The professional development needs of special needs assistants in Irish post-primary schools

According to government policy in Ireland, special needs assistants (SNAs) may be employed in post-primary schools to support students deemed to have chronic and serious care needs. There is currently no national policy regarding the continuing professional development (CPD) of SNAs, to meet the requirements of their role. This study investigated the CPD needs of SNAs, working in post-primary schools, in the Border, Midland and Western region of Ireland. Findings from a survey of SNAs and principals revealed that while the majority agreed CPD for SNAs should be compulsory, an ad hoc approach to provision of CPD prevailed, and barriers to CPD were identified. Findings also indicated that CPD in supporting students with Emotional and Behaviour Disorders was a key requirement identified by principals and SNAs. Supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and promoting student independence were also identified as areas for CPD. The need for a national policy with regard to CPD for SNAs is highlighted.     

The special needs of teachers of special needs children

More and more, special needs children are entering early childhood education programs. But the integration of special needs children into the regular classroom — and their acceptance by their nonhandicapped peers — continues to be a concern of both parents and teachers. Many of the proposed benefits of mainstreaming are based upon opportunities for interactions between special needs children and their nonhandicapped peers. What we know about enhancing the quality of these interactions has definite implications for teachers. After examining the research on social relations and social skills training programs for special needs children, we will discuss these implications.Cary A. Buzzelli is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama. Nancy File is a doctoral student in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.     

Breaking through: Using educational technology for children with special needs

Barbara Albers Hill markets the book, Breaking Through: Using Educational Technology for Children with Special Needs, as a tool providing assistance with use of educational technology as it relates to children with special needs. The mention of specific special needs, such as children with Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), leads readers to believe the book will provide detailed information on how educational technology will assist a child according to each specific need. Hill organizes the book in two parts. The first part provides an overview of tablet technology and how to use it to enhance learning for children with special needs. Part two of the book provides the reader with information that will assist a consumer with purchasing the right tablet for the special need. Upon review of the content, the book is less about detail and more about a shopping guide for the consumer as to the best tablet to select for children with special needs.     

IV and SEN: Using interactive video with special educational needs pupils

Ten pupils with moderate learning difficulties worked on a series of mathematics related activities while visiting a school providing a whole range of multi-media. The investigation suggests that IV has a particular contribution to make in meeting special educational needs. In addition to specific benefits in the teaching and learning of mathematics, the technology proved to be a facilitator in the areas of geography and life skills. There was also some evidence to suggest that IV can help to raise self-esteem, provide equal opportunities and support collaborative learning. Sense of ownership, language development and motivational characteristics, together with the promotion of attention and the accompanying benefit for teachers of the reduction of anxiety over discipline, are other factors suggesting the usefulness of the medium in this context.     

What pedagogical approaches can effectively include children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms? A systematic literature review

This article reports on a three‐year systematic literature review funded by the UK Training and Development Agency for Schools. In order to begin to answer the question posed by the title of this article, the researchers systematically reviewed the literature with reported outcomes for the academic and social inclusion of pupils with special educational needs. This review process led to a focus upon peer‐group interactions, the nature of teacher and pupil interactions and whole‐class, subject‐based pedagogies. This series of reviews highlights that within the complexities of a diverse mainstream classroom teachers' effectiveness is strongly influenced by their recognition of their responsibility for all learners and the centrality of social interaction to learning, as well as having a shared understanding of characteristics, skills and knowledge associated with a subject. It is also strongly influenced by a facility to plan for and to encourage participation in a communal learning experience through flexible groupings and roles, offering diverse opportunities to engage with concepts and practices using activities the learner finds meaningful. Effective practices are not about the teacher alone, but are rooted in the community of learners – including other practitioners – with whom they work.     

Using applied behaviour analysis as standard practice in a UK special needs school

This article describes how applied behaviour analysis can be implemented effectively and affordably in a maintained special needs school in the UK. Behaviour analysts collaborate with classroom teachers to provide early intensive behaviour education for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and function based behavioural interventions for children between the ages of three and 18 years. Data are presented that show how the model is effective. Children with ASD under the age of seven made significant gains on intelligence quotient and on a range of skills including language, social and play, and academic skills following three academic terms of intervention. Case study data for two children reveal a marked decrease in challenging behaviour following a function based behavioural intervention. These interventions have led to greater independence, integration and access to curricular activities. These data show that children are making significant gains within this cost‐effective model.     

Responding effectively to the mental health needs of international students

Drawing on the data from HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council) sponsored project `Responding Effectively to the Mental Health Needs of Students,' this article describes the difficulties academic staff experience when responding to students with mental health problems. The views of academic staff are also recorded concerning what was helpful to them when considering these needs. This data is linked to research on working cross culturally with international students and set within a national framework. Research data is also accessed from focus groups which centred on the mental health needs of international and home students. Identical questions were posed to both groups students and similarities and differences recorded. International students voiced experience of a range of economic, social and academic pressures which appear to be different in degree and often in kind from those experienced by `home' students. These factors in extreme cases may trigger and/or exacerbate mental health problems. Whilst these findings are mainly qualitative, they have a resonance with and help illustrate existing research. Finally this paper considers the potential of academic staff, student groups and the policies of the institution of higher education to contribute to improvements of the welfare of international students.     

Social-emotional characteristics and special educational needs

The aim of the research described in this article was the development of an instrument to measure social emotional characteristics and special educational and pedagogical needs of students in the last grade of primary education. Questionnaires were developed for teachers as well as for students. Exploratory factor analyses showed that the factors underlying the structure of the teacher questionnaire corresponded for the larger part with the negative poles of four factors of the Big Five, i.e., conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and emotional stability. A stepwise regression analysis was conducted to examine which factors contribute to the prediction of type of secondary education. Intelligence was the most important predictor; lack of conscientiousness accounted for another nine percent of the variance in level of secondary education.     

Population density and special needs education

This paper contains an analysis of the relation between the percentages of segregated pupils in 15 countries and the population density in those countries. It shows that there is a substantial correlation between these two variables, pointing to the influence of factors such as population density on the integrationsegregation continuum. Findings suggest that the availability of services, travel distances and associated factors are of utmost importance for inclusive education.     

Welcoming the child with special needs

Mara Jambor is a kindergarten teacher with the Jefferson County School System, Jefferson County, AL.     

Using an integrated theoretical framework for understanding inter-agency collaboration in the special educational needs field

This paper draws upon qualitative data from a study that examines inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration between education and social work authorities in assessing the special educational needs of pre-school children. It is argued that only by combining aspects of the three main models of inter-agency collaboration, namely the social exchange, power/resource dependency and political economy perspectives, is it possible to understand the complexity of inter-organizational relations and the reasons why collaboration into special educational needs continues to be limited in extent and poor in quality. It is shown how the motivation of inter-agency collaboration between education and social work authorities is simultaneously internal and voluntary (social exchange model) and external and involuntary, in terms of being imposed by a third party (political economy model). It is demonstrated how these two welfare agencies are engaging in some exchange and some power/resource dependency interactions. It is argued that it is difficult to assess the extent of interdependence (unilateral interdependence and reciprocal interdependence) in exchange relationships and, thus, whether there is symmetry and/or equality in these interactions. The internal and external factors that influence such interactions are briefly outlined in the final section.     

Researching the influence of teaching assistants on the learning of pupils identified with special educational needs in mainstream primary schools: exploring social inclusion

As a result of their high contact time with children, particularly children identified with special educational needs, it is widely acknowledged that teaching assistants (TAs) have great influence on pupils' education (Balshaw). However, recent research into the impact of TAs on pupils' learning has questioned TAs' usefulness in improving pupils' learning (Blatchford, Bassett and Brown; Higgins). This paper argues that TAs' influence on pupils' education has not yet been researched effectively. Previous research has primarily focused on determining TAs' influence on pupils' achievement in terms of academic outcomes and has neglected to explore social outcomes. Two interconnected literature bases are reviewed in this paper; the current research exploring TAs' role and influence on pupils' learning is first explored, followed by a critical discussion of the literature regarding the process of social inclusion in mainstream primary schools. This paper concludes that for TAs' influence on pupils' learning to be effectively researched, TAs' influence on the process of social inclusion must be researched within mainstream primary schools.