Thinking diagnosis in developmental age: A psychoanalytic method in interventions targeted at families with children diagnosed in the learning area

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in diagnoses related to school-related skills, the so-called Specific Learning Disorders, affecting children and adolescents. This phenomenon has a significant impact on social coexistence, as it involves families, schools, and healthcare services, which are constantly reorganizing to address the issue. This contribution aims to focus attention on the interventions carried out by services and professionals in this regard, particularly reflecting on the role of psychological-clinical intervention. Given the neuropsychological nature of this diagnostic category, psychologists are often called upon to engage in assessment, certification, and rehabilitative treatment activities. At the same time, families with children diagnosed in the learning domain are increasingly turning to professionals such as learning tutors, a role often performed by psychologists, seeking assistance in managing home study and establishing collaboration with the school. It will be argued that these families’ demand is to give voice to the emotions they experience in the diagnosis process and how these emotions reorganize relationships within the family itself and with the child’s educational environment. It will be proposed that psychology can address these questions through a psychoanalytic model that focuses not on behavior correction but on the development of the relationship between the individual and the context.