DYSLEXIA; MOVIE ANALYSIS OF TAARE ZAMEEN PAR : ISHAN AWASTHI

Relevant Background and Demographic Information

• Name of the subject: Ishaan Awasthi
• Age: 8 Years
• Sex: Male
• Marital Status: Not Applicable
• Location: Mumbai
• Domicile: Urban
• Education: 3rd Grade

 

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    FAMILY HISTORY:

 

COMPOSITION OF FAMILY:  The father of the subject is a successful businessman and expects his children to outshine. The mother is a housewife and also a frustrated mother because of inability to educate the subject. The elder brother is an excellent student and good in academics also an athlete whose grades are reminded and compared to the subject more often.

MEDICAL HISTORY:  No information on medical history is there.

 

PERSONAL HISTORY:

• Birth History- No information
• Development History- Ishan at the age of 2 years delayed in speech
• Educational History- Repeating 3rd grade for the third time
• Substance Abuse: None
• Legal History: None

 

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Issue Being Faced: 

 

TROUBLE LEARNING

 Ishan Awasthi is an 8 years old kid who doesn’t like to go to school and not able to concentrate in class. He finds all the subjects difficult which is the reason he has a loss of interest in studies. His reading, writing and listening skills are very poor. Ishan Awasthi faces academic difficulties for a long time. He reaches late to school and forgets what task he’s been given. His father always compared him to his elder brother.  One day his teacher asked him to read one paragraph from the book he stated that the words are dancing. He used to get jumbled by letters, numbers and words sequences. For instance, when his art teacher checks his notebooks, He noticed mistakes with similar letters. “b for “d or inverted “S” or “R” also “h “ and “t” mirror imagining. He also observed the mixes up similarly spelt words like “T-o-p becomes P-o-t” and S-O-I-L-E-D becomes S-O-L-I-D.    Another incident where the math teacher took his test where he did only one single question and finds difficulty doing math questions. Ishan had difficulty telling time managing or being on time Also, He bunked school for not getting parents signature on the poor grades in the test. He used to skip classes to avoid getting scolded by his teachers. He used to get teased by his classmates a lot.

 

BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS:

Ishan likes to do things of his interest only such as Painting, Solving Puzzle and Playing with pets. He was pampered a lot by her mother and dependent upon her. Ishan Awasthi has temper tantrums. He was very stubborn and a disobedient child. For instance: Her mother asks her to change his clothes and wash hands before eating in spite of reminding he doesn’t follow up the instructions.  He was known as Class Clown and troublemaker. For instance, Due to his difficulty sustaining attention the class used to get disturbed and it distracts the flow of the teacher teaching the class. Due to not his immature and careless tags, Ishan had to face the behavioural problem.

 

SOCIAL ISSUES:

Ishaan experiences social issues as he looks to be immature due to his failure to do basic and regular things that kids of the similar group age as he can do easily like reading and writing. He also cannot play with ball because of his motoric skill problem, that ended up looking at him as clumsy and tends to be teased by his peers. He daydreams most of the time and has his own world. He doesn’t like to interact with his peers due to his negative self-image of himself because he was being penalized and making mistakes most of the time. This is why he labelled as lazy and dumb which is why he becomes low on self-esteem

Not as much as peer acceptance : Fights with friend he’s not able to throw a ball in the right direction.

Personal distance: He usually likes to play with fishes and dogs. He doesn’t interact with other kids around him. He used to do his dinner on the dining table alone in the boarding school. 

Awkward in many circumstances: Ishaan behaves awkwardly in social situation. He usually takes a seat on the bus alone or in the corner instead of a group of friends. Also during the Art Competition, when Ishaan is the winner of the competition was declared by the principle , Ishaan was trying to hide his face and also was anxious to show up himself. He was even about to fell down from the stair when he walked awkwardly to the stage.

Difficulty looking for the Right Words : Ishan always faced difficulty finding the right words. For instance, when his dad asked him about the absent note Ishan remained silent. He also stayed quiet when his friend asked the reason of throwing the ball in the wrong direction. When his family left him in the boarding school, He doesn’t used to talk to them over the phone even when he was under stress and depression. He did not have any reply when his friend from boarding school asked him why he joined the school in the middle of the term.

 

4. EMOTIONAL ISSUES: 

Anxiety:

Ishan typically avoids the circumstances which make him anxious. For example, Ishan bunked the math class to avoid punishment from his teacher because he didn’t do his math homework nor he gave his test paper which must be signed by his parents.  He did not show his test paper because he was afraid of showing bad marks to his parents also he was confused with numbers which is why he did not do his homework as well. Therefore, His escaping towards things was because of his Anxiety issues not because he was laziness or ignorance.

Anger : 

Ishan encountered frustration which led into anger issues as he was often bullied and mocked by his friends and frequently given punishments by his teachers in school because of his reading and writing problems. He tends to show his anger destructive behaviour like breaking things. For instance, when he got involved in fighting with his friend Rajat, he was so angered that he broke all the pots planted in front of Rajat’s home by kicking hard. Another instance when he was angry because of frustration in the boarding school he throws his book, pencil and pen in the garbage after touring them into pieces.    This projects his anger towards the object. He even used to hit a pillow every time he was angry.

Depression: 

Ishan was seen having hallucination and nightmares when was informed that he is been sending to boarding school. For instance, he had the hallucination when all the alphabets became spiders and moving towards him. He also had a nightmare where he and his mother are on the railway platform and because of dense crowd he cannot catch the train along with his mother. Ishan tends to have negative thoughts about himself, he visualizes the word as negative frequently and thinks life a complete failure. He expressed his negative thoughts when he was talking to Rajan and asks him why his friend is punished by his parents by sending him to boarding school when is an intelligent school.  The major sign of depression was when Ishan was standing on the railing and thinking to jump and his friend Rajan calls out his name from behind asks him what is he trying to do. This highlights the suicidal tendencies were present in Ishan.

5. Trouble Writing and Motor Skills :

Ishan had to face difficulty in writing and holding the pencil grip. This was evident when his teacher complains the Ishan’s mother that sometimes his English writing looks like Russian.

He was never able to judge a ball or coordinate with the ball. He often used to have difficulty teeing his shoelaces and buttoning up the shirt.  He frequently used to get confused in left and right. For instance: During the march, Ishan used to get confuse between right and left and was scolded by his sports teacher.

 

Validation 

DIAGNOSIS: 

DYSLEXIA: SYMPTOMS OF THE DISORDER :

1. Trouble in reading, including reading verbally.
2. Problems spelling
3. Talking late
4. Difficulties memorizing or naming letters, figures and colour
5. Struggle looking for the right word or to make answers to queries
6. Escaping from events that include reading
7. Difficulties memorizing the order of things
8. Trouble doing math problems
9. Tends to hold a pen differently or very tightly
10. Has a time management problem
11. Confusion of letter with same sounds (e.g. “f” and “v”)
12. Reversals and transposition of letters with similar visuals appearance ( eg. p and q or on & no)
13. Good at non-academic subjects such as music, art, drama etc
14. Trouble following the direction
15. Struggle while expressing thoughts

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In order to assess the disorder, DSM lay out some criteria as follows:

CRITERIA A: Ongoing problems in the school-age years learning and using at least one academic skill (e.g. reading accuracy/fluency; spelling accuracy; written expression competence and fluency; mastering number facts). These problems have continued and failed to improve as expected, despite the provision of targeted intervention for at least six months. This intervention should be recognized as evidence-based and ideally delivered by an experienced and qualified person.

CRITERIA B : The difficulties experienced by the individual will be assessed using standardized achievement assessments and found to be at a level significantly lower than most people of the same age. Sometimes individuals are identified with a learning disability even though they are performing within the average range. This is only the case when it can be shown that the individual is achieving at this level due to unusually high levels of effort and ongoing support.

CRITERIA C: The difficulties experienced by the individual usually become apparent in the early years of schooling. The exception to this is where problems occur in upper-primary or secondary school once the demands on student performance increase significantly. For example – when students have to read extended pieces of complex text or write at a more sophisticated level under timed conditions.

CRITERIA D : Specific learning disorders will not be diagnosed if there is a more plausible explanation for the difficulties being experienced by the individual. For example – if the individual has: an intellectual disability; a sensory impairment; a history of chronic absenteeism; inadequate proficiency in the language of instruction; a psychosocial condition; or, not received appropriate instruction and/or intervention.

 

 

In the case of Ishan Awasthi 

Ishan Awasthi suffers from Dyslexia and experiences most of the symptoms. Ishaan lacks of reading and writing skill, he showcases wonderful talent and he is passionate with art, mainly painting. Ishaan is frustrated by his failure to read and write which led to poor self-esteem in him. Ishaan also has a habit of to daydream in every chance he gets. He daydreams while he eats, while he takes a shower, while he does his homework.

He has great interest, which leads him into wandering all over or observing how things work which makes him hard to maintain his attention. Ishan Awasthi doesn’t like to go to school because his classmates used to mock him a lot and teachers punishes him every day for diverting attention or for bad grades. Ishan used to escape school and classes to avoid getting scolded at school. His father compares him to his elder brother for getting poor scores.  The teachers in the school labelled him as a shameless and lazy boy and treat him as a class clown for mispronunciation. Ishan faced problems such as weak handwriting skill, poor self-image, poor auditory learning, weak decoding skills and motor skills on a day to day basis.  Ishan was very pampered by her mother. Ishan also had temper tantrums and couldn’t handle the environment more often.

He usually forgets what task he’s been assigned and was a very sensitive kid. He enables to maintain eye contact and likes to play with animals. Ishan also faces problem like not being able to tie laces or tie. His father used to scold him a lot due to regular complaints received from the school.

 

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Data Collection

The information presented was gathered through a secondary research.

SECONDARY RESEARCH:

A secondary research refers to the study of the existing research. It takes the help of primary research sources for the analysis of data. The data that already exists is collated and summarized in order to increase the effectiveness of the research. In this case study, secondary data were collected and interpreted through naturalistic non-participant observation.

OBSERVATION:

It refers to the recording the behaviour of the concerned person in real-time with objectivity , neutrality and unbiased attitude. Observation can be done in two ways- by participating with the person or from distance.

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION:

It refers to the recording of the concerned person’s or group’s behaviour while participating in their activities along with them. Since the people who are being observed are aware of the presence of an observer, their behaviour tends to change that lowers down the accuracy and reliability of the information being gathered.

NON- PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION: 

It refers to the recording of the concerned person’s or group’s behaviour being distant from them. Since the observer is observing the behaviour from distance, the people are not aware of them being recorded. However, non-participant observation can face a severe set back in it’s accuracy and reliability due to the observer’s biases.

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION:

It refers to the recording of the concerned person’s or group’s behaviour in a natural environment. The way people behave, acts and performs are just as they want to, without any pre-requisites or instructions and with no control of the observer over the situation.

CONTROLLED OBSERVATION:

It refers to the recording of the concerned person’s or group’s behaviour in a controlled environment. The way people behave, acts and performed can be manipulated by the observer. This observation takes place in a psychology lab where the observer is the in-charge of situation.

 

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CONCLUSION: 

From the information collected and collated, it can be concluded that Ishan Awasthi has Dyslexia which is one type of learning disability. Although, Ishan was not good at reading and writing skills Ishan was amazing in Arts especially in Painting. He also had a talent of making different kind of things from waste. Ishan also had an excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations and faces. When he goes out on a road alone, he came back to school without getting lost. In spite of his creative skills, He always had to face problems due to his dyslexia such as Lack of peer acceptance, inability to read and write, low self-esteem due to this his father punished him for getting bad scores in school by sending him to the boarding school. Ishan always had issues with the new environment and met several issues such as Isolation, fear and depression due to his dyslexia. Ishan also had suicidal tendencies at the brick of time.

He used to cry alone in the washroom, stopped speaking to his family, had hallucinations and nightmares, destructive behaviour was also seen as he was frustrated by his failure of writing and reading skills. Ishan condition started to change when his new Arts teacher Nickumb cheered up Ishan and also observed his unhappiness, not joining in the class activities. He analyses Ishaan’s work and understands that his academic faults are revealing of signs of dyslexia, which is overpowering his artistic skills.

One moment His teacher goes to Ishan’s home to meet his parents where he was amazed to notice Ishaan’s hidden interest in art after looking at some of his drawings. He also put a glance on his notebooks and analysis of his problems. He describes how Ishaan has severe struggle in understanding letters and words because of dyslexia. He was surprised when Ishan’s father labelled Ishan’s behaviour as mental retardation, ignores it as an excuse for laziness. His Art teacher confronts him about his dyslexic condition in the childhood and how he struggled with the same conditions. He also takes the permission from the principle to be a personal tutor of Ishan and teaches him with different styles and remedial techniques developed by dyslexia specialist and in result, Ishan grows his interest in studies and his grades progress simultaneously.

At the end of the school year, The art teacher organises an Art mela for the Staff and students where Ishan brings up his own paint kit given by his brother and draws the painting in the corner seat. Ishan’s painting was awarded by the best painting and he was declared as a winner of the Art Mela. Ishan portrays his love and thankful emotion towards his Art teacher by hugging him and end up crying. When his parents come to collect his Progress Report from the teacher, They got surprised by the Ishan’s transformation and thanks to his Art teacher for understanding and helping Ishan in his studies.

This also highlights that  if Dsylexic individuals can overcome the problems and control it at a right time, they will be successful in life and also, The social and emotional difficulties related with dyslexia must be taken care  appropriately so that dyslexics are able to handle with their difficulties.

 

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INTERVENTIONS

1. HOME BASED SUPPORT 

The homely support is really important to overcome the lessen up the struggles and difficulties faced by the dyslexic individual. Hiring a tutor can be helpful  and be presented for help, keep quiet in the house all through homework hours, and if required Provide extracurricular activities to permit more time and energy for studies.  In the case of Ishan, If there would be homely support he must have high self-esteem and chances are to improve his academic grades by working and trying more hard.

2. Resource Room :

Special services are provided specific academic subjects either for half time or full time. They make sure to goals and expectations are set correctly and timetable for attaining them. In Ishan’s case if he’s been provided such services he might have overcome his struggles of writing and improving grades in his class.

Individualized education Interventions : Improving the educations to an Individual’s learning needs in several ways by making changing their learning environment such adopting Multisensory Learning. If Ishan’s was given such learning in his school like writing words and sentences in a tactile manner with different ink pens, using sand and Pasta etc.

TYPING ON A COMPUTER INSTEAD OF WRITING 

Ishan would be able to understand better if instead of writing on notebooks, He is been taught on the computer because it enhances the concentration power of a dyslexic individual and he understands better.

 

 Encouraging the child’s effort and motivating individuals hard work : 

In Ishan’s case, If he is been rewarded for his effort instead of scolding and punishing him it might have helped him believing himself and he might have tried hard more in next time.