Who is a Slow Learner? Know all about Slow Learners like meaning, definition, characteristics, causes, remedial measures, educational adaptation, treatments, etc.
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Slow learners meaning
Generally, the term Slow learners or moderate students is somewhat another term being utilized for the kind of students customarily known as in reverse understudies in schools. Along these lines, the errand of naming a youngster as sluggish, powerless underachiever), or in reverse is by all accounts very indistinguishable from one another. For this reason, now all these terms underachievers, slow learners, and educationally backward children are mostly used as synonyms. In this manner, the word instructively in reverse youngsters can convey more extensive importance and degree as conveyed by the term moderate students. The other word for slow learners is moderate or backwardness.
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Definition of a slow learner
Barton Hall: Slow learner, by and large, is applied to situations where their instructive fulfillment falls underneath the level of their innate capacities.
Schonell: Backward understudy is one who, contrasted and different students of a similar sequential age, shows stamped instructive lack.
Burt: He has utilized the term instructive remainder for isolating in reverse youngsters in the class. As indicated by him the youngsters who have EQ under 85 are in reverse. Training Quotient is determined by the accompanying equation EQ (Education accomplishment/ordered age) x 100) based on such comparability saw in the utilization of the term Slow learner and in reverse youngsters in an instructive setting we thusly in this content would attempt to utilize them conversely.
What are the characteristics of slow learners or educationally Backward?
On the basis of the definitions given above, we can arrive at the following conclusions regarding the characteristics of backward children.
- Their rate of learning as well as the power of retention is very low
- They feel frustrated due to their low achievement in school.
- The 1Q of these children is slow, i.e. less than 85 when measured on an intelligence test. Low IQ leads them to low academic achievement since intelligence is a composition of 150 factors (6 x process x 5 contents x5 products) and no mentally retarded child lacks all these factors at a time, so, low intelligence will not lead to poor academic achievement in all the subjects simultaneously. Their backwardness may be restricted to one or a few subjects only.
- These children are slow in emotional and social development also.
- He is a slow learner and feels difficulty keeping pace with the normal school work.
- Instructively, he can't achieve what he ought to at the end of the day his instructive fulfillment falls underneath his inherent capacities.
- He falls far behind other children of his age in matters of education. Usually, such children remain in the same class for a number of years, i.e. backwardness leads to stagnation.
- Not only he is unable to learn in his class with the children of his own age but also feels difficulty in learning with the children of lower classes, who are younger than him in age.
- He is necessarily a failure in the academic field and shows poor educational performance.
On the basis of these characteristics, we can identify slow learners. We can say these are the symptoms of slow learners.
What are the causes of educational backwardness or slow learners?
Internal Causes of educational backwardness or slow learners
Causes of backwardness lying within the individual are as follows-
Physical Causes: There may be some physical defects in the body of the child. This defect may be to the extent of disability too. Due to these defects, learning and retention of learned material may be adversely affected. A portion of these imperfections are given underneath-
- Sensory defects like visual or hearing Impairment.
- Motor defects like defects in legs, feet, hands, or speech.
- Mental retardation due to any disease or brain injury.
- Defective working of glands.
- Poor health conditions of the child.
- Infection of a chronic disease like tuberculosis, malaria, etc.
Mental causes
Low educational Quotient is most of the time due to low 1Q and low 1Q is directly related to poor functioning of mind which may be due to so many reasons. More ever many intellectual abilities like thinking, reasoning, manipulation, evaluation concentration, and observation, etc, are not properly arranged in these children, so, they perform poorly in the class.
A child is suffering from any emotional disturbance, his emotional development may be faulty and delayed. It will lead to further complications in emotional and social adjustment. The child may also develop faulty self-concepts. All these factors will create problems before the child in the school.
External Causes of educational backwardness or slow learners
The environment also plays an important role in making the child educationally poor. Important environmental factors are as follows-
1. Family
If the economic conditions and social status of the family are very low, the family will not be able to cater to the basic needs of the child. If the family is not providing proper educational facilities and guidance to the child. The child will perform poorly on academic skills.
Additionally, destitution in the family might prompt the hunger of the youngster. In case it is in this way, the kid's chronic frailty will influence his instructive accomplishment adversely. On the off chance that the foundation of the family is exceptionally in reverse and the kid is denied of rudimentary general information and beneficial encounters, he is required to perform ineffectively.
If students do not get sufficient time to devote to educational tasks to give to them because of their excessive engagement at home in Occupational tasks, their educational performance will be below-
The girls engaged in the care of young brothers and sisters generally perform poorly in school.
Lastly, the emotional climate of the family also affects learning and achievement. If there are strained relations between the child and the family, he belongs to a broken or nagging family or any of his parents is addicted to drugs or habit of gambling, harsh attitude is meted out to the child in the family and child feels insecure, unwanted and a burden on the family, all these factors will contribute to the low achievement of the child.
2. School Environment
The most urgent factor is the school where the youngster gets training. Due to poor economic conditions, the child is educated in a school where the educational environment is polluted, he is not supposed to show higher educational achievement there.
School discipline and good school administration are a function of good educational achievement. If discipline is poor due to poor and defective administration, the performance of the school, in general, will be below-
If the method of teaching is defective, uninteresting, and lacks innovation and novelty, the achievement will be below.
If sufficient option is not made available for children and they are forced to select only a few subjects, they will perform very poorly in the school.
If physical facilities available in the school is not sufficient according to the needs of children and more than 100 children are accommodated in a class where only 50 students can be accommodated, all of them will perform poorly.
3. Neighborhood
Friends selected by the child from the neighborhood and from the school shape his behavior. If they are not having an interest in schooling, the child is also expected to be poor educationally. Press, Mass-media, and socio-religious institutions also affect educational achievement. If they are playing a poor role in the interest of the child, he will perform poorly.
Late admission is another problem related to low educational achievement, if society is reluctant to giving education to children, they are sent to school late by two or three years when these children attend the classes, they study curriculum below their age which may be uninteresting to them.
The general attitude of the people towards education also affects the educational achievement of the child. If the attitude of the people is not positive, they will not motivate their wards to achieve high in the class.
If job expectancy and job security are very low after education, students are not likely to study hard resulting in low educational achievement of the child.
Stagnation unattended by society is the major environmental cause of educational backwardness. If the child remains in a class for two or three years and the causes why he fails repeatedly in a particular class are not identified and removed by the society and the family as a combined, effort, his educational achievement will remain low.
Corrective measures and educational adaptation of slow learners
Here corrective measures mean how the slow learners learn or how slow learners become successful. Educational adaptation of slow learners means how would you treat the person who is a slow learner. A slow learner can be a smart student if you treat them properly. Here are some remedial measures that have been provided for the slow learners.
Following adaptive measures can be taken to minimize the problem of educational backwardness or slow learners. See how does a slow learner learn and how can school slow learners.
1. Regular health check-ups and treatment
Regular health check-ups and treatment of educational backwardness are due to physical and health-related reasons, it can remove only by adopting medical measures. A team of doctors should be regularly sent to the school for regular check-ups, vaccination, immunization, and treatment of students. The Mid-day Meal program of the government is a good initiative in this connection. It is likely to reduce malnutrition in children making them less vulnerable to infections and deficiency diseases.
2. Special educational programs and role of the teacher
In an integrated education system, a special teacher can do the following things to remove the educational backwardness of these children.
a) Increased attention: Special attention is paid by the teacher to these backward children to know their specific problems and to remove them. Backwardness also develops an inferiority complex in children. The task of the teacher is to remove this complex from them as much as possible
b) Diagnosing the causes of backwardness: A teacher can not remove the educational backwardness of his children unless he knows the causes behind it. So, it is essential to diagnose the responsible causes prior to the remedy by adopting clinical and observation methods or by administering standardized achievement and intelligence tests and attitude inventories to them.
c) Adjustment training: Such children find it very difficult to adjust in school as well as at home because of the humiliating situations that they face everywhere. The teacher fully helps in this regard by using verbal and behavioral reinforcement techniques. He gives them love affection, sympathy, and security. He develops smooth and healthy the environment in the class by controlling other normal students of the class so that they may not create any the problem for slow learners.
d) Checking of truancy: Tendency of truancy is generally seen in these children. The teacher motivates them to attend the classes regularly with his sympathetic attitude. Slow learners generally miss classes because they are unable to complete assignments given to them and they fear that they will be punished. The teacher helps and motivates them to complete their home works also.
e) Special teaching strategies: These children are not expected to be benefited from general methods of teaching. So, adaptive methods of instruction are used to teach children. Adaptive methods like-Teaching by small step, Frequent but short assignments, Regular checking of assignments, Frequent revision of the text, Regular reinforcement for wanted behavior, Illustration with examples, etc.
3. Special arrangements
a. Stress on co-curricular activities and varied experiences: Co-curricular activities are required by gifted and normal children to satisfy their extra needs. Backward children require their involvement in these activities in the school to compensate for their academic deficit through games (indoor and outdoor) and through community services. These activities help them to restore their emotional balance in school. These activities also increase their interest in the school.
b. Controlling negative environmental factors: There are many factors of the environment that work negatively for the child and cause slow educational achievement such as the unsanitary condition of neighborhood leading to infectious diseases, a bad company of children leading to apathy towards education, poor socioeconomic status leading to frustration, aimless life of the child leading to undirected efforts, etc. These factors are controlled to the maximum level possible by providing scholarships to students and by integrating them into NSS programs.
c. Itinerant Services: Backward children regularly need the services of doctors for medical treatment, the services of psychologists for psychological treatment, the service of counselors for guidance and counseling, and the services of behavior therapists to modify their behavior. Various types of resource rooms are prepared for this purpose and regular feedback is taken from these students.
4. Administrative arrangements
To benefit backward children, some modification in the administrative arrangement is also needed. They are given below-
a) Special schools: Special schools for educationally backward children are required when Backwardness lies in any physical handicap Backwardness is a very serious problem and can not be remedied in regular schools. The number of backward children is very high in a particular society.
b) Special Classes: In those schools where the number of backward children is very high and due to their severity of the problem they can not be educated in regular classes, special sections are arranged for them in the school and all the necessary facilities are provided to them. When separate classes are arranged for them, they do not have the problem of adjustment with normal children academically and socially.
c) Special Curriculum: Special Curriculum is also developed for these children to be followed in special schools or special classes. In this curriculum, activities, rather than academic subjects are stressed. Bookish knowledge is replaced by handicrafts and technical subjects.
d) Special Teacher: The problem of these children is so diverse in nature that they cannot be taught by regular teachers. Special teachers trained for the purpose are required to teach them in special classes.
e) Modification in school timetable: Backward children cannot Concentrate for a longer period of time in the class due to their mental, physical or psychological deficits, so, modification in the timetable becomes also necessary.
f) Modification in the examination system: Sometimes defective examination system makes the students educationally backward. So, improvement in the examination system is a must. Slow learners take much time to complete their answers in the examination, hence extra time is needed to be given to them. Lastly, one annual exam is not suitable for them because they can not prepare the whole syllabus for this purpose. In order to avoid this problem at least four or five short examinations should be conducted in a year and one examination should cover only one unit.
These are the best treatments for slow learners.
What is a slow learning disability?
A "moderate student" or "slow learner" portrays a youngster who doesn't have a learning disability however learns more leisurely than different kids in his age bunch. A typical show for a sluggish student is a youngster whose knowledge is low normal or marginally sub-optimal, however not really low as to be viewed as mentally incapacitated. Kids who are moderate students can profit with redundancy, mentoring, and assist with the improvement of study abilities.
At whatever point your kid has scholarly challenges decide the elements that are affecting your kid. When your kid's learning issues are characterized, you can work with a treatment group to address them in a manner that is useful.
Conclusion
Hence slow learners do not have a learning disability. It is a certain kind of backwardness due to various issues. If we will give them proper treatment and proper educational measures their backwardness can be removed very fast. Slow learners are also smart and intelligent.
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