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Understanding Learning Disorders in Film

The movie Every Child is Special tells the story of Ishaan Awasthi, an 8-year-old boy with Specific Learning Disorder, often misinterpreted as lazy or disobedient. It highlights the emotional and psychological impact of misdiagnosis, emphasizing the importance of proper evaluation and support from mental health specialists, parents, and teachers. The film serves as a reminder that academic performance is not the sole indicator of a child's intelligence or potential.

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marcelinoramosdelacruz14
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8 views1 page

Understanding Learning Disorders in Film

The movie Every Child is Special tells the story of Ishaan Awasthi, an 8-year-old boy with Specific Learning Disorder, often misinterpreted as lazy or disobedient. It highlights the emotional and psychological impact of misdiagnosis, emphasizing the importance of proper evaluation and support from mental health specialists, parents, and teachers. The film serves as a reminder that academic performance is not the sole indicator of a child's intelligence or potential.

Uploaded by

marcelinoramosdelacruz14
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

DACAYANAN, Eunice N.

BSP 308

CASE ANALYSIS ( Every Child is Special)

The movie Every Child is Special narrates an account of an 8 year old boy called Ishaan Awasthi, who is not learning
properly but his problem is initially mistaken as laziness and disobedience. The movie is highly applicable in the
interpretation of the neurodevelopmental disorders, especially Specific Learning Disorders, as it does not only
emphasize the symptoms but also the emotional and psychological consequences of misdiagnosis or lack of diagnosis.
Ishaan Awasthi is a small boy who seems to be creative, artistic, and curious, but he is a low performer student.
Ishaan has difficulties with interacting with other children and consistently keeps to himself, and misinterpreted by
peers and teachers. He experiences obvious indications of poor self-esteem, frustration, and sadness because of the
rejections, bullying, and being compared with his older brother. Academically, Ishaan has long-standing problems
with reading, writing and spelling. He also reverses letters, misreads words and writes illegible handwriting.

Some of the symptoms that Ishaan has are the problem of reversing letters, misreading words, bad writing,
misspelling, inability to remember the steps when it requires multi steps and the poor performance at school despite
a high level of intelligence. These are typical signs of a Specific Learning Disorder especially dyslexia. Dyslexia is a
learning disorder, which is characterized by spelling and reading difficulties. Under a clinical psychology perspective of
analysis, the case of Ishaan would demand a detailed psychological and educational evaluation in order to make an
official diagnosis of a learning disorder. Cognitive testing, academic achievement testing and behavioral observations
would be administered by a clinical psychologist. Co-operation with teachers and parents would be essential in order
to create an integrative perspective of his functioning in the settings.

The experience of watching Every Child is Special was extremely emotional and eye opening. It was a strong
reminder of the fact that all children learn and express themselves in different ways, and that the academic
achievement is not the only intelligence or potential indicator. Being a person with the interest in the field of clinical
psychology, the movie reaffirmed the importance of mental health specialists in the cause of children with learning
disabilities. It further emphasized the need to educate parents and teachers on neurodevelopmental disorders to
help them react in a compassionate instead of a punitive manner. On the whole, the movie made me more conscious
of the problems that children as Ishaan encounter.

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