TASK 1: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

1.0 Introduction to Children’s Concerns

TheStar (2016) reported that children’s education was the top concern among men

(50.3%) and women (40%) according to findings of the Fifth Population and Family Survey.

This is related to disability, underachievement and bullying which are the concerns of an

academic nature that affect a number of children. Particularly, according to Disabled World

(2019), disability is defined as a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired

relative to the usual standard of an individual or group. In other words, the individual with

disability is unable to act in a normal way like most people do physically and mentally.

Disability can influence a child’s performance in class and also affect on other areas of life

such as home and play dimensions (Good Therapy, 2019). This would lead to mental health

concerns such as stress and anxiety. Thus, the role and the purpose of Language Arts in

dealing with disability in the Malaysian Primary classroom in conjunction with bibliotherapy

and multicultural elements will be discussed.

2.0 Disability in Children’s Education

Knowledge related to people with disabilities especially children varies and each

individual has their own view regarding it. This is supported by UNICEF (2017) as

terminology and perceptions about appropriate language are influenced by the geographic

location of participants and their level of engagement with disability. For instance, it is widely

acknowledged that the BM word ‘cacat’ refers to people with disability but the term is

associated with negative connotations. This has affected both the children and also the

parents negatively as the term is malignant and insensitive regardless of their children’s

disabilities. Moreover, UNICEF (2019) Study stated that children with disabilities in Malaysia

are often hidden, portrayed negatively and excluded from society. The survey found that a
third of Malaysians believe that children with disabilities should be kept hidden and feel that

children with disabilities would be disruptive in a mainstream class. In addition, they are also

seen as easy target for ill-treatment that ranged from teasing and mocking to more severe

emotional bullying and physical beating as they cannot escape the problem and were often

isolated without friends (UNICEF, 2019). For example, Luke (2019) reported in The

Guardian that a pupil aged below twelve, hiding from school bullies in a rubbish bin.

Summarizing this, those with disabilities are stigmatised by the society and especially

children, they are very vulnerable to the negativity perceived on them by siblings and peers

at school.

3.0 Benefits of Bibliotherapy

Due to this concern, as related to Language Arts module in Standard Curriculum

(KSSR), bibliotherapy will be used for treatment purposes to address this issue among

children. Bibliotherapy is defined as an interaction between the reader and certain literature

which is useful in aiding personal adjustment (Lindeman & Kling, 1969). Simply put, it is a

method of reading to help solving problems faced. As claimed by Mahsa and Zohreh (2018),

bibliotherapy is in fact a strategy for attitude change, a method for better understanding the

personal feelings, and also a strategy for fulfilling emotional or social needs. In relation to

this issue, bibliotherapy can help children with disabilities deal with their problems as it can

help in guiding the thinking process in children and forming their behaviour (DiSturco, 1984).

In this method, using different books, children are helped to change their problematic

thoughts and subsequent behaviours (Heath and Cole, 2012). For example, it has been

shown to be effective in the work with children with divorced parents (Pehrsson et al., 2007).

4.0 Bibliotherapy in Addressing the Specific Concerns

 In this context, children in general and children with disabilities in particular can

benefit from bibliotherapy from the aspects of problem solving and social skills. The

materials chosen for bibliotherapy consists of a book entitled Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis

and a poem, Special by Marla Murasko.

4.1 Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis

Firstly, it is a picture book, written in rhyming couplets that tells about a little

girl named Susan, that can do anything and feel emotions like any other kids. But at

the end of the story, the writer exposes that the little girl is actually using a

wheelchair. This book is chosen as a solution to the stigmatization faced by the

children with disability. This is due to this book delivers a message that a person with

disability can actually lead a life like others as well in most aspects. This book will

help the children with disability to improve their self-esteem and feel that they are no

less than the others. This is because Aiex (1993) as cited by Mehsa and Zohreh

(2018), recommended that the teachers can use books to improves personal self-

concept, removes mental and emotional pressures. In addition, for society generally,

this story shows that individual with disability deserves to be treated like others with

respect and not to be discriminated as bibliotherapy can increase personal

understanding of human behaviour and motivation. Furthermore, this book will be

easily understood by all children as referring to the guidelines of "Connecting

Students to Culturally Relevant Texts" by Freeman and Freeman (2004), one of the

criteria is the characters must be like the reader or the reader’s family. This is true

because Susan is portrayed realistically as a young girl that can be both good and

bad and gets in trouble with her parents like other children (Willis, 2000). 

Afterwards, as a future teacher, this story can be used in the lesson to teach

language area of adjectives for emotions and feelings and creating a personalised

scrapbook for the whole class. For the first activity, based on the emotions mentioned

in the story such as ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘fear’ and ‘angry’, the teacher can teach the
adjectives through the song ‘If you’re happy…’. This will gain the children’s interest to

learn and increase their understanding about the adjectives. Secondly, the activity

requires each child to find their own idol that has disability from all over the world and

put the pictures of their idol in the scrapbook. Also, the children have to state why

each idol inspires them. This will elevate their creativity through the activity of

decorating the scrapbook and boost their confidence level as they have to present

their findings to everyone.

4.2 Special by Marla Murasko

The second material for bibliotherapy is a poem for a child with down

syndrome, written by his own mother, Murasko (2017). This poem is written in

couplets and rhymes to each stanza. It is about a child with special needs and the

way he does things a little different from others but it is because he is special. This

poem can be utilized to improve social skills of children with disability with other

people. Considering that they are at risks of social problem such as being bullied and

harassed by other kids, this poem expresses their feelings and wants to be

understood by others. This poem shows them that they are not the only one with that

problem and they can improve their communication with others like peers and

siblings. By forming effective communication among them, this can enhance friendly

relationship and lower the risks of getting bullied.

As a future educator, this poem can be used to teach speaking skill through

poem recitation and verbs with picture cards. Firstly, based on the poem, the children

must write their own reflection and create a poem themselves. The poem can be as

simple or complicated as they want. Then, the teacher can organize a poem reading

event and invite some parents to watch them instead of regular poem recitation in

class. This will be a great opportunity for the children to increase their confidence in

speaking publicly and develop empathy to children with disability. Specifically, for the

children with disability, it would benefit them in term of expressing their feelings with
 teacher’s guidance. This would be great for them as sometimes, their voice is not

heard and always left out. Next, this activity can be applied prior to the poem to teach

them verbs used in the poem. The pictures shown must be clear and colourful to

spark the children’s imagination.

5.0 Conclusion

To conclude, the roles of Language Arts in term of bibliotherapy are very significant

in dealing with children’s concern which is disability. As the short story and poem are chosen

to be used as bibliotherapy, it can be applied in the lesson to put an end to stigmatization

faced by the children with disability.

References

Disabled World. (2019). Disabilities: Definition, types and models of disability. Retrieved from
https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/
DiSturco, P. (1984). The effect of bibliotherapy on personal and social development of
second graders. Masters thesis. Kean College of New Jersey, Union.
Freeman, Y. & Freeman, D. (2004). Connecting students to culturally relevant texts.
Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/819/personalizing_literacy-
culturallyrelevantreadings.pdf
Good Therapy. (2019). Academic concerns. Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy. org/
learn-about-therapy/issues/academic-concerns
Heath, M. A. & Cole, B. V. (2012). Strengthening classroom emotional support for children
following a family member’s death. School Psychology International, 33, 243–262.
Lindeman, B. & Kling, M. (1969). Bibliotherapy: Definitions, uses and studies. Journal of
School Psychology, 7(02), 36-41. doi: 0.1016/0022-4405(68)90130-1
Luke Henriques-Gomes. (2019). Children with disabilities suffer ‘severe neglect and abuse’
in Australian schools. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/
society/ 2019/oct/28/children-with-disabilities-suffer-severe-neglect-and-abuse-in-
australian-schools
Mahsa Mehdizadeh & Zohreh Khosravi. (2018). An inquiry into the effectiveness of
bibliotherapy for children with intellectual disability. International Journal of
Developmental Disabilities. doi: 10.1080/20473869.2018.1466509
Murasko, M. (2017). 'Special:' A poem written by a mom for her special needs son.
Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/special-a-poem-written-
by_b_4099060
Pehrsson, D. E., Allen, V. B., Folger, W. A., McMillen, P. S. and Lowe, I. (2007).
Bibliotherapy with preadolescents experiencing divorce. The Family Journal, 15,
409–414.
The Star. (2016). Main concern is kids’ education. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.
com.my/news/nation/2016/02/24/main-concern-is-kids-education/
UNICEF. (2017). Childhood disability in Malaysia: A study of knowledge, attitudes and
practices. Kuala Lumpur: UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/media/281/
file/Childhood%20Disability%20in%20Malaysia.pdf
UNICEF. (2019). Children with disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/malaysia/
 what-we-do/protection-violence/children-disabilities
Willis, J. (2000). Susan laughs. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Appendices

Susan Laughs by Jean Willis

Special by Marla Murasko