Benidorm approves aid worth €173,010 to pay for psycho-pedagogical treatments for minors with special needs

The Benidorm City Council has approved an expense of 173,010 euros to help families in the city who have children with specific needs to pay for the private psycho-pedagogical treatments that these minors receive to mitigate them. The Local Government Board has approved the final resolution of this aid, from which this year a total of 143 boys and girls with learning and/or behavioural difficulties or disorders of various kinds will benefit, as explained by the councillor of Education, Maite Moreno.

The councillor recalled that this helpline is aimed at students registered and enrolled in educational centres in the municipality, of compulsory school age or at younger ages in the case of early stimulation, who have a diagnosis or have a process of diagnosis of learning disorder due to difficulties associated with ADHD, ASD, maturational or cognitive delay or specific learning difficulties (reading, writing, calculation); as well as specific needs related to oral language, behavioural disorders, early stimulation or high intellectual abilities.

Moreno has indicated that with these aids “part of the private treatments that the beneficiaries receive to overcome reading-writing and/or learning difficulties, improve oral language, treat school maladjustment and behavioural disorders are paid for; as well as early stimulation or those aimed at working on high abilities." In some cases, “the students receive a combined treatment,” added the person responsible for Education, who also stressed that “in recent years these aids, as well as the number of beneficiary families, have not stopped growing.

Specifically, "compared to the 98,000 euros granted in 2019, this year's call has been resolved with 173,010 euros and 143 grants, which translates into almost 77% more funds in just five years." The councillor has elaborated that this increase in amounts “is another example of how important it is for this government team to be at the side of families, especially those with more limited resources so that they can access this type of treatment that "They are key to their personal and/or academic development." “We do not want any Benidorm student who has special needs or who needs to treat a disorder to be left behind,” she added.

Regarding the amount of aid that each of the beneficiaries will receive, Maite Moreno explained that “depending on the type of treatment, the amount of aid granted ranges between 95 and 230 euros per month for ten months in duration, except July and August, with a maximum aid of 2,000 euros per student."

The Councilor for Education concluded by indicating that these treatments “are essential for the students, both on a personal and academic level and hence the effort made by the City Council to guarantee, through these aids, that all students who need it can access this psycho-pedagogical aid.”