The prevalence of pupils with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) in Italy
Carlo Di Pietrantonj, Enrico Ghidoni
How many children with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are there in Italy? Epidemiological studies mostly conducted in primary school report prevalence estimates below 5%, while other surveys reveal estimates above 6%. We believe that a better image can be obtained from the SLD certifications that schools send to the Ministry of Education (MIUR). We examined the temporal and geographical distribution of SLD certifications, divided by region and school level from 2010/2011 to 2018/2019. In the 2018/19 school year, the prevalence of certified students was 4.9%, however this value hides both the heterogeneity among school levels and among regions. Prevalence appears higher in lower secondary school (5.9%), slightly lower in upper secondary school (5.3%), while it is more contained in primary school (3.1%). For 2018/2019 there is a prevalence rate for the North West of 7.3%, for the North East a rate of 5.7%, 5.9% for Central Italy, and finally, for Southern Italy the rate is 2.5%. Analysis of the last year available and the trend of the last 9 years suggest that a plausible estimate is closer to 10% (~ 3-4 pupils in every 2 classes), than to 5% (one pupil per class) and also suggest that there is still a large underestimation, especially in the southern regions, which is, however, difficult to quantify. The causes of the increase in prevalence and the heterogeneities found are under discussion.
Keywords
Learning Disabilities, Prevalence, Epidemiology, Trend.
