The Child Essay Example for Free

The Child Essay The Social Model of disability came about through the disability movement and other organisation campaigning for equal rights, opportunities and choices for disabled people. The social model of disability recognises that any problem of disability are created by society and its institution and that The Discrimination Acts are tools to help to improve the response of society to disability, also a wheel chair user is not hampered by their disability but by lack of adequate access to buildings. The social model may impact upon our practise as we would provide inclusive environments as a starting point for all children. The Scope website stated ‘The social model of disability says that disability is caused by the way society is organised, rather than by a person’s impairment or difference’. The medical model of disability views a disability as the problem also that disability is a tragic incurable fact that leaves the suffer with little chance of a normal life, people should be cared for in institutions and may not be able to be independent. If practitioners follow the medical model of disability this might impact upon our practise by viewing children with a disability as not being able to do anything the other children can do. The medical approach stresses the importance of curing and nowadays preventing disability as though disability is in some ways a tragedy. This has now resulted in screening in pregnancy so that parents can find out if their child is going to have a disability. E2). The legal requirements that support the actions to be taken when it is considered a child may have special needs. The government want to reform the Special Educational Needs (SEN) system to address problems which include parents having to battle to get the support their child needs also children falling between the gaps in services or having to undergo multiple tests, the government are going to by 2014 they are going to include parents in the assessments and give the parents control of funding for the support their child needs. With parents getting the money they might not know where to spend it as they might not have had the money before to spend, with the parents getting the money they have a greater choice of schools that they can send their child to and gives parents and the community groups the power to set up special free schools. The guardian states ‘More than one in five children in England are identified as having SEN – 21% of the school population in January 2010. Only 2. 7% have statements. More than half of the pupils, 11. 4%, are in the school action category. ’ To help children that have learning needs but not necessarily a special educational need we will work with SEN specialists as we develop the reading progress check for six years old to help identify children who require additional support. E3 + C ). The different types of provision available to support children with special needs and their families a voluntary organisation like Barnardo’s where staff just volunteer to work there to help children and their families, they have to find their own way to get money because the government don’t help with any money, they have charities and donations of people to run the business they might also ask for a pound or two for some groups they do to help with the funding. We believe we can bring out the best in every child whether the issue is child poverty, sexual exploitation, disability and domestic violence. † Barnardo’s set up groups for children and parents to go to, so they can talk and so the children can play with each other. Staffs help and support the children and their families. A statuary would be a school this is where children can have one to one support often a special needs or learning support assistant, theses only work alongside the children in the early years settings, through mainstream school parents and families will get support from social services and also get help with respite care, so the children can go for the weekend and have fun and play there this is gives the parents and families a rest as with some children it can be 24 hour every day. By the children going to respite care the children go there so the parents no their child is safe as it can be hard and distressing leaving their child somewhere else. Adults working with SEN children spend the majority of their time supporting that child however sometimes it’s the practitioners that needs the support. The role of the practitioners can be hard work and isn’t taken lightly, the practitioner needs support from other people around them to help promote their confidence and provide the correct provision for the children. A helpful support to practitioners could be the charity Mencap. Mencap work in partnership with people with a learning disability and all our services support people to live life as they choose. E5). One common condition is Dyslexia. It may be possible to detect symptoms of dyslexia before a child starts school. Possible symptoms include: * delayed speech development in comparison with other children of the same age * speech problems, such as not being able to pronounce long words properly and jumbling up phrases – for example, saying helicopter instead of helicopter, or beddy tear instead of teddy bear * problems expressing themselves using spoken language, such as being unable to remember the right word to use, or putting together sentences together incorrectly * little understanding or appreciation of rhyming words, such as the cat sat on the mat, or nursery rhymes * difficulty with, or little interest in, learning letters of the alphabet You can get Dyslexia from family history and genetics, children can get one to one support with spelling and writing and vocabulary, Dyslexia has effects on development with verbal memory, language and concentration. Dyslexic pupils benefit from early intervention to prevent slipping behind their peers. Where specialist support is offered at a lat e age, learning is less effective and self-esteem and emotional well-being may be considerably undermined. Dyslexic pupils will need individual support which is differentiated from that offered to low achieving pupils, addressing the very different learning style of the dyslexic brain, if pupils are to make significant progress. Ideally this should be offered by staff with some training in supporting dyslexic children. In some cases, one-to-one tuition from a specialist dyslexia teacher may be necessary. Practitioners support children within the setting the Class teachers need to have an understanding of the problems that the dyslexic child may have within the classroom situation. Hopefully, with this knowledge, a great deal of misunderstanding of a childs behaviour can be prevented. In a positive and encouraging environment, a dyslexic child will experience the feeling of success and self-value. Another professional that will help children with dyslexia is a one to one tuition from a specialist dyslexia teacher. E6). Ways to overcome barriers to achievement for children with special needs by having adapting the environment and the building this might mean putting a ramp down so the children can get in to the building it might also mean moving the classroom around so children with a walker or a wheelchair can get round the class room, it is also important to adapt activities in order to provide children with the opportunities to learn and feel successful. All children need to experience success in order to maintain motivation and promote a positive self-esteem. This means practitioners need to think about planned activities and consider their suitability for each individual. As practitioners we need to consider how best to adapt the activity in order for the child to have opportunities to learn and feel successful, this may mean changing the format to make it more or less challenging or using a different approach or media. Sometimes equipment and resources need to be modified in order that children can successfully use them, in some cases it is possible to make simple adaptations for example buttons on dressing up clothes may be substituted for Velcro. We also need to get parents involved in planning so we know how we can meet the child’s needs and also so the parents know how the child is getting on in school. An invisible barrier is teachers saying the child can’t do and activity because of their disability and the teachers not changing the lessons for the children, really practitioners should change the activity for each child’s learning needs so that all children are included in each activity and no one is left out of any activities done in the setting, each setting should have an inclusion policy in the setting which means practitioners have to follow the policy to include all the children in the activity, if they don’t they aren’t giving all the children the same chances as everyone else. All practitioners should encourage all children to join in activities together; an example of this could be getting other children to read to a child that has a visual impairment. E7). The role of the practitioner in maintaining the privacy and dignity of children in situations where intimate personal care such as toileting, practitioners would take the child out the room away from the other children and have another member of staff with us, also so making sure practitioners are following policies and procedures like telling other practitioners that you are toileting. As practitioners we need to make sure that we are getting the right training to support the children when toileting. It is important for practitioners to ask parents how we can meet the child’s needs are best met, and maintain privacy and respect of the child, one of the keys for practitioners is to be organised with pads, underwear and toiletries are ready, self-esteem is linked to independence this means that even in tiny ways it is important to support the children to help the child do as much as they can. Children with SEN often take medication. Practitioners will need to uphold knowledge pm the medication so they should research what they are providing to the child, if there could be any side effects what could happen? Communication should take place with the parent or carer to make sure when they should be taking it and if the practitioners will need appropriate training in order to safe guard the child and practitioner. Parents will need to give written consent as to what the practitioner is giving to the child. E8). One professional who supports the needs of children with special needs and their families is a Speech Therapist they are concerned with all aspects of communication, they assess children’s hearing, speech, language, check the mouth and tongue movement, they prepare individual programmes and exercises for children to help them acquire language. Speech therapists either work in the community, hospital clinics or schools; they also help children with cleft lip/palate, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment and stammer. Terms used is assessing speech impairment are fluency, Dysfluency, stutter/stammer, Avoidance behaviour. Signs to watch for and seek advice on birth to 3 months is mother not communicating with the baby or if the child is seriously ill, or having feeding problems. A child 3 to 6 months is silent most of the time and eye contact is not developing. A child 6 to 9 months does not respond to play, vocal and non-vocal and no consistent response to noise, a child 9 to 12 months not trying to communicate and not responding to single words and simple commands, a child 12 to 15 months unable to give a toy to a adult on request. Exercises that may help the children develop could be tongue exercises, blowing bubbles, different lip shapes, making noises with toys and adapting songs. Another professional who supports the eeds of children with special needs and their families is a Community Nurse in some areas community nurses visit schools and settings to help provide advice and support, they may undertake general health and work with parents or they may work with particular children and their famil ies. The Every Child Matters programme is a major focus on early year’s centres. The community nurse may assess the children with epilepsy, mental health and behavioural problems. The http://dera. ioe. ac. uk stated ‘Currently, few local community children’s nursing (CCN) services are able to meet the needs of all ill and disabled children and young people, who have been divided into four groups. These are: †¢ Children with acute and short-term conditions; †¢ Children with long-term conditions; Children with disabilities and complex conditions, including those requiring Continuing care and neonates; and †¢ Children with life-limiting and life-threatening illness, including those requiring Palliative and end-of-life care. ’ D). The importance of a sensitive, non-judgemental approach when working with children with special needs and their families, this is linked right through my assignment talking about that no two children are the same, each child have their own personality and interests and this requires that practitioners are sensitive and reflective. Observing children and thinking about their responses is therefore useful especially where a child’s communications skills are limited. As practitioners we see it as it’s important that many children with special needs are educated alongside their peers, many parents and families have a fight to get equal access to education for the child. As not all schools might have the support that the child may need and to government funding they may not be able to afford it. B). The benefits of an inclusive approach for the child with special needs, the concepts of inclusive education emphasis on schools and settings to adapt and be flexible enough to accommodate each and every child. Organisations seeking inclusive practice also point out the importance of significant funding as poor resources, both physical and human are often barriers to inclusive education. Inclusive education enables all students to participate fully in any mainstream schools, colleges or university it also has training and resources aimed at fostering every student’s equality and participation in all aspects of the life of the learning community, inclusive education aims to equip all people with the skills needed to build inclusive communities. Inclusive education is based on principles: * A person’s worth is independent of their abilities or achievements * Every human being able to feel and think * Every human being has a right to communicate and be heard * All humans beings need each other * Diversity brings strengths to all living system. If children with special needs are to take their place in society after school then, it is important for a school to be truly inclusive, and ending discrimination, removing barriers as talked about in E6, and welcoming and valuing all children. Local education authorities are required to educate children with special needs subject to parents’ wishes, I think it is important that if parents want their child to go in mainstream school they have the chance to go, and learn with other children. A). It is important that different professionals work together to help children and their families as they are there to help and support the child and the family. Multi-agency teams work together to provide benefits for children, young people and families because they receive tailor-made support in the most efficient way. The Education. gov website stated† Multi-agency working brings together practitioners from different sectors and professions to provide an integrated way of working to support children, young people and families†. The benefits of this include early identification and intervention, easier or quicker access to services or expertise, improved achievement in education and better engagement in education, better support for parents, children, young people and family’s needs addressed more appropriately, better quality services, reduced need for more specialist services. The teams work together to help the child meet their needs. A multi-professional approach is important because all the professionals need to work together to help the child and their family for example a child might have a speech impairment the professionals like the practitioner, health visitor and the speech therapist will all work together to help and support the child and the family all the professionals will have a meeting once a month if not more often. t is important for all the professionals to work together for the safety of the child and their family, if they dont work together a situation could end up like baby p, baby p died because professionals didnt work together and have regular meetings and communication. All the professionals need to work together so they know everything about the child and their family and the child and family are getting on and what professionals are working with the family. A multi-agency team helps a team of professionals that work together to support children and their families. A multi-agency team use the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) this supports children and young people who have a low level of additional needs. A multi-agency team will help professionals from relevant agencies to work together to assess the child or young person and therefore support development and learning appropriately. A multi-agency team need to have regular meetings to keep up with all the information; they also need to respect everyone’s views in the team as some people might have different views and opinions. The team of professionals need to have patience as there will be a lot of people in the team with questions to ask. They also need good communication with other members of the team, the children, the parents and the teacher. Good communications mean having emails, letters and information passed on correctly and on time. It also helps being well organised, also making sure they have a right date and time for a meeting.