How many patients serviced by a primary ca-re paediatrician require “special educational needs” at school?

Key words: Screening, Special educational needs, Disability, Specific learning disorders

The Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) has identified three categories of schoolchildren who require special educational needs: children with disabilities, those with specific learning disorders (ASD) and those with social, economic, linguistic or cultural disadvantage. The pupils with the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and “slow learners” (FIL), who have an intelligence quotient (IQ) between 71 and 84, also belong to these classes. The paper reports the calculation of the theoretical number of pupils who required special educational needs among eight hundred patients serviced by a primary care paediatrician: they were forty five, excluding those belonging to the third category of special educational needs (social, economic, linguistic, and cultural disadvantage). A considerable difference in the prevalence of disabilities and disorders resulted from the comparison of the data of these patients with the data of the MIUR.