The Situation Of Dyslexic Children In Romanian Inclusive Schools

Abstract

The article aims to present the situation of dyslexic children in Romania and the support available not only for them in schools but also for teachers and parents. The research was done under European project, MOOC DYS, with the financial support of European Commission. Dyslexia is not yet a recognised learning disorders by teachers, hence not approached accordingly in the learning environment. That is the main reason that a lot of children with dyslexia are not identified and there are many situations in which parents realize too late the difficulties their children are facing. In line with this issues, dyslexic children face other barriers including the lack of opportunities to engage in learning, extracurricular and social activities with their peers. Hence they are the most vulnerable students to drop-out school, as well as they are the students that Romanian educational system is losing on the way. The main conclusions regarding what should be done are: lack of background, experiences (everything is new to schools, teachers, parents); gap in knowledge, skills, attitudes (commitment, motivation, will) to perform on a working standard; failing in performing due to lack of support mechanism, techniques, or motivations.

Keywords: Assessmentdyslexiainclusive learning environmentsupport

Introduction

In Romania, it was only in January 2016 that the Education Law was supplemented with a provision targeting people with learning disabilities. Before that the DYS children were not recognised as a distinct disability. Most of the time. They were considered lazy, unmotivated, rebels, and they were vulnerable to the drop-out phenomena. So the situation of DYS people is very new to Romanian educational field and hence to parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals. Under the Law 6/2016 for the completion of the National Education Law no.1 / 2011, regarding the education of people with learning disabilities, it is for the first time recognized by the Romanian education legislation the existence of the category of dyslexic, dysgraphic, dyscalculic children. The Order 3124/2017 on the approval of Methodology to provide support for students with learning disabilities regulates appropriate assessment procedures for the detection of dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthography and dyscalculia, as well as the type of intervention to provide personalized and individualised learning for them. In the Romanian law there is no such disorder as dyspraxia or dysphasia, under the spectrum of learning disorders, although it is recognised that the majority of dyslexics have characteristics of dyspraxia. We are talking about a category of children who have been in a shadow of decades for too many things, both among the teachers and the community they belong to. Before that the DYS children were not recognised as a distinct disability. So the situation of DYS people is very new to Romanian educational field and hence to parents, teachers, therapists and other professionals.

Statistics regarding DYS problem

There are no official statistical data with regard to the number of children with Dys in Romania. There are, however, a few regional researches (Cluj, Bucharest) done within a Doctoral Research (Barth, 2008). Intervention programs for children with learning difficulties (Fernani et al., 2013 ) and a project  Go to reading (Adlof, Scoggins, Brazendale, Babb, & Petscher, 2017) which suggest that about 4 out of 10 children surveyed by a specialist are dyslexic. Of these, 40% are between 5 and 8 years old, and 60% of them between 9 and 11 years. At the same time, the interviewed teachers said that they had on average 3 dyslexic children in a class. The percentage of dyslexic children in European countries may vary from 6 to 10%. Romania is probably in between the percentage of European statistics. In almost every class there is at least one dyslexic.

Problem Statement

The study was done to evaluate the situation of dyslexic children in Romanian schools. Dyslexia is not yet a recognised learning disorders by teachers, hence not approached accordingly in the learning environment. That is the main reason that a lot of children with dyslexia are not identified and there are many situations in which parents realize too late the difficulties their children are facing (Pierangelo & Giuliani, 2008). In line with this issues, dyslexic children face other barriers including the lack of opportunities to engage in learning, extracurricular and social activities with their peers. Hence they are the most vulnerable students to drop-out school, as well as they are the students that Romanian educational system is losing on the way.

Research Questions

In 2017, Ministry of Education formally recognized the condition of dyslexia for the first time and has subsequently developed a law and a definition of the condition of DYS. The aim of this article is to answer to the implications for learning, teaching and support for students, teachers and parents. There are a number of educational interventions that can be useful in helping the dyslexic individual. Some of these are direct treatments, while others involve providing accommodations to the learning environment. The present research identified the support and resources already available and point out the needs to be still addressed.

Purpose of the Study

The article aims to present the situation of dyslexic children in Romania and the support available for them in schools but also the support for teachers and parents. Goal of the research accomplished in the period of October 2017 – February 2018 was to evaluate the efficiency of practices and support available for children with DYS in Romania. In order to achieve the goal, we were guided by the following objectives:

• Selection of methodological investigative tool

• Sample research forming

• Qualitative and quantitate analysis of obtained results in order to identify the following steps to undertake to facilitate the inclusion of DYS students in learning environment

Research Methods

In order to answer to research questions, we begun with studying what has already be done in the DYS field by other researchers, institutions, organisations.

In order to have a complete registration of obtained data we asked the opinion of respondents (primary teachers and parents of children with DYS) with regards to what information they have with regard with what DYS is, what are the educational needs of students with DYS, where they can find support and resources to facilitate the inclusion of a DYS child. Also, we were interested in the opinion of stakeholders that can influence producing changes in the smoothing the process of implementation of The Law. Methodological investigatory tool used during the research consisted of different methods: classical methods of social investigation. For this reason, were elaborated some questionnaires, addressed to teachers working with DYS students, parents of children with DYS, school managers, representatives of Local Pubic Authorities, county department of education. In order to complete the obtained information with the help of questionnaires we appealed to observation as a method of research, to study the reality of DYS students in educational and learning environment. So, to achieve the proposed research objectives, we have used as working methods: observation, interview, and SPSS Program for data analysis.

Findings

In the opinion of the majority of interviewed teachers, dyslexic children need more attention than other children. More than 70% of teachers have noticed that their dyslexic students experience frustration or fear, and the majority of specialists believe that lack of specific teaching methods and lack of therapeutic programs can lead to self-isolation, low self-esteem, and dyslexic child discrimination over time. 80% of the interviewed parents said that they tried to contact a speech and language therapy for their dyslexic child but there are insufficient services available and the average time offered is one hour per week which is definitely insufficient. once a week. The main reasons identified during interviews, for this situation are lack of money, lack of time and insufficient information among parents, as the study shows. The findings show that by therapy 60% of dyslexic children from the sample significantly improve reading disorder and quality of life until the end of the primary school. But although 68% of specialists recommend more hours of therapy (higher than once a week), only 43% of them say that dyslexics even do therapy a few times a week. The findings show that 63% of the dyslexic children have, in addition to reading disorder (dyslexia), writing disorders (disgraphy) and 45% and calculus disorders (discalculia).

Although, there are a lot of schools in Romania that are not equipped with information and necessary tools to include DYS students. In our country the first national research on dyslexia was carried out by the Romanian Association for Dyslexic Children (ARCD) and OMV. The study was conducted to find out the incidence of this disorder in Romania and among children up to 11 years old. At the same time, it aimed at identifying the difficulties encountered by parents, teachers and specialists in finding the best solutions to support them, thus helping the dyslexic children in Romania. Among the population there was an incidence of 25 cases per 10,000 households, as only 15.5% of Romanians heard of dyslexia. This study has managed to capture the reality we face in the therapy of dyslexic children. Because of this, the study revealed the urgent need to train Romanian specialists and develop standardized tests to diagnose dyslexia. Many parents do not know they have dyslexic children, or children are not diagnosed, although they have all the symptoms of this disorder.

Although, there is a law which allows children to beneficiate from several measures to support their learning, the actual situation in schools is far for being effective. Parents don’t have information on how to have access to that, teachers don’t have information and specific training on how to make accessible their teaching and how to efficient and effective include the Dys child in the learning. Besides, school activities, Dys children are in need to see a therapist which could help him/her overcome some DYS difficulties. Those after school therapeutic programs are not available for parents unless parents would find a private therapist and even so there is a shortage of good therapists for Dys students. Every Dys child should beneficiate from a specific therapy through which he/she could manage to compensate DYS issues.

With regard to teacher training, they need to be provided with necessary information on the specificity of learning disabilities; with knowledge of the characteristics of each specific learning disorder; the main tools the school can use for detection early warning of the risk of DYS; educational and didactic strategies for development and compensatory aid; how to manage a class with pupils with DYS; appropriate forms of verification and grading; ways of applying the teaching and educational measures provided in the PEP; forms of guidance and support for the follow-up of studies; ways of collaborating of teachers with student's family and other professionals.

Conclusion

The main conclusions of the research are to address the issue of lack of background and experiences of schools, teachers and parents, to reduce the gap in knowledge, skills, attitudes of professionals working with DYS students, to develop support mechanism, techniques, or motivations. The findings of the research allowed us to draw some recommendation with regard to things to be done like developing screening and detecting children at risk of DYS instruments, elaborate prevention and early intervention services for DYS children, develop of national assessment tools for diagnosing of DYS children, invest in the school infrastructure and facilities for DYS students, to train teachers (knowledge, skills, attitudes, building the gap between existing and required competencies), to organise therapeutic services for DYS students aiming specific difficulties due to learning disorders (speech and language therapy, psychomotricity etc., to develop resources centres within schools for DYS students and a network of Support teachers responsible with the elaboration of PEP and adapting the learning according to the needs of students, to offer training and support services for parents.

References

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