10 Jun 2019

Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) is the key to mitigating the academic gap in Botswana, says Ms Mary Tawadros, a specialist in the field.

Speaking in an interview, she described the therapy as a neuro-developmental approach aimed at uncovering the root causes of learning difficulties which considered everything in the child’s outer and inner environment that could impair fulfillment of potential.

Established in 2003, she said the therapy sought to solve the puzzle of why a bright child was unable to perform well academically including finding it hard to master skills such as reading, writing, math and spelling.

Learning and behavior difficulties happen when a child was not ready to learn as the brain would not have developed the needed neural networks, explained Ms Tawadros.

The specialist, who has been practicing since 2009, said the therapy also clarified why children were unable to complete tasks, daydreamed a lot, never seemed to listen to teachers and why they failed to concentrate.

The therapy, she said,  did not only focus on the child but also guided educators and parents on what “school readiness” meant.

She said movement and nutrition were beneficial as they wired a child’s brain to perform well not only academically but also in facing life’s continual challenges.

“Accordingly when the foundation for reading, spelling and sentence construction is missed, subsequently other subjects like agriculture, sciences become a real challenge leading to many school dropouts,” she said.

Ms Tawadros further explained that the therapy did not only assess a child’s supporting systems to unravel the reasons for learning difficulties but also provided solutions to treat the causes  by providing a home-based tailored therapy for each child according to clinical assessment findings.

The specialist said in places where Integrated Learning Therapy efficiency had been tested, it had proven successful adding that it had helped teachers and parents understand that children could not to be blamed when their systems did not support them academically and behaviour wise.

“The blame and accusation has been replaced with understanding and support which helps the child to regain his self esteem and confidence,” she said.

She said when learners understood themselves better and why they were not winning despite their hard work, it gave them hope and reduced guilt.

“With commitment to the therapy the rewiring of the brain shoots in and the child starts to perform better and lots of things start falling into place,” she said.

Ms Tawadros’ advice to parents and caregivers is to ensure continuous movement such as outdoor playing and socialising for children from an early age and taking children with learning difficulties for assessment in order to enhance their performances at school and in tackling life challenges.

Integrated Learning Therapy also offers training for parents and groups which is followed by a four-six week follow-up programme. ENDS