Country Studied: Spain
Area of Focus: Children with learning or language problems, derived from a neurodevelopmental disorder
Types of learners the Best Practice is supporting:
- Comprehensive school specialized in children with language problems.
- Language difficulties can arise from a wide variety of neurological disorders. This school is aimed at children with difficulties in oral language, speech, attention, coordination, learning…
Aims and objectives of Best Practice
At El Cole de Celia and Pepe they know the difficulties that children with severe language and communication disorders experience in accessing information and the difficulties that this entails. Its mission is to develop the maximum potential of each child, guaranteeing access to information. In this way they achieve socially, culturally and emotionally integrated people.
Celia y Pepe School offers a rigorous curriculum integrated into the Special Education system of Spanish Legislation, contemplating the quality of education for all students and also equity that guarantees equal opportunities, educational inclusion, and non-discrimination, and acts as a compensating element for inequalities, with special attention to those derived from disabilities.
It is intended that students achieve the maximum possible development of all their abilities; individual, social, intellectual, cultural and emotional, for which they need to receive a quality education adapted to their needs.
Regarding the learning of a second language, the philosophy is exactly the same: to offer the same opportunities to all the students adapting the methodology but keeping the objective of giving them the same tools to deal with the future.
Short descriptor of Best Practice
We believe that knowledge of a second language is not only a competitive advantage in a globalized world, but, based on a multitude of research, exposure to a second language allows the creation of new neural connections that facilitate processes such as evocation – a very important process altered in children with language disorders.
We are also aware that this exposure cannot be done deliberately or without controlled guidelines. For this reason, at Celia and Pepe’s school, for children between 3 and 16 years old, we have launched an English learning program coordinated with the school’s subjects, activities and general programs. In this way, we base the learning of the second language on transversal guidelines, combining oral and written language at the same time. Taking into account the language acquisition processes and reading programs, we do a combination of the PAF program (Family Attention Program) and International Phonics. In this way we ensure that our children can access a second language in the way that best benefits them.
English is part of the school’s core structure for those students with dual language ability, and a second language for those with greater difficulty. In addition to textbooks in English, we use the PAF Program as a fundamental pillar of phonics and reading learning.
3 Key learning Principles that were used in this Best Practice to support learners with LD
The work ideology and the general objectives that they propose in the educational project in the center, always thinking about the education of the students and the development of their skills from the perspective of equal opportunities, are:
- Give individualized attention
- Promote the use of language
- Develop higher levels of autonomy
- Involve parents in the educational process
- Promote initiatives for inclusion
Strategies used as part of Best Practice
- Individualized and comprehensive Learning Plans.
- Individualized interview and information, emotional and cognitive evaluation, about each child to create the learning plan.
- Guidance on creating and implementing individualized learning plans.
- Individualized curricula to create the learning objective for the children in collaboration with families.
- Collaboration with support services and professionals.
- Strategies for modifying or creating teaching materials to suit different abilities.
- Using games to improve motivation in children.
Results and impact
In this innovative and pioneering center, the classes have six students, the therapists are one more in the classroom and each student has a personalized curriculum.
They have multidisciplinary staff who participate in classes like any teacher: occupational therapists, psychologists, etc.
All the students at this special education center have a common characteristic: they have some neurological disease that causes language disorders.
The novelty of this method is that the academic and medical parts go hand in hand. The school has advisory committees, made up of important scientists such as Pablo Lapunzina, director of the Institute of Medical and Molecular Genetics of the La Paz hospital, the neuroscientist Tomás Ortiz or the researcher Lluís Montoliu.
Currently, the school has several research projects underway, including one to adapt the Singapore system for learning mathematics and another for therapeutic football together with Atlético de Madrid.
Evidence as to why this was considered Good Practice
The school has been operating for 5 years, and beyond the very high satisfaction of the families, who are part of the process from the first minute, the school has as a positive fact that it has been able to reintegrate 5 students into “ordinary” education after go through school, although they emphasize that this is not their main objective.
Resources used as part of Best Practice
Any Additional Information or Resources
