support in schools for disabled children

[pix]

Hello,

one of our family is blind and although she attends a mainstream school in the UK she needs a full time support worker. Sorry if this seems a naive question but is there such a system in place in French schools?

Can anyone point me in the right direction to ask questions about support in French schools for children with disabilities, please?

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

[Mistral]

The simple answer is yes, that sort of system exists in france. I'm afraid I don't know how it works, all i can tell you is what I've seen in various schools. I worked in one school where they had grouped together pupils with hearing difficulies from all the surrounding area. There was a teacher who worked with them a few times a week to help with any lessons they didn't understand and one pupil who was practically deaf had a full time support worker with him in all lessons. (it was called a UPI unité pedagogique d'inegration) In the school I'm in at the moment, there is a child in a wheelchair who has some problems writing as well. He has a full time support worker too. Since he's alone, he's not in a UPI but a PAI (Projet d'accueil individualisé)

This is the positive side. On the negative side, all this is quite recent. most french people generally believ that disabled pupils should go to specialised schools. In the past, this has lead to parents hiding disablities from schools. When the disabled child started last year, a lot of teachers were very unhappy about it. They didn't wanted another adult in the room (french teachers are very defensive about the idea of being criticized) And most didn't want to adapt their lessons to any of his needs. In the other school, they reacted the same way when the deaf children started. In both cases, it only took a few months for teachers to realise that the world wasn't going to come to an end.

This is the ministerial blurb http://www.education.gouv.fr/thema/special/default.htm

[Teamedup]

Mistral, many many thanks for posting that, it left me with a feeling of joy............... at long long last it's happening.

I had read these new laws and had been quite simply hoping that they would be put into place.

Have you any idea as to how local politics in the Acadamies and Inspections will affect how this will be put into place? As I did notice on the Service Public site that it says that if nothing is available in local schools then the child will be placed in the closest specialised school.

And deaf schools must be thriving, they are sticking dyslexic kids in them.

 

[pix]

Thanks for that, Mistral. Good news that, as we are really not keen on the idea of a specialist school. Time to ask questions in all the right places, methinks.

[Mistral]

I suppose I had better add a word of warning. If there isn't a school with a specialist unit near by, then it's probably going to be a fight to get a disabled child into mainstream schools. I know that parents have to be ready to fight their case at every stage. I also know of schools where the teachers have managed to refuse access for a child needing oxygen  because it would disrupt their lessons. I don't know what reasons they used. The headteacher is the most imprtant person to convince.

TU, I thought it might please you to hear about one of my pupils from last year. He is very dislexic and primary school was absolute hell for him. So the parents wanted to meet us, the headmistress set up a meeting with the parents and all the members of staff. Each teacher then took into account his dislexia. He was tested orally, any spelling mistakes were ignored, any written work was graded on content only, things he should copy from the board were pre-prepared on photocopies.... By the end of the year he had kept up with the class and felt more positive about school than he ever had before. OK, someone used to the British system may be sitting there saying "so what?" but it was the first time I've been involved in anything like that in France.

[le val charente]

On a similar subject, someone else was trying to find out about help for a 6 year old with learning difficulties moving to the Charente, and what support is available.  Does anyone know who to contact and what phrases are used to describe this condition please?

 

[pix]

That will be of great interest to me as well, Val as that is the area we are looking at. My task for this week is to start doing some serious research into the subject.

 

[Teamedup]

Mistral I don't usually do girlie sort of squeals of joy, but I just have.

En fin, I knew one day eventually this would happen I feel suddenly relieved that things can go in the right direction.

 

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1868.xhtml?&n=Personnes%20handicap%C3%A9es&l=N12&n=Enfant%20handicap%C3%A9&l=N203

This is a general government information rather than official textes, but interesting never the less.

 

[Val_2]

We have just had the very first physically handicapped child start at the local school. This child has to have a specialist assistant to attend his needs daily and we voted overwhelmingly to appoint this as a new full time post - no one abstained. You have to apply to your local mairie first to get the ball rolling and it is taken from there.

[pix]

Well, I am in the habit of letting out girlie sqeals of joy, but maybe it is as well you couldn't hear me after I read your post, val2. It was shrill even for me.

Starting to feel like France is getting closer by the day!

pix