‘Specific Learning Disorders no more!’ is the motto behind the acronym of LEAD! Project, whose goal is to help students with specific learning difficulties (SLDs) to fully express their potential at school.  The SLDs include dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysortography and dyscalculia and students suffering from these difficulties are more likely to be left behind by traditional learning methods, quite often, leading them to drop out of school.

LEAD! Project has tackled this problem developing the online platform ‘MY SKILLS’, presented at the international conference on ‘Achieving inclusive and learner-centred schools’. The event took place on Wednesday 9^th December 2022 in Brussels. Themes of the panel centred around the importance of inclusive education and inclusive communities, as well as the need for evidence-based good practices for inclusive education.

Many experts gave their contribution to the interactive panel, including Rachel Vaughan, EASPD Head of Operations. In her speech, she highlighted the importance of embracing everyone’s diversity when it comes to learning needs and skills, since every student is unique. She also pointed out the growing importance of technology in our society, stressing the need to provide all students with appropriate skills and to validate competencies of students with specific educational needs. As Rachel singled out, supporting students with different learning needs means delivering higher standard of education for all and, most importantly, ‘putting our societies on the right path to inclusion at all stages of life.’  

‘MY SKILLS’ platform is designed to provide students with SLDs with compensatory tools for reading, writing, and doing calculations. It encourages the use of information and communication tools as well, allowing teachers to access students’ progresses. At the end of one’s journey on the platform, students can also receive the European license on the use of compensatory instruments. Thanks to this platform, students will not only learn adaptive learning methodologies, but they will also gain competencies that will make them finally able to lead an autonomous scholastic life.