CRITICAL ANALYSIS IN LEARNING DISABILITIES- situation in SPAIN
Since the Education General Law in 1993, some important changes occurred in Education in our country. Handicapped pupils began to study with pupils without problems; and a new category of pupils started to be used on a daily basis: pupils with learning disabilities without a serious disease. Some years before, the first Psychologists and Pedagogues appeared and, in an experimental approach, made the first assessment of these kind of problems. At the beginning, it was hard: parents and teachers didn´t understand well how pupils that didn´t seem to have any problems, needed another way of teaching-learning. Little by little, things are changing. On the other hand, in this moment in Spain, several points have had a bad influence in this process: economical crisis, with scarcity of specialized human resources; complicated social situations; groups of pupils too large and with different problems (immigration, …); families that aren´t involved enough in the educational processes; teachers pressed by a too much bureaucratic system and with lack of motivation, among other. Although things start to be a little bit better, we need to do several improvements, especially in the teaching-learning processes, introducing new methodologies.
In this report, we are going to know the concept of learnig disability, the educational laws related to this point, the daily basis in the school and with the families. We want to focus on the problems that teachers and families find and their needs. At the end, we´ll have the information needed to organize the courses for them that are one of the most important products of our Erasmus project.
1. WHAT IS “LEARNING DISABILITY” – LD
We analyze the concept of Learning Difficulties from a double perspective. Firstly from the educational legislation that regulates this concept; secondly, from the neuropsychological bases that define its etiology and classify the alterations that derive from them.
The Educational Law 2/2006, 3rd of May, LOE, in its article 71.2 states the wide concept of “pupils in need of specific support” (ACNEAE in Spanish) within which are included the following: pupils with special educational needs (NEE in Spanish), learning difficulties (DEA in Spanish), high intellectual capacities (AACC in Spanish) and other personal conditions or personal schooling history.
You can see a diagram of this classification in the next page:
This report refers to a selection of Learning Difficulties that include the majority of the cases that occur in our pupils, both at educational and socio-familiar levels, causing an important challenge to be attended appropriately. They are: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthography, Nonverbal learning disease, Attention disorder with Hyperactivity and dyscalculia.
Another key idea to understand the impact of these alterations refers to the etiology itself and the underlying neurophysiological disorder. The term “learning disability” was introduced by Kirk in 1962. Kirk intended to link the concept of “minimal brain dysfunction” with the academic functioning failure in pupils without mental impairment, in order to develop appropriate educational resources to relieve these difficulties.
From this perspective, further research conceives these difficulties as brain dysfunctions that affect specific areas of cognitive performance, which results in a disproportionate and unexpected difficulty for an specific type of learning compared to the rest of the global skills of the same person.
As a result of which, teachers and support professionals, guidance professionals in particular, have a very important role to play along with the families and educational authorities in order to give these pupils an appropriate response.
The responsibility of this process implies suitable training for teachers, access to the necessary resources and the motivation and implication of all sectors of the educational community so that, in a coordinated way, we manage to respond to our pupils` specific characteristics.
2. EDUCATIONAL LAWS IN SPAIN
A. National level- The Educational Law 2/2006, 3rd of May, LOE, in its article 71.2
In each Autonomous Community we have different educational laws that concrete the national level to adapt better to specific situations. It could be important differences between regions. It depends on economical and demographic features: for example, in “La Rioja” there is an adviser (Psychollogist or Pedagogue) in each school. However, in Murcia, although things are better than 20 years ago, we need more human resources to guarantee the appropriate process (assessment, teachers and parents advice).
B. Regional level- the example of Murcia. We have these laws related to special needs. You can access to them in this link: https://www.carm.es/web/pagina?IDCONTENIDO=4463&IDTIPO=100&RASTRO=c148$m
(Consejería de Educación y Universidades de la Región de Murcia)
1ª- “Decreto sobre la respuesta educativa a la diversidad del alumnado”- Decreto n.º 359/2009, de 30 de octubre, por el que se establece y regula la respuesta educativa a la diversidad del alumnado en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia (“Law about the answer to the diversity of pupils”)
The main contents in this law are:
- Field of application and action principles in diversity attention.
- School actions to answer to this diversity of pupils.
- The Attention of the diversity Planning.
- Strategies to answer these needs. General strategies and specific strategies.
- Concept of special needs and concrete strategies into each kind of pupils.
2ª- Plan de Atención a la Diversidad (Attention to the diversity Planning) - Orden de 4 de junio de 2010, de la Consejería de Educación, Formación y Empleo, por la que se regula el Plan de Atención a la Diversidad de los Centros Públicos y Centros Privados Concertados de la Región de Murcia.
This law stablishes in a more concrete way the strategies that schools and teachers have to develop to adapt the education to the pupils with special needs, including pupils with learning disabilities.
Specially, here teachers have the guide to elaborate the specific plan to answer to the pupils needs in each school. So, each school has to do one and revise it every year.
Later, it appeared “Instrucciones sobre la realización del Plan de Atención a la Diversidad [septiembre 2011]” (Instructions about how to make the specific plan in each school”).
3ª Necesidades Educativas Especiales (Special needs)
Here you can find several laws about evaluation (Orden de 3 de mayo de 2011, de la Consejería de Educación, Formación y Empleo, por la que se regulan la implantación, desarrollo y evaluación de las enseñanzas a impartir en los Centros Públicos y Privados concertados de Educación Especial y Aulas Abiertas Especializadas en Centros Ordinarios de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia); different kind of schools to adapt to different situations related with the pupils diseases, among other.
4ª-Dificultades específicas de aprendizaje- Specific Learning disabilities- Resolución de 17 de diciembre de 2012, de la Dirección General de Planificación y Ordenación Educativa por la que se dictan orientaciones para la atención educativa del alumnado que presenta dificultades de aprendizaje (Resolution to give guidance about the education for pupils with learning disabilities)
This is a very important law because introduces very concrete strategies and guides about how to adapt the teaching and learning process to the different kind disease. For the first time, teachers can find how to adapt the evaluation of the learning, the methodologies, the activities, etc.
3. DAILY BASIS IN LEARNING DISABILITY IN SPAIN
3.1. Pupils with learning disabilities Assessment
In Spain, this assessment is made by Educational Advisers, Guidances or Counselors (Psychologists or Pedagogues) that work for the Educational Administration in a regional level. In each Autonomous Community, there are different public services, usually named “Guidance teams” or “Psycho-pedagogical teams” for pupils between 0-12 years old; and “Guidance Departments” in each Secondary School for pupils between 12-18 years old.
This assessment is public, free of charge for the families, and is considered an important educational service.
The usual thing is identify for the first time to a pupil with learning disability in the first levels of Primary school.
The process that the advisers follow is:
1º- Teacher or parents see that a pupil has emotional problems, or his or her marks start to decrease or has problems in some educational contents or skills: reading, writing, calculation, cognitive or behaviour problems (difficulties to be sit, more than usual in a child with that age)…If the teacher is who find these difficulties, talk with the family about them and starts to develop some basic strategies (in the law are written some strategies that teachers and parents have to put in practice to see if the problem is only a retardation or it´s a disease.
2º- If these strategies have been put in practice some months and there is no different or the problems get worse, teacher asks for help to the Guidance or Adviser. To have this help, teacher has to write a report about the concrete problem and what strategies have been developed.
3º- In the Primary School, the Guidance goes to each school one or two days per week, so, it´s usual that there is a list of pupils to be assessed. The adviser tries to organize well the scarce of time in each school, and evaluate the concrete situation. If they think that teacher could put in practice other strategies, give information about what to do and wait information from the teacher and parents about how they manage.
4º- If all the basic strategies have been developed and it is not enough to stop the problem or we have evidences about the symptoms of a specific disease, it starts the specific assessment of a pupil. In each kind of symptoms, the adviser uses different tests. One of the most important is a cognitive test, to discard mental handicap and, especially, to find a cognitive profile, in order to know better how each pupil learns and concrete problems, to organize the answer to these needs.
The adviser could administrate attention, memory, reading, writing, calculation and other mathematics skills, executive functions, etc. tests.
When this process finishes, they make a specific report about the problem, the educational needs, the strategies to develop in the school and at home, the resources they can use, if the pupil needs a special teacher, among other important strategies.
This report has to be revised every year for the tutor and, at least, when the situation has changed or when the pupil finished each educational stage (for example, in 6th level in Primary).
This report is given to the tutor and he or she has to give the important information to other teachers that teach to the pupil. They have to follow the strategies and if they have problems, ask for more details in interviews with the guidance.
The guidance gives advice too to the family, as we said before.
When this process is finished, the adviser has to add this pupil to the official database of pupils with learning disabilities. In each Community this database is different but it´s very important because the Educational Administration uses this to organize the human resources in the schools.
3.2. Teachers involvement
Teachers have the most important role, because, they have to put in practices the specific strategies to help to the pupils with learning disabilities to learn better.
Sometime, they have difficulties to understand why some pupils whose appearance is not to have problems, don´t learn in the usual way. These last years have been important, because they have more knowledge about the features of the different learning disabilities and about how to help them to learn better.
To guarantee this process is going well, the tutor of each pupil with learning disability has to:
- Give the report to the different teachers who teach to this pupil.
- To have several interviews with the family, in order to agree with them concrete strategies, to know better the real situation, how to study, the difficulties they have… in order to develop some advices, depending on the specific situation.
- To develop the specific strategies that are included in the report: changes in the methodology, kind and amount of activities in each subject, evaluation of the learning adaptations and give support to the other teachers about these points (or ask for more help to the adviser).
- To take special care to the emotional state of the pupil, and spend enough time working in these important skills with all the class-group.
- To ask for help to the adviser if things are being bad or the strategies development doesn´t work. Although, first, revise the report and try to find some ideas to help to the pupil.
3.3. Problems and needs
Although we are going to create a questionnaire for parents and teachers about their problems and needs in learning disability, by now, the daily basis in this field could be summarized in this way:
- We don´t have enough human resources, especially advisers. So, although they try to do the pupils with learning disabilities assessment as quick as it´s possible, sometimes, it´s slow. Families and teachers have to wait until one school year (maybe more), it´s too much if we think in the emotional part of the pupils who suffer and the families and teachers, that don´t know what to do.
- On the other hand, although a pupil has a report where teachers and parents can find some advices and strategies, they need a careful monitoring, where the adviser gives continuous guide to them, in order to guarantee that each pupil learn according with his or her cognitive level. But the adviser has very scarce amount of time in each school, so, it´s impossible to make a good monitoring with parents and teachers.
- Sometimes, teachers have to make a lot of bureaucratic work and have less time to organize well the attention to a wide diversity of pupils.
- Classes have too much amount of pupils, and they are too much heterogeneous: pupils from other countries without a good level of the language of the teaching-learning process; pupils with families that don´t give enough importance to the education and aren´t involved enough, handicapped pupils (some of them with serious damages), pupils with emotional or behaviour problems, etc…
- Not all teachers have enough knowledge about how to help to these kind of pupils. The Spanish educational system, not always guarantees this training. Although is possible to find some courses free of charge, they have to be attended in the free time of the teachers, after a hard journey of work. So, they can attend them or not, depending of their time, familiar situation…