Dyslexia is not a disease but one of learning disorders that is usually experienced by children. Commonly, it involves difficulty reading, writing, spelling, and counting.

People with normal intelligence who have Dyslexia will have reading and writing difficulty.   

Those who have Dyslexia are not considered as handicapped. In fact, some of the well-known celebrities have Dyslexia. Those with Dyslexia have difficulty uttering long words, and some struggle to learn items in lists such as names of the months and multiplication table. Dyslexic people have different difficulties from one another.

Seeing that this group needs the support and attention from the society, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) took the initiative and organized a programme to expose these students to the world of robotic through hands-on learning.   

The programme known as STEM@UNO 4 All and organized by UMT STEM Foundation Centre had the objective of giving dyslexic and autistic students the opportunity to learn about robotics in an effort to help this group face the challenge of IR 4.0.

Its Director Associate Professor Dr Laili Che Rose said that this group must be helped and given attention to.

“As a university, UMT felt the need to organize a programme like this to help students with learning difficulties display their talent and creativity through hands-on learning. We mixed these students with excellent ones and let them work together to create a robotic system,” she said.

“We try to inculcate a sense of caring and responsibility in the excellent students so that they realize that their talents and skills should be used to help others move forward. This will help the students to gain more knowledge and prevent them from being left behind in terms of progress,” she said.

She added that the programme acted as a platform to bridge the gap between excellent students and those with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and autism.

“Working together makes these students become closer to each other. The excellent students need to use their ideas and creativity to teach the other students to complete a project,” she said.  

The STEM@UNO 4 programme also received supports from news agency BERNAMA (Terengganu Bureau) and Sekolah Sains Sultan Mahmud (SESMA) as well as sponsorship from Duyong Marina & Resort.   

Meanwhile, Siti Nur Syaqira Alia Mohd Izman, 11-year old student who participated in this programme showed extraordinary interest in electronic circuitry.

“I’m so happy I was able to finish this project. I was so excited when my electronic circuit could light up an LED light and enable the buzzer to produce sound. I would like to join this kind of programme again if given an opportunity in the future,” she said.

The programme was attended by more than 30 students from Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Midin, Kuala Terengganu; STEM Foundation Programme, UMT; and Sekolah Sains Sultan Mahmud, Terengganu.

Published by:

Corporate Communication Centre

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu