Readers with special needs find help through easy-to-read books

There are known to be roughly 800,000 people in Korea with special needs for reading. But there are only a handful of books and other reading materials made for them, which causes them to feel alienated from everyday conversation and more inclined to self-isolation. Gettyimagesbank

Dedicated firm helps instructors with re-written books for struggling readers

By Ko Dong-hwan

Ham Eui-young, CEO of Peach Market

Students in a "special classroom" were paying attention to their teacher explaining "The Ant and the Grasshopper," one of the popular Aesop's Fables, at a high school in Seoul in June 2022, while their peers in other classrooms were studying classic literature from the Joseon Dynasty and how Korea's judiciary system brings criminals to court.

But in this special classroom, students with difficulties in reading and understanding, including those with dyslexia, were immersed in the fable and the lessons it entails. The textbook, specially made to cater to them, guided the instructor through a perfect discourse for the students to read and understand it as a book. Such an accomplishment would be difficult for these students if they had to study the tiny fonts and longer texts of books being taught in other classrooms.

In a textbook, one student wrote down her thoughts about the fable.

"The ant planned ahead and collected food during summer to live through the coming winter. Maybe I should prepare for my future just like the ant." Another student rooted for the grasshopper. "While the ant worked hard during the summer, the grasshopper did what it loved to do. He must have been happy," he wrote.

The textbook, made by Peach Market, also asks students to describe the characteristics of the duo and which occupation they would be suited for in modern society. One student wrote that the ant would make a good delivery driver, athlete or a street cleaner because it is "physically strong," while the grasshopper would be an excellent singer, a composer or a K-pop idol, because of its "nature to spend time enjoying itself."

"I found a new urge and willingness to teach these books to my students. It took a huge burden off my shoulders. Plus, the thought that I can discuss the books with the students makes me pretty excited," said Kim Ka-young, an instructor for those struggling with reading exercises harder than normal people. She started using books made by Peach Market.

The biggest difference the publisher has brought to the classroom was that its materials made students participate in conversations, according to Kim. Before, with conventional textbooks, the topics they could understand were extremely limited. Now, the types of questions she can ask the students and the level of eloquence the students can employ have broadened.

Peach Market reproduced "The Ant and the Grasshopper" from Aesop's Fables for those with reading difficulties in high schools. On top, a question asks "What did you think about the fable?" Below, one of the students expressed what he learned from the fable in a doodle and prose. Courtesy of Peach Market

"When we were talking about things like Olympics, they used to say 'I just watched TV last weekend.' Now, they can go 'I watched an Olympic fencing game on TV'," said Kim. "We recently started a Korean literature lesson using 'When Buckwheat Flowers Blossom.' (popular Korean novella that was edited and re-produced by Peach Market incorporating easier words and sentences, bigger fonts and other features to invite the readers with special needs.) The fact that I can elicit a literary understanding from these kids ― it's truly a huge step up."

Sometimes known as slow-learners because of their different ability in reading and understanding texts, there are about 800,000 students in Korea with the special needs. That boils down to about three in every classroom in schools before post-secondary institutions. And yet, not much about them is known to most members of the public. Books available on shelves that cater to this vulnerable group are extremely rare as well.

"In this society where every second counts and vast amounts of new information are produced each day, being slow and lagging pushes one to become more isolated and less informed than others," Ham Eui-young, CEO of Peach Market, told The Korea Times. "These patients in their youth, in particular, tend to fall behind in schools and fail to engage in a broad range of conversations. It not only becomes an increasing burden to both parents and teachers, but also creates misunderstandings and prevents them from living a happy teenage life."

What the students need, according to Ham, are information sources and educational tools customized to their levels of critical reading abilities. He believes it enables them to engage in diverse conversations and human relationships and, as better learners they will be able to pioneer the next chapters of their lives.

Established in 2015, Peach Market came out with 745 reproduced publications in singles, monthlies and E-books as of 2022. Peach Seoga, a digital database for the company's contents updated every month, has circulated over 60,000 publications. Over 1,300 institutions and organizations in the country have subscribed to the database, making over 90 percent of the subscribers maintain their memberships. The online platform may be small in scale, but it is definitely seeing an increase in popularity. The number of annual subscribers to Peach Seoga grew 20 percent between 2020 and 2022.

Between the company and those with the dire needs for help, there are teachers, volunteers and groups of supporters of the students, whom the company refers to as its "core element." They are at over 1,500 classrooms in 32 schools for people with disabilities in Seoul and at over 150 schools elsewhere in the country. The instructors are also part of tight-knit communities where they share teaching skills and materials.

Teachers who teach dyslexic students take part in a discussion at a Peach Market conference in a Seoul District of Jongno in February 2022. Courtesy of Peach Market

Song Mi-kyung from Jeju Girls' Commercial High School on the southern resort island, who joined a conference in Seoul in February 2022 for over 90 teachers who use Peach Market contents to teach students with learning disabilities, came up with a manual to demonstrate how future instructors can utilize the materials to teach students in the difficulties.

"Each and every curriculum prepared for public schools in Korea comes up with contents designed to achieve certain targeted goals," Song said. "What I did was find ways to connect those contents and goals together with books from Peach Seoga. It will help other teachers who come after me to teach the struggling students more effectively using the materials."

Over 1,200 teachers have so far joined the company's on- and offline programs to learn how to take advantage of Peach Seoga for their future lessons for the students. Another educational program that stems from Peach Market, a reading mentorship, has attracted over 31,000 people with the needs and 1,520 people interested in becoming their mentors.

"An increasing number of people are becoming interested in educational methods for slow-learners," said Ham, who quit the UN Environmental Assembly's Korean bureau to open the company. "I want to develop more professional and diverse pedagogical methods for them."

The Seoul Office of Education on Feb. 8 released the sixth "Five-Year Plan for Education for Students with Disabilities" starting this year. It said that whereas an overall number of students before post-secondary institutions have declined in number, the public's increasing interest in education for those with learning disabilities and the broadened range of educational programs for the vulnerable groups have increased the number of students with disabilities in the city.

The biggest group of the students, 13,366 in number as of 2022, are those with intellectual and development disabilities accounting for 42 percent. Those with autism followed at 23 percent. So did those with physical disabilities (12 percent) and developmental problems (11 percent).

"I wish there was a platform dedicated to the slow-learning students and patients, which they can access conveniently and flourish in a rich database pool," Song said. "I wish an environment can be created where slow-learners can find information on their own without the help of their parents or teachers."