Special Educational Needs
This Essay aims to discuss the range of special educational needs in mainstream primary schools, analysing appropriate teaching and learning strategies to support learning. Special Educational Needs (SEN) is defined as children with learning difficulties that call for special educational provision to be made for them. Children have a learning difficulty if they have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children the same age and/or have a disability that prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities, provided for children of same age (Department for Education, 2001 pp6).The first modernised provision for children with a disability came with Education (handicapped children) Act 1970. Up until this act, some children were still not considered educable and therefore not entitled to an education. This act entitled all children regardless of disability to an education. The next major reform came with the Education Act in 1981, which was heavily influenced by ideas form the Warnock report 1978. The Warnock report recommended dropping categories of difficulty and applying more focus on the needs of the individual child. It recognised that each child is different and that categorising children when it came to making educational provision for them could be counter-productive and unhelpful (Spooner, 2011 pp8). For example, a child with a hearing aid does not necessary have the same learning difficulties as another child with a hearing aid, as one child could excel in one field and struggle in another and vice versa.
There are a range of SEN’s that fall under four strands; Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD)/Communication and Interaction/Cognition and learning/Sensory and/or Physical. Under Cognition and Learning falls Specific Learning Difficulties and it is these SPLD’s that are common in most mainstream schools i.e. dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia. Most commonly these are difficulties with reading,
There are a range of SEN’s that fall under four strands; Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD)/Communication and Interaction/Cognition and learning/Sensory and/or Physical. Under Cognition and Learning falls Specific Learning Difficulties and it is these SPLD’s that are common in most mainstream schools i.e. dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia. Most commonly these are difficulties with reading,
References: Cowne, E. (2003) Developing Inclusion Practice. Chiswick: London Frith,U. (2002) Resolving The Paradoxes of Dyslexia. In Reid, G. & Wearmouth, J. (Eds) Dyslexia and Literacy. Chichester: Wiley Mortimore, T (2008) Dyslexia and Learning Style. John Wiley and Sons Ltd: Chichester Macintyre, C (2000) Dyspraxia In The Early Years. David Fulton Publishers Ltd: London Morris, E (2001) Special Educational Needs Code Of Practice. Department for Educational Skills Spooner, W (2011) The SEN Handbook. Routledge: Oxon Wearmouth, J (2009) A Beginning Teacher’s Guide To Special Educational Needs. Open University Press: Berkshire