Written by Clémence EUGENE, in collaboration with Magali NETRVAL, Jarita CHRISTIE, and Board members Andrea GRGIC and Maija KNUTTI.
In November 2022, the APEEE was approached by a parent and Board member of ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium, Ms Jarita Christie to organise a workshop in partnership with Ms Magali Netrval from Dyspraxia.lu on how tablets alleviate the barriers to learning of DYS students. This opportunity, and any others, are warmly welcome as they allow the school community to discuss how it can further collaborate and raise awareness on neurodiversity and seek solutions for all students.
Recently, the Board of Governors of the European Schools revised their documents on Educational Support Policy of the European Schools. They now allow for the use of varied new technologies to compensate for learning difficulties, the APEEE decided to open the workshop to parents, professionals, and children over 12 years old from all five European schools in Belgium. The APEEE recorded 211 registrations with 120 participants present on Friday 13th January 2023.
Ms Netrval presented her journey as a parent of a European school child with dyspraxia. She explained that pupils receiving educational support have the right to inclusive education. One of the novelties of the Procedural document on the provision of educational support is that pupils have the right to use in the classroom new technologies such as computers, digital tablets and special software like Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text. These are now allowed not only as class accommodations but also at exams (including B-tests and BAC) as Special Arrangements. Finally, Ms Netrval demonstrated how some applications work in practice in dealing with school assignments.
If you wish to have more information, the presentation shared by Ms Netrval is available below.
ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium, is founded by the support of its membership, you are invited to learn more on what resources are available to support you via the website of ADHD, ASC & LD Belgium (neurodiversity.be).
For more in-depth workshops on dys and technologies, on when, why and how a tablet can help as a compensation tool, we suggest to consult APEDA and Coeur à Corps . APEDA also created the digital library NumaBib, a resource that offers the possibility to all pupils diagnosed with a dys to access learning on the same basis as their peers. NumaBib is available in Belgium for schoolbooks in French.
Invitation
Dyspraxie.lu organises a Café DYS on Saturday 28th January 2023 in Luxemburg, at Cocotte’s City Concorde, 80 route de Longwy 8060 Bertrange from 2 pm to 4 pm, if you wish to attend, please contact: mnetrval@icloud.com
We take this opportunity to thank the School Management and APEEE Board members involved in the organisation of the event and the school for allowing us to use the salle polyvalente and equipment.
This initiative was brought to the APEEE by parents. If you would like to bring forward a similar initiative and request financial or organisational support, do not hesitate to contact your Board representative.