Italian language L2 and DSA: A complex identification in-between early diagnosis and multi-disciplinary management

Abstract

Following the promulgation of the Law No. 170/2010—“New rules on specific learning disorders at school”—Italian schools have codified the teaching practice of students according to DSA. This has led to a greater attention towards students’ specific needs and learning, in order to achieve their full inclusion in the training process. Teachers are now called upon to take up an active part in defining the inclusive process, starting with the reporting of suspected cases to Health Services, then to monitor the instructional strategies put in place, in order to obtain the achievement of certain goals. In the past decades a new phenomenon emerged: that of children whose first language
is not Italian, so that Italian as a second language started to be taught for the first time in Italian schools.
This paper scrutinizes the complex and diverse situation of all those students with learning difficulties who do not speak fluent Italian, concerning the possibility they may be a case of DSA. The paucity of research and the absence of codified practices shared between schools and Health Services determines the need to investigate the phenomenon in the light of recent research and to highlight its complexity and specificity. The data show many bilingual children holding non-Italian citizenship are often victims of school failure, thus proving the need for greater dialogue between intercultural
education and special education in order to create ever more inclusive school environments.