Domácí vzdělávání – příležitost pro děti se specifickými vzdělávacími potřebami: případová studie žáka s dyslexií1

Abstract

Domácí (individuální) vzdělávání je alternativní formou vzdělávání, kterou český vzdě- lávací systém v současné době umožňuje po celou dobu povinné školní docházky. Domácí vzdělávání poskytuje možnost individualizace vzdělávání tam, kde je to z nejrůznějších důvodů zapotřebí. V tomto příspěvku je čtenářům předložena zkušenost individuálního vzdělávání chlapce se speciálními vzdělávacími potřebami (dyslexie, dysgrafie, dysortografie, nevyhraněná lateralita, specifické poruchy učení) v kombinaci s nadprůměrným IQ. Pozornost je zaměřena na období, v němž probíhal individuálně vedený nácvik čtení a psaní. Příspěvek podrobně popisuje chlapcovy obtíže při osvojování si čtenářské gramotnosti a zvládání psaní a rovněž popisuje metody nácviku, jejichž pomocí ho matka nakonec číst a psát naučila. V návaznosti stručně popisuje chlapcovo studium až po maturitu, přijetí na vysokou školu a nástup do zaměstnání. Kazuistika poukazuje na skutečnost, že domácí vzdělávání může být pro děti se speciálními potřebami velkým přínosem

Home-schooling during the first stage of basic (primary) school) has been possible in the Czech Republic from the school year 1998/1999, initially in the context of experimental testing and then from the 1st of Jan. 2005 as an option for individual fulfillment of compulsory educational requirements. Home-schooling in the second stage of basic education has been possible since the school year 2007/2008 in the context of experimental testing, and has recently become a legal option. Currently in the Czech Republic this al- ternative form of fulfillment of compulsory educational requirements is be- ing used by 1,339 pupils of the first stage (in 2016) and one expert estimate suggests that there are now approximately 300 pupils being home-schooled in the second stage. The numbers of such pupils have grown markedly in recent years, probably because of the development of the on-line support for home-schooling that some primary schools have been offering. The reasons for home-schooling may be classified as ideological and edu- cational. By educational (pedagogical) reasons we mean that the parents choose home-schooling as a way to address educational problems. This ar- ticle describes experience with the individual education of a boy named Adam, who had been diagnosed with special educational needs (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthographia, uncertainty over laterality, specific learning disorders) combined with an above-average IQ. His parents provided the necessary individual approach by choosing home-schooling for him. We followed Adam’s progress in the course of seventeen years (from five to twenty-two years of age). He was home-schooled for the whole first stage of primary schooling (five years). Then he took admission examinations and was accepted into an eight-year gymnasium (grammar school/academic high school with attached “junior years”), where he studied for two years. At his own request he then returned to home-schooling for two years. (The main reason was the fact that he had been happy with home schooling in the first stage and it was at this point that a change in the law made home-schooling possible in the second stage too). Later he went to full high school (middle school), passed his school-leaving exams there and was accepted to study at university. In this article we have focused on the period in which he was learning to read and write, since we consider this the most interesting. The period in which the pupil acquires the basic skills (reading and writing) is determining for future education. If for whatever reason the foundations are not properly laid in this period, a whole series of problems can arise, and not only in the field of education but also in self-conception/image. In the case study we give a detailed account of the boy’s difficulties in acquiring reader literacy and writing. There is a detailed description of the approachused in exercises to practice forming syllables. Adam had not managed to read orform syllables using the classic method in the 1st Form. Using the method that his mother “tailor-made” for him, he learned to form syllables in a few months. It was a major success that he started to read little books in the middle of his third-form year. The article also describes the aids used to support his reading skills. This is followed by an account of techniques for reading practice and above all the elimination of specific mistakes (buzzer, work sheets). Also mentioned is the decision not to teach Adam writing script. One point of interest is the mother’s observation that the boy’s dominant hand changed in the course of his childhood. For the whole period the mother worked with an educational-psychological advice centre and with other experts (logopedic specialist, neurologist). The article gives a brief description of the rest of the boy’s education, up to his school-leaving exams, admission to university and later his first employment. His two-year experience in the first two years of eight-year grammar (middle) school suggest the shortcomings in the Czech schools system and in the pre-gradual training of teachers. The teachers are unwilling to accept that a child can be gifted yet also have learning disorders (Portešová, 2011). Although the mother had negotiated an individual approach and compensation aids (the chance to use a notebook) with the director of the eight-year gymnasium before the start of the school year (all based on an individual plan from the educational-psychological advice centre), most of the teachers at the gymnasium showed no understanding for specific learning problems and were reluctant to allow the student a suitable regime. The pupil became over-burdened: during lessons he tackled the same tasks as his classmates while in breaks the teachers gave him extra training, which they firmly belie- ved constituted that “promised individual approach”. Teachers forbade him, or made it hard for him to write notes in the Notebook (at the time notebooks and tablets were not so commonly used in schools as today). A young teacher of English deserves praise, however, for he was the only one of the teachers to follow the recommendations of the educational-psychological advice centre; he even added to his own training and in the course of the first few months completely changed his approach not only to Adam, but to other pupils with dyslexia, and started to give them truly effective support. The case study demonstrates that home-schooling may be beneficial for children with special needs (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthagraphia, problems of laterality, specific learning disorders) and may give the child a better start in life. At twenty-two, the home-schooled respondent has a positive assessment of his home schooling. He himself would ideally like to hire a home-teacher for his future children.