The Parliament's Education Commission will meet this Monday to debate the worrying decline in the performance of Catalan students reflected in the results of basic skills and the PISA Report. Tomorrow, Tuesday, President Pere Aragonès will meet with political groups at an education summit. In this context, the Catalan Pediatric Society wanted to influence the debate by contributing its perspective on the school health of children and adolescents. The president, Anna Gatell, considers that PISA photography is a golden opportunity to improve the education system.
Reading comprehension
One in four students goes from primary to secondary school without minimal reading comprehension. Now PISA (with a setback of two years), but before PIRLS or basic skills already warned of the reading deficit. “We must ensure that all children acquire mastery of reading and oral expression before the age of 10,” says Gatell, “because it is the basis for all other learning.”
Not knowing how to understand a text affects physical, mental and social health. “It should be a priority of educational policy.” The causes of poor performance are multiple, as experts explain. But there is one that is already clearly identified.
Biological determinants
It is estimated that between 10 and 15 percent of the population has a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects learning to read (dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental language disorder). According to this estimate, in Catalonia 70% are not diagnosed (research by psychiatrist Miquel Casas on ESO students) and much less in the immigrant and/or lower-income population.
“That is, we know that in each classroom there are 3 or 4 students with learning difficulties but we have only detected one,” highlights Gatell, who regrets that the school does not measure this indicator with scientific evidence.
Thus, teachers believe that the student “has to work more” or that “he or she is not trying hard enough.” Thus, it is considered that the problem lies with him or with the families who do not demand it, and other causes are not ruled out.
Early detection
This society is working so that the next Protocol of Preventive Activities and Pediatric Health Promotion of the Department of Health includes population screening for neurodevelopmental disorders at an early age in all children who attend pediatric consultations, public and private. From ASD to language, learning and ADHD disorders.
“This will naturally involve the training of all paediatricians and the activation of a plan for their treatment, with the support of professionals in the consultation. “Once they are detected, they must be attended to and we need the schools.”
Immediate intervention
Intensive intervention is essential before the age of 6. “Every year that passes it gets worse. "Windows of opportunity are lost, which are those periods in which the brain's capacity is maximum to create brain connections that will facilitate learning."
Doctors, speech therapists, neuropsychologists, teachers, families... Especially important is the work of the early childhood educator, but also that of the primary school teacher who must adapt schooling to diversity.
“Dyslexia is not the same as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or having a language disorder. “They are approached differently.”
For this reason, Gatell believes that, given such a high prevalence, a training plan that incorporated detection and methodologies for future teachers (and secondary school teachers), and a continuous training plan for those who already practice, would be very helpful.
Social awareness
Training should be extensive for the caregivers ( vetlladors ) of these students, as well as for professionals who work in leisure, sports, and culture (especially librarians).
school bullying
A student who is not recognized or not helped with his or her learning difficulty is at greater risk of suffering from low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and bullying. The difficulty causes a progressive disengagement of the student with his educational process, in addition to affecting social relationships, his emotional state and his mental health. “He looks useless, he is last in the class and his classmates don't understand him.”
Immigration and poverty
In middle class families it is detected more. Parents take them to private specialists, supervise their schoolwork, establish routines... "If the family has resources around them, children throw away."
But in the population without resources they are not diagnosed because "their poor performance is attributed to the socioeconomic and cultural situation of the family." The health system does not understand the education response.
“If a child comes with obesity, we don't say, this is because of their socioeconomic situation. Of course his situation influences his habits, but we study the case, we establish plans to investigate what is happening to him and rule out problems, we follow up, we evaluate the plans. We share the information with other professionals (nutritionists, psychologists, social workers). We indicate habits (difficult due to the type of families) and we quote them every three months to reevaluate.”
The students who make the classrooms complex are the pediatric patients. Immigration also presents changes in consultations.
“When we detected the problem of clitoral ablation, we didn't know anything, but we evaluated, we designed protocols, we trained, we asked for cultural integrators. Health works like this, with evidence and plans, and serves everyone without distinction of family origin, social class, language, or place of residence.”
