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The first thing to do is to go to your pediatrician or doctor who will refer you to a neuropsychologist to evaluate (WISC-V test) your child’s DIS disorder in order to set up a CUD file in recognition of the disability.
The school should also play an active role in early dismissal.
Through the evaluations established by the national education system.
These disorders cause many difficulties in daily life, to get a driver’s license, to read … These consequences can be alleviated with appropriate care. It involves, depending on the case, several medical and paramedical professionals, such as a speech therapist, a psychologist, a psychomotor therapist, etc. coordinated by the general practitioner. Arrangements can also be made at school, such as the use of a school life assistant or placement in the Ulis class (localized units for inclusive education).
« Dyspraxia disorders are rarely detected early enough. In fact, dyspraxia can be interpreted as clumsiness and a dysphasic or dyslexic child is simply considered a little slow. These children lose several years of rehabilitation and the consequences will be significant throughout their lives. In addition to the disability of the dys disorder, there is a social disadvantage, a risk of isolation of the child or even psychological disorders such as depression. Early detection is therefore essential. « Nathalie Groh, President of the French Federation of Dys Disorders.
A communication professional, the speech therapist is interested in written and oral language disorders, as well as logical-mathematical disorders. He also deals with swallowing problems, how to position the voice or even the knowledge of social codes that allow you to integrate into a group. Her intervention will be especially necessary for dyslexic and dysphasic students, whatever the age of the dys person, but it will also affect other dyslexic disorders if they have an impact on communication.
We have defined lines of work, but they can intersect with those of other professionals, » explains Céline Bestoso. We adjust. For example, I don’t do graphic design because we have a psychomotor therapist in the firm who does it very well. Otherwise, I would take care of that.
The psychomotor therapist focuses on the overall development of the patient and calls on the whole body to achieve a balance between motor functions and psychic life. In the case of learning difficulties, he deals essentially with dyspraxia and dysgraphia. Depending on the results of the evaluation, its role can be « to reeducate the child’s posture, too tense or too relaxed, coordination and balance disorders, laterality, for example, for an annoying left-handed person, » explains Melody Kedadouche, psychomotor therapist at EMA.
Through various activities (games, dance, theater, yoga, etc.), the young woman also works to improve fine motor skills, visuospatial skills, tracking in time or graphics (positioning of the sheet, shape and arrangement of letters, respect for lines, etc.).
As a reeducator of gestures, the occupational therapist can help the disabled student to acquire greater autonomy in daily life and encourages the adaptation of the environment to the observed dysfunctions.
Like the other practitioners concerned, his work consists, depending on the child’s situation, in proposing a reeducation of praxis (coordinated voluntary movements, performed for a specific purpose), or in alleviating the difficulties observed by means of tools selected according to the objectives: computer, specific software, voice synthesis, visually adapted support, magnetic letters, etc.
Specialist in vision, the orthoptist is sometimes called in case of neurovisual or visuo-attentional disorders: he will work in particular on the child’s visual acuity, the quality and control of his eye movements, eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination (recognition of letters and the order in which they are placed, comparison).
The psychologist and the neuropsychologist: living better with your disorder
A psychologist can be useful to accompany the dys child, often stigmatized because of his disorder or a prey to discouragement if his learning goes wrong. By dint of being in a situation of failure and if his efforts are not rewarded, the child is likely to present a progressive decrease in self-esteem. In addition, « when he has not been attended to early enough, he sometimes adopts a disruptive behavior, indicates David Da Rin: if he lives a situation of failure at the academic level and that he does not find any value in it, it can be a way for his peers to recognize him positively. «
The psychologist specialized in the study of cognitive functions – or neuropsychologist – is particularly familiar with the neurodevelopmental pathologies that are the dys disorders. He tries to understand and make the patient understand « what his disorder is and when it manifests itself », the specialist continues. Through role-playing, for example, he helps the patient know how to react in a given situation and what resources to mobilize to do so. Over the months, the patient learns to « identify what works for him and to generalize an attitude worked on in session to apply it to his daily life. «