School Support: Why Choose a Teacher Specialised in DYS Disorders?

A specialist in DYS disorders, Dr Alain Pouhet is categorical: “to help their pupils with DYS, teachers should first understand their disability“[1]. A lack of awareness of these disorders currently prevents teachers from adapting their lessons to their pupils’ difficulties. Not to mention that the term “DYS disorder” covers a wide range of different difficulties…

The impact of DYS disorders on learning

DYS disorders are characterised by cognitive difficulties that disrupt learning: without involving any intellectual disability, they greatly disrupt children who cannot rely on traditional “school tools” to read, write, spell or count.

This “glitch” in the brain may concern language, in which case the child may struggle to understand certain words. If it concerns sounds or letters, this will show up in writing. And if it concerns numbers, their difficulties will be concentrated on mathematics…

Lasting, with varying degrees of severity depending on the case, DYS disorders hinder children’s progress at school: they can make progress, but they will always lag behind, both compared with other pupils and compared with the teacher’s expectations.

What is the teacher’s role with children who have DYS?

For reference, the World Health Organization defines disability as “a limitation of activity or restriction of participation in social life experienced by a person in their environment, due to an impairment of one or more physical, sensory, mental, cognitive or psychological functions.”[2]

Dr Alain Pouhet bases his thinking on this definition when he gives this example: “when, in Year 4, you have major difficulty reading and understanding instructions compared to your classmates, you are indeed experiencing restricted participation and limited activity, since learning generally happens through reading…” ¹. According to him, it would be enough for the teacher to read instructions aloud for a dyslexic child to understand them easily…

Unfortunately, initial teacher training does not address the management of DYS disorders in the classroom at all. In continuing training, it is barely mentioned…

How can teachers help them?

According to Dr Alain Pouhet, the classic mistake teachers make is expecting too much from specialist therapists: “they think, for example, that it’s the speech and language therapist who will teach the pupil with DYS to read” ¹…

In the absence of specific training on DYS disorders, every teacher can already start asking questions about their pupil: what bothers them most? What are their strengths? Are they being seen by a speech and language therapist, and if so, since when? How can their difficulties be compensated for? Teachers should also explain the disorder to the other pupils, so they can understand the adjustments being made.

Parents can also support their child’s learning by asking one of our school support professionals for help: trained in learning disorders, they adapt their lessons to each child’s difficulties, allowing them to progress through their schooling as smoothly as possible.

[1] Citation: https://www.vousnousils.fr/2018/01/10/pour-aider-leurs-eleves-dys-les-enseignants-devraient-deja-connaitre-leur-handicap-611444

[2] Source: https://www.monparcourshandicap.gouv.fr/glossaire/handicap