Having registered and logged in I would like to start by congratulating the originators of this blog plus for bringing out such a cool web space for educators in India. It has a professional look and like "academici" started by Dr. Markus Vincent I hope this one really thrives and becomes an internationally acknowledged hangout for facilitators, generalists, specialists and teachers of every hue and colour.

I would like to draw attention to a gap in Indian education that needs to be addressed. I am talking of the need for a consistent programme for kids with learning disabilities - be it dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, autism, ADD, ADHD or whatever else...

Parents of children with these disabilities find that they have a constant ceaseless battle and an uphill task every day of their lives - if they happen to be living in India. Maybe it is like that in a lot of other countries in the world too but in places like America things seem to be slightly better, if reports by our counterparts there are to be believed.

Two questions I would like to raise in this context to those on this forum are as follows- suppose you found that you or your friend had a child who had a serious learning disability

1. Would it shock you to know that most schools even in a highly cosmopolitan and advanced place like Bangalore which boasts of some of the finest "normal" educational institutions in India would probably not touch such a child with a bargepole?

2, That even if they did take such a child in they would have nothing to offer him that could really help him because a scientific well developed life long programme which could integrate him into the mainstream without depriving him of the special attention he needs in the fields of education, behaviour modification, sensory integration, employment etc. are just not there....?!

Would it shock you? Or make you yawn?