In Argentina, to cover the rights of children; There is the mandatory medical plan (POM), which covers a maternal and child plan; that together with National Law 24,901 guarantees the right to equality for people with disabilities; covering through prepaid, social works, mutual societies and charitable associations that provide health services; comprehensive treatment: prevention, promotion, assistance and rehabilitation of the person.
In addition to the national disability law, complementary laws to the POM have been enacted for patients with hearing loss and patients with epilepsy; and which we will focus on today, given its recent approval: the law that protects children with dyslexia.
“A conservative estimate indicates that one in 10 students has some disorder that prevents them from learning what the teacher who stands in front of the classroom teaches every day. One of these so-called specific learning difficulties (SLD) is dyslexia, which is attributed first place on the list of causes of school failure. The day before yesterday, Congress approved a bill that guarantees the right of these children and adolescents to education and access to timely diagnosis and treatment.”
A conservative estimate indicates that one in 10 students has some disorder that prevents them from learning what the teacher who stands in front of the classroom teaches every day.
We can define the dyslexia as an alteration in the area of reading and writing; included in the DSM V within the category of neurodevelopmental disorders; in the subcategory of “Specific learning disorder”. The characteristics of this disorder are: slow or imprecise reading with great difficulty, decreased reading comprehension, spelling mistakes, difficulty in written expression, difficulty in numerical understanding and mathematical reasoning. Children who are diagnosed with this disorder may only have some of the characteristics mentioned or may present in countless combinations. It is a requirement for diagnosis that any of these characteristics persist for at least six months (American Psychiatric Association, 2014).
Gustavo Abichacra, president of the Dyslexia and Argentine Family Association (Disfam) :
If you value articles like this, consider supporting us by becoming a Pro subscriber. Subscribers enjoy access to members-only articles, materials, and webinars.
“When they ask me what it means to have dyslexia, I tell them that it is like reading in Portuguese without knowing the language and writing all the time with your left hand when you are right-handed. So, when at school they ask a dyslexic boy or adolescent to hurry up with a task, the effort to comply is very exhausting”
Although today there are many controversies regarding early diagnoses in our country, given that certain psychodynamic currents oppose them, arguing that childhood is pathologized; the correct diagnosis is necessary. Some children who suffer from this learning disorder have been pigeonholed into other types of diagnoses in order to obtain their disability certificate and thus be able to access one hundred percent of their treatment; and many children who were not close to being included in other pathologies have been left out of this benefit.
It’s like reading in Portuguese without knowing the language and writing all the time with your left hand when you are right-handed
Now, thanks to this law, every child who falls within the learning disorder has the priority right to education, giving equal conditions to this right. The comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to this pathology has been declared of national interest; adequate professional training will be encouraged for early detection, diagnosis and treatment; Dissemination will be carried out and access to benefits will be given.
“It is extremely difficult for parents to pay for it and until now it was not covered because it was not considered to belong to the health area. What’s more: many parents with a more limited socioeconomic level find it impossible to access treatment, because there is no psychopedagogical treatment service for these difficulties in hospitals,” said Rufina Pearson, a doctor in Psychopedagogy, who defended the project before the deputies.
To which he added:
Social works “only approve treatment by the Mandatory Medical Plan (PMO) in cases of disability. And these kids don’t have disabilities.”
The DEAs do not differentiate between income or education levels. They are a set of disorders that generate difficulties in reading, writing or speaking, mainly. This affects learning. “It is a genetic difficulty with a neurobiological basis,” Pearson clarified. It is proven by numerous neuroimaging studies that the brain processes information differently than someone without an AED.”
In conclusion, it is an advance in mental health to be interested in neurodevelopmental disorders, effective and quality early care makes a difference in children’s passage through primary and secondary school; providing better intellectual and interpersonal opportunities, reducing situations of stress and discrimination.
Fountain: