SaratonyT

We are planning our move to the Alicante region in the next couple of years, our eldest child is dyslexic (boy aged 9) and currently received additional help once a week at primary school from a Special Educational Needs teacher (1/2 hour!!!) - does anyone have any experience of how dyslexia is treated in Spanish Schools? Unfortunately, here in the UK, his 1/2 hour per week doesn't really help and he continues to struggle the rest of the time and therefore doesn't particularly enjoy school.

Any help regarding children with special needs would help.

Thanks

snikpoh

Our daughter (9) had dyslexia, but thankfully it's not too bad. She gets regular help from her school in the way of the school 'Psychologist' and a special teacher. We got off to a bad start where our daughter did not feel confortable speaking to him but this has now improved.

Overall, in my experience, they take it more seriously here than in UK. We have been asked to buy several books to help her which she is happily working through.

lynnxa

my 9 year old daughter is also mildly dyslexic (what was going on in 1999!!??). She gets tons of extra help from the psychologist & a special teacher to help her with her reading.

she is taken out of class 4 hours a week - at first it was a lot more, but this is decreasing as she improves - and she is keeping up with the other children in her class for all subjects

at one time she had help from a teacher when reading questions in exams, but she is now simply given a little extra time

correveidile

The Spanish language is much more forgive for dyslexia than English.

lynnxa

I have to say you're right in a sense

written spanish is much more logical & straightforward to read- sound every letter & you won't go far wrong


of course with dyslexia the letters can appear mixed up - or as in my dds case - in short words, the wrong way round, and in longer ones, the middle sometimes seems to go missing completely

but somehow the sheer simplicity of written spanish means that she finds it easier to deal with

poshnbucks

Remember you can lead a normal life when suffering Dyslexia, It is not a disease and its symptoms come in many forms. All the famous people in the pic have moved along whilst being Dyslexic. The link below has a simple test to see if you have symptoms.

http://thedta.tripod.com/id10.html

http://www.howtodothings.com/health-...-children.html

GCM

It maybe depends on the school because a friend of mine had a child with dyslexia and the problem wasn't really understood in the Spanish school he went to and there were problems.

Having said that the teacher went out of her way to help and they were grateful for having that particular teacher because others they had previously were not so understanding.

lynnxa

I'm sure it does

we've moved to almost next door to the port school, but have decided to leave our daughter where she is for exactly that reason

correveidile

This is the root cause of dyslexia. Only 40% of English words have phonetic spelling, in Spanish 100% do. The brain becomes damaged trying to unravel this illogical code. In a system where the written language makes more sense the susceptible may not so readily develop full blown dyslexia. Obviously though, once the damage is done it is like trying to recover from a nervous breakdown.

lynnxa

and this is why it isn't so readily understood & accepted in spain

SaratonyT

Thanks for all the replies. It seems that if anything, things seem more positive in Spain - it certainly is no worse than in the UK where he is in a class of 30 and has his half an hour SEN once a week with 5 other children with different problems!!!!

We are hoping to speak with the Headteacher at the school in Spain in the new year and this information certainly will help.

DXB001

Very interesting reading the posts here - my son is 11 and has mild dyslexia - we are looking to move to the Alicante area and are currently looking to register him and our daughtere in a British School in the area.

Does anyone have any experience of the British Schools in the area??

Thanks

correveidile

What town?

DXB001

We are trying to decide on the school first and then we can work around where we want to live

Have been in contact with British School Alicante / sierra bernia school - any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

arko

Dyslexia occurs in every language and the rates are similar for those languages where the words are written how they are pronounced. Spanish kids have just as many problems- my friend's son comes home crying because the letters on his page seem to be moving and he makes the same mistakes as I saw in children of his age in UK. For a while he got an hour a week with the school's SEN teacher but that has stopped.

I think it depends on the luck you have in finding a good school for your child. The schools in West Kent, where I am from, are fantastic in comparison with the schools where I am now living, here in the Huelva province. Some of the techniques I used with my students in England 3 years ago haven't even arrived here yet (even something as simple as the transparent plastic sheet in different colours that all primary schools have in Kent to make reading easier). Furthermore, all children got extra help with reading and more specialized classes for dyslexic students and this is an area that traditionally gets less spent on education that other parts of the UK.


Here in Spain, I guess it depends where the school is and how interested the teachers (and the parents) are. After experiencing how kids are taught in many countries, I would have no problems sending my children to an English primary school for a world class education.

Good luck, btw