Individual Differences and Specific Educational Needs. What is education? What is school for?
Just a year ago, I wouldn’t have imagined experiencing what happened last October 21st: being invited to participate in the III National Congress on “Individual Differences and Specific Educational Needs”, organized by the Asociación TDAH Vallès in Sabadell. The invitation was accompanied by a clear and highly responsible request: to deliver the keynote address, which should also focus on school success and failure.
The responsibility (and delight) was even greater considering the professionals with whom I was destined to share the stage: Dr. Ana Miranda, who came from the University of Valencia to talk about learning difficulties; Chema Lázaro, who thrilled us with dynamics related to neurodidactics in the classroom; Dr. Hans Super, who related cognitive vergence to the diagnosis of ADHD; Dr. Josep Mª Serra and his presentation “numbers that stimulate the brain” on the detection of dyscalculia and its gamified proposal; or, among others, Alberto Ramírez, author of the original idea that led to the creation of díde, who spoke of the need to detect learning difficulties in time , as well as to implement tools such as díde, available to schools, families, and psychopedagogical centers (among many other institutions) and designed precisely for this purpose: to prevent, detect, and manage early a total of 35 learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD, bullying, etc.).
Let’s imagine a world in which equal opportunities for children are real. With early detection, we all contribute to making inclusive education effective. (Alberto Ramírez)
I think that with this congress we all learned, we all grew a little. From all the teachings, I have chosen a few to share here. I think they are all fundamental.
The congress on specific educational needs gave us the opportunity to reflect on school success and failure
(Already from the same presidential address, which captivated the entire audience from the beginning), its limits and its perversions, its causes and its consequences, as well as the need to finally reach a true state pact for education, beyond parties and colors. There we also talked about learning difficulties and how they affect the child’s motivation, about dyslexia and its countless denominations throughout history through very diverse disciplines (medicine, pedagogy, neuroscience). In relation to the difficulties associated with reading and writing, Dr. Ana Miranda pointed out that intervention in the child should always be personalized and comprehensive.
Chema Lázaro made us understand that emotions are at the beginning of every learning process; that all students have the capacity to improve; that labels limit; that children simply have to learn to play with the cards they have been dealt (we, teachers, must help them); that everyone can do it and that the teacher should only get them to want to through motivation, which is nothing more than the fuel of the brain.
Never say, “Can you lend me your attention?” Attention is not lent, but generated. (Chema Lázaro)
In short, the importance of teachers’ perception of their students was evident; the importance of generating surprise in the student, of connecting curricular content with things that interest and motivate the child; the importance of practice, of practical knowledge. Either we use knowledge, or we are doomed to lose it, because what we do not practice, we simply forget.
There are many more teachings in this congress on specific educational needs that I am leaving out of this article due to lack of space. Let’s hope that the next congress comes soon so we can continue sharing knowledge and experiences, continue learning and growing in the best possible way: with emotion and passion for what we do.
