Early identification of any health problems that may affect learning is essential for the success of the school career of young children.
In addition to the lowering of the compulsory education age, structures a health course for all children aged 0 to 6 by providing for the organization of medical visits at key points in schooling. at primary school.
An organized visit to the school for all children aged 3 to 4 years
The law provides for a medical examination for all children between 3 and 4 years old, at the start of nursery school. This visit, organized at the school, aims to screen for neurodevelopmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, but also sensory, height-weight, psycho-affective, and other health disorders. Carrying out this visit to the school allows health professionals to understand the child’s school context and teachers to adapt it as best as possible if necessary.
Article 13 (which will come into force at the start of the 2020 school year) defines the concrete modalities of this visit by providing for better complementarity between all health actors between 0 and 6 years old in order to guarantee 100% coverage of pupils.
The organized visit to the school for children aged 5 to 6
The law also provides for a visit during the sixth year, that is to say between 5 and 6 years old, in order to secure entry into elementary school learning. This spotting could relate to disturbances in attention, coordination, vision, growth, communication, a bad association between written signs and sounds. Health professionals also pay attention to the prevention of mistreatment.
It is not necessary that all children in this age group be seen, without obviously excluding that all children can be accompanied or followed by a health professional at all times. On the other hand, it is essential that those who actually need it benefit from a visit by a doctor. It is about taking into account all the children, without them all needing an in-depth examination.
What changes with the law
Fourth-year visit
It is essential that all children can benefit from this visit at this crucial age at school, unless the parents provide a certificate from a general practitioner or a liberal pediatrician certifying that the examination has been carried out.
The law provides important details on the organizational modalities of this visit, to guarantee its effective realization. Indeed, this visit, mentioned in article L. 2112-2 of the public health code, is already one of the missions of maternal and child protection (PMI). The law reaffirms and strengthens this competence by giving the departmental services of PMI the primary responsibility for carrying out these visits for all pupils in this age group. If these departmental services encounter difficulties in carrying them out on their own in certain schools, the health professionals of the national education system will intervene on a complimentary basis, within the framework of departmental agreements for the organization of services.
Sixth-year visit
The correct identification of students requiring a visit by a doctor will be based, in conjunction with the families, on reinforced coordination between the national education doctor and other health professionals (nurses from the national education system, PMI, doctors general practitioners, pediatricians, etc.) and the entire educational team, including teachers, psychologists and social service assistants for students. The doctor will determine, after studying the elements of the child’s health path, those he will see during an in-depth visit.
