening process in Malaysia. In contrast, in the United States of America, its Office of Education has adopted a test known as “Model Discrepancy” where discrepancy between IQ and achievement are used as the main criteria in diagnosing learning disabilities. This Model is a combination of IQ tests, academic achievement test, class achievement, social interaction and aptitude. Other areas of assessment may include perception, cognition, memory, attention and language abilities. The results are used to determine whether a child’s academic performance is at par with his or her cognitive ability. 69. To overcome the problems raised and to assist better identification of CWLD, Dr. Hasnah Toran26 proposed the adoption of a test known as ‘Response to Intervention’ which is a student-centred assessment model that uses problem-solving and research-based methods to identify and address learning difficulties in children. It provides systematic interventions based on the scientific literature that can be evaluated to determine intervention efficacy. It can also be used to predict at-risk students and to intervene in cases of students who have academic and behavioural difficulties. (b) Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) 70. LINUS is part of the Education Blueprint meant to assess the level of students’ competency in reading, writing and arithmetic. Under LINUS all Year 1 to Year 3 students will be screened twice a year to determine their progress. This test is said to be another tool to detect learning disabilities in children and children who fail this test repeatedly will be referred to the Ministry of Health for medical assessment and screening. Dr. Hasnah Toran, Senior Lecturer of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, “Learning Disabilities: An Introduction”, paper presented at SUHAKAM Forum on the Right to Education for CWLD, April 2013, Kuala Lumpur. 26 25