The Provision for a Child to Be Identified as Having Special Education Need - Essay Example

The paper discusses the provision for a child to be identified as having special education need, if any. Introduction: ‘Special Educational Needs’ isfocused on children who are inflicted with the disability in learning. This paper mainly presents individual educational plan for Marcus who is 2 year, 7 month old boy living with his family, in Abu Dhabi. His problems are identified and assessed here and also presents what is special educational need, about the UK legislation and various other organizations in the UK and the role of SENCO. Special Educational Needs: “Special Educational Needs” is provided to children having learning disabilities, as they need special intervention in their education to be in line with other students. The major behavioural problems observed with children are autism, attention deficit syndrome disorder, dyslexia and Asperger syndrome and these problems hamper the ability of children to learn well. Two levels of interventions, wave 2 and wave 3 are designed for children who require special educational needs and the latter gives individual care for those children. Children need different types of interventions since their learning problems are different from child to child. At first, the need of the child must be identified and specific provision must be given according to the identified needs. The interventions for the students who require special educational needs are implemented in nursery, primary and secondary levels of education and there are SEN departments in each school having a SENCO (Special Educations Needs Coordinator). Children who want special education need to procure a statement, stating the special needs and special provision of the child and this statement for the child is given on the basis of statutory assessment. The “special education needs” has a legal implication for providing service for the children who are not able to learn with time, as their friends do. The extra assistance which are required for those children are in “schoolwork, reading, writing, number work or understanding information, expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying, making friends or relating to adults, behaving properly in school, organizing themselves and some kind of sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school.” (What are Special Educational Needs?). SEN Code of Practice: The state asks for the school and nursery authorities to identify the children who are having learning disability and the SEN program is designed for helping those children. Once the child is identified, as requiring special educational needs, the school authorities have to formulate an educational plan to help the student, in consideration of the report given from SEN department. “The Code of Practice is a guide for early education settings (such as nurseries and playgroups), state schools and local authorities, on how they should identify, assess and provide help for children with SEN.” (What are Special Educational Needs?). The basic assistance given to the child in the initial stage is known as school action and this stage consists of using different types of methods in teaching, providing extra help from a teacher or adult and making use of various advanced devices such as computer or special desk. Role of SENCO: There is a SEN department in each school and SENCO is the main head of the department. The SENCO should see all pupils, with special educational needs, and he has to take effective steps to help the children in association with the professionals and parents. He has to share the important information about the concerned child with the staff and he can advise any member of staff in relation to the case of the child. He has to ensure whether the records on Individual Education Plans are written appropriately or not. He is supposed to act in accordance with professional ethics and, is responsible for keeping the data collected from the child confidential. The code of SEN has outlined some of the responsibilities of a SENCO and their primary duties, which are “working with, advising and contributing to the training of other teachers the teaching of, and maintaining records of, children with special educational needs keeping in touch with the parents of children with SEN working with other agencies, including the educational psychology service, medical and social services and voluntary bodies” (Role of the SENCO: Legal Developments). UK legislation for special educational needs: United Kingdom has a special concern over the pupils who are suffering from learning disabilities and it has taken legal measures to protect those pupils. The education act, special educational needs a disability act 2001 is an example for that. “The Education Act requires that school boards provide, or purchase from another board, special education programs and services for their exceptional pupils.” (Requirements of Regulation 181/98). The legal application of the steps taken for the improvement of the situation for disabled children at school helped the state to establish a SEN department in each school. “Under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, schools, colleges, universities, adult education providers, statutory youth services and local education authorities were required to make the same sort of reasonable adjustments for disabled people as stipulated in the DDA 1995.” (The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act). Various organisations acting for children who need special education: NASS is known as “National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special Schools” and was established in the year 1997 with a view to assist the youngsters who are in need of special education. (Welcome to the National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special School). ‘Engage’ is another organization formed for bringing “National Association of School Leaders within the Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties sector (BESD) of Special Educational Needs.” (Challenging Behaviour. Positive Outcomes). BATOD is the “British Association of Teachers of Deaf” acts for helping those students who are deaf. (The Professional Association for Teachers of the Deaf). There are a number of non-governmental organizations and charity organizations working for rendering services to the children who are in need of special education in United Kingdom. “EQUALS is committed to improving the lives of children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities through supporting high quality education.” (Welcome to EQUALS: Our Vision). Individual Education Plan: Individual education plan could be defined as “a written plan and legal document that states a childs present level of functioning; specific areas that need special services; annual goals; short-term objectives; services to be provided; and the method of evaluation to be implemented for children 3 to 21 years of age who have been determined eligiblefor special education.” (Principles and Practices to Promote Language, Literacy and Learning: Individualized Education Plan). There are many children who experience difficulty because of the inability to cope up with the daily teaching situation in the school. They are not able to behave like their friends and they cannot comprehend the subjects in the school. The teachers should identify such children and provide them with extra help. Individual Education Plan is designed to give service to the child and it helps the teachers also. “An IEP is a document that helps teaching staff to plan for your child, teach him, and review his progress.” (Individual Education Plans (IEPs) (England and Wales)). The IEP should be focused on few elements such as goals that are aimed at extra help, what kind of assistance must be rendered to the child, what kind of methods must be used to help, who provides help, at what time and how often the help is rendered, how can be identified whether the child is gaining from the extra help given to him, when shall the teacher stop giving extra help, how often the help can be evaluated, whether it is effective or not and recording the progress in the child and the methods used in the action and noting suggestions for future help. Children who are receiving help from “school action and school action plus (and those with statements) are likely to have an IEP, which sets out are the short-term targets set for or by the child, the teaching strategies to be used, the provision to be put in place, when the plan is to be reviewed, success and/or exit criteria and outcomes (to be recorded when the IEP is reviewed).” (Individual Education Plan (IEP)). Provision for Marcus Watson who requires special education needs: Student’s Profile Name: Macus Watson Gender: Male Date of Birth: 21st May 2007 Age: a 2 year and 7 month old boy Place: Abu Dhabi Dates of Assessment: 7th February (nursery school visit and interview) and 10th February (home visit and interview): Current school year: International Montessori Nursery (IMN) in Abu Dhabi five days a week for approximately 2-3 hours a day. Problems with the student: disability in communication, social behavior and a number of behavioural problems in relation to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Identification: Marcus Watson is a 2 year, 7 month old boy who lives with his family in Abu Dhabi, and is referred for a behavioural assessment by his parents. Marcus was initially seen for a preliminary screening at The New England Centre for Children – Abu Dhabi (NECC – AD) to see if he would benefit from the services provided at the school. The team at The NECC – AD (of which the current author was member) reported that they Marcus would benefit from intensive behaviour-based intervention, but that further diagnostic assessment by an independent clinic was recommended. In addition, it was noted that there were no openings at the NECC – AD currently and that he is in the waiting list. Marcus attends the International Montessori Nursery (IMN) in Abu Dhabi five days a week for approximately 2-3 hours a day. In completing the present assessment, a visit was made of the IMN, where Marcus was being observed, and his behaviour discussed with Mrs. Barbara, a visit to the Watson’s home where Marcus was observed and his mother, Mrs. Watson, was interviewed. Assessment: “MOTOR SKILLS CHECKLIST” 2.5 – 6 YEARS, it was used to identify present skill of Marcus and it is found that he is able to imitate horizontal strokes. (Watson). It is observed that Marcus walks down stairs with help. Marcus walks up and down stairs unaided and with alternating steps and he has recently begun to jump from the bottom step. Then “GROSS MOTOR SKILLS CHECKLIST” FOR AGES 3 – 5.5, it was used to assess the behaviour of Marcus and he was observed two times. (Hudson). The result of the observation in the first time shows that Marcus is new to IMN and he should be given time and he has to be observed very closely. A weekly meeting is suggested in the case of Marcus. I feel that we can support him and his family. I am recommending that Julie be his portage worker. The various mental abilities scrutinized were impulsivity, distractibility, short attention span, inability to follow directions, hyper activity, hypo-activity, perseverance, general awareness, hands used interchangeably and conflict with other children. The second observation was conducted to know whether there is improvement in the case of Marcus. It shows that whilst there has been an improvement in Marcus’s behaviour, he still has a long way to go. He really needs the intervention of physio, occupational and speech therapy. His parents agree with this. Then his skills such as self-identity, emotional development, social play, pro-social behaviour, large motor development, small motor development, cognitive development like classification, number, time and space, spoken language, prewriting and pre-reading skills and art skills were identified using child skills checklist. The main observations done in self identity are separates from parents without difficulty, does not cling to classroom staff excessively, makes eye contact with adults, makes activity choices without teacher’s help and seeks other children to play with. The result of these observations shows that Marcus has problems with separation anxiety. This has to be a slow transition. Marcus now enters the nursery at his own free will. He clings to Julie. He will not let another child approach Julie and he now separates from Julie and will go to other workers without any problems. He avoids making eye contact and there is marginal improvement in this area. However, he is uncomfortable and will only maintain contact for a few seconds. He is given activities and he has interest in pouring and transferring, he is repetitive with these activities and he will now select his own activities in p/l and sensorial. Earlier, there was no interaction with other children but now he allows other children to sit parallel with him and last week, he even allowed another child to participate playing with the knobbed cylinders. The assessment of the emotional development includes factors such as allowing self to be comforted during stressful times, eating, sleeping, and toilets without fuss away from home, handles sudden changes/startling situations with control, expressing anger in words rather than actions, allowing aggressive behaviour to be redirected, showing interest/attention in classroom activities, smiles, and seems happy most of the time. The observation shows improvement in Marcus when earlier, he does not sleep or eat at the nursery and he doesn’t like to have his diapers changed; but now he sleeps and takes his milk at the nursery without fuss. He still doesn’t like having his diaper changed. He still does not like loud noises or some songs that we sing. Marcus is not aggressive. If there is conflict he will go to Julie. Recently Marcus has been observed standing in the centre of a circle. But more often than not, he prefers to sit with Julie in the book corner. There has been a remarkable improvement in this area over the months as he now shows interest in what other children are doing. He is an introvert and has increased his attention span and now will sit with materials/toys of his interest for up to 45 minutes. The assessment of social play include activities such as playing by self with own toys/materials and playing parallel to others with similar toys/materials. This presents that Marcus sits with materials for 2-3 minutes on his own and now he plays parallel to other children. The large motor developments are the activities such as walking down steps alternating feet and jumping up and landing on two feet. The result shows that Marcus now walks up and down the stairs using alternating feet. He uses both hands and he can turn knobs and keys with ease. He likes to play with matching activities that require him to match the picture to the main board and insert the pictures into a slot. Cognitive assessment shows that he can count the numbers up to five. He listens what others speak but does not speak. Makes random marks on paper and scribbles but they are not controlled. Conclusion: This paper presents the importance of special educational needs for the children who have learning disability. Once the child is identified as requiring special educational needs, the school authorities have to formulate an educational plan to help the student in consideration of the report given from SEN department. Here this paper gives an example of Marcus who has been identified as having learning disability. He has been observed and result of the observation is also given. Works Cited Challenging Behaviour. Positive Outcomes. Engage.2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Hudson, Ann. Fine Gross Motor Skills Checklist. EHow. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Individual Education Plans (IEPs) (England and Wales). The National Autistic Society. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Individual Education Plan (IEP). Teachernet. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Principles and Practices to Promote Language, Literacy and Learning: Individualized Education Plan. Preschool English Learners. 2005. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Requirements of Regulation 181/98. Ontario. Co. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Role of the SENCO: Legal Developments. Teaching Expertise. 2008. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . The Professional Association for Teachers of the Deaf. BATOD. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act. About Learning Disabilities. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Watson, sue. Learning Disability Checklist for Motor Skills: Strength and Weaknesses. About.Com: Special Education. 2010. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Welcome to EQUALS: Our Vision. EQUALS. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Welcome to the National Association of Independent Schools and Non-Maintained Special School. NASS. 2008. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . What are Special Educational Needs? Direct Gov. Web. 21 Jun. 2010. . Read More