Literature Study on Building a Model Support for Children with

Learning Disabilities in Indonesia

Lily Eka Sari

Petra Christian University, Jl. Siwalankerto 121-131, Surabaya 60236, Indonesia

Keywords: learning disabilities; children; challenges; needs

Abstract: Learning Disabilities are typically detected when children reach school age. It is the period when certain

targets demands are placed; whereas the children’s abilities to process cognitive and social skills are

different compared to their peers. This study is intended to 1) map out the types of Learning Disabilities

commonly found in elementary schools; 2) describe the children’s challenges and needs in the learning

process; and 3) suggest adaptations and modifications necessary to support their learning processes. The

findings show that the school system has already made efforts despite the lack of information and teacher-

training programs in this area. This study would be a great reference for educators and families with diverse

abilities, especially in Indonesia.

1 INTRODUCTION

Elementary School system in Indonesia under Public

Law (Undang-Undang) 2003 No.20 provides

education for children, including those who have

special needs. Schools all over Indonesia are facing

the challenges to serve students with various styles,

modes, and speed of learning.

This paper is a literature study of the types of

Learning Disabilities which are commonly found in

Elementary School students, the challenges and

needs in the learning process, as well as suggestions

regarding adaptations and modifications which

might help them. Data and information are derived

from scholarly journals and textbooks.

2 TYPE OF LEARNING

DISABILITIES

Learning Disabilities is unique. It is often undetected

and undiagnosed. It is often mislabeled as merely

lazy, bad behaviors, or even stupid. Students who

have Learning Disabilities (LD) are often

underserved in the school systems due to the lack of

teacher training and information in this subject. In

fact, as more scholar conduct researches in this area,

the definition of LD might evolve and expand over

time.

The term Learning Disabilities (LD) was written

in 1968 by the National Advisory Committee on

Handicapped Children, which then was slightly

adapted for Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act (1990) . IDEA defines the term as “a disorder in

one or more of the basic psychological processes

involved in understanding or in using language,

spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an

imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,

spell or do mathematical calculations, including

conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain

injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and

developmental aphasia” (National Dessemination

Center For Children, 2004).

The definition above gives us quite a clear

description that there are several areas affected by

the children’s inability to process. These limitations

might result in moderate to severe academic issues.

The next part of this paper shall discuss the

challenges and needs imposed to the students as they

struggle with the traditional school systems in

Indonesia.

3 CHALLENGES AND NEEDS

Fo There are little studies, publications and

regulation from the government of Indonesia when it

comes to individuals with LD. In terms of services

324

Sari, L.

Literature Study on Building a Model Support for Children with Learning Disabilities in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0009020600002297

In Proceedings of the Borneo International Conference on Education and Social Sciences (BICESS 2018), pages 324-327

ISBN: 978-989-758-470-1

for students with disabilities, the terms are restricted

to those who have physical and developmental

disabilities. This is shown from the official

publication released by the Center of Data and

Information of the Ministry of Health, Republic of

Indonesia (InfoDATIN, 2004). While mapping out

the prevalence of disabilities in Indonesia, there is

no referral to Learning Disabilities. Studies on

medical services for individuals with LD in the

United Kingdom also links this tendency to the lack

of healthcare and social services (Russell, Bryant,

and House, 2017).

The underrepresentation of LD in the school

systems and teacher preparation programs might

lead us to several issues. First, without proper

diagnosis and identification, the individuals with LD

might be misjudged. They will carry out negative

labels such as: incompetent, unmotivated, and

underachievers. Unfortunately, those labels would

likely only lead the students to negative behavior

problems. There should be further researches to link

those antecedents to the actual behavior issues,

along with the consequences imposed to the students

in Indonesian school systems. Second, without

proper official reports and studies in this area, it is

hard for teachers to plan, implement and evaluate

teaching processes for students with LD.

This paper will discuss three basic skill areas.

These areas will likely affect other types of learning

as well. Hunt and Marshall describe the key

processes which are involved in cognition. They are:

reading, language arts, and mathematics (Hunt and

Marshall, 2005).

4 READING

One of the objectives of the subject of Bahasa

Indonesia is to read properly and to comprehend the

text (Janurti, Dibia, Widiana, 2016). Most of the

learning processes in Indonesian school systems

require students to achieve high level of reading and

comprehension. Students who experience difficulties

in reading often experience difficulties in other

subject areas, too (Hunt and Marshall, 2005). There

are students who have difficulties comprehending

content areas of other subjects due to the novel terms

which might be challenging to pronounce and

comprehend (Kang, et.al, 2015).

Unfortunately, students with LD struggle the

most with reading skills (Hunt and Marshall, 2005).

Students with LD who show specific reading

difficulties is associated with dyslexia. It may refer

to specific and severe to more generalized reading

disabilities (Hunt and Marshall, 2005). Due to their

condition, those students tend to lose interest in

reading, which may progressively delay their

reading skills.

Reading requires the abilities of word analysis,

fluency, and comprehension (Hunt and Marshall,

2005). Regardless the lingua franca, reading

involves phonic analysis, which include the ability

to associate sounds and letters (Hunt and Marshall,

2005). The discomfort of oral reading problems in

the early school years, combined with the problems

to answer comprehension questions, might cause

reluctance for the students to read more.

Furthermore, reading skills might be in direct

alignment with writing skills. Studies show that, in

grade 2 and 5, reading could be applied to writing;

whereas, writing skills could support reading (Kang,

et.al, 2015). In this case, students who are not

motivated to read more, are likely to show interest in

putting their thoughts into writing. In fact,

assessments and evaluations in Indonesian school

systems are largely conducted through written tests.

This tendency would significantly affect those

students’ academic performance.

5 LANGUEAGE ARTS

One Each language requires moderate to intermediate

spellings skills. The skills to spell words involve

word-analysis strategies of phonics and sight-word

reading (Hunt and Marshall, 2005). In some subject

areas, the problem to process language might become

a barrier. For example, the subject of science has

shifted from traditional textbook approach to inquiry-

based instruction, in which students become the

central drive in the learning process (Kaldenberg,

et.al, 2014). However, despite such shift, students are

still required to read texts, comprehend the process,

and then compose a report.

In several areas, the ability to speak fluently

could hide the fact that actually the individual has

problems with processing language. Since the

individuals could answer questions orally, they are

not eligible for services under diagnostic criteria such

as DSM-V, which is more geared towards the general

population (Welsh and Morrison, 2017).

6 MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is a rich subject. It does not involve

only computation skills, but also other skills such as

Literature Study on Building a Model Support for Children with Learning Disabilities in Indonesia

325

the abilities to estimate, make predictions, and

problem-solving. Students with LD show difficulties

in translating problems into numeric execution,

which is rooted in their language-based disabilities

(Sharp and Dennis, 2016).

The delivery of mathematics in elementary

schools have shifted towards the use of applications

(Bryant, et.al, 2015). However, mathematics might

present challenges for students with dyscalculia.

Students with dyscalculia would likely show

persistent problems with certain aspects of

mathematics, such as the numeric comprehension.

7 ADAPTATION AND

MODIFICATIONS

Considering the abovementioned description, it is

sufficient to determine there are several types of LD

which might occur in elementary school students in

Indonesia. These types of LD interfere with their

cognitive processes. Whereas, for the sake of time

and energy limitations, teachers still rely on lecture

and textbook-reading and writing in the teaching

processes. It is not surprising to see that the

academic achievement of students with LD show

discrepancy between what they know and what they

show. In other words, their academic performance

does not necessarily reflect their actual abilities.

Such reality should encourage teachers and scholars

to make suggestions in terms of adaptation and

modifications in the process of teaching and

learning,

In terms of students who pose problems with

language processing, Kaldenberg et al (2014)

suggest content enhancement as part of the teaching

and learning processes (Kaldenberg, et.al, 2014).

These techniques include adaptation and

modifications such as mnemonic illustrations, the

use of graphic organizers, visual representations, and

the use of a semantic feature matrix. (Kaldenberg,

et.al, 2014). These techniques should be used based

on a solid baseline. They should be delivered by

teachers who are highly trained in this area to avoid

misuse and confusion.

Students with LD in mathematics might benefit

from adaptation and modifications as well. When

delivering the teaching materials, teachers might use

manipulatives, for example, so the students can use

their sensory and tactile abilities to comprehend the

materials and solve the problems. Teachers might

also use diagrams, or number lines to “reduce

demands on working memory that inhibit the

student’s ability to flexibly process relationships

among fractions” (Sharp and Dennis, 2016).. In

other words, students with LD might benefit from

learning process which are concrete and meaningful

to them.

One of the problems which both students and

teachers face is the type of assessment and

evaluation. Either school wide or standardized, tests

are still given in the form of reading and writing.

Both areas are the major challenges for students with

LD. Therefore, when conducting assessment and

evaluation, teachers should keep an open mind to

alternative types of assessments. This method might

involve creating a project which does not rely on

reading and writing, as well as observations which

indicate that the students have shown mastery of the

learning objectives. In fact, involving the students in

the observation process might also help them with

self-evaluation, self-regulation, and making

prediction (Hunt and Marshall, 2005).

In some cases, the students’ inability to process

mathematical problems is so severe that

interventions have little effects on them. Bryant et al

(2015) argue that there is no significant difference

when it comes to learning mathematics through

application or teacher-delivered (Bryant, et.al,

2015).

In any case, teachers should consider making the

Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each

student who show problem in their classroom. This

method requires trainings and background

knowledge. However, when implemented, IEPs may

lead to communication, collaboration, creativity, and

critical thinking. IEPs should be included in the

nationwide teacher training programs, particularly

for elementary school teachers. That way, teachers

have better understanding to tailor-made their

teaching methods.

8 CONCLUSION

Education for students with Learning Disabilities

require teachers’ ability to identify the problems,

make baseline, deliver the materials, and assessing

students’ progress in order to plan the next step.

There should further researches and studies in terms

of teaching students with Learning Disabilities. That

way, more and more students get to experience the

joy of learning, even by cherishing their different

abilities

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REFERENCES

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990, 20

U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.

National Dissemination Center for Children with

Disabilities. 2004. Learning Disabilities. Disability

Fact Sheet, no.7 (January).

http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs7.pdf.

InfoDATIN. 2014. Penyandang Disabilitas pada Anak: 3

Desember-Hari Penyandang Cacad Sedunia. Pusat

Data dan Informasi Kementerian Kesehatan RI.

Russell, A.M., Bryant, L., and House, A. 2017.

“Identifying People with Learning Disabilities: An

Advanced Search for General Practice.” British Journal of

General Practice, December 2017: e842-e850.

Hunt, N. and K, Marshall.2005. Exceptional Children and

Youth. 4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 116-165.

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Kang, E. Y., et al. 2015. “Integrated Reading and Writing

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Research & Practice, 31(1):22–33.

Kaldenberg, E. et al. 2014. “Reading Instruction in

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Welsh, H., and G. Morrison. 2017. “Learning Disability

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Sharp, E. and Dennis, M.S. 2016. “Model Drawing

Strategy for Fraction Word Problem Solving of

Fourth-Grade with Learning Disabilities,” Remedial

and Special Education:1–12.

Bryant, B. R., et al. 2015. “Performance of Fourth-Grade

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Journal of Behavior Education, 24:255–272.

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