Nella letteratura scientifica vi è abbondanza di ricerche sui disturbi specifici dell'apprendimento e l'impatto che hanno sulle famiglie, così come sono nutriti gli studi che indagano le ripercussioni sui bambini delle crisi tra genitori. Mancano, invece, ricerche che mettano in correlazione difficoltà di apprendimento e crisi familiari, che chiariscano cioè quali siano i riflessi di conflitti coniugali, separazioni e divorzi sulle difficoltà scolastiche dei figli. Questo articolo, pur nella sua brevità, si propone un'esplorazione di tale ambito di indagine.

Abstract

This article analyses the correlation between certain problems that are generally dealt with separately: in fact, there is no lack of studies concerning specific learning disabilities and difficulties families encounter when dealing with these situations, nor of studies concerning the family crisis and the inevitable repercussions of these crises on children. What is missing in scientific literature are studies that correlate learning disabilities and family crises (marital conflict, separation, divorce, etc.). Actually, studies that explore the quantitative incidence (in percentage terms) of the "family crisis" phenomenon on pupils/students with learning disorders or, academic difficulties, in general, are rare. This article, although brief, is breaking new ground in an attempt to explore the issues on the subject.

Introduction

As part of the Masters course of the University of Verona on Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)[1], a survey was conducted on a sample of 894 students from schools of the Verona province in order to identify those who had special educational needs due to learning disorders and/or disabilities and/or academic difficulties (the number identified is 90) and, among these, the percentage of separated or divorced families. Although within the limit of the sampling done, the measured value corresponds to approximately 28.8%. Knowing that this figure is an extremely relative value, it is however a good starting point for dealing with the topic of this paper.
According to the data collected by the Italian Statistics Institute[2] in 2011, in Italy, there were 88,797 separations and 53,806 divorces (the figure was substantially stable compared to the previous year). The phenomena of separations and divorces is continuously on the increase. In 1995 for every 1,000 marriages, there were 158 separations and 80 divorces; in 2011 there were 311 separations and 182 divorces. With reference to the subject of this paper, it is reported that 72% of separations and 62.7% of divorces involved couples with children. This means that the vast majority of families facing separation or divorce are made up of couples with children, mostly minors and students, among which there are certainly pupils with SLD (according to our mini survey).

What are the problems faced by families that have children with SLD?

The first part of this paper will be dedicated to the exploration of problems faced by families who have a son/daughter with SLD. Research shows that when a son/daughter has learning problems, the entire family is generally in crisis and the resilience of the family system is put to the test, especially because the learning disorder is usually expressed as an unexpected event with a considerable impact on the family's stability and life [3]. The family crisis can occur due to various factors, in particular, owing to the complex issues that a son/daughter with SLD may have. Some of these are particularly difficult to manage for the parents and, in general, for the adults who are responsible for the education of those with a SLD. This refers mainly to learned helplessness, anxiety problems, attention problems and/or hyperactivity, which are, on an average, more frequently present in subjects with reading difficulties and disorders than in the general population [4]. In most cases, says Brooks, children with learning disabilities develop feelings of low self-esteem, lack of competence and pessimism about their future life, which in most cases, leads to an attitude of renunciation in the face of difficulties, avoidance of tasks, propensity to blame others and to turn into bullies or clown in class[5]. Academic and social stress that the child with SLD experiences in relationships with peers, teachers and family, are sometimes the cause of feelings of alienation that can lead the dyslexic child to often become restless, unsociable, aggressive, "difficult"[6].

What is particularly difficult for parents of children with SLD and can be particularly challenging in a problematic family context is the care and management of emotional processes. This is why there is high risk of subjects with learning disabilities developing a certain emotional fragility during adolescence[7]. The presence of stable, safe affective references beside them is essential to avoid risk of their developing low confidence in their ability and lack of their sense of self efficacy, usually caused by the natural tendency to develop attributive styles impractical to learning[8]. In such a complex situation it becomes difficult for the family to avoid setbacks which are stronger when the internal settings are more fragile. The first symptom of the crisis can express itself in the form of closure to the outside, in an extreme attempt to focus all resources internally. However, unfortunately, instead of making the task easier, closure makes the course of acceptance and processing of his/her difficulties more complicated and difficult for the son/daughter with SLD: "Anxieties, demoralization and inappropriate defence mechanisms increase, actually worsening the child's quality of present life and the future"[9]. Moreover, instead of increasing the sense of self-efficacy of the parents, the closure adds to the anxiety which, if not contained, may cause a certain coldness or reluctance towards intervention and treatment programs in the parental couple[10].

What happens when the family is in crisis?

We have seen how the situation of the issues related to the presence of SLD in a son/daughter, a brief outline of which is given in the previous section, generates anxiety in the parents and closure reactions that may prevent or impair the activation of internal or external resources. Management and taking charge of the education of a son/daughter with SLD can be difficult because of the special difficulties caused by the disorder, as well as because of problems affecting the resilience of the couple.
At this point certain problems and further reflection emerge, first: what happens in cases where the family is already fragile or weakened because of a separation/divorce or because there is only one parent? In such cases, is the management of a son/daughter with SLD still a sustainable task for the family? Moreover, insofar as it is known that the ways in which the family reacts to the difficulties presented by a son/daughter with SLD influence (positively or negatively) the evolution of the disorder, what happens when the resources for trying to tackle the situation positively are lacking in a family already suffering from the strain of a separation/divorce? Finally, in as much as the learning disabilities develop on a neurological basis, it is known that the evolution of the disorder and its actual impact on the functioning of the subject depend on personal and environmental factors: in particular, coping, attributive styles and emotionality of the subject are influenced by the «family atmosphere». But when a family context is characterised as hostile, unstable, what is the impact on the evolution of the SLD?

Answering these questions raised is not easy, also because there are no targeted studies on the subject[11]. It is however possible to sketch out some hypotheses.
As observed by Bowlby, parenting consists in "providing a secure base from which a child or an adolescent can start facing the outside world and to which the child can return safe in the knowledge that he/she will be welcomed, nurtured physically and emotionally, comforted if sad and reassured if frightened"[12]. When there is no "secure base" in a child with SLD, it is easier for their already fragile emotional structures to suffer the greater damage. According to this hypothesis, the impact on the evolution of the SLD in the event of a family crisis would be the weakening of emotional processes, which act as the reinforcement to the learning process.

As observed by Silvia Vegetti Finzi, the emotional life of children is sorely tested by the process of separation of the parents. There are always emotional repercussions[13]. And that these repercussions affect the learning processes is proved by the findings of Patrick F. Fagan and Aaron Churchill[14] regarding the relationship between parental separation and the educational achievement of the sons/daughters. According to what has been reported by them[15], at the secondary school level, the children of strong families have significantly better results than their peers, children of divorced parents. At age 13, for example, there is an average difference of half a year in the reading skills between the children of divorced parents and those from stable families. Children of divorced couples have a 26% greater probability of dropping out of secondary school compared to children raised in stable families.
The difference found in the academic performance between children of separated couples and children of couples living together refers to emotional variables. In particular, it is the emotional experiences of the parents that influence the emotional experiences of their children. As observed by Emery, children live the crisis situations of their parents on the rebound and their feelings largely reflect those of the adults themselves[16].

What has been observed so far induces us to reconstruct a further response hypothesis to the questions raised above, i.e.: a family crisis has a negative influence on the evolution of a SLD to the extent that the "family atmosphere" is conflicted. This is because a critical and confrontational divorce threatens to cause the family situation to collapse, pushing to the backseat the important needs of the child who is left to his/her own mercy without any point of reference, incapable of growing, learning and dealing with the usual and unusual difficulties of life, because the parent is sunk in his own tragedy[17]. It is not the separation (or the divorce) of the parents itself that has a negative influence on the evolution of the SLD, in as much as the level of conflict within the parental couple because of the harmful effects on the already fragile emotional structure of the sons/daughters with SLD.

Marital discord is also seen as the main cause of the discomfort experienced by the sons/daughters[18]. In a state of distress, children experience feelings of insecurity and fragility, which may lead to problematic behaviour[19], which may be social, emotional and behavioural[20]. Problems that seemed to have been overcome may also be reactivated, such as resumption or persistence of enuresis, tics, stuttering, anxiety and psychosomatic manifestations, relational problems[21]. Yet another hypothesis emerges from these additional notes: the family crisis may act as the cause of negative evolution of SLD, just as the way the reactive behaviour of the son/daughter with LD in response to the family crisis situation may be transformed into the cause of the family breakdown, especially when deviant behaviours develop due to distress caused by family discord.

What can be done to support a family in a crisis, with a son/daughter suffering from LD?

Studies show that the communication of the diagnosis of disability to the parents is a very delicate phase of the construction of the therapeutic alliance[22]. This phase is also decisive as regards communication of the SLD diagnosis to the family. The moment of communication of the diagnosis must be handled very carefully, especially in order to avoid the development of attitudes which can fuel anxiety and closure[23]. The Associazione Italiana Dislessica (Italian Dyslexics Association) dedicates a great deal of attention to this issue[24] because it is necessary to devote attention to the family right from the moment the family is informed of the diagnosis. It is particularly important to establish right from the outset a therapeutic alliance with the professional and the team that made the diagnosis and which will follow the therapeutic support course. All this in order to increase the level of family resilience[25].

Based on the indications of the AID (Associazione Italiana Dislessica / Italian Dyslexics Association) to increase the level of family resilience it is necessary: to help the family accept the diagnosis, improve and increase perseverance, overcoming the discouragement that comes from the frustrations they have undergone, find within the family a shared agreement regarding "what is to be done", prepare a narrative of the child's story with a positive look at his/her future, cultivate a positive relationship with the school, encourage the emergence of a social network.

What is decisive is to help parents avoid feeling guilty, and not blame anyone else for their son's/daughter's disability. In fact, there will be important consequences for the course of evolution of the disorder in the son/daughter depending on the capacity/willingness of parents to develop an attitude of understanding and acceptance. This is because the family becomes a resource if it manages to put itself in the shoes of the son/daughter, understand the perspectives, recognising emotions, desires, intentions[26]. Making it clear to the parents that their attitudes towards the son's/daughter's disability can have important consequences for the evolution of the disorder is the core of the course of family support. As Scott points out, the problems of children with learning disabilities will be reduced if they are supported by encouraging, confident parents with expectations of success[27].

Following the identification of the possible forms of support of the family, another core of crucial importance is the alliance between the family and the school. A study carried out on a sample of dyslexic children and youngsters who had received good support from family and teachers shows how anxiety symptoms appear only and exclusively during the time dedicated to reading, but do not actually evolve into a real anxiety condition[28]. The alliance between school and family not only reduces the risk of developing an anxiety disorder, but generates a sort of large container that acts as a functional educational scaffolding[29] for the process of scholastic inclusion of the child with SLD. To this end it is moreover essential that the approach of the family and school to the child's problems are as homogeneous as possible[30].

Conclusions

Law 170/2010 has drawn the attention of the Italian public to the existence of learning disabilities SLD. This is a process of emergence of a phenomenon which, despite the great effort and the value of researchers, still has characteristics and variables that require further detailed analyses and investigation. In this paper we have referred to the problem of family relationships, especially issues related to family resilience. It seems trivial to mention it but, like other problems concerning childhood and the developmental age, including issues related to the development of a SLD the characteristics of parenting are decisive as regards positive outcomes. Much as the endogenous origin of SLD is known, the environment seems to make a difference (positive and negative).

The cultural and theoretical background against which the problems analysed in this article are set can only be traced back to an approach to the question that refers to a scientific paradigm capable of accounting for issues related to the neurological evolution of the disorder, as well as the connections between biological variables and personal variables and related to these. In fact, the process according to which an impairment or a deficiency, as well as a disorder or a disease, are expressed in the form of a living condition, always refers to a system of causes/conditions. The ICF[31] is a valuable guide for describing and understanding the functioning of this system, as well as for modifying it to restore in subjects the conditions for their optimum functioning, by acting both on persons and on their living environment.

Note
1. Master di I Livello in Didattica e psicopedagogia per i Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento, Università degli Studi di Verona. Direttore scientifico: prof. Angelo Lascioli.
2. http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/91133
3. Bernabei P., Mazzoncini B., Levi G., "Disturbi dell'apprendimento e disturbi psicopatologici", in Cornoldi C. (a cura di), I disturbi dell'apprendimento. Aspetti psicologici e neuropsicologici, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1991.
4. Gagliano A., Germanò E., Calarese T., Magazù A., Grosso R., Siracusano R.M., Cedro C. "Le comorbilità nella dislessia: studio di un campione di soggetti in età evolutiva con disturbo di lettura", in Dislessia, 1, 2007, pp. 27-45.
5. Brooks R.B., "Fostering motivation, hope and resilience in children with learning disorders", in Annals of Dyslexia, 61, 2001, pp. 9-10.
6. Wenz-Gross M., Siperstein G.N., "Students with learning problems at risk in middle school: Stress, social support and adjustment, in Exceptional children, 65, 1998, pp. 91-100.
7. Svetaz M.V., Ireland M., Blum R., "Adolescents with learning disabilities: Risk and protective factors associated with emotional well-being: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health", in The Journal of Adolescent Health, 27, 2000, pp. 340-348.
8. Vio C., Tressoldi P. E., Il trattamento dei disturbi dell'apprendimento scolastico, Centro Studi Erikson, Trento, 1998.
9. Mugnaini D., Dislessia e qualità della vita, Libri Liberi, Firenze, 2008, p. 13.
10. Ruggerini C., Lambruschi F., Trebeschi V., Landini A., "Disturbi specifici di apprendimento e legami affettivi", in Lambruschi F. (a cura di), Psicologia cognitiva dell'età evolutiva, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2004.
11. I did not find publications that deal specifically these topics.
12. Bowlby J., Una base sicura. Applicazioni cliniche della teoria dell'attaccamento, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano, 1989, p. 10.
13. Vegetti Finzi S., Quando i genitori si separano. Le emozioni dei figli, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano, 2005.
14. Fagan P. F., Churchill A., "The Effects of Divorce on Children", Marriage and Religion Research Institute, Washington, January 11, 2012.
15. I dati sono reperibili al seguente indirizzo Internet http://www.thefamilywatch.org/doc/doc-0283-es.pdf
16. Emery R. E., La verità sui figli e il divorzio. Gestire le emozioni per crescere insieme, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2008.
17. Berto F., Scalari P., Fili spezzati. Aiutare genitori in crisi, separati e divorziati, Edizioni La Meridiana, Molfetta, 2006.
18. Fragasso V., "L'altra faccia della disgregazione coniugale: i figli divisi", in Quadrio Aristarchi A., Venini L. (a cura di), Genitori e figli nelle famiglie in crisi, Giuffrè Editore, Milano, 1992.
19. Milani L., "Famiglie tra normalità, disagio e devianza adolescenziale", In La famiglia, bimestrale di problemi familiari, Anno 2008, n. 243, pp. 45-55.
20. Hess R., Camara K., "Post divorce family relationship as mediating factors in the consequences of divorce for children", in Journal of social issues, n. 35, pp. 79-96.
21. Gallo Barbisio C., Il bambino diviso: la prevenzione del danno da alta conflittualità familiare, Tirrenia Stampatori, Torino, 1994.
22. Quine L., Rutter D. R., "First Diagnosis of Severe Mental and Physical Disability: A Study of Doctor–Parent Communication", in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1994, vol. 35, n. 7, pp. 1273-1287.
23. Cornia M.C., "La famiglia di fronte alla diagnosi di dislessia: dubbi, desideri e possibilità", in AID, Milano, 2005. L'articolo è reperibile sul sito dell'Associazione Italiana Dislessia all'indirizzo: http://www.dislessia.it/atti/milano2005/Cornia.pdf.
24. Si veda Cosa significa avere un figlio dislessico: consigli per i genitori, in: http://www.aiditalia.org/upload/consiglixgenitori.pdf
25. Walsh F., Resilienza familiare, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano, 2008.
26. Vianello R., Difficoltà di apprendimento, situazioni di handicap, integrazione, Junior, Bergamo, 1999.
27. Scott S., Dyslexia and counselling, Whurr Publisher, London, 2004.
28. Tsovili T.D., "The relationship between language teacher's attitudes and the state-trait anxiety of adolescents with dyslexia", in Journal of Research in Reading, 27, 2004, p. 68.
29. Gibbons P., Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning, Heinemann, Portsmouth 2002
30. De Grandis C., La dislessia. Interventi della scuola e della famiglia, Edizioni Erickson, Trento, 2007, p. 25.
31. World Health Organization, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), Geneva, Switzerland, 2001.

copyright © Educare.it - Anno XIV, N. 12, Dicembre 2014

DOI: 10.4440/201412/lascioli