This Thursday, May 16, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal chaired an interministerial disability committee (CIH) during which he made several announcements concerning support for children with disabilities at school. What do the associations think? TipsForWomens interviewed Florent Chapel, president of Autisme Info Services.
Gabriel Attal is tackling the next school year for students with disabilities starting in May. The Prime Minister made several announcements, including that of “education support centers” for better support for these students with special needs.
Four departments will test the measure, before its generalization
The Prime Minister thus announced the implementation of new measures to allow schools to more quickly implement adapted aid for disabled students.
Deployed from the next school year, these measures will first be put in place in only four departments: Aisne, Côte-d'Or, Eure-et-Loir and Var. These centers will be made up of a reference teacher and a specialist educator.
Different missions for education support centers
These two National Education staff will be responsible for different missions: being the point of contact for families, but also providing support for teachers in charge of these students with disabilities.
For the latter too, the two members of the education support centers will be able to allocate adapted equipment, trigger interventions by medico-social professionals, or possibly contact the departmental center for disabled people if necessary. The government ultimately plans, in 2027, to create 3,000 throughout France.
At the same time, the profession of supporting students with disabilities (AESH) should be better recognized. Indeed, Gabriel Attal wishes to ask the Ministers of National Education and People with Disabilities to think about how this profession, which employs 140,000 people, could be upgraded.
“Any initiative is good to take and if it is carried out well, it can work”
Questioned by TipsForWomens, Florent Chapel, president of the Autisme Info Service association, welcomes this initiative. “I would like to remind you that the 2005 law advocates the inclusion of children with disabilities in school” he emphasizes. “It has existed for almost twenty years and we see that on a national scale, large disparities persist..
For the president of Autisme Info Service, children with specific needs always develop better alongside typical children, so we need to think about systems that work. “Any initiative is a good one to take: if it is carried out well, with the necessary personnel and means, it can succeed and continue.“. Before reminding that school is necessary for children with disabilities and “that the more these children are integrated into society, the less they cost it“.
