DYSPRAXIATHECA, Digital library for dyspraxic education Erasmus Project

Project Title

DYSPRAXIATHECA, Digital library for dyspraxic education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Disabilities – special needs; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

Dyspraxia is a hidden handicap that affects around 6% of European students. It impacts on 4 major activities in schools: reading, writing, arithmetic and organization. The general awareness of public authorities and educative world is getting better since few years but access to adapted resources, interoperable and connected to the scholarship curriculum, is still a critical need for the concerned individuals.

For this reason, we gathered 6 public and private organizations from five different European countries (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Belgium) to create the first European platform with educational material for Dyspraxic students.

DYSPRAXIATHECA intends to bring practical solutions and tools for pupils, teachers and relatives to enhance the rate of success of the dyspraxic pupils and, in a long-term view, enhancing their access and integration to higher education and labor market, and therefore, boost their self-development.

We focus on pupils between 6 to 15 years old and their responsible teachers. Indeed, it is the age range where dyspraxia is usually detected and the needs become crucial.

More specifically, educators, parents and pupils can have access to:
• 50 Model lessons, on various subjects of both primary and secondary level
• 50 Pedagogical Sheets with guidelines to parents and teachers to improve the schooling of dyspraxic pupils
• A database of more than 100 interactive exercises in writing, reading, organization and calculus
• A library of more than 500 classics with a layout adapted to dyspraxic disorders containing literature extracts and whole books which are included in the National Curriculum of both levels of Education (Primary and Secondary).

All these resources are the outcomes of the cooperation of special educators, specialists in learning difficulties and experts in new technologies and can be at anyone’s disposal solely by registering for free in the user friendly platform Dyspraxiatheca selecting the language of their preference.
The tool developed during the program for converting PDF or Word documents into adapted and accessible EPUB is kept available for any individuals / organisations willing to add additional ebooks, upon request and after the signature of the project’s charter.

Dyspraxiatheca gathered 25 external contributors.Their contribution has been in the production of content, its evaluation and dissemination. They also contribute to the sustainability and dissemination of the project after European funding.

Each organization actively communicated in these networks by targeting mainly professionals in the educational (teachers) and paramedical (speech-language pathologist) fields, relays such as libraries and publishers.
In quantifiable results, Dyspraxiatheca has reached at least 38,375 people directly in two years (more than 3000 users registered on the platform, 375 people gathered at dissemination events, more than 15,000 people reached by Facebook, more than 20,000 European professionals contacted by newsletter…). The resources of the project have been already downloaded more than 17,000 times.
Participation in fairs and press articles (more than 20) have made it possible to extend these impacts.

In terms of intangible results, this project has raised awareness of dyspraxia within the partnership itself. Participants discovered the use of new digital tools in their professional practice. Dyspraxiatheca was also an opportunity to experiment with new teaching methods and the adaptation of documents in a school setting.

Outside the partnership, Dyspraxiatheca has made it possible to communicate widely with stakeholders, organisations and individuals in the school and editorial world in order to raise awareness of the situation of dyspraxic students within the school.
Through the tools developed during the program and made available on the platform, we hope to have contributed to a better understanding of dyspraxia and how to support it for parents and professionals.

Different development paths were noted during the implementation of the project and during exchanges with associated partners and feedback from evaluations.
A long work of dissemination and awareness raising remains to be done at European level on dyspraxia. The development of the project in other European languages would be a first step. Feedbacks highlighted the lack of resources for the youngest (less than 6) or the oldest (more than 16). The other regular feedback from parental and professional assessments was the development of a similar platform on another disorder such as dyslexia or dyscalculia…

The development of Dyspraxiatheca and future collaborations between some partners and associated partners are already under consideration.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 287930 Eur

Project Coordinator

Les Apprimeurs & Country: FR

Project Partners

• SCS LogoPsyCom
• FONDAZIONE HALLGARTEN-FRANCHETTI CENTRO STUDI VILLA MONTESCA
• EDULOG
• DIEYFTHYNSI DEYTEROVATHMIAS EKPAIDEYSIS N. KARDITSAS
• MUNICIPIO DE LOUSADA