Special educational needs (SEN)

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Literature Review

Purposes and Questions of the lit review

Throughout this literature review I plan to focus on the issues which surround inclusive education for children with special educational needs into mainstream schools.

I specifically want to research the variety of special educational needs, whether they are physical, emotional, social or behavioural and the extent to which these needs affect the child’s ability to learn.

Therefore, the first research question I propose is, ‘What are the special educational needs (SEN) exhibited by all children?’

I then plan to look into the government responses to special educational needs and what effect this has had on social policy. Therefore, my second research question is;

‘How has legislation and the Local Education Authority responded to children with special educational needs?’

After I have a better understanding of special educational needs and how they are being addressed, I plan to identify the positive and negative aspects of mainstream schooling in comparison to special segregated units. This will be in response to my third question;

‘Is it possible for children with special educational needs (SEN) to be educated into mainstream institutions?’

 What are the special educational needs (SEN)  exhibited by all children?’

The 1978 Warnock report stressed the principle that all children are entitled to an education, the emphasis on “handicapped children and young people” (Wall, 2003, p.12) where previously the provision was very little.

“The child should be assessed as an individual with a differentiated curriculum reflecting this, if appropriate” (Wall, 2003,p.13)

This innovative piece of legislation brought about the imminent ‘special educational needs’ label as a way of separating those children who needed extra support in order to be educated appropriately.

The Children’s Act (1989, cited in Wall, 2003) legislation redefined a child ‘in need’ if;

 “He is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him by services by a local authority under this Part;

His health of development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services, or, he is disabled”

The Children’s Act continues to define the label of ‘disabled’;

“A child is disabled is he is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from mental disorders of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or such other disability as may be described” (p.14)

Jones (2004) gives a good summary of the legislation, “children  have special educational needs if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them” (p.8)

Therefore, children who have substantially more difficulty learning in comparison with others of the same age, or children who have a disability preventing them from being fully integrated into the educational system are classified as having a learning difficulty.

As Jones (2004) suggests these are the children in need of “special educational provision” (p.8)

These definitions give a more detailed insight into the broad label which is special educational needs.

The legislation distinguishes between a physical disability and learning difficulty; however, I believe that these factors frequently go ‘hand in hand’, I will explore this theory later on in the review.

 In response to the first part of the question, ‘what are the special educational needs’

Beveridge (1999) explains in detail the range of impairments which are now classified as SEN, these include sensory impairments, physical impairments, cognitive and other impairments, and the sub category of emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Sensory impairments includes deafness and blindness, Beveridge (1999) points out why this can be an issue in the classroom,

“Complete loss of either hearing or vision is rare, but any significant degree of impairment involving these senses restricts the means by which children are able to integrate their experiences and make sense of their environments. As a result, they may find their learning contexts less predictable and secure than they appear to others” (p.40)

Berveridge (1999) also describes the problems that hard of hearing children are faced with in the classroom when no one involved in the child’s education, (whether teacher or parent) has realised that the child has this impairment.

“They can be labelled as ‘uncooperative’, ‘lazy’ or ‘inattentive’” (p.41)

In comparison to hearing impairments, visual impairment is a lot rarer in young children, however, it too has a dramatic effect on the child’s learning capability, the most obvious being that they find it difficult or impossible to read print.

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“They therefore require alternatives, such as Braille, tactile maps and diagrams and ‘talking books’ (recorded on to audiotape), if they are to participate fully in the curriculum.

 They are also likely to need special help in order to develop their orientation and independent mobility in the environment.” (Berveridge,1999, p43)

The second of the special educational needs is ‘Physical Impairment’ which is a substantial area.

 Henderson and Sugden (1991, cited in Berveridge (1999) estimate,

“Up to 15 per cent of pupils have a degree of physical impairment which can interfere with their progress at school.”

As Berveridge (1999) explains, ...

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