The tools and approaches used by officials of the Psychological, medical and pedagogical consultations to identify learning disability in children in a region in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Identifying a child’s learning disability could be defined as one of the most challenging and essential issues in special education, since the term is variously conceptualized worldwide which affects the tools and approaches that have been used to determine the condition. Because of a plethora of debates around the topic, the purpose of the study was to research the understanding of the concept of learning disability (LD) on the part of specialists of the Psychological, medical, and pedagogical consultations (PMPCs) in the Kazakhstani context and the tools they employ to identify learning disabilities in children. A qualitative research procedure was opted for to help us find answers to the following research questions: (1) How is learning disability understood by the PMPCs in one region in Kazakhstan? (2) What tools do the specialists of the PMPCs use to identify learning disabilities in children? (3) What approaches do the specialists of the PMPCs employ to identify learning disabilities in children? The random sampling method was chosen to invite specialists of the PMPCs for an interview regarding the topic of the research. Six out of eight participants sent their signed consent forms that they had been provided with to participate in the study. The findings of the study revealed that the term LD has been variously interpreted by the members of the PMPCs. The instruments and methods they employ originated in the Soviet educational system which could not correspond to the cultural features of the Kazakhstani context. Thus, the thesis makes clear recommendations to educational stakeholders to reconsider the instruments and approaches employed in identifying LD, which consequently, could contribute to an improvement of the diagnoses of LDs in Kazakhstan.