Students with Reading Difficulties
Diagnostic Testing
The Ministry of Education collaborates with the Ministry of Health to manage a program of auditory and visual screening for all students entering primary school. The Ministry of Education additionally has taken steps to strengthen its Student Support Services Division, which collaborates with schools to guide and support schools with the goal of improving the performance of students at all grade levels. Schools identified as “underperforming” receive support from the Ministries. Whereas screening for reading difficulties may be carried out by all primary schools, the Student Support Services Division uses standardized screening tests to identify students with special needs. Special education teachers also use diagnostic tests to identify challenges to learning and areas for special attention, allowing them to provide individual instruction and offer professional services to students with reading difficulties.
Instruction for Children with Reading Difficulties
Throughout primary education, students with reading difficulties are integrated into classes under the supervision of regular classroom teachers. While there is no mandatory screening instrument prescribed by the Ministry of Education to monitor students’ reading progress, the Ministry’s Student Support Services Division intervenes when teachers identify students with special learning needs, deploying a multidisciplinary team of officers to clusters of schools. Officers within the division include educational psychologists, guidance officers, behavioral specialists, and specialists in the diagnosis of dyslexia, visual impairments, and other disabilities that affect learning. A significant number of teachers receive guidance by the Student Support Services Division, by means of checklists to assist teachers in identifying characteristics of students with special needs. These teachers intervene when learning problems are detected, to eliminate the practice of promoting students who would face challenges at the next grade level. The goal is to leave no student’s reading difficulties unattended.