Students Who Learn Differently
Many parents and teachers living overseas are involved with international schools. These schools are not run like the public ones back home, nor are they run like the national schools of the host country.
International schools are private institutions, and like private schools in other countries, they do not have to make allowances for learning-differently students. One FAWCO researcher who investigated two international schools in her area reported, "Both schools were very helpful and said each child would be evaluated on an individual basis, and if they didn't feel that the very best could be provided, they would decline to take the student." Another school policy states that they ". . . will not accept students who, because of cognitive or physical disabilities require special education classes or services."
However, in some locations, international schools are the only option for the relocating family, and as one questionnaire reports, "Parents find themselves totally alone, in many cases in fear of loosing their jobs because there are no facilities for any type of learning problem."
On the other hand, large, international hubs like Athens and Brussels do offer many possible English-speaking schools from which to choose.
This does not mean to say that most international schools make no provision for special needs. In fact according to the response to the questionnaire, 13 out of 16 of the clubs who answered this question said that their international school did provide some sort of special help.
Of special note is the program available at the Casablanca American School:
The PACE (Program for Ability Centered Education) Department consists at present of one reading specialist and one learning disabilities specialist. Students who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities are scheduled (in lieu of French) for approximately 3 1/2 hours of support per week with a PACE teacher. The student is mainstreamed for all other classes. Students with learning disabilities are also followed by a Child Study Team which is composed of PACE specialists, faculty members, and administrators. The CST works with teachers to closely monitor the progress of the students and make recommendations concerning intervention measures.
Options offered at some International schools
In 2000, European Children in Crisis (ECIC) conducted a survey of the English-speaking schools in Belgium, which are found primary in the Brussels and Antwerp areas. The questions asked concerned what facilities and accommodations were available for special needs students in their school. Twenty-four schools responded to the survey, five of which were Montessori schools. Some of the schools were for kindergarten or elementary pupils only. We are very grateful to ECIC for allowing us to present the results of this survey, which appear below:
1. Does the school have an established special needs/learning support unit?
12 - yes
11 - no
1 - not applicable2. Would it be acceptable to have a classroom aid/interpreter alongside a child?
17 - yes
2 - no
3 - maybe
2 - not applicable
3. Is it compulsory for all pupils to learn a second language?
12 - yes
11 - no4. Would it be acceptable for a pupil with specific learning difficulties to tape-record lessons?
14 - yes
1 - no
2 - sometimes
5 - not applicable5. Would a pupil with specific learning difficulties be given extra time in tests and exams?
15 - yes
2 - possibly
7 - not applicable6. Would a pupil with specific learning difficulties be allowed to use a computer/spell checker/reader/writer, etc. during tests and exams?
15 - yes
3 - depends
5 - not applicable7. Could a child with Down's Syndrome be accommodated in the school?
11 - yes
7 - no
6 - possibly8. Could a child with mild autism be accommodated in the school?
15 - yes
5 - no
4 - possibly9. Could a child in a wheelchair be accommodated in the school?
8 - yes
15 - no
1 - with difficulty10. Is there a full-time nurse at the school?
8 - yes
14 - no
2 - part time
11. Is there a separate sickroom?
10 - yes
14 - no12. Does the school have an educational psychologist?
11 - yes
13 - no13. Does the school have a speech therapist?
10 - yes
13 - no
1 - part time14. Does the school have a counseling service?
13 - yes
10 - no15. Does the school have tutors to provide extra help outside school hours?
15 - yes
8 - no
1 - not applicable16. Is there a school bus service?
14 - yes
10 - noSome schools indicated that the cost of financial support for special needs students has to be paid by the parents. Antwerp International School indicated "we are able to accept students with mild learning problems who can master grade-level work with appropriate support and modifications. We try to design a program to meet the needs of the child rather than to fit the child into the existing program. Students can receive assistance through a resource (pull-out) program or a program of inclusive support." The British Junior Academy of Brussels wrote, "We are a small, family school with small classes which allows us to give individual attention within the mainstream teaching. Although we are a small school, we are always prepared to consider any application for entry into the school. Naturally our size, physical layout and teacher capacity would play a part in our accepting children who have special needs or physical disabilities. We have two special needs children in the school at the moment and this works well in our small environment." The International Montessori School and the Montessori Children's Center state that they "offer individual education. Every child can work at his own level and at his own pace. Children are never compared to each other nor is competition used as a means to achieve. Consequently children with learning problems can continue to develop without feeling stressed and without having their self-esteem attacked. We feel that feeling good about oneself is the basis of good development."
Host Country or National Schools
For the most part, public schools, wherever you find them, recognize some responsibility for making provision for students who learn differently. These provisions range from superior ones that can be found in countries like Great Britain where children have the legal right to be taught in a way appropriate to their learning styles, to countries where special needs programs are just being established.
Except in Great Britain and Ireland, there were no specialized English-speaking boarding schools for learning-differently students. Most host countries, however, offer such possibilities in their native language and at no additional charge to the family for the tuition. However, costs like transportation and room and board might not be covered. These schools are usually only for severe cases, and once a student is admitted it can be difficult to get him back into the mainstream schools.
Sometimes the school system won't pay for help until the child is a certain age. Sometimes there is a time limit set for free help after which the family must pay.
Most host countries do not require that the student attend school in one particular school district. This can be to the great advantage of the learning-differently student as one nearby school might offer much more help than another. One FAWCO researcher recounts experiences with host country schools, "I have heard stories in our club of children who have been treated as 'stupid' and made to do all the normal schoolwork with no extra help, and I have heard parents tell of children who have been given the very best of extra help with their learning disability."
Many host country schools follow the Greek example in their approach to the education of children with special education needs:
The Ministry's educational policy and philosophy concerning the education of children and youth with special needs is clearly integration oriented . . . The majority of these children attend ordinary schools. In fact we want them to stay there not only by chance or because of the law, which demands compulsory education, but being also involved part-time in special education programs, individually or in small homogeneous groups, according to their needs and their abilities and in the frame of the whole school function . . . We believe that this educational policy coincides with the contemporary philosophy of school and social integration of the people and especially the children with special needs, without any kind of segregation or labeling. 1
Options Offered at a Flemish School
The official recognition by the Flemish educational authorities of specific learning difficulties as a valid condition that should be addressed by mainstream teachers has come only recently. However, interest by many of these teachers in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium is high, and schools are beginning to consider specific accommodations that can be allowed in regular classrooms. Below is a list prepared by one school in Antwerp for their learning-differently students:
- These students are exempt from dictation examinations for language subjects.
- These students do not have to read aloud in class unless they choose to do so.
- Spelling faults would not figure in the grading of subjects that were not language subjects.
- There will be 15 to 20% more time given for exams or a shorter exam will be given in those subjects where language plays a big role (e.g. languages, geography and history).
- A word processor may be used for essays and compositions.
- Correct spelling will be required for vocabulary tests.
- For multiple-choice questions, the instructions will be read aloud.
- A book report will be graded on a written and an oral presentation. A student may choose either to read less books, thinner books, or books especially written for dyslexic readers.
- There must be enough time provided for students to fill in their homework assignments in their agendas.
- If there is a listening exercise, the most difficult words must first be written on the board.
- These students must make a list of words with definitions that they find difficult that apply to each subject, and together with the teacher, make sure that these are correct. Then this list may be used during class as a work aid.
International and Host Country Schools
One club in a developing country reported no international schools and no special help yet available in the national school system due to financial limitations. In a case like this, children with special needs either had to be home-schooled or returned to the States for schooling.
It was felt that in most all schools, whether public or international, the staff was accessible and arranging a conference was easily done. Unfortunately, such conferences did not always result in the improvement of the child's situation.
The manner in which either system provided special provision ranged from regular classroom teachers attempting to tailor their teaching to the learning style of the student to highly-trained, specialized learning resource personnel.
For the most part, there was no additional charge in either the public or the private schools for any special help that was available on site. However, often this help was found to be inadequate and families found themselves in the position of having to pay for additional remedial treatment and/or assessment.
Some schools do not have referral systems, and the parents must not only pay for special help, they must also find it on their own.
The most often repeated kind of advice given by FAWCO responders regarding coping tactics was that "one must be strong-minded, persistent and very direct."
As has been noted, many learning-differently students are not recognized until they leave their first six years of formal school because elementary school teachers are usually taught to teach in a multisensory and repetitive manner and this is the approach to which learning-differently students respond best. The students see, hear and do more or less simultaneously. The teacher writes "cat" on the blackboard. As it is being written, the teacher says the letters and the word. The students then repeat the letters and the word a few times. Then they copy the word on their paper. Perhaps the teacher will show a colored picture of a cat, or maybe even a cat will be brought into the classroom and the sense of touch might be employed. As many as possible of the student's senses are used, and over learning, or repetition, is employed.
Middle, High School and College
There is a vast difference between teaching techniques in the elementary school and those employed in higher education. Now students are often expected to learn via one sense only, as when they must listen and take notes from a lecture. They are expected to organize their own time and find their own way.
International School Accreditation
International schools are not subject to the rules, regulations and laws that most national schools are. But many are members of associations that have standards of accreditation.
The following is taken from the website of the European Council of International Schools:
Since its establishment in 1970, the ECIS programme of School Evaluation and Accreditation has become the established norm for schools seeking international recognition. Over one hundred schools in fifty-six countries are now in the programme, which continues to develop on a worldwide basis
. . . . It has been developed to offer an effective global system of accreditation which:
- fosters excellence in all stages of school-based education
- encourages school improvement through a process of continuous self-study and peer evaluation
- assures a school and the constituencies it serves that an accredited institution provides a quality education programme for students based upon clearly defined goals and objectives that are appropriate to the unique school population served
Their Standards of Accreditation are concerned with, among many other things, Special Needs Education. What follows are their standards in this area:
- There shall be effective procedures for identifying and addressing the special needs of students with learning disabilities.
- There shall be effective procedures for identifying and addressing the special needs of students of exceptionally high ability and/or exceptional talent.
- The school shall have an adequate number of trained special needs personnel.
- If children with learning disabilities or who have remedial needs are admitted, the school shall provide specific curriculums and programs to meet identified needs.
Some schools, in particular international schools, don't always have a budget that will support an adequate number of special needs teachers. One solution might be to hire learning support assistants. The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) lists recommendations for training such assistants on its Internet site, http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk/. There they state that:
The BDA wishes to encourage the training of assistants to teachers in order for such assistants to be able to facilitate effectively the learning of pupils with specific learning difficulties, particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy. The BDA recommendations and criteria . . . are made with the understanding that teacher assistants must work under the direction of the classroom teacher and that training is intended to enhance this supportive role. It is not intended to suggest that these assistants should function independently to supplant the teacher's responsibilities.
Such in-class assistance supports mainstreaming in a very effective manner. In many cases when a family is living abroad, international school education might be the only real option available for their learning-differently children. If necessary and as a last resort, it might be possible for the family to hire the in-class assistant themselves if this is the only way that the international school will grant admission.
Enrollment in a national school that does not use the student's native language may further complicate the student's learning process. The following is from an article written by a mother who was living in Germany:
Unfortunately we have learned there is little room in school systems throughout Europe for children with any sort of difficulty that might inhibit their ability to learn. Given the uniform nature of instruction and absence of individualization in most schools, even a teacher aware of learning difficulties in a child will have little chance of modifying the classroom curriculum, rhythm or teaching style so the affected child can cope. For this reason, placing a child like Geoffrey in a local European school is out of the question.
As with any school selection, homework is required of the parents. Speak up and be specific about their needs. Bring records along for interviews if possible. This is risky because no one wants a preconceived notion of their child imposed on prospective teachers. However, we have found it worse not to speak up. Sometimes the ill will created by a child's behavior is damaging beyond repair.
It is imperative to receive a proper diagnosis for any and all learning difficulties. . . And most importantly, be involved and alert to what is happening. Parents of children who have to work harder must advocate for their child. 2
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1 Bulletin of the Ministry of Education of Greece. pp. 262-263.
2 Grossman, Susan. When a child stumbles academically, where do you turn if you live overseas?" Transatlantic American. March/April 1998. No. 16. pp. 14-15.
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Students Who Learn Differently
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