Accompanying the families of children with disabilities, is it an option for EAP?

Abstract

The article defines the characteristics of what could be a good form of support for families with sons or daughters with disabilities, and then analyses the possibilities and competences of the Psychopedagogical Counseling Teams (EAP) to carry them out effectively enough. It is based on a study by DINCAT (Intellectual Disability of Catalonia), carried out in 2010 which describes the reality of families of people with disabilities and which outlines a series of proposals in order to provide them with a better quality of life. Then the key moments in the schooling of students with special educational needs derived from disabilities are reviewed, to describe the possible intervention of the EAP in each situation.

To conclude it is highlighted that the EAP could be a point of reference for families throughout schooling if their working conditions could guarantee the time necessary for the supportive processes. In each case, emphasis is placed on the need to consider the family as the most relevant place for making decisions that affect their sons and daughters both at primary and secondary school. Finally, a proposal is made to the professionals and to the administration itself so that, thirty years later, they could rethink the functions of the teams.