Symptom Therapy
Symptom therapy starts with the individual symptoms of a child and attempts to improve them with the help of various measures. Just as individual as the symptoms appear in a particular case, such a form of therapy must be specially designed and targeted to provide support where help and support is needed. As a rule, pure symptom therapy is a form of therapy that attempts to improve a child’s reading and spelling skills through targeted exercises and systematic approaches. In our opinion, however, it should be taken into account that the therapy of the symptoms does not only degenerate into more additional exercises, which additionally challenge and possibly humiliate the children by further experiences of failure. Targeted and individually adapted, symptom and cause therapy do not necessarily have to be in total contrast to each other, but rather a symptom therapy can also include the areas of perception.
Further therapy procedures
In the case of a central disturbance of the processing of what is heard (hearing processing disorder), further alternative forms of therapy are offered. The sound therapy according to Tomatis, Volf or Johanson is an example.
- Hearing training according to the Tomatis Method
- Sound therapy according to Volf
- Therapy according to Johanson
The school can provide essential information on individual therapy.
Due to the daily contact and the numerous observations of the learning (starting) situation, a typology of errors is possible independent of the test results, so that an evaluation of the individual changes could be easily implemented.However, individual support at school is problematic because many children within a class usually need individual support. The 2003 resolution of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (= conference in which all ministers of education and cultural affairs of the individual German states participate) considers the diagnosis, counseling and support of children with problems in the area of Hesse to be a new decree regarding the compensation of disadvantages for students with special difficulties in the education of children with special needs. Even though we consider therapy and support in school to be very appropriate and sensible, it is clear to us that a larger number of support hours would have to be targeted so that such individual support can be put on a solid basis.
The costs of the extracurricular therapy and support of individual learning problems are usually borne by the parents, in some cases an application can be made to the youth welfare office for the costs of therapy to be covered. From a purely legal point of view this is the so-called “integration assistance”, which is regulated according to §35a SBG VIII. The decision is made individually (individual case decision) after receipt of the entry for integration assistance.
An extracurricular therapy and support can be especially advisable if psychological and emotional problems arise in the child due to the experiences of failure at school (lack of self-esteem, self-doubt, school frustration, fear of school). Usually these problems are certified by the treating pediatrician. The individual case decision of the Youth Welfare Office usually also implies a conversation with the class teacher of the class, in which the school support is discussed and analyzed.
If it becomes apparent that school support alone is not sufficient due to the severity of dyslexia, an out-of-school therapy can be prescribed. If this is the case, the Youth Welfare Office will cover the therapy costs regardless of the parents’ income. ATTENTION: As a rule, however, a therapy must take place with a therapist recognized by the youth welfare office!
Furthermore, it seems reasonable that extracurricular therapy and school therapy are in harmony with each other. In our opinion, a contact between school and therapist should be possible at regular intervals! In our opinion, the problem of an extracurricular therapy and support lies hidden in the following points:
- How do I find a well structured promotion?
- How can it be guaranteed that the therapy and support is based on the school’s learning content?
- Does it also support forms of teaching and learning that are used in schools?
- Does the extracurricular support offer consultation and contact with the school in order to work as holistically as possible in the interest of the child and in line with the learning content of the school?
- How does the extracurricular support guarantee a constantly new orientation towards the individual problems of my child (evaluation)?
- Does the extracurricular support also support the learning of learning strategies (HOW? am I learning correctly?) or is it solely and uniquely oriented towards additional practice of problem areas (in the sense of tutoring)?
- Does the extracurricular therapy also address the psyche of my child or do I need further therapeutic measures to help my child as sustainably as possible (occupational therapy; psychotherapeutic measures; building up self-confidence)
