CRI听力:Dyslexic School Calls for Greater Awareness of Learning Difficulties

"My name is Wang Guangqi. I'm 8 years old."

Wang Guangqi is a typical energetic young boy.

But he has problems reading and writing. So his father Wang Tong brings him here, to LangLang school, which caters for slow learners.

"When my son was studying pinyin, I realized he was getting mixed up with the letters b and p and the numbers 6 and 9. After listening to a radio programme about learning difficulties I brought him here as soon as I could."

Wang Guangqi suffers from dyslexia, meaning it's difficult for him to gain fluency and accuracy of language.

Teacher Wang Dandan explains how they help.

"Some kids can't write characters properly. So we help by giving them pictures to copy. At first they find it difficult but after a few times it's ok."

Dyslexia is not officially recognized as a problem in China, so it's difficult to know how many Chinese people suffer from it. But dyslexia expert Professor Ian Smythe from the University of Wales thinks he knows:

"The answer to that is quite simple. It's the same prevalence in every single language." (…) So, if you go into a classroom in the UK, it's generally agreed that 10 percent of the population will have difficulties. But if you go into a school in China same it's the same percentage. About 10 percent will have difficulties. There's a general agreement that that's a reasonable percentage."

Ten percent of China's population is over a hundred and thirty million people.

And yet, after 3 years of operating, LangLang school has only helped 300 kids. Head of the school Lan Zi explains why.

"Because people don't know about dyslexia, they don't know they can get professional help. And that's a significant problem."
 
Another factor might be the cost. LangLang has to operate privately and charges around one and a half thousand US dollars per child per year, which is a lot for many Chinese families. Lan Zi hopes one day her services can be paid for by the government.

"I hope China can include help for dyslexic children in free public education just like in Hong Kong, so they don't need to pay for anything to get help."

Wang Guanqi's father says after studying at LangLang school his son improved his concentration and confidence. He hopes greater awareness can help other parents recognize and address the problem.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.