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COTTASFermo 6 – 10 October, 2013

Protocol and Legislation regarding Students with

Special NeedsPaola Ammazzalorso

Comenius Cottas Project Coordinator-Italy

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STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Have the right to an education

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STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

• Disabled Students• Students with Specific Learning Disabilites• Socio-economically, linguistically, culturally

disadvantaged students

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STUDENTS WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES

• Dyslexia• Dysgraphia• Math disabilities

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SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY, LINGUISTICALLY, CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

• “Any student can experience special educational needs, continually or temporarily”

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WHO ARE THE PARTIES INVOLVED?

• SCHOOL: Headmaster, class teachers, special needs contact person

• FAMILY• STUDENT• PSYCHOLOGIST (sometimes)

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All parties work together to draw up an individualized/personalized plan which best fits student’s needs and

meet periodically to evaluate its effectiveness and modify it when

needed.

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UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLSecondary school requires students to have full mastery of

instrumental competences (reading, writing, calculating), an effective study method and adequate prerequisites for learning more and more complex knowledge.

These things can be difficult for students with special needs and lead to demotivation. These difficulties can be limited and overcome if the appropriate strategies and compensatory tools and dispensatory measures are adopted.

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WHAT ARE WE DOING?

• Individualized/Personalized programs• Compensatory Tools• Dispensatory Measures• Adequate forms of evaluation and testing

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INDIVIDUALIZED/PERSONALIZED PROGRAMS

• Flexible forms of school work which take into consideration particular characteristics of the student, by adopting adequate educational methodology and strategies

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COMPENSATORY TOOLS

• Substitute or facilitate requested task in the ability which is lacking

Voice synthesis Recordings Word Processing Programs Calculator Tables, Formularies, Concept Maps

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READING DISORDERSDyslexia• Promote ability to comprehend texts• Students should: - Read silently - Read for gist, key words

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DYSLEXIA

Compensatory tools• Transform reading task into listening task• Have a person read test items, homework assignments,

multiple choice questions• Use digital books and dictionaries• Present new material orally• Simplify texts• Use concept maps,diagrams and other didactic mediators

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DYSLEXIA

Dispensatory Measures:

Student is exempted from:• Reading out loud in class• Reading passages longer than his/her level can handle• All activities in which reading performance is

evaluated.

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DISORDER OF WRITTEN EXPRESSION

Compensatory tools:• Double reading of written text: first to correct spelling

mistakes, second to correct syntactic and overall organizational aspects. So, student needs more time to complete writing task.

• Use maps or diagrams• Computer with automatic spelling and voice synthesis for

proof-reading• Recorder for taking notes

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MATH DISABILITIES

• Manage part of actions individually• Help students overcome helplessness by

guiding him/her toward esperiencing own competence• Individual error analysis• Strengthen cognitive processes

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MATH DISABILITIES• Compensatory tools, dispensatory measures

Use of calculator, pythagorean table, personal formulary are support tools. They ease load on student but don’t improve competence.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES

• More importance to oral skills over written skills• Students should be given texts a few days before

lesson so they can decode them at home and then work on text comprehension at school.

• Writing: more importance to effectiveness of communication

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Compensatory tools

• Audio books• Voice synthesis• Computers with automatic spelling corrector• Digital dictionaries

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FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Dispensatory measures• Extra time• Adequately reduced work load• Serious disorder: student can be exempted from

taking written test

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RELATIONAL DIMENSIONRelationship with classmatesTeacher must foster understanding that

compensatory tools and dispensatory measures are not facilitations, must explain why they are implemented, to prevent stigmatization and negative psychological consequences.