Support for special needs students
The SAISD Center (University Centre for Special Need Students) offers a service of reception, assistance, and integration within the University; it organizes, supports, coordinates, and monitors all initiatives concerning the integration of disabled students in all aspects of university life, enabling attendance at lectures, laboratories, access to libraries, and all university facilities.
It is a project conceived and conducted by SAISD in collaboration with LAMA (Laboratory of Adapted Motor Activities) aimed at disabled individuals who wish to engage in physical activity. Inspired by the principle that personal well-being is necessarily achieved through autonomy, it proposes a structured program of adapted motor activities at different levels of intensity.
Autism spectrum disorders have a prevalence of one person in every hundred; this condition is independent of intelligence quotient and mainly manifests with difficulties in communication and social interaction. Not all individuals with this clinical condition have been recognized as such throughout their lives; often, they receive different psychiatric or psychological diagnoses, or are labeled as strange or eccentric individuals. The living context appears crucial for these individuals, who frequently manage to complete higher education studies due to a restricted and consistent school environment. The entry of these students into the university world introduces uncontrollable variables into their lives, leading to profound discomfort, performance problems, and sometimes even actual psychopathological disturbances. Collaboration between the SAISD Center and the Autism Laboratory of the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences of the University would allow:
- Screening for possible membership in the autism spectrum in all suspicious situations following reports from the students themselves, their classmates, or teachers, or due to the emergence of behavioral problems related to educational activities.
- Formulating a sustainable, individualized project for students who test positive in the above evaluation, intervening both on the individual and on the living and study context.
- Monitoring the progress of this project over time, providing support to the student and/or their teachers when necessary.
The incidence of the number of students diagnosed with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) who enroll at the University of Pavia has significantly increased over the years. These are conditions that require special attention and a certain type of support according to Law 170/2010, but they do not preclude a completely normal educational, academic, and professional path if adequately identified and supported. As part of the expansion of services offered to students, the SAISD Center, in collaboration with Professor Gabriella Bottini, Psychology Section of the Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, intends to provide a reference point for the diagnosis/revision of cognitive disorders in adult students who have turned to the Center. The Project will consist of clinical diagnosis for University students at the University of Pavia and consultancy for the use of compensatory tools, where deemed necessary.
