Effect Of Pranayama Practices On Mathematics Achievement Of Children With Learning Disabilities

Abstract

As per the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 in India, education is the fundamental right of every child in the age group of 6 to 14 years. Students studying in the class come from different socio-economic backgrounds, and so, the learning styles of each student differ. That means diversity exists in the class. According to the guidelines of the government, both the disabled and non-disabled can learn together without any discrimination. According to the RPWD Act 2016, there are 21 types of disabilities. Specific learning disabilities are one of them. Learning disabilities are delayed development in language, speech, reading, writing, spelling, or mathematics due to brain dysfunction or behavioural or emotional disturbance. In India, 5 to 15% of the student population is learning disabled (Muthusamy and Sahu, 2020). A mathematics disability is a type of learning disability that affects the student’s basic mathematics skills. Approximately 6 to 14% of school-age children have difficulty solving mathematical problems (Barbaresi, Katysic, Weaver, and Jacobsen, 2005).

My study tries to investigate the effect of pranayama practises on the mathematics achievement of children with learning disabilities. In the present study, fifteen students aged 10–13 years with learning disabilities were selected for the study, whose mathematics achievement is very poor and who don’t have any idea about basic mathematics. A pre-test was taken to know the error pattern and current level of the students in the basic mathematics area. This post-test was administered to children with learning disabilities after they had completed six weeks of rigorous pranayama training. The correlated t-test results showed that the children who were taking pranayama training showed significant improvement in mathematics achievement.