Tata Interactive Systems brings help to children with learning difficulties

london, UK (SANEPR.com) December 17, 2007 -- At the end of November, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) hosted the second annual Tata Interactive Learning Disability Forum (TLDF) - a unique global symposium on LD. Topics at this year’s TLDF included pre-testing in schools; handling the LD student in class, and counselling the LD child and her/his parents; with speakers drawn from all over the world including Lorraine Petersen, CEO of the UK-based organisation, nasen, and Polly Bayrd, a consultant at the Learning Disabilities Clinic in Minnesota, USA.

”Not many schools in Mumbai were aware of learning difficulties – all too often, these children were deemed slow learners. In keeping with the Tata Group’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, TIS adopted the cause of LD students and the Tata Interactive Learning Disability Forum is one of our key initiatives,” explained Sanjaya Sharma, CEO of Tata Interactive Systems, (www.tatainteractive.com).

“It was heartening that the TLDF was instrumental in ramping up the number of schools in Mumbai that recognised LD as an issue – and made the requisite accommodations for LD students – has gone up from about 100 in 2005 to 230 in 2006 and 480 in 2007,” he added.

TIS has been instrumental in supporting the LD Clinic at Sion Hospital, Mumbai, one of the few of its kind in the country. It also partners with LD-focused organisations such as nasen and the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association. Some of TIS’s other LD initiatives include striving for changes in medical and teachers’ curricula to include LD in the syllabi.

“TLDF 2007 focused on multi-disciplinary approaches to LD certification and remedial interventions,” explained TIS’s CEO, Sanjaya Sharma. “The aim is to involve the different levels – schools, counsellors, parents, hospitals and so on – and bring them together in an attempt to recognise and support LD children by making the LD certification process more efficient and working on remedial interventions with the LD child.”

“And, while experts can tell us what needs to be done, TIS can actually make it happen by bringing its project management approach to the challenge,” Sharma pledged.

Speaking at TLDF 2007, Dr Madhuri Kulkarni, professor and head of paediatrics at Sion Hospital in Mumbai, explained that LD often manifests itself via ‘problems at school’ and that, to be successful, remedial education needs the support of the child’s parents or guardians. Dr Kulkarni added: “LD is a common neuro-developmental disorder which is demonstrated by up to 15 per cent of the school population; has an equal male/female distribution, and is most likely to be familial in origin.”

According to J C Mistry, who heads the LD initiatives at TIS: “Learning difficulty is a life-long disorder that affects the manner in which individuals select, retain and express information. They are also termed as ‘learning differences’, based on the fact that certain individuals learn differently.

”Although several products are available for the identification and remediation of learning difficulties, most of these are either unable to sustain the progress of a disabled child or not aligned to government standards. To overcome this limitation, we develop end-to end solutions that screen and identify children with learning difficulties, and offer remedial action as well as a tracking system to monitor their progress,” Mistry added.

Further information about the TLDF from http://tldf.tatainteractive.com.
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Notes for editors

About Tata Interactive Systems and the TLDF
The TLDF is organised by Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), a global e-learning leader with experience and expertise in every stage of learning difficulties’ remediation: pre-assessments, screening, courseware, post-assessments, reporting and teacher training. Beyond developing solutions for clients, TIS regards the solution of LD issues as a corporate social responsibility.

Some of TIS’s LD-related initiatives include:
• Supporting the LD Clinic (Sion Hospital, Mumbai), one of the few certified institutions of its kind in India, dedicated to detecting and treating LD.
• Developing a unique book, ‘Brain Teasers’, designed to nurture the innate creativity of these special children and empower them to achieve their potential.
• Providing free-of-cost remedial courseware, developed for clients, to help students at the LD Clinic discover the joys of learning.

About Tata Interactive Systems (TIS)

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), a global leader in e-learning, is a part of the $45bn Tata Group. Truly international, TIS has a presence across the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Japan, India, Amsterdam and mainland Europe. TIS offers corporations, universities, schools, publishers, and government institutions a diversified and innovative bouquet of learning and training solutions including Simulation-based Learning Objects (SimBLs™), Story-based Learning Objects (StoBLs™), courseware and curriculum design, special-needs education, assessments, electronic performance support systems (EPSS), mobile learning, game-based learning along with other corporate training and consultancy services. Our multi-disciplinary expertise and 17 years’ experience across domains helps us design e-learning programmes that are unique to clients’ requirements and specifically crafted to boost knowledge retention and application.

TIS is the only e-learning organisation in the world to be assessed at Level 5 in both the SEI-CMM and P-CMM frameworks. TIS’s quest for excellence is reflected in numerous prestigious industry awards, including a Silver Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Award 2005 and 2004, APEX Award of Excellence in 2005 and 2006, BETT Awards in 2004 and 2006, and two Business World–NID Design Excellence awards.

For more information log on to www.tatainteractive.com

Further information from:
J.C Mistry, Tata Interactive Systems, 91 22 66438000, www.tatainteractive.com
Alan Samuel, Tata Interactive Systems, 020 7905 0156, www.tatainteractive.com
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 00 44 (0) 1727 860405, www.boblittlepr.com