Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychology, School of Health and Natural Sciences, Sunway University College, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: hjteoh@sunway.edu.my
  • 2 Department of Psychology, School of Health and Natural Sciences, Sunway University College, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
  • 3 Department of Psychology, School of Health and Natural Sciences, Sunway University College, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
MyJurnal

Abstract

107 secondary school teachers were surveyed to find out about their observations of children with learning disorders at schools. The respondents reported that the most commonly observed disorders involved difficulty paying attention, difficulty learning a second language, being fidgety and having difficulty sitting still, and having poor comprehension. They also indicated that whilst some children made fun of their classmates with learning disorder, others tried to assist their classmates. The most common reaction of parents was to send the child for lots of tuition, and to be very frustrated with the child. In addition, some parents neglected their children’s learning disorder, and many did not seem to realise how serious the problem was. When it came to the needs of teachers, the most common need that the teachers reported was to have the parents cooperate with them and to have support from the education authorities. The paper discusses the implications of these findings and proposes suggestions for dealing with the training needs of teachers working in the area of learning disorders.