Las Reglas Penitenciarias Europeas (2006)

The Equality in Rights for all Spanish people was enacted by the Spanish Constitution in 1978. Its application to the Education System is specified in the article 27 that recognizes the Right of Education for all Spanish people, and in the article 49 that commits Public Authorities to carry out a policy of

prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and integration for the physical, sensorial and psychic disabled, and to provide specialized attention and protection to ensure their benefit of the Rights conferred by the Constitution to all citizens. Later laws regulate the students’ rights to receive compensatory support for their deficiencies (Organic Law 8/1985, july 3rd, Reguladora del Derecho a la Educación). There have also planned actions in the field of education to establish means of compensation (Organic Law 1/1990, October, 3rd, Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo).

However, the term dyslexia is not specifically included in the Spanish legislation. The Laws enacted by the State as well as the Autonomic Communities use the general expression students with special educative needs. The Organic Law 9/1995, November 20th, on the Participation,

Evaluation and Schools Government, defines students with educative special needs as those who “require specific assistance due to physical,

psychological or sensory disabilities, because they manifest behavioural disorders, or they belong to cultural or social disadvantaged populations”. This definition is ratified by the most recent Organic Law 10/2002, December 23rd on the Quality of Education. By this Law the Autonomic Communities are obliged to accept these precepts, and to enact specific laws in order to provide support to students with special needs “in order to enable them to able to get the educative objectives”.

For further information about legal provisions there are two very informative web pages. The official page of the Ministry of Education: http://www.mec.es, and other page specialized in Education Laws and dispositions:

http://www.orientared.com.

3.1. An example: The Solidarity Law.

The goal of the Solidarity Law (Ley de Solidaridad en Educación) 9/1999, November18th enacted by Andalusian Autonomic Government is to protect the equality in rights and to provide the means that guarantee education for

students with special educative needs due to physical, psychological, cognitive or sensorial impairments. The Solidarity Law establishes the following goals and duties:

b) The establishment of strategies for prevention and compensatory education.

c) Regular assessments and follow up of students with special educative needs.

d) Promotion of research e) Continuous teacher training f) Development of teaching material

3.2. The problems with the law application.

There is not doubt that the continuous reforms of the Education Laws have been addressed to a better and wider integration of people with different special needs (sensorial, cognitive, physical or cultural). However, the actual legislation shows important deficiencies to be implemented that limit the effectiveness of the measures intended to compensate inequality of conditions. In the following paragraphs we are going to examine some of these limitations.

a) Vagueness. The Law offers imprecise and general definition of the deficiencies considered the cause of special attention. The agents of

evaluation are in charge of the decision about the students to be included in special programs. More concretely, in relation with dyslexia, and other learning difficulties, due to the lack of specific norms, they have to take the decision as a function the students’ responses to tests and their school performance, and most of the time following the advise of the class teacher. b) Lack of personal and technical means. The activation of legal provisions requires economical, personal and material means which are not always provided to the Educative Centres. Nevertheless, different questions affect to Primary, and Secondary and High School. Many Primary Schools share a Speech Therapist with other Centres of the area, who attends the students one or twice per week. This professional is in charge of the dyslexic students’ intervention. However, the Speech Therapist’s work is frequently focussed in the impairments specifically defined by the law (Mental Retardation, autism, …).

On the contrary, there is not Speech therapist in Secondary or High Schools. In fact, the evaluation and remedial functions are in charge of the educational counsellor. This professional has the responsibility of screening, orientation, and program adaptation of a wide number of students. The number of duties and students exceed the capacity of the counsellor. It would be advisable to provide assistants, by collaboration grants or students taking part in their Practicum course.

c) Plans for training and selection of professionals. Other limitation comes from the limited specialization of the professionals who are in direct contact with the students. Teachers are very often overburdened with their teaching

duties. The number of students is very high to pay attention to those with special needs. In the case of reading/writing difficulties, most of the teachers lack of training to detect the origin of the student’s difficulties. In addition, most of them have not received any training to accommodate their programs to help the students with learning difficulties. The training of teachers should be designed to make them aware of the students’ difficulties, and to provide them with techniques for curriculum adaptation to the special needs of their

students. In the case of Primary Education, the Orientation Teams may be designed to develop and provide a program of curriculum adaptation to facilitate the teacher’s work in the classroom.

In Secondary and High Education, the Orientation Teams work with fewer resources, and they lack of speech therapists. Programming activities of remedial education is the responsibility of the school counsellor.

Counsellors frequently request refresher courses to receive information about theoretical and technical innovations, and specialised training, at least, in relation to the most common problems within the school environment. 4. Who does the assessment?

The law of Education establishes the creation of a Department of Orientation in Primary and Secondary and High schools. However there are several differences in the scope and aims of the counselling depending on the

academic level. Most frequently, teachers request the counsellor assessment of the child. On other occasions, it is the general practitioner who

recommends the child’s assessment. Adults decide individually, unless they are sent by the neurologist or the general practitioner. The assessment takes place in the institution or office where the professional works: school, private centre, etc.

In Primary Schools the Orientation Team is composed of Education Psychologists, specialists in education, and Speech Therapists. The

advantage is that any problem could be approached by different perspectives, although in practice they have more limited possibilities. This

multiprofessional team accomplishes the functions established by the Law:

• Screening and diagnosis of children with learning difficulties, psychological or cognitive deficits.

• Evaluation of those students who have been identified as manifesting lower levels than the classmates.

• Adaptation of school programs for those students with special needs.

• Very frequently, counsellors are requested to conduct with the students training.

• It is also the responsibility of the counsellor to give teachers’ and parents’ guidance on the student.

In Secondary and High Schools, although there is a counsellor (usually an Education Psychologist), his/her main duties are associated to vocational

uncommon that the counsellor’s function is limited to evaluation or general orientation with the course tutor.

If the dyslexic is an adult, a possibility is to ask for evaluation at the official Centres for evaluation, where the accreditation of disability is expended. There is always a referral when there is a literacy loss as a result of an injury (acquired dyslexia). The patient would only receive financial support if he/she is unable to work.

5. Who funds assessment? Institutional

The assessment, with the limitations explained above, is funded by the Government when the students attend a Primary or Secondary and High School. In some schools, the Parents’ Association hires the services of a Psychologist who provides services of screening and remedial training for those students who manifest learning difficulties.

However, there is no assistance provided by Universities to students with either learning, reading or writing difficulties or more specifically, a diagnosis of dyslexia. Although, it is common to find a psychological service, only courses of Study Skills or to reduce the stress to exams are offered to students who show difficulties in studying, taking notes, or filling up exams. Private

Frequently, children diagnosed as dyslexic, with a low school performance must go to private centres where they receive specific and systematic attendance. To get satisfactory results, the treatment has to be specific, to follow a program of intervention to provide the child with the strategies that compensate the deficit. In addition, the treatment should to be long enough to consolidate learning and to result in an automatic use of the strategies. Of course, in this case the length of the treatment depends on the economic situation of the family.

In order to get financial support it is necessary to hase a certificate from the Orientation Teams of the existence of a diagnosis and to authorise the provision of financial support for private assistance. There are also some associations that give advice and support to parents and children, and sometimes offer treatment with lower costs. Still, the expenses could be too high for some families, especially when the treatment is long lasting.

Private medical companies do not finance the treatment for reading or writing disorders. Funding is only provided to disorders such as aphasia, deafness or dysphonic.