Contemporary Social Care for Disabled Children - Coursework Example

Contemporary Social Care for Disabled Children Children hold a very special place in society. Parents and advocacy groups strive hard to work for their benefit. With the overriding belief that they are tomorrow’s leaders who will inherit and rule the earth, they are to be regarded with due care and respect. Disabled children are no exception. “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 “ (Federal Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984). Social Care from a Multidisciplinary Perspective Professionals from a wide variety of fields and disciplines devote much time and energy in helping these children live comfortable and fulfilling lives with the end view of mainstreaming them into society and the real world. Educators, therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, physicians, social workers and even government officials join hands in the care and education of these children to ensure their optimum growth and development. “When a child/adolescent with a preexisting disability is separated from the parent/family and enters the child welfare system, already established medical and educational services for the child are often put on hold until placement is secured, records are gathered, and services with new providers are initiated in the geographical area of the placement. The child welfare worker, therefore, has a key role in identifying and accessing appropriate services for children/adolescents with disabilities and their families (biological and foster) within the child welfare system and in the medical and educational systems. To maintain children with disabilities in family and community settings, supportive, developmental, and therapeutic services must be provided to this population of children and to their biological, foster, and adoptive families” (Hughes & Rycus, 1998). Children with disabilities often need medical attention. Hospitals offer multidisciplinary approaches to therapy. Aside from the usual pediatric consultation for the disability, a host of therapists – physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, etc. are also available to help out. For a significant number of disabled children, “hospital admissions can be frequent and prolonged. Their needs bring many additional challenges to the children, their families and the hospital team, as well as to those responsible for their continuing care in the community. It is crucial that all involved in the care of such children should work together in the best possible ways to secure the best possible outcomes for them.” (Dept. of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2005). Government Efforts to Help Out Governments have designated laws for the benefit and protection of the disabled. In most countries, these laws are consistently evaluated if they are being implemented. Violations of such merit heavy penalties. In the seventies, Public Law 94-142, The Education of All Handicapped Children Act was passed in the US. It guaranteed that each handicapped child, aged 3 to 21 would receive a “free and appropriate” education in the “least restrictive environment” possible. Later, this law became known as the “mainstreaming law”. The Regular Education Initiative (REI) encouraged special education and regular education to join resources in the late 1980s including students served in pull-out programs into regular classrooms with regular and special education teachers team-teaching. Resource Specialists were encouraged to spend more time with regular teachers consulting and collaborating about students’ special needs. In 1990, Public Law 94-142 was retitled and expanded. It is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Public Law 101-476. (Harwell, 2001). In the UK, passage of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), affords protection to disabled people against discrimination in certain prescribed areas, principally employment, education and the provision of goods and services. Special education schools not only concentrate on each child’s Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) wherein individual goals are set for each particular case, but a multidisciplinary approach likewise prevails. A Case of Contemporary Social Care The Percy Hedley School in the UK is one perfect example of an institution that fuses the best disciplines in contemporary social care. It was set up designed especially for children with cerebral palsy. “In the intervening years the school has continued to develop in response to the needs of children and young people with cerebral palsy and also those with significant speech, language and communication difficulties. “ (from the school prospectus). The school, in collaboration with parents and professionals in various fields, provide excellent education, therapy and care for its students. “Cerebral palsy is the commonly used name for a group of conditions characterized by motor dysfunction, due to a non-progressive lesion of the brain early in life. This may result in variable impairment of the co-ordination of muscle action and the ability to control upright posture. Speech, language and communication difficulties is a term which encompasses the range of communication problems from developmental delay to acquired disorders. In some cases there may be a medical background which affects normal development of speech, language and communication (e.g. neurological damage, hearing impairment, cleft palate) or there may be severe social restrictions on the opportunities to develop language, but in the vast majority of cases there is no specific reason for the pupil’s failure to use speech, language and communication effectively. “ (School Prospectus). The school is a non-maintained special school, approved by the Secretary of State for the education of pupils with cerebral palsy and pupils with speech, language and communication difficulties. It does not belong to any local education authority and can admit pupils from anywhere from across the north of England provided their local LEA agrees. It is a non-profit institution and is part of the Percy Hedley Foundation, a registered charity. The school employs a multidisciplinary team to support the education, therapy and care of the children. It implements Conductive Education, a specialized approach that implements an integrated curriculum specifically designed for children with cerebral palsy. Conductive Education is a system of teaching and learning designed to enable children with disabilities to function more independently. “Conductive education teaches children to learn ways in which to achieve active purposeful movement that can be applied to their daily lives. They achieve success and thus increase their motivation, self-confidence and self esteem. They learn to function in spite if their disabilities and are able to interact with others and events around them. The children learn to make choices and take responsibility for becoming as independent as possible.” (school prospectus). Training for teachers, therapists and even parents is in collaboration with the Peto Institute in Budapest, Hungary. 1 The basic team members involved in the education, therapy and care of the children of Percy Hedley usually comprise the following: (from the School Prospectus) Teacher - provides a broad and balanced curriculum including the National Curriculum which is modified to meet the needs of the pupils. Special Support Assistants – assists the main teacher in the implementation of the curriculum. Speech And Language And Communication Therapist - responsible for the assessment of a pupil’s communication strengths and difficulties; providing structured therapy programmes delivered in individual sessions, small groups and/or full class groups to develop each pupil’s potential for communication in order that they may access the school curriculum, develop social relationships and learn to live as independently as possible; assessment for augmentative and/or alternative communication when appropriate and introduction of A.A.C. to the pupil, family and class teams. (This may be low tech e.g. symbols or high tech e.g. voice output communication aids).; developing early phonological awareness skills as a pre-requisite to develop literacy; monitoring of hearing acuity and liaison with medical and educational personnel as necessary; assessment of eating, drinking and swallowing problems and implementation of specific programmes to overcome these in conjunction with families and school staff. Occupational Therapist - responsible for:- the development of all pupils in fine motor skills, including hand function, head control, special switch and keyboard training and writing: assessment and management of perceptual skills; seating and postural control including the provision of wheelchairs and specialist seating equipment if appropriate.; the management of personal independence training programmes (which also influences the Personal and Social Education curriculum). Physiotherapist - responsible for the planning delivery and evaluation of high quality programmes to promote the physical development and physical management of the pupils. This may be through assessment, group work, conductive education, physical education, hydrotherapy using the Halliwick method and individual therapy. All therapy disciplines (and classroom staff) ensure close liaison with parents and families to provide support and advice on the Implementation of home programmes, and to liaise with other agencies such as social services, equipment suppliers and health service and education authority representatives. (School Prospectus) To optimize the learning of the students with disabilities, the school provides equipment and technology designed for students with special needs. These include specialized furniture to facilitate independent movement; ICT equipment; augmentative and alternative communication systems (including voice input communication aids) and keyboard and specialist switch systems. Much of these equipment are modified or adapted for students with minimal fine motor skills. Students in this school are fortunate enough to be beneficiaries of such contemporary social care. The positive and motivational atmosphere encourages the children to attend every day with enthusiasm. They perform well in their school tasks and exhibit high levels of achievement. They get to establish nurturing and fulfilling relationships with their peers and mentors. The school supports their need for independence which greatly affects the development of their positive self-esteem despite their disabilities. (School Inspection Report, 2001). The children may be part of the social care team. They have the ability to help each other in their interactions. “Students are subsequently paired in natural settings for social activities (i.e. classrooms, playgrounds and after school activities, etc.) The most direct outcome of these procedures has been an increase in positive social responses and peer acceptance. Strategies for peers to use include, soliciting the student’s attention, providing choices, modeling appropriate social behavior, reinforcing attempts at functional play, encouraging/ extending conversation, turn taking, narrating play and teaching responsiveness to multiple cues.” (Benito & Ramirez, 2000). Future Directions: ICT and Learning Outside the Four Walls of the Clasroom Since the school is equipped with the latest facilities, children have access to technology that helps them learn even more on their own. Specialized equipment for the disabled are incorporated in the hardware that adds more possibilities for independent learning. It is essential that children gain knowledge and experience with computers at this day and age to be able to adapt to the fast pace of change of the times. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides just that! Throughout the school, ICT is used well for writing and for speaking by many cerebral palsied pupils. Pupils find the experience productive and motivating, and achieve very well because of it. “Two contrasting paradigms characterize current curriculum policy in the UK with respect to new technology. The ‘blue sky thinking’ of the Government’s e-learning stragegy envisions a future in which teaching and learning are transformed, schools become new sorts of learning environments, and curriculum objectives change (DfES, 2004). At the same time, the work of the Primary National Strategy and the Key Stage 3 Strategy adopts an ‘enrichment’ view of new technology, in which Smart Boards replace blackboards and web sites replace worksheets. These two paradigms dominate the educational landscape: the one based on the idea that new technology will ‘transform’ pedagogy (some time in the future) and the other based on the assumption that it can ‘enrich’ what is already taking place.” (Burnett, et al, 2006) A multitude of software is available for a wide range of developmental levels. The internet is making the world a smaller place as it is a tool to reach out to more information. Since most disabled children have less mobility for active research, the internet is an ideal medium for research and communication. Teachers may assign special topics to research on using the computer. The children may use specialized software like an encyclopedia program or go directly to the internet to browse for materials. They may also email experts in the field and establish ongoing communication and research via email. A recent study by Harris and Kington (2002) report on a case study of “10-year-olds in email contact with employees at a mobile phone factory some 30 miles away from the school. ‘Epals’ learnt about children’s interests and in turn offered insights into the world of work. This widens the children’s horizons of learning to global proportions and they even get opportunities to network with resource people from all over the world. A similar study was done by Burnett, Dickinson, Myers and Merchant in 2006 where they set up a project involving pupils from two very different primary schools emailing each other as a preparation for producing a joint PowerPoint presentation on children’s views and interests to a group of trainee teachers. This project truly encourages constructive learning because the children shared their own ideas with each other and came up with their own designs in the finished work. As a bonus, the children got to make friends with other children using a modern and exciting medium. Children nowadays are being adept at setting up and designing their own free blogsites or websites. They can use this skill to exhibit their learning and even share it with others online. They may post articles they have written or pictures they have taken or activities they have done on these sites and even invite other people to do the same. This way, information-sharing is promoted. Children with disabilities have the same rights as normal children to experience real-life learning outside the school setting. Learning outside the four walls of the classroom is likewise essential to growth and development. Activities should be planned meticulously for optimum learning and safety. “Field trips are a regular feature of many preschool and school-age child care programs. A field trip can be as simple as a walk around the block, or it can be as complicated as a bus trip to a distant place. Children may be asked to look at what they normally see with new eyes, or they may have the opportunity to see things to which they have not been previously exposed.” (DeMarie, 2001). Especially for disabled children who are usually restricted to the home or school environment, activities held outside can give them new perspectives. “According to Katz and Chard, it is important for young children to be "engaged in ways that deepen their understanding of their own experiences and environment". They further state that "a major aim of education is to improve the learners understanding of the world around them and to strengthen their dispositions to go on learning" (Katz & Chard, 1994). It may be difficult to organize activities outside school for disabled children who need special equipment to move around, but it is all worth the effort. The goal of empowering children with experiences and skills to be able to grow into contributing members of society should be foremost in the minds of social care practitioners. Conclusion: It is heartening to realize that concerted efforts of people from all walks of life to help disabled children are paying off. “Of the requirements for local authorities to have advocates available for children, there is a growth in the number of adults who are, ostensibly, championing the rights of children.” (Lowe, 2006) Not only are the children benefiting from such noble pursuits, but also the many concerned and committed individuals who invest their time, talent and efforts, as they find fulfillment and joy in helping others and seeing the fruits of their labor. It is to be assumed that contemporary social care is on the upswing as more and more individuals find it in their nature their passion to extend a helping hand to those in dire need. Indeed, there is hope for a better world. References Benito, N. & Ramirez, C. (2000) Transition Strategies for teams supporting students with disabilities. University of South Florida: Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. Burnett, C., Dickinson, P., Myers, J. & Merchant, G., Digital connections: transforming literacy in the primary school. Cambridge Journal of Education Vol. 36, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 11–29 DeMarie, D. (2001) “A Trip to the Zoo: Childrens Words and Photographs” Early Childhood Research and Practice, Spring 2001 Volume 3 Number 1 Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (2005) CARE at its best: Overview report of the multidisciplinary regional inspection of the service for disabled children In Hospital. Available online at www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/care-main-report1.pdf (accessed March 31, 2007) DfES (2004) eLearning strategy. Available online at: www.dfes.gov.uk/elearningstrategy/strategy.stm (accessed 11 November 2004). Ellis, K. (2005) “Disability rights in practice: the relationship between human rights and social rights in contemporary social care” Disability & Society Vol. 20, No. 7, pp. 691–704 Federal Development Disabilities Act of 1984. Harris, S. & Kington, S. (2002) Innovative classroom practices using ICT in England. Available online at: www.nfer.ac.uk/research/down_pub.asp (accessed March 10, 2007). Harwell, J.M. (2001) “A History of the Field of Learning Disabilities” in Kim, H.H. (ed) (2004) Learning Disabilities. MI: Greenhaven Press Hughes, R. C., & Rycus, J. S. (1998). Developmental disabilities in child welfare. Washington, DC: CWLA Press. Katz, Lilian G., & Chard, Sylvia C. (1994). Engaging childrens minds: The Project Approach. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Lowe, S. (2006) “Agents of change”., Community Care, 03075508, Issue 1633 The Office for Standards in Education. (2001) Inspection Report of the Percy Hedley School. London: Crown The Percy Hedley School Prospectus (n.d.) Available at http://www.percyhedley.org.uk/ (Accessed on March 30, 2007) Ware, J. (1988) Creating a responsive environment for people with profound and multiple learning difficulties. London: David Fulton Publishers. Ware, J. (1994) Educating Children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. London: David Fulton Publishers Weaver, C.J. (2005) “Children With Disabilities in the Child Welfare System” Social Work Today Vol. 5 No. 3 P. 24 Read More