Istituto Comprensivo Statale CAERANO SAN MARCO

1. Istituto Comprensivo Statale CAERANO SAN MARCO Ve.La.H Project In our school

2. The advantages of the project • Sharing information and experiences with foreign colleagues • Knowing different school systems and laws concerning education • Organizing motivating lessons • Involving the students actively • Improving the ability to communicate in English also through courses supported by the project • Improving the ability to use information technology • Cooperating in new contexts

3. Istituto Comprensivo Statale CAERANO SAN MARCO SCHOOL INTEGRATION Of Disabled Students

4. Human Resources of School Integration Classmates All Class Teachers Support Teacher Headmaster Disabled student Family Medical Assistant Paediatric Neuropsychiatrics Medical Equipe School Auxiliary Staff

5. “Handicap” certification is released by the neuro- psychiatrist or psychologist of the State Health Unit, on request of the family (often after indication of the school). A student with any kind of “handicap”, has full right to education and school integration, until 18 years of age ( law N.° 104 of 1992); “Special schools” do not exist, but there are specialized centres for the most severe of cases. The Ministry assigns a support teacher for every 1.90 disabled students. The teacher’s timetable is the following : 25 hours in nursery schools (from 3 to 6 years old) 24 hours in primary schools (from 6 to 11 years old) 18 hours in secondary schools (from 11 to 19 years old) The average attendance timetable of a student is : 35 hours in nursery schools (from 3 to 6 years old) 32 hours in primary schools (from 6 to 11 years old) 32 hours in secondary schools (from 11 to 19 years old) On average, a disabled student is given about 10 hours of individualized teaching for integration, which correspond to about a third of the attendance timetable. The amount of hours is assigned by the school headmaster dividing the available support teachers for all the disabled students, on the basis of their “functional diagnosis” (medical certification). For example in the Istituto Comprensivo of Caerano there are:9 suppot teachers for 18 disabled students: 3 support teachers have only 1 student each; 3 support teachers have 2 students each; 3 support teachers have 3 students each. For the severely disabled students the Local Authorities assign an assistant who looks after the student’s autonomy when a support teacher is not present, and can cover the entire timetable. For particular situations and temporary needs , the school auxiliary staff may be involved in the care of a disabled student. General Data of State School Organization in Italy

6. June Medical disability certification Neuro psychiatric report Socio-medical equipe September-October 1° Meeting at school School-family-psychologists- physical therapists Actions to promote integration during the school year October-November DRAFT INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATIONAL PLAN( P.E.I) CLASS TEACHERS+ SUPPORT TEACHER January and May P.E.I. ASSESSMENT Teachers + Parents + Socio-Medical Equipe Attending the meetings organized by the Local Network for Integration Applying the Territorial Integration Centre for courses and information

7. Material Resources of Integration

8. Students with disabilities in the primary school

9. Students with disabilities in the secondary school

10. QUALITY OF SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN THE ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO OF CAERANO DI SAN MARCO IN OUR SCHOOL, INTEGRATION OF DISABLED STUDENTS IS GUARANTEED IN KEEPING WITH THE LAWS ( L.104/93) AND INVOLVING ALL THE CLASS TEACHERS AND SUPPORT TEACHERS IN THE EDUCATIONAL AND DIDACTIC PROCESS OF THE STUDENT. INTEGRATION IS BASED ON THE FOLLOWING RULES AND METHODS: • The general aims of the School Educational Plan apply for all the students. • It is possible to draw up siplified aims and contents for disabled students on the basis of the medical report and the meeetings with the socio-medical equipe. • Disabled students spend as many hours as possible in the classroom and take part in all the activities organized by the school. • The support teacher collaborates with the other teachers and coordinates the phases of integration Besides, full integration is promoted by a series of strategies, including group work, open classes, individualized activities, multimedia and interactive technology and strategies to develop communicative abilities. Compulsory and optional labs are a valid support to integration, developing both verbal and non-verbal languages and giving many opportunities to socialize in mixed groups. The following list include some labs attented by disabled students in both primary and secondary school this year

11. Practical–expressive labs at the primary school 2005-06

13. Practical–expressive labs at the secondary school 2005-06

15. For effective integration… The limits: • School staff and families think that the support teachers’ timetable do not meet the requirements • There are just a few specialized support teachers (about half of them) therefore the vacancies are filled by temporary teachers who do not know the teaching strategies for disabled students • Temporary techers have a fixed term contract for a year, so it is difficult to guarantee didactic continuity • Italian schools do not have a psycologist , therefore it is necessary to collaborate with the psycologists of the Local Health Unit, who attend three one-hour meetings at most, every school year • Private schools very rarely have support teachers, so all disabled students attend state schools • Financial resources for the educational and technical devices are limited : in the last ten years each student has been assigned 50 euros at most