The team examination of learning disorders of school children

Abstract

This paper describes a method for the examination of learning disorders. The examination of a child and his parents is carried out simultaneously by a team including a social worker, a psychiatrist, a specialized educator in remedial teaching, a psychologist and a neurologist. Each specialist examines the child alone but observes the examinations by other team members through a one-way mirror. This procedure favours a more unified and refined comprehensive diagnosis while permitting the use of more specific examination techniques and tests whose limitations can be immediately compensated and complemented by the other team members. Each professional discipline develops means of elucidating more and more definite aspects of the studied learning disorders. Patients can thus obtain more complete services in a single visit to the hospital. In most cases, this examination is sufficient to permit immediate recommendations to the child and his parents for precise and practical therapeutic measures. Also extremely valuable is the enrichment each professional team member derives through observing the work of his co-workers. Repeated confrontation of working methods refines observation skills, widens scientific perspectives, increases mutual understanding and respect, and gives everyone a deeper knowledge of his own specialization.