A Duty: the Learning Support Program

In a bid to meet the increasing demand for a comprehensive learning support program across the school for students with learning difficulties, IC administrators are expanding existing programs and introducing new ones. “Not everybody learns the same way,” said Paula Mufarrij, IC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs. “And students don’t always learn at the same pace. It is our duty to support our students until they reach a certain maturity level or until we bring them where they need to be.”

The truth of the matter is that schools worldwide can no longer ignore the growing number of children with learning difficulties.

Neither can IC, and so three years ago, a pilot project was implemented at the middle school to assess the need for such a program. (The elementary and preschool already had a learning support program established a few years earlier and are in the process of expanding it). The feedback was overwhelming.

“We have identified many needs in our students, and we now know what we are facing,” said Mufarrij. “More and more parents are now asking for help.”

According to a 2013 study by UNESCO, 2.43% of Lebanese youth (age 15-24) suffer from a learning difficulty.

As Mufarrij explained, we are still at the ‘embryonic stage’ at IC. She, herself, saw the agonies of one of her own relatives struggling through school because of a mild learning difficulty. It didn’t have to be this way.

Mufarrij has been holding many meetings with directors about the need to expand the learning support program. All, she said, are crying out for more learning support instructors and more help for their students.

It is a cry that the administration is taking seriously and currently brainstorming ways to expand the program best and reach as many students as possible.

But at least, we took the first step, said Bahera Abbas, a learning support instructor at the Middle School. She and fellow instructors, Sanay Hamieh, are part of the pilot project initiated in 2017. Their job was to start a learning support center at the middle school.

It was an overwhelming task. The idea was daunting to many faculty members and embarrassing to students. Parents, weighed down by the stigma of words like ADD or ADHD, timidly and yet with great relief, headed to the counselors. Will this mean that their child can stay and indeed thrive at IC?

Yes, replied Abbas. Oh, yes, she said enthusiastically. All children can succeed with some help. All.

That was the beginning. It wasn’t easy.

Counselors persisted. It is ok to be

different. It is ok to ask for help. You have the right to be here. Slowly but surely, teachers slowly adjusted to the idea of some differential learning techniques in their classrooms. In the beginning, hesitantly. But many positive results later, enthusiastically. Students who at first slithered away from the very mention of ‘Learning Support’ began to seek the counselors themselves. Moreover, some began advocating for their own needs. As for parents – at least the ones who overcame the stigma, their relief and thankfulness was gratifying.

“These cases are not a one-time thing,” said Abbas. “More and more children are being diagnosed with learning difficulties. Some come up from the elementary school already diagnosed, and some we spot ourselves.”

Some of the mild to moderate cases identified at IC so far include ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Dyspraxia.

By 2018, 6% of IC’s student body – both in Ras Beirut and Ain Aar – were receiving learning support. This year, reported Abbas, saw a dramatic increase in cases – almost double. At the moment, she and Hamieh are catering to fifty students.

It could be due to many parents overcoming society’s taboo and ‘confessing’ to their child’s difficulty or simply that

the IC community (including parents) are becoming more aware and adept in spotting the various symptoms and thus suggesting a diagnosis.

And yet, many more ‘hidden students’ remain undiagnosed.

“Cases will only increase,” said Abbas. “These students need us. Our goal is to encourage students to advocate for themselves and become independent lifelong learners. We work with each one according to his or her individual needs. Our center is still in its infancy. We still have a long way to go. But the students we are helping have changed so much. It is like they have been set free.”

In secondary school, Rama El Hassan ‘14, also reports an increase in cases. Twenty-eight cases have so far been reported at the high school level. Those include those who came up from the middle school and newly diagnosed cases, but “I know there are many more coming my way,” she said. “You cannot just press pause at secondary school. We have to continue what was started.”

For El Hassan, who joined IC a year ago as a learning support counselor, the spectrum of learning difficulties at the secondary well goes beyond learning support. It includes learning strategies or memorizing techniques. “Sometimes, that is all it takes,” she said quietly.

As a student at IC, she herself had faced academic difficulties. As a result, her self-esteem plummeted, and her selfworth plunged. Her difficulties continued unexplainably in the first year of university. She had no one to turn to for help. That is until she took a class in psychology. It was life-changing. The professor was explaining the brain and the memory and even went so far as to show the class some tricks in learning. Intrigued, El Hassan began to apply them on herself. Before long, her grades picked up significantly. Learning became easier. Her self-esteem picked up, and she finished university and obtained a degree in psychology with flying colors.

“That was all I needed all these years,” she said. “Just a few learning and memorizing techniques.”

And now, this is what she is eager to impart with other struggling students at IC and is eagerly waiting for the needed department and tools necessary.

“This is IC’s future,” said Mufarrij. “We may be late establishing such a program, but it is going to happen for certain. I can assure you that we will eventually have a learning support department for the entire school. We are getting there.” COVID-19 UPDATE

According to Abbas, Learning Support (LS) students at the middle school level, at first faced many challenges with online learning, with a high number of LS students reporting being overwhelmed. Concerned parents inundated the department with phone calls. This prompted the LS to prepare special schedules, routines, activities, individualized Zoom meetings for its students, and one-on-one sessions with learning support instructors. The interaction was through WhatsApp, email, and Zoom. LS pushed in on teachers’ online sessions and encouraged reinforcement and small activities embedded in lessons. LS instructors have seen a marked improvement and report that their students are now responding well with the screen. At the secondary school level, El Hassan reported that LS students have taken to online sessions rather quickly and, in fact, seem to be enjoying working at their own pace.