Recently, South African author, Leila Benelli, who wrote the book ‘Help! My Child is Driving Me Crazy’, was featured on this page. But closer home, in Mumbai itself, we have someone who has taken upon herself the responsibility of spreading awareness about the several learning disabilities that our little ones battle unknowingly at school and subsequently for the rest of their lives. To start with, Swaroop Rawal has authored ‘Learning Disabilities in a Nutshell.’ The former Miss India turned educationist wants to do more, learns Priyal Dave.
Looking pretty as ever in a black and magenta kachi work salwar kameez, Swaroop Rawal, former Miss India (1979) settles down at our office, sipping tea, her face shining radiantly as our photographer captures her in quick shots. But when asked about her book, everything else ceases to exist.
The smile on her face gives way to an intense look, with the red dazzling specks on her face. There is a glow on her face. She stops often in between to refer to certain passages in the book, pointing out to her research. Only once does she stop to gulp down the rest of the lukewarm sugarless tea left in the cup. When she finishes talking, almost an hour later, she remarks lightly, “I talk a lot, my kids say so!”
But the hour has passed without notice, as its not random banal talk that she indulges in. In that one hour, she demystifies the several myths associated with learning disabilities in children with a sense of authority and responsibility, which only comes when one has closely experienced such a problem. No, Swaroop does not suffer from Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia or Dysgraphia. Her closeness to the topic is the doctorate in learning disabilities that she has obtained from the University of Worcester in England that enables her to speak with conviction.
“A perfectly normal looking child could be having a problem understanding letters, numbers or graphics. That also does not mean he needs a special school. Always remember, learning disability (LD) is found only in kids with an above average intelligence level. He is slow because he has a LD, not because he has a low IQ. So if you put him in a special school, you are cutting away all his chance of developing as a normal child and attaining professional excellence as he grows up,” explains Dr. Rawal. To this she also adds that LD is a problem only till school where one is competing for marks. “Once you clear HSC, a person with a LD would make his career choices accordingly,” she notes.
Coming back to her tryst with this subject, Swaroop, who has devoted herself these days to teaching, shares, “I had a great problem with writing in school. I was the last student in my class to be allowed to write with a pen instead of a pencil.”
This ‘tag’ embarrassed her so much that she started practicing handwriting throughout her vacations until she perfected it. “I have a very beautiful handwriting, by the way,” adds Swaroop proudly. “I have never been able to prove that I had a learning disability because I conquered my problem early on and now there is no way to prove that I ever suffered from one,” clarifies Swaroop, who is actor Paresh Rawal’s wife. An actor herself, Swaroop is famous for her role as the late Shafi Inamdar’s wife in the television serial ‘Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’.
It was while looking for a short term course abroad that she was offered a full time PhD programme at the University of Worcester. Not wanting to get away from her family for a long time, Swaroop was about drop the whole idea when the university lured her by tweaking lecture timings in addition to a full scholarship. “I would have been a fool to refuse such an offer!” she jokes.
Swaroop who still puts a finger below every word while reading, read 600 books and wrote almost one lakh words, apart from the appendix for a doctoral thesis on using drama to enhance life skills in children with learning disabilities.
As for her book, she says, “This is not just one of the books on learning disabilities. It is the first book on such a topic written in simple words so that parents do not have a tough time decoding the child’s problem.”
And the book is not all that Swaroop is doing towards demystifying learning disabilities. Three years ago, with the help of an email sent to the Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi, Swaroop started training teachers in rural Gujarat to use drama to enhance the life skills of children with learning disability. In the first year she trained 40 teachers, of which 10 became master trainers. In the second year, along with her master trainers, she trained 150 teachers. Last year they trained 300 teachers, and now have about 60 master trainers.
“I mince no words in terming these problems as a disability. Parents, however, must remember that if their kid suffers from LD, he definitely has over average intelligence. All they need to do is to understand the disability and help him cope up with it. Do not cut down his sports or other extra curricular activities for petty marks “cause you might end up ruining the talent in him for life,” she wraps up with a smile.
What are these?
- Dyslexia: Difficulty to write and read
- Dysgraphia: Difficult in understanding graphics, images and pictures
- Dyscalculia: Difficulty in calculating
- Dyspraxia: Difficulty in perception and thought
As for her book, she says, “This is not just one of the books on learning disabilities. It is the first book on such a topic written in simple words so that parents do not have a tough time decoding the child’s problem.”
Her complaint
Till date I have received no response to the ten letters that I had sent to NCERT to start a similar exercise in Maharashtra. It is so difficult to get a minister here to do anything. One email was enough for the CM of Gujarat to understand the importance of this training. Here even stars don’t get appointments!