Unit 14 Assignment: Working With Children With Special Needs
Unit 14 Assignment –
Working with children with special needs
E1) explain the social model and the medical model of disability
The ‘Social Model’ states that all children have individual needs but also has strengths, skills and preferences. It provides inclusive environments as a starting point for all children. It looks at the environment as a whole and attitudes towards disability and considers that it might be the ‘problem’ that needs fixing rather than the child. By using this approach, the children who would have been educated separately in a different school would now be educated in mainstream schools. The ‘Medical Model’ sees disability as a burden. They are more concerned whether the child can adapt the environment instead of seeing
the bigger picture. Whether it was resulted from a tragedy or from birth, if there was no ‘cure’ for the child’s disability then they were sent away to institutions or kept out of sight. Disabled children were then sent to specialist schools rather than to mainstream schools which means that they would have limited education as they weren’t really expected to do much. This approach is not highly thought of because they put down disability. ‘Child Care & Education 4th Edition, Penny Tassoni’
E2) Describe the legal requirements that support the actions to be taken when it is considered a child may have special needs.
The Code of Practice 1994 states that if someone thinks a child has a special need, the class teacher/ practitioner would identify the child’s special need and then consult the SENco to take initial action because they take the lead responsibility for managing the child’s special educational provision. The teachers and the SENco are also supported by specialists from outside the school in order to make the right decision for the child. They would then consider the need for a statutory assessment and if appropriate, makes a multidisciplinary assessment. If needed, the LEA makes a statement, arrange, monitor and review provision. The first stage of action is called early years and school action. The practitioner is the one who identifies the areas of difficulty. Their responsibility is to ensure that they provide the SENco with as much information as possible for them to observe and record information about the child.
Working with children with special needs
E1) explain the social model and the medical model of disability
The ‘Social Model’ states that all children have individual needs but also has strengths, skills and preferences. It provides inclusive environments as a starting point for all children. It looks at the environment as a whole and attitudes towards disability and considers that it might be the ‘problem’ that needs fixing rather than the child. By using this approach, the children who would have been educated separately in a different school would now be educated in mainstream schools. The ‘Medical Model’ sees disability as a burden. They are more concerned whether the child can adapt the environment instead of seeing
the bigger picture. Whether it was resulted from a tragedy or from birth, if there was no ‘cure’ for the child’s disability then they were sent away to institutions or kept out of sight. Disabled children were then sent to specialist schools rather than to mainstream schools which means that they would have limited education as they weren’t really expected to do much. This approach is not highly thought of because they put down disability. ‘Child Care & Education 4th Edition, Penny Tassoni’
E2) Describe the legal requirements that support the actions to be taken when it is considered a child may have special needs.
The Code of Practice 1994 states that if someone thinks a child has a special need, the class teacher/ practitioner would identify the child’s special need and then consult the SENco to take initial action because they take the lead responsibility for managing the child’s special educational provision. The teachers and the SENco are also supported by specialists from outside the school in order to make the right decision for the child. They would then consider the need for a statutory assessment and if appropriate, makes a multidisciplinary assessment. If needed, the LEA makes a statement, arrange, monitor and review provision. The first stage of action is called early years and school action. The practitioner is the one who identifies the areas of difficulty. Their responsibility is to ensure that they provide the SENco with as much information as possible for them to observe and record information about the child.