Romy, 12, had always had great difficulty at school. Until she could use a calculator and spell checker in class. His life was changed. But the mother of this sixth-grade student has had a shock in the last few days: she was told that her daughter would not be allowed to use these tools for the ministerial end-of-year exams.
“Without these tools, my daughter cannot succeed. It’s like asking a myopic person to take a driving test without glasses,” says Marie-Élaine Chénier, the girl’s mother.
Without these tools, my daughter cannot succeed. It’s like asking a nearsighted person to pass a driving test without glasses.
After dealing with her daughter’s teacher, her school principal, the Center de services scolaire Marie-Victorin, the Ministère de l’Éducation et du To have tothis mother from Saint-Lambert, on the South Shore, learned good news on Friday: Romy will finally be able to use her calculator and the Word software autocorrector for her ministerial exams.
School workers initially believed that the calculator and the Word self-corrector were prohibited for sixth-grade exams, even though the teacher allowed Romy to use these tools during the school year, explains Marie-Élaine Chénier . After verification, they concluded that their use is possible, except for the test on mathematical reasoning, which requires mental calculation.
Marie-Élaine Chénier is relieved. But she deplores the relentless fight that she and thousands of parents of students with special needs must lead to allow their children to succeed in school. The rules governing the “accommodation measures” for the examinations of pupils in difficulty are complex: they are detailed in a 15-page long document.
These rules are also unknown. Every teacher, every principal and every parent seems to interpret them in their own way. “Every year it starts again. You have to explain to the teachers that my daughter has an intervention plan and fight to get accommodations. I hope it won’t be the same Way of the Cross in high school,” says the mother of two elementary-aged children.
A rebirth
Marie-Élaine Chénier points out that her daughter’s teacher, the school principal and the school service center are doing a good job. Romy needs special support: she is dyslexic (difficulty reading), dysorthographic (difficulty writing) and dyscalculic (difficulty counting), in addition to having an attention deficit. All this is confirmed by a diagnosis obtained at high cost in a private clinic.
The girl is smart, on-trend and quick-witted. A neurological disorder simply prevents him from learning like other children. However, she understands all the reasoning that leads to the resolution of problems in mathematics, explains her mother.
“Thanks to the calculator and the Word autocorrector, Romy feels able for the first time, in sixth grade, to succeed in school. I discovered a new little girl that I had not known before: she is gaining autonomy, she is gaining self-confidence, and there, boom! We wanted to take all that away from him for the ministry exams, ”laments Marie-Élaine Chénier.
Give students a chance
The rules of the Ministry of Education provide for the establishment of “accommodation measures” for students with disabilities or social maladjustments or learning difficulties (ADHD). For ministry exams, certain measures are automatically authorized: accompanying person to support a student with physical difficulty, for example to help him turn the pages; adapted furniture; use of a reading device or magnifying glass; use of noise-canceling shell, timer, anti-stress tools.
Other forms of assistance must be included in the intervention plan for each student in difficulty, set up by the school team and the parents: additional time to take the exam, isolated room with supervision, breaks, tools assistance with reading or writing (including spell checker), and many others… These measures vary according to the school levels and the subjects that are the subject of an examination.
“As part of the ministerial test of 6and year in mathematics, the calculator is authorized only for the part of the test which evaluates the resolution of a problem situation”, specifies Bryan St-Louis, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education.
The calculator “cannot however be authorized for the parts of the test which assess mathematical reasoning, [car] part of the test involves mental calculation. Consequently, the calculator would carry out in the student’s place the processes targeted by the ministerial evaluation”.
Parents on the lookout
Parents of students with special needs must arm themselves with patience, deplores Annie Goudreau, HDAA student services advisor at the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec. Her two high school boys are diagnosed with learning disabilities.
“Parents have to repeat their children’s needs every year and fight for services,” she says. Many also know little about the rights of their children. We do training sessions attended by 100 or 200 parents who don’t know what an intervention plan is. »
Difficult, under these conditions, to demand that we include in an intervention plan that the child has the right to a calculator or a spell checker…
Annie Goudreau also notes that the school environment remains reluctant to allow the use of a calculator to students who are unable to do calculations because of a neurological disorder. “Some still think it’s unfair compared to other students. However, everyone finds it normal, with good reason, that a person with a physical handicap has a wheelchair. »