SEN - Special Educational Needs

Do you worry about your loved one's academic progress, social or communication issues, or emotional or behavioral health? It’s okay to feel this way. Many parents do.

There are steps you can take. The first is to work with the school/College to see if your loved one would benefit from special education services.

Special education gives students with special needs a chance to get an education in a way that helps them do their best in school. Before a school/College can agree to place your loved one in special education, the school must make sure that your loved one qualifies for services and that special education would be helpful to them.

Given that research has suggested that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators being positive about it, a survey was undertaken into the attitudes of student teachers toward the inclusion of people with special needs in the Mainstream school/College. The sample was comprised of 135 students who were completing their teacher training courses at a university School of Education.

The analysis revealed that the respondents held positive attitudes toward the general concept of inclusion but their perceived competence dropped significantly according to the severity of pupil's needs as identified by the UK “Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs”. Moreover, people with emotional and behavioral difficulties were seen as potentially causing more concern and stress than those with other types of special needs.

Finally, the survey raised issues about the breadth and quality of initial teacher training in the UK. Nevertheless, the recommendations provided at the end of this paper regarding teacher training are applicable beyond the UK context.

Special Needs Teenagers Afraid To Dream

As children grow, it’s only natural for parents to dream of the day they become full-fledged adults, capable of making their own decisions, paying their own bills, and deciding where to live and work.

When you’re raising special needs teens, however, that dream can take very different forms. For us, the dreams are less often about personal achievement than a quest for simple independence:

• If we invest in that private tutor, negotiate the right IEP, nag and push until we are blue … can he get him to squeak by enough of his classes to get a diploma?
• Can she really live with her friend in an apartment, or is she going to need a group home and a guardian?
• If he gets a certificate of completion, what jobs can he get after graduation?

Disability Facts

• It costs on average twice as much to raise a child with a severe impairment as a non-disabled child. The main areas of additional expenditure are transport, toiletries, bedding, food, replacing damaged household items, special toys and equipment.
  
• Disabled children and their families suffer from social exclusion often as a result of a combination of linked problems, including poverty, segregation, discrimination and inadequate provision of support services.
  
• Of all families in the UK who care for disabled children, 30% either are or have been living in poverty. A fifth of families with disabled children are also reported to be living in cold, damp housing in poor repair.