Information requirements of parents of children with learning disability

Learning Disability (LD) is a neurological disorder and it manifests itself in reading, writing and arithmetic disorders. Around 8 to 10% of school children are seen to be affected with LD. Undetected LD leads to chronic poor school performance, consistent lower grades and feelings of despair, confusion and frustration among the school children on the one hand whereas on the other hand parents of such children misinterpret their child’s behavior with laziness, hyperactivity.

1. To understand the information requirements of the parents of children with Learning Disability. 2. To study the information sources accessed by the parents

Survey research method was adopted. The data was collected by distributing a structured questionnaire to the parents.

The study revealed that statistically the number of male children with learning disability exceed than that of their counterpart. Nine parents did not have any prior knowledge of LD before their child was labeled with LD. The information resources referred by the parents were family, friends, and school counselor. Low level of education, lack of family support and ignorance were the major barriers faced by the parents in seeking information. Eleven parents (100%) required information on how to handle the child’s behavior, his academic performance and were interested in knowing the real life experiences of other parents.