Aulnay-sous-Bois (AFP)

They are the first autistic French schooled in a tailor-made device: Mounib, Adam, Rafi, Boubacar, Sanjay and Alioune made their return to Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the teaching staff hope to emulate elsewhere in the territory.

In a row before the sports class, two boys "check" with Leonore. "We have fun with them, they are not like us, but I understand them," says the teenager.

Educated in an outsourced teaching unit (UEE) for the main subjects - French, Math, English ...-, Sanjay and Mounib join a class of 6th "classical" for the courses of EPS and visual arts. On the tatami mats, in recreation or in the canteen, few clues can distinguish them from the "lambda" pupils.

The omnipresence of their companion (AESH), Gracia Martins, is one of them. At the statement of instructions of the teacher of EPS, Sanjay looks lost. "Just show her," she says, pulling off her shoes, before rushing on all fours in the middle of the children, causing a click in the boy, all smiles.

"We have many a priori, we think that they are very intelligent children, or very closed in. But there are many + in the middle +, it is to those that we speak. goal is socialization and autonomy, "says Said Haddouchi, principal of the College Park.

"Very naively, we did not think it was a first in France, we started this project because it met a need, it's not difficult to put in place!", He insists.

Last June, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe recognized the "slowness" of the deployment of UEE that allow children with autism, estimated at 100,000 in France, to benefit from inclusive education. There are now 137 in kindergarten, 26 in elementary and, therefore, one in college.

At Collège du Parc, the success of this first EU rests largely on the shoulders of Caroline Bergé, specialized teacher in charge of these six sixth graders aged 11 to 12 years.

- "Miracle" -

In class, everything is extremely ritualized. "We always have to explain what we do, what we will do," she explains. The teacher, supported by the AESH and an educator, constantly asks her students to maintain contact, sometimes difficult to establish.

"Before, some did not speak, did not write, they made enormous progress, they would not make polytechnicians, but four or five could access a CAP, have a job. know how to take the subway, go shopping without being ripped off, get food, "says this ex-geo-hyper-invested history teacher, who convinced many teachers to take his students into their classes.

Nicolas Roelandt agreed right away. This teacher of EPS decided to treat these particular pre-teens "like the others" and, especially, not to "set a barrier". "In the end, it's not complicated, and everyone leaves class very happy, you just have to feel like it," he concludes.

For Caroline Bergé, this teaching unit is "a gold nugget". "But a nugget is very small There are too few autistic people in care, too many children out of school, too many single mothers at home with their child," laments the teacher.

"Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders have the ability to be in high school, they are sociable, they are in demand, they like it," says Virginie Royer, an educator who follows these students to school and day hospital. . "It makes all the more sense that these are children who can reveal themselves with adolescence: we see a lot of autism come out at age 15".

Since he goes to school, Mounib "has changed 100%," she describes. "Before it was the crises, the tears, the nonsense, now he's calm, he says he's grown up, he feels capable, it's a miracle."

© 2019 AFP