Certain “dys” disorders are very well known – such as dyslexia – others are little known, such as dysphasia or dyscalculia. Dys disorders affect 7 million people in France. They represent a major challenge to our educational and medical institutions, because the future of hundreds of thousands of children depends on the quality of their care. They are even a challenge for our entire society, because unequal access to this care is an attack on the principle of equal opportunity, one of the foundations of our social contract.
This challenge – let’s face it – is considerable. First of all, “dys” disorders are difficult to diagnose and people who suffer from them often combine several of them. The risk of a “diagnostic wandering” that can last for years is very real, with dramatic consequences, especially for children: academic failure, loss of self-esteem, etc.
The therapeutic component is just as complex. The management of specific language and learning disorders calls on multiple skills (pediatric medicine, child psychiatry, speech therapy, psychomotricity, occupational therapy, psychology, neuropsychology, etc.) to which it is not always possible to resort: depending on the territories, depending on whether or not the consultations are covered by social security or mutual insurance companies and, of course, depending on the level of experience and knowledge of the practitioners.
A plan to coordinate efforts
Just as France has taken up the subject of autism spectrum disorders through multi-year strategic plans, families of “dys” children are entitled to expect a coordinated response from the public authorities today. of the same magnitude.
This answer will, of course, have to be that of the means. More means for health professionals and particularly those who are directly confronted with the distress of parents: speech therapists and general practitioners.
Additional resources are also expected in favor of existing systems such as special education and home care services (Sessad), multidisciplinary and mobile teams which are still too few in number and which intervene in particular in schools.
Particular attention must be paid to training, particularly for medical, psychological and educational centers to support them in their transformation efforts. Finally, of course, the reference centers, which bring together skills in order to detect and take charge of complex cases, but which are currently saturated.
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