ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my course instructor Mrs. Molosiwa for giving me this topic
of research to reach out other student’s needs. I would also like to thank the School
Head and the staff management of Bosele Primary School allowing me to do the
research at their school. My thanks also go to Ms. Bojang for her cooperativeness
and making contributions to the project.

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INTRODUCTION
AIMS OF THE PROJECT
The aim of the project was to:

1. Identify the student with learning disabilities towards science.

2. Find out the challenges faced by the student in maximizing the benefits of
science curriculum to reach its fullest potential.
3. Determine and evaluate the teaching programs together with approaches
provided to accommodate the individual.
4. Make critical decisions about the student, report the findings and decide
about program placement.

PROCEDURE FOLLOWED IN CHOOSING THE SCHOOL

The research was carried out at Bosele Primary School. It all began with writing
request letters to the principal Education Officer and the School Head which were
to allow this observation for the research to be started. The main reason for the
choice of the school is that it was the nearest school to my home which made it
easier to do the observations before and after attending my lessons. I also chose the
school because it is a regular school with inclusive classroom so I wanted to find
out how they accommodate students with learning disabilities.

Bosele primary School is quite interesting environment in which students are

disciple and there are restricted movements around the school during class
activities. The teachers and non teaching staff were cooperative, I felt appreciated
as they were eager to help me and they were interested on what I will be doing.

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LEARNER’S PROFILE
SURNAME: Motshidisi

NAME: Kefentse

GENDER: Female

AGE: 8 years old

SCHOOL: Bosele Primary School

SCHOOL TYPE: General School

CURRENT CLASS: Standard 2C

PLACEMENT: Inclusive classroom

CARE TAKER: Lorato Motshidisi (Mother)

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE STUDENT IN LEARNING:

STENGTH WEAKNESSES
 Performs well in CAPA  Unable to write words correctly in
an organized way.
 Answers well True/False
Questions.  Has difficulty in computing
Mathematics concepts.

 Has a problem with questions that

require matching skills.

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IDENTIFICATION AND EVIDENCE OF A STUDENT WITH LEARNING
DISABILITY TOWARDS SCIENCE
On the fourth of October 2010, I was directed to standard 2C classroom which was
taught by Ms Bojang. I chose the classroom because the standard two students are
in a position in which they are able to understand some concepts better than
standard ones.

The classroom observations were done on Tuesdays and Thursdays for less than
fifty minutes each. In my project I used assessment tools like document analysis of
student work books, Oral interview of the child and questionnaire provided to the
class teacher (Ms Bojang).

According to the classroom observations, Kefentse Moshidisi has a problem with

paying attention in the classroom, she stared other student’s work without listening
to the teacher. This was discovered one day when they were writing the test, Ms
Bojang was trying to give them, instructions and some corrections on the test but
Kefentse was no listening at all. According to Dr Derek Bell (2000), the ability of a
child to focus on a task over a sustained period of time is often something which
children with learning difficulties find difficulty but more specifically such
children do not readily recognize features that are relevant to the task in hand.
They frequently focus on things which are irrelevant thereby hindering the learning
process. Attention Deficit Disorder can make it difficult for children to sit still and
pay attention for a long period of time due to the involving movement, speech and
attentiveness.

Kefentse is not a critical thinker because she writes whatever comes into her mind
and she does not put knowledge into practice. In relation to the observation, from
the multiple choice question asked in Environmental Science test which was,
‘What is the importance of following safety rules?’ she answered that it is to avoid
getting tired and this definitely shows that Kefentse did not know what the
question needs. As a support to my claim, many learning difficulties can cause
students to have difficulty in committing information to their long term memory
which can cause problems with tasks like taking tests. Scientific enquiry requires
engagement with the processes of science such as predicting, inferring and
problem solving all of which place demands on the child’s ability to reason in a
logical manner. For children with learning difficulties such reasoning does not

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come easily and as such can be an inhibitor to their learning through enquiry based
approach.

Furthermore I found out that Kefentse was unable to communicate with peers and
the class teacher when she does not understand something. She was always quite
and subsequently cannot participate actively in class. Trouble with comprehending
material and communicating effectively can in turn lead to poor performance. If a
student cannot remember what he or she was taught throughout the course of a
class, it will be difficult to perform well when it comes time to be tested.
According to LD Online (2007) Autism is generally diagnosed during early
childhood and can affects different aspects of a child’s developments such as social
interactions, communication skills and cognitive function.

RELATED SERVICES
Learning disability is a disorder which cannot be cured or fixed, it is a lifelong
process. It is due to the brain dysfunction and cannot be caused by other disabilities
like hearing impairment, visual impairment and mental retardation. However there
are related services which can help to modify the problem those services include:

 Counseling services e.g. rehabilitation counseling, parent counseling

 Psychological services
 Occupational therapy

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RECOMMENDATIONS
IT is widely acknowledged that Science can make a significant contribution to the
learning experiences of the children with learning difficulties for example not only
in terms of the development of Science knowledge, concepts and skills but also
through the opportunities for children to increase their self-esteem and develop
many of the elements of self-advocacy. Despite such recognition of the value of
science to the education of children with learning difficulties, research in the area
is not extensive (Kuechler, William L., Simkin, Mark G, 2005).

Therefore I recommend that the following should be done for the student to reach
her fullest potential in learning process.

 Provision of stimulations for example, colourful wordbooks to enhance word

construction and reading skills.
 Provision of remedial lessons to help students on some areas where she lags
behind.
 Encourage the student to hold some kinds of responsibilities e.g. being a
leader of a group discussion.
 Encourage a culture of reading by giving the students the task to read for a
class which can enhance her reading level and also boost her self esteem and
confidence.
 Develop a culture of appreciating each and every effort the student makes to
enhance a sense of belonging and for them to socialize with other people.
 Encourage parents to be more involved in their child’s learning and provide
more information on the behavior of the student that can be helpful for
creating strategies to assist the child.
 Encourage children to link the words to familiar experiences through
multiple presentations of the terms as well as reducing the demands of
vocabulary for the children.

In these situations the use of more direct instructional approaches, such as

mnemonic instruction is necessary. Also individualized Education Program
(IEP) is needed.IEP is a specially designed program that aims at helping the
individual student to meet his/her educational needs.

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CONCLUSION
My goal is to help Kefentse Motshidisi achieve what she wants in learning process.
My wish is to develop her learning so that at the end she will be able to read
questions and answer them in the way that is expected. According to the National
Centre for Learning Disabilities (NCLD 2008) learning disabilities are intrinsic to
the individual that is no one can tell if someone has a specific learning disability by
the look of the eyes.

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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................2
AIMS OF THE PROJECT.......................................................................................................................2
PROCEDURE FOLLOWED IN CHOOSING THE SCHOOL...............................................................2
LEARNER’S PROFILE..............................................................................................................................3
IDENTIFICATION AND EVIDENCE OF A STUDENT WITH LEARNING DISABILITY TOWARDS
SCIENCE....................................................................................................................................................4
RELATED SERVICES...........................................................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................7