Sunday Times 2
Learning difficulties and disorders: A book recommended for every school
View(s):
Author Asha Wanigasekera presenting copies of her book to Prof. Daya Rohana Athukorala (left) and Educationist Malith Kumarasinghe
The launch of the book, Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties and Disorders, authored by Asha R. A. Wanigasekere was held at the Nelung Art Centre, Hyde Park Corner, on November 26, with the participation of several renowned scholars, including Senior Educational Psychology Lecturer Prof. Daya Rohana Athukorala.
Ms. Wanigasekere holds an MSc. in Counseling Psychology and counts more than 17 years in Special Education and Counselling. Speaking at the event, Professor Athukorala appreciated the author’s ability to bring forward many theoretic concepts not only to explain the nature and causal factors of learning disabilities but also to present, in practical terms, a range of teaching strategies and techniques to address these challenges.
He praised the author’s simplistic and clear style of writing and the relevance of this topic to education. Recommending this book to those in the field of education, Prof. Athukorala said he hoped the book would be made available to all schools in the country as it was an invaluable source of reference and guidance to teachers.
Eminent educationalist and Wicherly International School Principal Malith Kumarasinghe highlighted the importance of the book as a source of knowledge, noting the lack of awareness and social stigma related to learning disorders and disabilities. He too highly recommended the book as guidance and reference to teachers and those in the field of education.
Ms. Wanigasekere, sharing her thoughts, explained the misconception — commonly shared by many parents and teachers — that low academic performance is a result of a child’s carelessness, weakness or ‘disability’. She said that learning difficulties were not a reflection of a child’s intellectual capabilities but rather a different style of learning. “Every child can learn and every child has his or her own unique strengths and abilities, but this often gets overlooked by society’s insistence to judge ability based only on academic results,” she said.
In her book, the author brings to light an important aspect which is often shunned and neglected, and discusses not only technical and theoretic concepts related to learning challenges, but shares invaluable practical knowledge based on years of experience in the field. The book will be available in bookshops islandwide. She can be contacted on 0775198114/0774333488/0702704537 or on email m_marasingha@yahoo.com for further information.