Teachers Attitudes towards Inclusion and the Observed Social Behavior of Children - Case Study Example

Vygotsky claims: “In the final analysis, what decides the fate of a personality is not the defect itself, but its social consequences, its socio-psychological realization” (Vygotsky, 1993, p. 68). This prompts parents and teachers to suspect children of having special education needs to go for professional diagnosis for that particular child. This is an important step towards optimal development. A very recent BBC news report claims that “early intervention will improve the lives of vulnerable children and help break the cycle of "dysfunction and under-achievement" (Sellgren, 2011, para.1).A broad definition of a developmental disability is a condition or disorder—physical, cognitive, or emotional—that has the potential to significantly affect the typical progress of a child’s growth and development or substantially limits three or more major life activities, including self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and/or economic self-sufficiency (from the Federal Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984).

Collating observations, the child, teachers, and parents may be reviewed by a special education needs coordinator or SENCO. This is the person responsible for implementing the SEN Code of Practice. He or She is primarily responsible for assessing, planning, monitoring, and reviewing the child’s provision and progress (Teaching Expertise B, 2010). As such, the SENCO will be able to support the child’s teachers in the provision of special education needs for him by way of providing in-service staff training, setting effective targets for the child, and creating an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) with the school teachers and key staff to suit his needs.