While inclusive education has made progress in recent years, children with disabilities still find themselves without a school solution.
Very painful situations as testified by some parents readers of
20 Minutes.
For lack of accompanying persons for students with disabilities (AESH) or places in the medico-educational institute (IME), children have not been able to return to school and are forced to stay at home, pending a solution.
On September 1, they were deprived of a return.
If in France, 430,000 children with disabilities are educated in ordinary schools in September, and 67,000 in specialized schools, others find themselves without a solution.
A situation recently denounced by the Defender of Rights, who pointed out that 20% of referrals relating to the rights of the child received in 2021 concerned "difficulties in accessing education for children with disabilities".
Unapei, which federates associations specializing in intellectual, cognitive and multiple disabilities, for its part revealed in August that out of 8,000 children it supports, 18% had no schooling hours per week last year. .
Painful impasses experienced by many of our readers with their children.
Some because they do not have an accompanying person for a student with a disability (AESH) on the first day of school, as Sophie says, who responded to our call for witnesses: "My son is 7 years old and the White Sutton syndrome, a rare genetic disorder associated with autism spectrum disorders.
The start of the school year could not be done because his file has still not been processed by the Departmental House for the Disabled (MDPH) and he therefore does not yet benefit from a notification allowing him to be accompanied by an AESH .
Ordinary CP is not suitable without AESH.
The notification will not drop until early October.
In the meantime, I can't put him in school and I can't go to work anymore.
It is there, the reality of the inclusive school”.
“We do not know when he will be able to officially return to school”
Elodie's son is entitled to hours of AESH, but not enough to allow him to return to school.
“My autistic son was supposed to start kindergarten this year, but for lack of AESH, he couldn't, because he needs assistance in all the acts of daily life.
It is not known when he will be able to officially return to school.
Well done inclusion!
“, she says.
André's son, who is 4 years old and suspected of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), could not make his return to middle section either, for lack of support.
“He is entitled to an AESH for 12 hours, but the day before the start of the school year, I received a call from the teacher telling me that his return to school would be postponed the following week, since no one could accompany in class.
And if we don't find AESH for him, my son will continue to do only 40 minutes of school in the morning, like last year.
He has potential, but he is not included enough to develop,” laments his father.
“This is the second return to school that our 17-year-old daughter has not done”
For other children, access to a medical-educational institute (IME) is impossible.
This is the case for Inès, 5 years old: “My daughter has a rare genetic disease and she is more than 80% disabled.
But there is no school possible for her, because there is no place in IME…”, laments Mouaden, her mother.
A distress also expressed by Carole: “This is the second return to school that our 17-year-old daughter has not done.
We made demands right and left.
No place in IME, an extended waiting list, with three, four, eight and even ten years of waiting in some regions!
To cope, I had to stop my professional activity.
These days, it's not easy to live on a salary.
It's also exhausting for our daughter, who is bored by force.
Paul, head of the educational service in a child protection association, also witnessed a dramatic situation: "For the third year in a row, a young person with intellectual disabilities and epilepsy will not be able to go to school, lack of space in the IME”, he laments.
“For 2 months, I no longer believe anything”
Sometimes the impossibility of returning to school is due to a schooling solution that does not suit the child at all.
This is what Guillaume, father of a boy who has DYS disorders and a suspicion of autistic disorder, says: "We gave him a place in a college far too far from home, which is not suitable for his situation.
I appealed, but he still hasn't had a proposal for registration elsewhere.
I wrote to the rector, to the president of the departmental council… I am being told about the allocation of places in a few days… Great if that is true, but for 2 months, I no longer believe anything”, declares t -he.
These obstacles to a return to class have serious consequences for families, as Basile Gonzales, a child psychiatrist in Rouen observes: “The impossibility of finding a suitable place is a daily suffering for our patients.
We know full well that they lose chances of getting better by dint of waiting.
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