This page gathers the evidence on which MENTHORAI is based, cited in full and attributed to the country and population it refers to. And it states, just as clearly, what the available data do not allow us to claim.
Longitudinal studies from Northern Europe, which follow whole cohorts of students from adolescence into adulthood, reach a result that shapes all our work: reading and mathematics difficulties predict delays in graduating and a risk of dropping out, but when academic achievement along the way is taken into account, the direct effect of the difficulty is significantly reduced.
In plain words: it is not only the neurobiological trait itself that pushes students out of school. It is the accumulation of failures, punitive assessments and support that comes late or not at all. Chronic stress and disengagement do the rest.
This is why MENTHORAI is not a tool for emergencies but for everyday study: interrupting the sequence, one afternoon at a time, on their study material.
Data from the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) for school year 2022/2023, covering students in the last three years of primary school and in lower and upper secondary school with a certification under Law 170/2010. In 2010/2011 the share was 0.9%.
In the same school year: 49,418 certified students in primary school, 112,210 in lower secondary school, 192,941 in upper secondary school. Recognition grows exactly where the study load increases sharply.
MIM open data show a higher incidence of grade repetition among students with specific learning disorders in the first two years of upper secondary school, particularly in technical and vocational institutes.
According to the ANVUR-CNUDD survey, around twenty thousand students with specific learning disorders are enrolled at Italian universities, but only 64% of candidates with these disorders pass the selective admission tests: timed standardised tests penalise precisely the characteristics of the disorder, not preparation.
An absence that must be stated: in Italy there is no official statistic measuring early school leaving among students with specific learning disorders. The national dropout registry is not cross-referenced with certification under Law 170/2010. This is why you will not find an Italian "dropout rate" for these students on this page: no one has one.
The longitudinal studies by Hakkarainen, Holopainen and Savolainen, on cohorts followed from the end of compulsory education to five years later, show that reading difficulties predict delays in graduating, and mathematics difficulties a direct risk of dropping out and of moving into inactivity. In a follow-up of 1,476 students, however, when intermediate academic achievement is controlled for, the direct effect of the deficit is significantly reduced: the path through school weighs on the outcome at least as much as the diagnosis.
In the population cohort followed by McLaughlin, Speirs and Shenassa for about thirty years (1,344 people), a reading difficulty identified at age seven is associated with significantly lower chances of reaching higher levels of education and income in adulthood, with education mediating the effect on income. It is an association, not a destiny, and it is mediated precisely by the path through school.
The systematic review by de Beer and colleagues (33 studies) documents that dyslexia can continue to affect working life in adulthood, and that accommodations, assistive technology and study strategies are the decisive moderators. In a National Center for Learning Disabilities survey of over 1,300 young adults in the United States, 54% report difficulty finding a job because of their learning disability, and 48% keeping one.
In federal IDEA data, among students aged 14–21 in the Specific Learning Disability category who left special education services and school in school year 2022/23, 82.4% earned a regular diploma and 13.3% were classified as dropouts. Ten years earlier the same shares were 70.8% and 18.1%: where school careers are monitored and supported, the trajectory improves.
The Department of Education warns that these measures are not comparable with rates for the general population, and the US category does not coincide with the Italian definition of specific learning disorders: we report them for what they are, without deriving ratios from them.
In communication about specific learning disorders, figures circulate that do not stand up to scrutiny, and we choose not to use them.
If a figure we use is superseded by a more recent survey, we update it. Reports are welcome: info@menthorai.ai.
Protocol 6 and the BLIP method, proprietary methodologies deposited with SIAE, the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, turn this evidence into daily practice: breaking topics down into micro-steps, one concept at a time; checking understanding at every step; rephrasing instead of judging; memory anchors to support working memory; the concept map as the outcome of the path. Development is supported by the clinical collaboration of Centro Phare Psychè and the scientific advice of Dr Barbara Letteri; the company is a member of the European Dyslexia Association.
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