Learning disability

Classification according to ICD-10
F81	Localized developmental disorders of school skills
F81.0	Reading and spelling disorder
F81.1	Isolated spelling disorder
F81.2	Arithmetic disorder
F81.3	Combined disorders of school skills
F81.8	Other development disorders of school skills
F81.9	Developmental disorder of school skills, unspecified
ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019)

The concept of learning disabilities has existed in German-speaking countries since the 1960s. Since then there have been some attempts to define the term. The easiest and most plausible definition is provided by the pedagogue Gustav Otto Kanter with the thesis that a learning disability means a "long-lasting, serious and extensive failure in school performance", which is usually associated with an impairment of intelligence , which is, however, not so serious that it is itself is a case of intellectual disability .

"In the sense" ("sensu") of Kanter, Karl-Heinz Eser specified this definition in 2005: "Learning disability is a broad and multi-layered borderline syndrome sensu Kanter on the continuum between 'intellectual disability' in the narrower sense and 'normal development', without a qualitatively specific, to form a clear and clearly definable disorder category. "- a" disability at second glance. "According to Eser, the German term" learning disability "roughly corresponds to the English term" borderline intellectual functioning "(literally:" borderline intellectual or spiritual functions ") .

Of practical importance is the concept of learning disabilities, especially in assignments of students to special schools or special schools. In adults too, a weakness diagnosed as a “learning disability” still makes itself felt negatively in childhood and adolescence, especially in the labor market .

Try to develop diagnostic criteria

ICD-10 classification

In the ICD-10 classification, there are various descriptions for the learning disability issue, which is also given under this name in the ICD-10 code in the alphabetical and systematic index. The disorders typical for a "learning disability" are counted under development disorders and have the code ICD-10 F81. It should be noted that, according to the WHO and the German coding guidelines, the code "Other ..." (.8) can only be given if the disorder is known exactly, but there is no specific code for it in the ICD-10-GM. The code "Unspecified ..." ("Nnbez.") (.9) may only be given because the fault is not precisely known and therefore cannot be precisely coded.

Furthermore, you should encrypt as specifically as possible. Observe the notes, inclusive and exclusive items on all hierarchical levels of the ICD-10-GM. The residue classes (.8 and .9) are to be avoided.

Chapter V

Mental and behavioral disorders (F00-F99)

Developmental
Disorders (F80-F89) The disorders summarized in this section have the following in common:
a. Onset without exception in toddler age or in childhood;
b. a developmental limitation or retardation of functions that are closely related to the biological maturation of the central nervous system;
c. steady course without remissions and relapses.
In most cases, language, visual spatial skills, and coordination of movements, among others, are affected. Typically the delay or weakness was from the earliest possible detection time. As the children get older, the disturbances diminish increasingly, even if smaller deficits often remain in adulthood.

F81 Localized developmental
disorders in school skills These are disorders in which normal patterns of skill acquisition are disrupted from early stages of development. This is not simply a result of a lack of opportunity to learn; nor is it to be construed solely as a result of intellectual disability or any acquired brain damage or disease.

Reading and spelling disorder : ICD-10 F81.0
The main characteristic is a circumscribed and significant impairment in the development of reading skills, which cannot be explained by developmental age, visual acuity problems or inadequate schooling. Reading comprehension, the ability to recognize and read aloud words that have been read, and performance for which reading skills are required can all be affected. Spelling disorders are common in circumscribed reading disorders and often persist into adolescence, even with some progress in reading. Defined developmental disorders in reading precede developmental disorders in speech or language. During school days, accompanying disorders in the emotional and behavioral areas are common.

• Developmental dyslexia
• Circumscribed reading disorder
• "Reading deficit"

Excl .:

• Alexie onA (R48.0)
• Dyslexia onA (R48.0)
• Reading delay due to emotional disorder (F93.-)

F81.0 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Developmental Alexia
• Developmental dyslexia
• Developmental reading disorder
• developmental alexia
• Developmental dyslexia
• Developmental disorder reading skills
• Developmental disorder of spelling skills
• Dyslexia
• Reading skills, disorder, development
• Reading, disorder, developmental
• Reading and spelling disorder
• Spelling, disorder, development
• Spelling disorder with reading disorder
• Weakness in reading and spelling
• Difficulty reading
• Difficulty spelling, paraphrasing
• Disorder, development of reading ability
• Disorder, development of spelling skills
• Disorder, reading, circumscribed
• Disorder, reading, developmental
• Reading and spelling disorder
• Disorder, spelling, reading disorder
• Strepho symbolism

Isolated spelling disorder: ICD-10 F81.1
It is a disorder the main characteristic of which is a circumscribed and significant impairment in the development of spellingskillswith no history of reading disorder. It cannot be explained solely by a too low intelligence age, visual acuity problems or inadequate schooling. Spelling skills orally and writing words correctly are both affected.

• Circumscribed delay in spelling ability (without reading disorder)

Excl .:

• Agriculture onA (R48.8)
• Spelling Difficulties:
  • due to inadequate teaching (Z55)
  • dyslexic (F81.0)

F81.1 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Spelling, delay, paraphrased
• Spelling, delay, paraphrased without reading disorder
• Spelling disorder isolated
• Disorder, spelling - isolated
• Delayed spelling ability to circumscribe without reading disorder
• Delay spelling skills, paraphrased

Dyscalculia ICD-10 F81.2
This disorder is a specific impairment of computational skills, which is not solely by general mental retardation or inadequate schooling. The deficit mainly concerns the mastery of basic arithmetic skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, less the higher mathematical skills that are required for algebra, trigonometry, geometry or differential and integral calculus.

• Developmental Gerstmann Syndrome
• Developmental disorder of arithmetic
• Developmental acalculia

Excl .:

• Calculia onA (R48.8)
• Combined disorder of school skills (F81.3)
• Arithmetic difficulties, mainly due to inadequate teaching (Z55)

F81.2 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Akalkuie in case of development deficit
• Developmental acalculia
• Developmental Gerstmann syndrome
• Backward development with acalkulia
• Developmental arithmetic disorder
• Gerstmann syndrome, developmental
• Arithmetic disorder
• Weakness in numeracy
• Disturbance, development of arithmetic
• Arithmetic disturbance

Combined disorders of school skills : ICD-10 F81.3
This is a poorly defined residual category for disorders with marked impairment of numeracy, reading and spelling skills. However, the disorder cannot be explained solely by a general reduction in intelligence or inadequate schooling. It is intended to be used for faults that meet the criteria for F81.2 and F81.0 or F81.1.

Excl .:

• Isolated spelling disorder (F81.1)
• Reading and spelling disorder (F81.0)
• Arithmetic disorder (F81.2)

F81.3 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Skills, School Combined Disorder
• School-related skills, disorder combined
• Disorder, combined, skills, scholastic

Other developmental disorders in school skills : ICD-10 F81.8
Developmental expressive writing disorder

F81.8 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Development-related agraphy
• Developmental writing disorder, expressive
• development-related agraphy
• Expressive, writing disorder, developmental
• Psychological learning disorder
• Mental learning disorder
• Writing, disruption, expressive, developmental
• Disorder, learning psychological
• Disorder, writing, expressive, developmental

Developmental disorder of school skills, unspecified : ICD-10 F81.9
Learning disability onA Learning
disorder onA
Disorder in acquiring knowledge onA

F81.9 ICD-10-GM 2020 or ICD-10-WHO 2019 German translation Alphabetical index:

• Development problem, learning ability
• Developmental Skills, Academic
• Developmental disorder learning ability
• Developmental disorder school
• Skills, academic, developmental disorder
• Learning disability
• Learning disability
• Learning disorder
• Learning ability, development problem
• Problem to acquire knowledge
• Problem, development, learning ability
• School disorder, development
• School-related skills, disorder development
• Weakness learning
• Difficulty acquiring knowledge
• Disorder, skills development, scholastic
• Disorder, development of learning ability
• Learning disorder
• Disorder, knowledge acquisition
• Knowledge acquisition disorder

The borderline intelligence (also: Grenzdebilität or low intelligence ) identified separately in the ICD-10 classification. It is considered to be below average intelligence with an intelligence quotient of 70 to 85. People who are certified as having a "learning disability" in German-speaking countries have difficulties in acquiring knowledge cognitively , often suffer from learning difficulties and therefore often attend a school for the learning disabled.

Deviation from the WHO definition of disability

The World Health Organization points out that in social law, only those deviations from the norm are regularly categorized as disabilities that have “a health problem as the starting point”. According to this, a learning disability is only a disability if the corresponding functional disorders in the child (called “functional impairments” in the case law) are based on facts with a disease value. In many cases, however, it is doubtful whether it is actually predominantly “issues with illness value” and not the living conditions of the person concerned, in particular their social environment, that lead to the complex that is called “learning disabilities” in German-speaking countries.

According to the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs , a “learning disability” is a disability (which is statistically recorded as such because it complies with the provisions of SGB ​​IX ) if it has become a real disability with a disease value in the context of unfavorable living conditions.

Germany

Features and educational context

For the German Education Council (1973), pupils with

• long-term and comprehensive school performance failure and
• Talent is present,

and which therefore cannot be given sufficient individual support in primary or secondary school .

School problems are regarded as an expression of a learning disability if the following conditions are met:

1. The performance deficit is more than 2-3 school years.
2. The performance delays affect several subjects.
3. They last for several years.
4. They are not the result of inadequate learning opportunities or poor teaching.

All previous attempts at definition have in common that the term learning disability is only seen in the school context, so that it only reflects a small section of human learning . Schröder (1996) suggests limiting the technical terminology of learning disabled education to four terms:

• Learning difficulties occur when school performance (regardless of the type of school) is below tolerable deviations from reference norms .
• Learning impairments "are their special forms when it comes to the learning requirements of primary and secondary schools [...]."
• Learning disabilities as the lesser form of learning disability, based on the three dimensions of severity, extent and duration.
• Learning disabilities (again only in the sense of the school for learning disabled people ) as a serious, extensive and permanent learning disability.

In contrast to learning difficulties, this concerns problems with the minimum requirements defined by society. It is noticeable that in the text “Recommendations on the funding priority learning” of the German Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs the word “learning disability” was not used as early as 1999. Only the term “school for people with learning disabilities” is used as an established institutional name. In the KMK decision of 1999, pupils with learning needs are described more descriptively than diagnosing as “children and young people with a learning disability”.

Newer definitions of what was called “learning disabilities” in Germany before 1999 try to move away from monocausal explanations. In the past, students were categorized according to their IQ scores much too rigidly . The quote comes from Baier (1982):

“There is no clear characteristic that distinguishes learning disability as a self-contained group of non-learning disabled people. There are problems of demarcation not only with pupils with learning difficulties […] or with learning disabilities […], but also with other groups of handicapped people such as the behaviorally disordered and in individual cases also with the mentally handicapped . A learning disability is often associated with behavioral problems , language disorders or hearing impairments and can develop secondarily from these primary impairments. "

- Horst Baier : Public opinion and social change

The multi-causal approach comes to the fore when Baier defines learning disabilities as “multifactorial biosocial interaction and accumulation products” that have a negative impact in the school context.

statistics

The “people with learning disabilities” have become one of the largest client groups of the integration specialist services within a few years . The proportion of pupils classified as (mostly learning) disabled in the number of their clients rose from 4.8 percent in 2009 to 15.5 percent in 2013. The proportion of people with the "diagnosis" learning or intellectual disability has doubled from 2005 to 2013 from approx. 10 to approx. 20 percent. In 2011 there were around 200,000 students in Germany with a diagnosed learning disability - with large fluctuations between the federal states.

School concepts

In the 1960s, schools were, should visit the people "with a learning disability," auxiliary schools called before the equivalent bodies in special schools and later in special schools , or support centers have been renamed. As early as 1999, the KMK revoked its resolution of November 17, 1977, its "Recommendations for teaching in schools for people with learning disabilities (special schools)". In the “Recommendations on the special educational focus on learning” of October 1, 1999, the possibility is expressly addressed that pupils with special educational needs can be taught in “general schools”.

After Germany signed the UN Disability Rights Convention in 2009, all countries and parties came to the conclusion that the convention gives parents a legal right to have their handicapped or impaired children educated in mainstream schools. The only controversial question at the moment is whether they have a “right to wish and choose”, i. H. whether they can insist that their children be taught not there but at a special school.

Differentiation from learning difficulties

According to Weinert & Zielinski (1977), learning difficulties exist when "the performance of a student [...] is below the tolerable deviations from binding institutional, social, individual reference norms or the achievement (or failure of) standards [...] is associated with stress [ is], which lead to undesirable side effects in the behavior, experience or personality development of the learner. "

According to a study by the University of Göttingen, 20 to 25 percent of all children and adolescents are affected by learning difficulties. In addition to those traditionally classified as “mentally handicapped” and “learning handicapped”, many people who are not classified as “handicapped” also have learning difficulties. This is especially true for many young people who are classified as “not ready for training ”.

Definition / diagnosis of inadequate talent

The German Education Council classified those with an IQ between 55 and 85 among students with less talent . The IQ is determined with a standardized intelligence test , for example the HAWIK . Other authors cite similar criteria, but with slight shifts within the IQ range, for example Wegener (1969), who places “lighter degrees of impaired ability” in a range from IQ 70 to 89. People with a low level of intelligence (also known as marginal debility or low level of intelligence ) are often classified as "learning disabled" because of this fact alone.

In the ICD-10 classification, an IQ of 50 to 69 is considered to be a slight intellectual disability ; the code is ICD-10 F7. This intelligence level would correspond to an intelligence age of about 9 to less than 12 years in an adult. Quote: "Many of those affected can work , maintain good social relationships and make their contribution to society."

However, Hans Weiß points out that there are also average intelligent learning disabled people (including those with an IQ over 100).

The application of the term learning disability outside of the educational sector

Since the reform of the Third Book of the Social Code , which regulates employment promotion , according to Section 19 (1), “learning disabled” are also among the group of people whose participation in professional life must be encouraged. This is not about learning disorders that are temporarily expressed as slight learning deficits, nor about impairments that are not permanent or not broadly based. Rather, it is about behavior and performance of adolescents and young adults that deviate from their peers in the long term and that can make professional integration more difficult in the long term. According to the wording of Paragraph 1 [of Section 19 SGB III], people with learning disabilities belong directly to the group of people with disabilities in the sense of employment promotion law. It is not just equality. "

According to Rudolf C. Zelfel, one problem is that “the grown-up son or daughter [...] still needs the help of the parents to varying degrees. In most cases, the children have never actually become independent, mostly because they cannot or do not want to. In addition, their earnings are not enough to have their own apartment or lead an independent life. They usually have few friends and social contacts. Parents and adult children are forced to enter into a 'symbiotic relationship over the long term'. There are numerous occasions when parents need help. Loss of job, contracts, complicated applications, dealing with banks and money. "

Zelfel estimates that there are 800,000 to 1 million learning disabled people of all ages in Germany. The number of learning disabled people no longer required to attend school is not officially recorded.

criticism

Learning disabilities as a problem of fit

Whether a child is classified as learning disabled is only partly a question of the personality traits and the learning level of the respective child. The possibilities of the general school (all schools except the special needs school ) play an equally decisive role . The better this can support the children, the fewer children are outsourced as "not eligible for support".

According to Eberwein, learning disabilities or corresponding successor terms therefore do not describe an individual characteristic or even an outlined group of people, but the state of inadequate matching of individual learning needs and school offerings. This means that there is no literally absolute group of people with learning disabilities.

The learning disability category as the basis for the professional practice of educators

Dieter Katzenbach and Joachim Schröder explain the adherence to the concept of “learning disabilities” as follows: “Even if, after more than thirty years of discussion, it has not yet been possible to define the phenomenon of learning disabilities with any degree of precision, this category will still be used if also under constantly changing names, held firmly. We as special educators must also do this as long as we define our expertise in terms of a certain subpopulation of students. "If, on the other hand, one follows the motto:" The experts to the children and not the children to the experts! ", The term" learning disabilities " superfluous.

Special schools as a logical consequence of the structured school system

The education and science union judges: “There are schools for people with learning disabilities only in German-speaking countries. They are a consequence of the selective school system . Once you start sorting, you can't stop. There are two reasons for this: On the one hand, the ideal of a homogeneous learning group cannot be achieved in fact, but is still not given up and, on the other hand, the composition of pupils in the "lower" school types makes pedagogical work so difficult that the teachers hope to relieve themselves through further sorting out . "

Abolition of special facilities

The future of special schools or special needs schools with a special focus on learning is the subject of intense debate in the various countries of Germany. It is noticeable in current disputes within Germany that (unlike in Austria or Switzerland) the word field "learning disabled" is used less and less and is replaced by the phrase "special educational needs in the learning focus".

The abolition of the special needs school for pupils with a special focus on learning in grades 1 to 4 was initiated in 2012 by the then black and yellow state government of Lower Saxony . On March 12, 2012, the Lower Saxony State Parliament decided by a large majority to abolish the special school institution with a special focus on learning for grades 1–4. The then red-green state government of Lower Saxony announced in point 4.2.11 of the “Inclusion Action Plan for Lower Saxony” of January 26, 2017 that it wanted to completely close schools with the learning focus. At the beginning of the 2017/2018 school year, there was no longer grade 5 at any of the still existing special needs schools of this type in Lower Saxony.

As early as 2014, the Lower Saxony Philologists' Association had warned against the “total inclusion” of all children considered to be disabled. In response to a survey by the magazine “E&W. Education and Science Lower Saxony ", published by the Education and Science Union , the CDU stated in the run-up to the state elections on October 15, 2017 that" the complete abolition of the special needs school learning "was a" serious mistake "," the must therefore be corrected immediately "(after a government majority was obtained at the end of 2017). The parties that were in power in Lower Saxony until October 2017, the SPD and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen , held, according to the above. Survey by the GEW on the project “Abolition of special schools learning” because, as the GEW also sees it, a “double system in the learning support area worsens staffing levels for inclusive schools and special schools”.

After the state elections, it was agreed in the coalition agreement between the SPD and the CDU that school inclusion should be continued and carried out “in the interests of the individual child's best interests”. It was also agreed that the special schools learning in the lower secondary level could be granted grandfathering until 2028 at the latest at the request of the school authority and according to the needs and the demand for a transitional period. For the last time, 5th grade students can start school in the school year 2022/2023.

In other countries, schools for children and young people who have been identified as having a need for special educational support are gradually being closed. This is often on the grounds that the school in question will no longer have the required minimum size in the future due to the decision of other parents in favor of a regular school, but also partly for demographic reasons (smaller age groups). In most cases, parents can then enroll their children either in a school further away or in a mainstream school. So decided z. B. the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia with effect from August 1, 2014 that on the one hand "pupils with a need for special educational support [...] should always be offered a place at a general school" and on the other hand "all special needs schools with special needs Learning that on August 1st, 2015 does not have the required minimum number of 144 students ”should be closed. After the change of government in North Rhine-Westphalia in May 2017 , Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) announced that he would not approve any further closings of special needs schools in his area of ​​responsibility. According to a survey by the Kölner Stadtanzeiger in the summer of 2017, 72 percent of the readers said: "Everyone is suffering from inclusion, the concept has failed."

The SPD, the CDU and the Left in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament decided in 2011: "In the school peace for inclusion, the parliamentary groups reaffirmed their intention to create reliable framework conditions so that schools can plan and work conceptually beyond the current electoral term." In the medium term, schools for people with special educational needs in the learning focus have been given a guarantee of existence.

Austria

In Austria there is the category of “special educational needs due to a learning disability” for school-age children.

In Austria, more than 50 percent of all pupils with special educational needs attended regular schools in the 2006/2007 school year. The Austrian educational research institute bifie judges: “Depending on the traditions as well as the fundamental values ​​and attitudes of those involved, an almost inclusive school system as in Styria could be established on the one hand with identical laws , but on the other hand special school structures like in Lower Austria could be retained. The initially prevailing polarity between supporters and opponents of integration could thus be pacified. For educational policy, the question arises to what extent this coexistence of different target conceptions and organizational approaches of special needs education is desirable or not. Is the coexistence, which can only be explained with different attitudes and traditions, seen as a desired expression of diversity, as a reflection of the political mainstream, which recognizes the fundamental parallelism of integrative and segregative forms and wants to maintain the large educational policy leeway of the states and districts under the keyword of flexibility , there does not seem to be any fundamental need for action for educational policy and administration at the moment. "

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education stated in its 2016 “Guidelines for Differentiation and Control Measures in Connection with the Determination of Special Educational Needs”:

“The clarification of whether there are learning problems or a learning disability has to be done in the primary school. Early advice from the Center for Inclusive and Special Education (ZIS) makes a significant contribution to this. The timely establishment of contact for a special educational clarification is the educational responsibility of the class teacher and the school management.

In the case of pupils who are admitted to primary school without relevant medical or psychological evidence of a disability, there is a difference between learning problems (such as partial performance weaknesses) and a learning disability based on a physical or psychological disability in the event of impairment of learning lies to distinguish. Special educational needs are only permitted in the case of a demonstrably diagnosed learning disability. "

The ministry therefore assumes that there are “learning disabilities” that can be clearly diagnosed by psychologists or doctors. The result of corresponding investigations does not result in the recommendation to train students with a (in the medical sense) "positive diagnosis" at a special facility, but rather the willingness of the school authorities to provide additional financial and material resources for better support of the student concerned, including and especially at a regular school.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the training of children and young people with disabilities is part of the public educational mandate. At the beginning of the 20th century the right to education for the disabled had to be fought for by parents and professionals. Up until the 1970s, the gradual recognition of educational ability also lasted for children with severe disabilities. Basically, school integration is still not legally enforceable; corresponding demands on politics arise only indirectly from Art. 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution : "Nobody may be discriminated against, specifically not [...] because of a physical, mental or psychological disability."

The Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities Act of December 13, 2002 obliges the cantons to provide basic training tailored to the special needs of children and young people with disabilities. Paragraph 2 results from the obligation to basic training with the obligation to strive for integration into the mainstream school in accordance with the requirements and wellbeing of the individual pupils. Children and adolescents with impaired perception or articulation and people who are particularly close to them have the right to learn a communication technology tailored to their disability.

Implementation of school integration

The responsibility for the implementation of integrative education lies largely with the cantons. In order to guarantee a standardized integration offer despite the canton's responsibility, an intercantonal agreement on cooperation in the field of special education was decided in October 2007 . In the participating cantons, it grants all children and young people, under defined conditions, special educational support from birth up to and including the age of 20. The offer is divided into the following measures:

• special educational basic offer (Art. 4)
  • Advice and support, early childhood education, speech therapy and psychomotor skills
  • Special educational measures in a regular school or in a special school
  • Care in day structures or inpatient accommodation in a special educational facility
• Increased measures in the event of an identification of additional individual needs (Art. 5)

School integration usually takes place through the regular school at the place of residence. The supplementary offers include special schools with individual training or special classes, often referred to as “small classes”. Special schools can be run in cross-cantonal school centers. There are integration classes in the cantons of Basel , Basel-Landschaft and Zurich .

Measures for the integration and inclusion of children with special educational needs in Switzerland are particularly dependent on the acceptance of affected parents, since Swiss citizens as voters in Switzerland's concordance democracy represent the actual opposition. There it is relatively easy to initiate referendums at the federal, cantonal and local level, so that almost all resolutions of the state and the municipality can be reversed relatively easily by resolution of the citizens.

criticism

Criticism of the promotion of children and young people with "learning disabilities" is mainly sparked by the question of whether children and young people with "learning disabilities" are better supported through school integration or through separate instruction. As in Germany, children and young people with learning difficulties come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and often also have a migration background. As part of a long-term study, the social perspectives after the school career were examined. The basis was data from national fund projects of 12 years old, which were compared with data from young adulthood from a new study and published in 2011. This resulted in the following disadvantages for special educational support in special classes:

• Special classes have negative occupational effects on access to vocational training and more demanding jobs; While three years after leaving school, 25% of the former graduates from special classes did not find any professional access, in the comparison group it is only 6%.
• Special classes have a lasting effect on self-esteem and social integration
• Special classes make people susceptible to xenophobia, and students at mainstream schools develop a significantly more positive attitude towards foreigners

In the study, the researchers draw the educational policy conclusion that the abolition of special classes is inevitable. While German education policy has to change its position, a similar demand has not yet been formulated for Switzerland around three to four years after the intercantonal agreement was signed. The "labeling of children and adolescents affected by inequality of opportunity as learning disabled obscures the aspect of social disadvantage" and has served for decades as a "pseudo-scientific justification of special classes and professional selection."

The thesis that Switzerland is in a fundamentally different legal position than Germany is being called into question today by the fact that Switzerland also acceded to the UN Disability Rights Convention (on May 15, 2014).

Liechtenstein

In Liechtenstein , the so-called two types of “special training”, namely “integrative special training in regular schools (SiR)” and “separative special training in special schools (SiS)”, have been legally equivalent since August 1, 2012. The School Psychological Service in Liechtenstein uses a procedure known as the “standardized clarification procedure (SAV)” to determine whether it considers special training, an “increased measure”, to be appropriate. According to the “Principality of Liechtenstein Education Authority”, the best interests of the child are decisive for choosing a school.

In its school policy, Liechtenstein is strongly oriented towards the requirements in Switzerland. It joined the “Intercantonal Agreement for Social Institutions (IVSE)” in a first step on January 1, 2006, and in a second step on January 1, 2010. The IVSE is a concordat that enables people with special care and support needs to be accepted in suitable facilities outside their canton of residence or outside of Liechtenstein or Swiss people in Liechtenstein without any difficulties. A special feature of Liechtenstein is that there is a high proportion of pupils in its special schools who commute there from Switzerland. Up to a third of the student body is considered acceptable.

South-Tirol

Unlike in many large cities in Italy , there have never been any special schools in South Tyrol . Some pupils with special educational needs used to go to special schools in North Tyrol , Austria , others went to the local elementary school, but there were also children who did not go to school. In 1977 the special school was abolished as a school form throughout Italy.

In 1962, a single middle school was introduced in Italy, which is now attended by all 6-14 year olds. With the founding of this type of school, integrative and later inclusive joint teaching of all students became the norm.

In South Tyrol the term "learning disability" is not used. There is talk (in German) of “specific school learning disorders”. The ministerial decree no. 5669 of 12 July 2011 regulates how to deal with these disorders. According to Article 3, Paragraph 2 of the decree, children can benefit from special support if their parents have submitted a "diagnosis certificate" in kindergarten or regular school. Specific school learning disorders are dyslexia, dysgraphia and dysorthography, dyscalculia, and combined disorders of school skills. The presence of these symptoms is determined by observing the atypical performance as well as observing the learning styles. If foreign language learning is impaired (students in South Tyrol are usually taught bilingually), students with learning disorders can be exempted from certain foreign language performance tests.

East Belgium

Until 1998, German-speaking “pupils with significant learning difficulties, with a mild to severe intellectual disability or also with physical weaknesses” attended one of the four special primary schools or a special secondary school in the German-speaking community of Belgium . If necessary, a kindergarten class is organized in these primary school branches. For pupils with increased needs, there are agreements with educational institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia, in particular Aachen, for lessons for children with special physical disabilities, e.g. B. Visual or hearing damage; Because special education tailored to the needs of visually impaired and blind as well as hearing impaired and deaf pupils cannot be offered in Ostbelgien to pupils with German as their mother tongue.

Since 1998, pupils with special educational needs have had the opportunity to be integrated into the mainstream primary school that is relevant to them. Primary schools differentiate between "children with disabilities" and "learning disabled children". The language used makes it clear that in Belgium “learning disabilities” are not classified as disabilities in the narrower sense of the word. According to the administration of the city of Eupen , both groups of disabled pupils have “their place in our school”.

See also

• Practically formable
• Network People First

literature

• J. Bröcher: Teach differently, go to school differently. Contributions to school and teaching development in the learning support priority. University Press Winter, Heidelberg 2007.
• Hans Eberwein: Learning Disabilities: Fact or Construct? In: Journal for curative education. 01/1997, pp. 14-22.
• G. Klein: Social background and school career. In: Journal for curative education. 2001, 52, pp. 51-61.
• C. Klicpera, B. Gasteiger-Klicpera: Psychology of reading difficulties and writing difficulties. Development, causes, promotion. PVU, Weinheim 1995.
• W. Zielinski: Learning difficulties. Cause diagnosis intervention. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1995.
• A. Ortner, R. Ortner: Handbook behavior and learning difficulties. 4th unchanged edition. Beltz, Weinheim 1997.
• E. Wüllenweber: Learning disabilities - between reality and construct. In: W. Baudisch, M. Schulze, E. Wüllenweber: Introduction to rehabilitation pedagogy. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005.
• Promote learning - Federal Association information brochure for people with learning disabilities and their relatives. Volumes 1–3 2009, 2010, 2011.

Web links

• German Coding Guidelines 2020 https://www.g-drg.de/G-DRG-System_2020/Kodierlinien/Deutsche_Kodierlinien_2020
• ICD-10-WHO 2019 https://www.dimdi.de/dynamic/de/klassifikation/icd/icd-10-who/
• Kultusministerkonferenz: Announcement of the KMK - Recommendations on the funding priority learning. Decision of the Conference of Ministers of Education of October 1, 1999
• Hans Weiß: learning disabilities. In: Specialist center for foster children in Saxony-Anhalt.
• Mathias Brodkorb / Katja Koch (eds.): Inclusion - End of the structured school system? . Institute for Quality Development Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (IQMV): Inclusion, Volume 3. Second Inclusion Congress MV * Documentation . 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Karl-Heinz Eser: Learning disabilities, the disability “at second glance” - or: Are (young) people with learning disabilities disabled at all? In: Vocational Rehabilitation , 19 (4). 2005, pp. 131-153.
2. ^ Karl-Heinz Eser: Learning disabilities in the mirror of the ICF - systemic view and definition . In: "Promote learning". Issue 2/2015, p. 7.
3. ↑ Michael F. Schuntermann: Disability and Rehabilitation: The Concepts of the WHO and German Social Law ( Memento of July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). The new special school. Vol. 44, 1999. H. 5, pp. 342-363
4. ↑ BSG of March 15, 1997, quoted in: R. Großmann et al .: GK-SchwbG. Luchterhand: Neuwied, Berlin, Kriftel 1992, § 3, Item 19 (reference in the online reference to Schuntermann)
5. ↑ Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS): Participation report of the federal government on the living conditions of people with disabilities . Berlin, August 2013. p. 390.
6. ↑ Kultusministerkonferenz: Announcement of the KMK - Recommendations on the funding priority learning. Decision of the Conference of Ministers of Education of October 1, 1999
7. ↑ Horst Baier: Public opinion and social change / Public Opinion and Social Change . Westdeutscher Verlag , Opladen 1982, ISBN 978-3-531-11533-7 .
8. ↑ Federal Working Group of Integration Offices and Main Welfare Services (BIH): BIH Annual Report 2013/2014. Münster 2014.
9. ^ Andreas Gold: Learning difficulties. Causes, diagnosis and intervention . June 13, 2014, p. 7
10. ↑ H. Remschmidt: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: A Practical Introduction. 6th edition. Thieme, Stuttgart 2011, p. 112.
11. ↑ ICD-10 2007. Search engine for diagnoses, diagnosis codes and diagnosis keys, link to the page about slight intellectual disabilities ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Hans Weiß: learning disabilities. ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The family handbook of the State Institute for Early Childhood Education (IFP). 
13. ^ Franz-Josef Sauer: SGB ​​III § 19 Disabled people / 2.4 learning disabilities . haufe.de
14. ↑ Rudolf C. Zelfel: The use of the term learning disabilities in the context of vocational rehabilitation, ICIDH-2 of the WHO and SGB IX. P. 4.
15. ↑ Dieter Katzenbach, Joachim Schroeder: “Being able to be different without fear”. About inclusion and its feasibility. In: Journal for Inclusion. Issue 1, 2007.
16. ↑ Framework for action for inclusion ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Union of Education and Science 
17. ↑ Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture: Inclusive School in Lower Saxony. Information for parents and schoolchildren . Hanover July 2012
18. ↑ Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Equality: State government presents the first Inclusion Action Plan for Lower Saxony . January 26, 2017, with a link to the action plan
19. ↑ Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture: Special School and Support Center
20. ↑ Philologists Association of Lower Saxony: Philologists Association warns against the dissolution of special schools - many parents of disabled children want to receive special schools - red-green should say goodbye to the dogma of total inclusion . 2nd July 2014
21. ↑ "E&W. Education and Science Lower Saxony "(Ed .: GEW Lower Saxony). Edition of September 20, 2017, p. 11
22. ↑ Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU): Coalition agreement between the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Landesverband Niedersachsen and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Lower Saxony for the 18th electoral period of the Lower Saxony State Parliament 2017 to 2022 . 2017, lines 525-529
23. ↑ Kuhlenkampschule Minden: The Kuhlenkampschule - today - and tomorrow too?
24. ↑ Do you find the concept of inclusion in schools useful? . Cologne city gazette . 17th April 2017
25. ↑ State government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Strategy of the state government to implement inclusion in the education system in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by 2023 . May 2016, p. 12 (point 1.3)
26. ↑ Eferding Center for Inclusive and Special Education: Questions about SpF
27. ↑ Austrian Council for Disabled People : People with Disabilities in Austria: Facts and Figures ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 2008 
28. ↑ Ewald Feyerer: National Education Report Austria 2009 (Volume 2). A4: Quality in special education: Framework conditions for improved upbringing, education and instruction of pupils with special educational needs ( memento of the original from August 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Federal Institute for Educational Research, Innovation & Development of the Austrian School System (bifie). Salzburg 2009 
29. ↑ Guidelines for differentiation and control measures in connection with the determination of special educational needs (SEN). BMB-36.153 / 0096-I / 1a / 2016. Vienna 2016
30. ↑ Legal basis. Internet platform on the subject of integration and school (accessed on July 22, 2017)
31. ↑ Section 5: Special provisions for the cantons. (Art. 20) Federal Act on the Elimination of Disadvantages for People with Disabilities (Disability Equality Act, BehiG) of December 13, 2002 (as of January 1, 2017)
32. ↑ Intercantonal agreement on cooperation in the field of special education by the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Education Directors of October 25, 2007 (at edudoc.ch)
33. ↑ Information & support. Internet platform on the subject of integration and school (accessed on July 22, 2017)
34. ↑ Michael Eckhart, Urs Haeberlin et al .: Long-term effects of school integration. An empirical study on the importance of integration experiences during school days for the social and professional situation. Bern 2011 ( summary short text online at hf.uni-koeln.de by Brigitte Schumann)
35. ↑ Interest group integration and school: Legal basis , accessed on July 22, 2017
36. ↑ Schulamt Principality of Liechtenstein: Support measures in the Liechtenstein education system. Overall concept . Vaduz, August 9, 2012, p. 16
37. ↑ Schulamt Principality of Liechtenstein: Support measures in the Liechtenstein education system. Overall concept . Vaduz, August 9, 2012, p. 9
38. ↑ Wilfried Marxer / Silvia Simon: On the social situation of people with disabilities . Liechtenstein Institute. December 2007, p. 39f.
39. ↑ Autonomous Province of Bolzano-South Tyrol: "A school for everyone and everyone - Una scuola per tutti e per ciascuno"
40. ^ Edith Brugger-Paggi: The introduction of the unified middle school . March 6, 2013
41. ↑ Ministerial Decree No. 5669 of July 12, 2011
42. ^ Ministry of the German-speaking Community of Belgium: Teaching and training in the German-speaking community of Belgium . Eupen. November 2008, p. 44 (45)
43. ^ City of Eupen: elementary schools

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !