With the abbreviation Bes refers to students who need particular attention to face the school and training course. Special educational needs are divided into three categories and can be permanent or temporary
When we talk about Bes (Special educational needs) We refer to the pupils who present one disadvantage such as to make learning difficult and for which an adequate and timely response from the school is needed.
The problems that cause a school disadvantage are manifold and can be due to different situations, for this reason they stand out, as we will see later, different Bes categories.
If we were talking to a parent or teacher of a pupil with Besin fact, very different situations would be told. For example, we could hear us say that:
- “Chiara is an intelligent girl, but when you read, the letters appear to her as small anthops that move here and there.”
- “Marcello has a form of autism and in some moments it is destabilized by the school environment”.
- «Khaled has recently been in Italy. In Pakistan the school was passionate about him, but now he does not speak a word of Italian and in the class he seems to be disrented ».
- “Sara has undergone a delicate intervention and will take a few months to recover and be able to return to attend school.”
- “Edoardo has an intelligence above the average. In the classroom it is bored because the exercises before the companions ends and does not know how to fill the time ».
In this article we deepen What are special educational needshow they are categorized and what are the differences with the DSA.
BES: What are special educational needs?
What they are the Bes Exactly? In Italy the expression “special educational needs” was born formally in 2012, following the issue of the relative ministerial circular.
If we wanted to give one definition of beswe refer to a condition, continuous or transitory, that hinders the learning of the pupil and that adequate attention is necessary by the school environment so that he can succeed in his own study path. This implies the assumption that each pupil is an active protagonist of his own learning process and that the school must take into account its characteristics in order to guarantee a adequate teaching to his skills.
As already mentioned, i Bes are divided into categoriesthree to be exact, which reflect the multiplicity of conditions that can give rise to a special educational need:
- Disability
- Specific learning and/or specific evolutionary disorders
- Socio -economic, linguistic or cultural disadvantage
What are the special educational needs?
Let’s see now in detail what the individual items include categories Of Bes listed above.
Motor disabilities and cognitive disabilities
These conditions are certified by National Health Service and refer to law 104/92. At the didactic level these difficulties provide for the presence of the support teacher and a Individualized educational plan (Pei).
Specific learning and/or specific evolutionary disorders
Specific learning disorders (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysortography and discalculia), ADHD (attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity), autism, intellectual functioning. These are pathological situations that begin in the age of development and that are diagnosed by the National Health Service or by private specialists.
The school that receives diagnosis is required to draw up a personalized educational plan (PDP) for each student and The figure of the support teacher is not foreseen.
Socio -economic, linguistic or cultural disadvantage
This category includes disorders related to socio-economic factors, linguistic And cultural Like the non -knowledge of Italian language and culture, some behavioral and relational difficulties, personal or family problems such as to compromise the normal school path.
All situations in which there is one are included in this category difficulties that does not imply a diagnosis or in which there is a disorder or a pathological condition that has not yet been diagnosed.
We also find here “capitalized” children or with a High cognitive potential. These are pupils who demonstrate highly developed learning and curiosities that need a Personalized didactic path To be adequately stimulated and so that their talent does not turn into unproductive or harmful behaviors, which often generate situations of discomfort or marginalization.
For pupils with BES who fall into this category, the difficulties can be highlighted by the schoolwho observes the student and expresses his considerations, or can be reported by social services. The support teacher is not expected and the school can draw up a personalized educational plan.
It should be emphasized that when we talk about “Children Bes“A diagnosis is not issuing and that i Special educational needs do not represent in itself adiagnostic label.
Difference between BES and DSA
The acronym DSA indicates, as mentioned, i Specific learning disordersamong which dyslexia fall (disorder in reading or understanding the text), dysorthography (disorder in the acquisition and use of orthographic rules), dysgraphia (disorder in the execution of the graphic gesture) and discalculia (disorder in mathematical skills).
Sometimes it is thought that Bes and DSA They are the same thing, but this is not correct since other categories also include within the BES. We can simplify the Difference between BES and DSA By saying that all children with DSA are also children with Bes, but not all children with Bes present a DSA, since, as we have seen, a special educational need can generate different conditions.
A’further Difference between DSA and BES it concerns the regulations that introduce them and regulate them within the school context, as well as the need or not of diagnosis: a DSA needs a diagnosis which certifies its existence, unlike a bes.
In addition, in the case of a pupil with DSA, the school is forced to draw up the personalized didactic plan, while in the case of a pupil with Bes, the decision to formalize the adoption of one is at the discretion of the teachers Personalized teaching.
The legislation also provides that in the case of pupils with BES the validity of the PDP is limited toschool year of referencewhile in the case of a pupil with DSA the duration of the PDP is multi -year.
Bes regulations
The possibility of customizing teaching for pupils with BES is introduced in 2012, following a ministerial directive. Before then there was a personalization of learning only for pupils with ascertained disabilities (Law 104/92) and for pupils with dsa (Law 170/2010). All the other children and teenagers who needed specific precautions to be able to learn according to their individual characteristics and potential remained excluded from the regulations.
There Bes legislation provides that pupils with special educational needs not protected by other laws (i.e. those without disabilities and without DSA) can still enjoy the compensatory and dispensing measures provided for specific learning disorders.
In concrete terms, as a diagnosis is not necessary for the identification of a BES, the school will evaluate If the difficulties shown by the pupil go beyond the ordinary difficulties that a student can encounter in his school path and, in this case, to decide whether it is appropriate to adopt a Personalized teaching and proceed with the drafting of a PDP.
A personalized learning It provides different objectives of knowledge for each student, to allow each pupil to develop their potential and promote their educational success. When a teacher applies a individualized teachingit means that it pays attention to individual differences and uses a methodology suitable for the characteristics of each individual student to make sure that all the pupils of the class achieve a common goal.
Thanks to the introduction of the PDP, the pupil with Bes is put in the conditions of learn to the best of their characteristics And it can enjoy personalized learning, that is, which provides for the introduction of dispensing or compensatory measures.
A compensatory measurement It aims to replace, make up for or compensate for deficit functions and bypass the obstacle generated by the difficult situation. For example, the use of a vocal synthesizer for those who struggle in reading or a calculator for those who cannot do the calculations.
A dispensative measurementon the other hand, allows the pupil with Bes to be dispensed/exonerated by the activities that are most difficult for him and which are not directly connected to the achievement of the objective. For example, don’t have to write by hand or not having to learn by heart.
Bes, school and inclusion
The introduction of BES’s concept is revolutionary, because it puts the centeruniqueness of the student and underlines the importance of the school context in creating the facilitating conditions for learning.
The growing attention to special educational needs and the introduction of the BES legislation must be considered the flagship of the Italian teaching. It is the sign that the school is eager to create an increasingly inclusive learning environment, it is more attentive to the uniqueness of the students and is willing to focus attention on resource proper of pupils rather than on theirs deficit.
All this certainly constitutes one for teachers great responsibility And a great challenge, but at the same time it is also an important milestone that returns the autonomy to evaluate the didactic path to be implemented in the interest of their pupils in difficult conditions. For each pupil it is undoubtedly one protectionbecause it provides the guarantee of being adequately supported when you have or will have a special educational need.
