While there are structures in place to support DYS children, the school system itself remains poorly adapted to this population. As a result, establishments specializing in these disorders – often not under contract – are opening up all over France. Like the school in Eysines, near Bordeaux, created by the parents of a dyslexic child…
Birth of Edeys, a school specializing in DYS disorders
The unique Edeys school caters for 18 pupils aged 10 to 15 (CM1 to3e) suffering from DYS disorders(dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia…). Divided into two classes – cycle3 and cycle4 – these teenagers follow the French national curriculum scrupulously, but with a methodology adapted to their difficulties.
Secular and private, Edeys is dedicated exclusively to children with learning disabilities who are unable to thrive or learn in the traditional school system.
This initiative was launched by the parents of Sacha, who is dyslexic to a very high degree, after two particularly complicated years in a conventional middle school. With a couple of friends, Éric and Stéphanie Bouget decided to set up Edeys, in Eysines (33), to offer DYS children personalized support.
Aiming to restore well-being at school
When it opens in September 2021, the school will be experimenting with a teaching method adapted to the disabilities of its students: it will rely on 4 teachers per class, each teaching several subjects, to enable this public to create links.
Olivier Le Pape, director of Edeys and a science teacher, stresses that “the idea was to enable pupils who had been destroyed by the traditional school system to rediscover their sense of well-being at school“[1].
With kindness and listening, “in the space of a year, we’ve seen a big change in certain students: they’re less inclined to rebel and confront the teacher,” observes Anastasia, who teaches French and history at the school.
Adapted teaching methods
At Edeys, all students have access to a computer, with voice dictation software and spell checkers, which are real compensatory tools for DYS children.
But beyond the equipment provided and the small class sizes, the educational team has also adapted its teaching methods. For example, Anastasia offers “negotiated dictations“: she dictates a sentence, posts everyone’s answers on the board and comments on the mistakes observed. The aim is “to understand the logic of the language [pour] to create a mechanism [et retenir] the rule“, she explains.
Edeys also offers flexible days to manage the fatigue of DYS children, more exacerbated than average and reduce their stress On the one hand, core subjects in the mornings (French and math), sports and art in the afternoons; on the other, homework done during school time with teachers, to avoid long days at home.
Finally, this school specializing in DYS disorders is supported by professionals: an occupational therapist (present one morning a week), as well as a speech therapist and a neuropsychologist (regularly present on the premises).
[1 ] Quote: https://www.letudiant.fr/college/immersion-au-coeur-d-une-ecole-pour-les-eleves-atteints-de-troubles-dys.html
