Pathway Companion, an interview with psychologist Giulia Bacchetta
Specialising in ‘Psychology for Well-Being’ at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Giulia Bacchetta chose to do her internship in a private practice dealing with children with special needs, developing an approach that ranges from the management of emotional aspects to the use of learning tools. Today, as a freelancer, she takes care of children, looking after their well-being at school and in the family, also as a tutor.
As part of the Pathway Companion project, Giulia participated in the focus group on 7 October moderated by Lorenzo Antonucci of the Don Gnocchi Foundation together with six colleagues specialising in neurodevelopmental disorders and learning psychopathology. ‘I was contacted by Lorenzo Antonucci to offer my point of view as a DSA tutor. We started with general questions about the tools available and how much the school supports them, then talked about the factors that make tutoring more effective, with a focus on digitalisation’.
Based on her experience, Giulia recognises an increasing level of digitisation in Italian schools, but with significant differences depending on their profile: ‘until a few years ago, public schools, for example, were much further ahead than public schools. There, digitisation was complete and the PC was a universal tool, already widespread among students. In particular, pupils used electronic devices both to do homework and to consult diaries, using the electronic register. The interactive whiteboard was in every classroom, the materials digital. In the public sphere, on the other hand, the level of digitisation varies greatly depending on the individual school's choice. We can define it as a hybrid approach, with the coexistence of analogue (exercise book, diary...) and digital'.
During the focus group, the relationship between digitalisation in the classroom and the adoption of technology for children with special educational needs was addressed. In her daily work, Giulia notes the frequent adoption of digital tools, for example in the use of voice synthesis or the calculator, depending on the specific need. But the heaviest burden is faced by caregivers in the family environment, as was reported in the focus group: for example, children with reading difficulties need an adult to read to them so that they can proceed with their studies and activities. This is not always possible due to a lack of time and resources on the part of the parents. For comprehension disorders, the adult has to simplify and rework the tests to make them usable for the children. This is where it becomes important to propose an instrument that fulfils these needs.
‘The complete integration between available facilities and individual needs is still far away, in the family context there is not such a deep knowledge of the tools,’ Giulia adds. ‘We consider that not everyone can afford adequate tutoring for their children's extracurricular time. Pathway would then be that support to overcome this difficulty. And also from the tutor's point of view, an evolved platform like Pathway Companion can be a continuous source of learning because the tools can change over time and constant professional development is therefore necessary’.
Between those who use artificial intelligence as a mere search engine and those who use it as a substitute for the desk-mate ‘from whom to copy’ the assignment, the need to better educate students in the more critical use of generative AI emerged in the focus group. However, all recognise its usefulness: ‘We need to start from a real understanding of how to use AI effectively. And this also applies to us tutors and caregivers in general. I am thinking of a fundamental use for our age, which is often characterised by very concentrated times. AI becomes a formidable tool that helps to arrive at the result more quickly, but always in a logic of integration and flanking the person, never in a substitute. Also because, in my opinion, AI has not yet reached a degree of maturity that would exclude the final control phase of the answers returned'.
The interaction between colleagues in the focus group was positive and interesting: ‘It was useful to note how the needs of DSA tutors change according to the type of school attended by the children, the special need in question, and the socio-economic level of the family. Talking, for example, about existing tools and those still being studied generated a comparison between professionals that was important for orientation and a broader vision,' Giulia Bacchetta concluded.
Edited by Onelia Onorati, who is in charge of the press office for the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
