Educational services for mentally handicapped children in Northern Ireland: A survey of provision

Abstract

Until April 1987 mentally handicapped children were legally excluded from education in Northern Ireland. Provision was made instead in special care schools administered by social services authorities. This contrasts with the position in the rest of the UK where all children have been educated in schools administered by education authorities since the early 1970s. A survey was conducted to investigate aspects of provision in special care schools. Comparative samples of special schools for children with mental handicap in England, and special schools for other categories of children with special needs in Northern Ireland were also surveyed.

Results show that the special care school pupils were disadvantaged often seriously, compared with the other samples. Staffing ratios were inferior in most respects of provision. Other resources were often criticized by head teachers as inadequate. The special care school transport system was also shown to be seriously deficient, causing the length of the school day to be reduced for a very large proportion of pupils. The inadequacies identified impinged particularly on severely and profoundly handicapped pupils, despite earlier Government arguments that the interests of this group could be damaged in a transfer to education.

Nearly one fifth of the special care school population were aged 19 and over, and nearly one third of the profoundly handicapped pupils were 19 or over. In many cases adults and children shared the same facilities.

These results are compared and contrasted with Government documents which claimed parity of provision in special care schools and special schools in England, and which adopted a stated policy of normalization in the development of services for the mentally handicapped.     

Evaluating the impact of schooling on families of severely handicapped children

Evaluating educational programs for severely handicapped children today presents a number of challenges. These programs have characteristics and features that make them quite unlike “regular” school programs for nonhandicapped children or even those for mildly handicapped children. Moreover, evaluators typically look to aspects of child progress or child gains in determining program success, but schooling for severely impaired children also has some profound implications for parents and families. Thus, this paper will focus on evaluating the impact of schooling on families of severely handicapped children. The article begins by considering the special attributes of severely handicapped children and their school programs. I will then address the impact of these programs, categorized by: (1) the impact of child-focused programs on severely handicapped children themselves; (2) the impact of child-focused programs on families; and (3) the impact of family-focused programs.     

Social Integration of School Age ESN(S) Children in a Regular School

Eleven children classified as severely mentally handicapped were observed after a paper and pencil sociometric test given to non-handicapped children in the school to determine their true level of socialisation with their non-handicapped peers. the social play interactions were categorised on an adapted version of the Parten Social Participation Scale. It was shown that, by utilising non-handicapped children in a peer tutor programme, there was a significant increase in associative and cooperative play whilst there was a significant decrease in the level of negative attention-seeking and inappropriate behaviours.     

Participation and gender in circle-time situations in preschool

Abstract

This study sought to investigate participatory values in relation to gender, as expressed in interactions between teachers and children in circle-time situations in Swedish and Norwegian preschools. This paper reports evidence from three research questions: How is children's participation conditioned in circle-time situations? How are participatory values communicated to girls and boys? and What gender-related patterns emerge in teacher–child interactions in circle-time situations? The study is informed by Habermas' concepts of strategic and communicative actions, as well as Davies' idea of duality, the bi-polarity, between femininity and masculinity. Data consist of video observations of teacher and child interactions during circle time. The results show that children's participation is conditional on children's own willingness to participate, and on teachers' willingness to involve the children in a communicative action. Data reveal that the girls are more likely to take the initiative than boys and appear more comfortable in such an active position. It was also noted that there is a tendency for practitioners to interpret and value male and female traits as oppositional behaviours.     

Spatial awareness in seven to 11‐year‐old physically handicapped children in mainstream schools

ABSTRACT

Ten mainstream‐educated children with physical handicaps that restrict their independent mobility, aged between 7 and 11 years, were compared with matched classmates on measures of spatial awareness and cognitive mapping skills. Compared with their classmates, the handicapped children were significantly worse at drawing plan maps of their classrooms, placing missing objects on accurate classroom maps, and pointing in the direction of distant landmarks on the school campus. All motorically impaired children were deficient on one or more measures (whether brain damaged or not). Awareness of spatial relations is likely to be important for the development of several intellectual skills, and since physically handicapped children may be disadvantaged in this area, it is worthy of special attention from teachers and support staff.     

United Arab Emirates University students’ attitudes towards the handicapped

ABSTRACT

The study aims to explore attitudes of the United Arab Emirates University students towards the handicapped. A sample of 313 students, conventionally drawn, took the College Students' Attitude Scale towards the Handicapped. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in favour of females vs males, single vs married, residents vs non‐residents, families with handicapped children, previous contact with handicapped and urban vs rural groups. Several recommendations are suggested at the end of the study.     

From Supporting to Co-Parenting: The New Roles of Fathers

SYNOPSIS

To develop a secure attachment, the quality of the mother’s relationship is fundamental, but now there is evidence that fathers equally play early and integrated roles in the development of the child, particularly in social and communicative skills. Hiraoka and colleagues emphasize father support in regulating maternal distress while listening to the infant’s cry. We also emphasize the father’s role in supporting the mother and in improving social and communicative competences in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.     

Future-oriented processes: A foundation for planning behaviour in infants and toddlers

Abstract

The development of planning behaviours is ussually discussed from the perspective of a process that already exists in its full-blown, mature form, whether planning activity is examined in infants, children, or adults. In contrast, we argue that an understanding of the future occurs before planning is possible and is fundamental to skills that are used in planning behaviours throughout development. We introduce the notions of “future-oriented processes” and “partial acomplishments” as a framework for examining the developmental origins of planning behaviours. We provide empirical evidence that 3 to 12 month old infants are able to form expectancies for short-term future events and that such expentancies are among the first type of future-oriented processes to develop. We conclude by suggesting that these and other future-oriented processes serve to lay a developmental foundation from which later planning behaviours evolve     

Field News

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether examiners' personal familiarity and professional experience with examinees affects handicapped children's test performance. Subjects were 22 handicapped preschoolers. Examiners were either experienced (N = 11) or inexperienced (N =11) with this group of children and with testing. Subjects were assigned randomly to one of the two examiner groups. Within examiner groups, children again were assigned randomly to two examiners, one to serve as a personally familiar tester and the other to function as a personally unfamiliar tester. Each examiner tested children in both personally familiar and unfamiliar conditions in a repeated measures crossover design. Results indicated that subjects performed more strongly when tested by personally familiar examiners regardless of testers' experience. Additional analyses suggested that (a) there was no difference between experienced and inexperienced testers' cognitive complexity or attitude toward the handicapped; and (b) both examiner groups described the handicapped relatively simplistically and negatively. This may partially explain the finding that professional experience was a poor proxy for personal familiarity. Implications for current testing practice are discussed.     

Risk and Protective Factors Related to Fathers’ Positive Involvement and Negative Reinforcement With 1-Year-Olds

Objective. Guided by a social interaction learning model, this study investigated potential risk and protective factors related to fathers’ early parenting behaviors. Design. Parenting behaviors in 726 Norwegian fathers with their 1-year olds (51.7% boys) were assessed by both micro social coding and global ratings from direct observation of structured interactions. Father and child factors were reported by fathers when the child was 6 months and 1 year old. Results. Fathers’ positive involvement was associated with children’s observed sustained attention, and lack of positive involvement was associated with children’s communicative risk and fathers’ lower education. Fathers’ negative reinforcement was associated with children’s developmental difficulties and communicative risk. Positive involvement and negative reinforcement were not correlated and were predicted by different factors, indicating they are separate dimensions of parenting. Conclusion. Multiple predictors relate to different parenting dimensions and point to factors that may enhance father–infant interaction and identify fathers and children who may benefit from early intervention.     

Relevance matters. Eighteen-month-olds’ use of relevant informative pointing as a predictor of two-year-olds’ language abilities / La relevancia es importante. El uso de gestos deícticos relevantes e informativos por parte de niños de año y medio como factor predictor de las capacidades lingüísticas a los dos años

Abstract

The significance of pointing gestures in the development of linguistic communication is linked to their referential character and formation of common ground in use of gestures and speech. Our longitudinal study aimed to define the nature of this relationship more precisely and to explore whether the relevance vs lack of relevance of a child’s pointing gestures is related to development of language abilities. We developed a special protocol to measure relevant and irrelevant pointing gestures in 18-month-olds, sampled production of spontaneous speech and measured their language comprehension at two years of age. A group of 343 children was tested, and using structural equation modelling we showed that relevant gestures predict the level of development of language production and comprehension. As predicted, this association was not applied to irrelevant gestures. It is likely that a child’s more frequent use of relevant pointing gestures helps the caregiver to recognize the child’s communicative intentions and to comment on his/her behaviour appropriately. The identified developmental/predictive relationship is valid in both mentalistic and teleological interpretation of early communicative development.     

The direction of the relation between oral communicative competence and social preference in early childhood classrooms,and the role of dialogic classroom talk

ObjectiveThe present study investigated the direction of the relation between oral communicative competence and social preference in early childhood classrooms. Additionally, we explored the role of dialogic classroom talk in this relation.MethodsN = 311 children (aged four to seven) participated. Oral communicative competence was measured with the Nijmegen Test for Pragmatics and social preference was assessed with a peer nomination method (both constructs measured at two timepoints).ResultsOutcomes of cross-lagged analyses demonstrated a directional link from social preference to oral communicative competence, but not the other way around. There were no differences in the relation between the two constructs between classrooms in which dialogic classroom talk was implemented and classrooms in which it was not.ConclusionThis study seems to indicate the importance of children's social preference for developing adequate communicative abilities.     

Digital resources in the family-school relationship during the 0–3 stage / Recursos digitales en la relación familia y escuela en la etapa 0–3

Abstract

Digital resources can open up new means of communication between families and schools, helping to create links and build relationships between both educational agents. The role played by digital resources to establish family-school relationships in pre-schools for children up to three is identified and analysed on the basis of experiences in schools in which ICT resources are being used for communicative processes. The results show that the most commonly used resources are blogs/websites and email, mainly for providing families with information. It is also observed that the introduction of ICT tools in these relations lacks the pedagogical reflection that would determine the communicative goals and the role played by both educational agents in the relationship scenarios mediated by ICT.     

Action cycles: rhythmic actions for engagement with children and young adults with profound mental handicap

ABSTRACT

Rhythmic groups of cyclical movements—action cycles—were identified during interactions between adults and children and young adults with profound mental handicap. The cycles were allocated to five categories according to rate, each action cycle clearly having its own communicative purpose. There was a striking regularity of rate within each performed set of action cycles, this being observed in the people with profound mental handicap as well as the adults, with the regularity more marked in the faster cycles. The people with profound mental handicap performed similar actions for apparently similar reasons at similar rates to their caregivers, giving strong indication of a biologically robust system of basic emotional communication which can quite literally be tapped into by caregivers. Comparisons of video records of interactions between mothers and their non‐handicapped babies (4‐8 weeks old) in Scotland and Nigeria yielding similar action cycles and rates to those seen in the interactions with people with profound mental handicap support this hypothesis.     

Going Dutch! A perspective on the Dutch system of special education

Abstract

The comparative study of education systems and processes is a greatly undervalued science. This report argues that there is much to be learned from the study of the Dutch system of special education in informing proposed developments in its UK counterpart. Despite inevitable cultural and evolutionary differences between the systems, careful study can potentially prevent the failings in one being replicated in the other. This is nowhere more relevant than in relation to the integration versus segregation debate. Though it is argued that Dutch constitutional law has severely handicapped developments in Dutch special education, particular practices such as the systematic approach to planning, the extensive use of negotiated contracts, the development of integrated support systems and the close association between research and provision seem to be most worthy of serious consideration within the context of a rapidly changing system of UK special education.     

Visual stimulation using microcomputers

ABSTRACT

The dominant approach to the education of young visually handicapped children currently hinges on the idea of encouraging the use of sight through visual stimulation. This takes various forms, including the optimization of the child's visual environment, training children to use their sight efficiently, and photo‐stimulation to alter the early development of the brain. It is argued that microcomputers have an important part to play in providing visual stimulation. VDU monitors can present materials in a ‘back‐lit’ manner, avoiding the problem of occlusion of the light source. Moreover, input devices such as the touch‐sensitive screen allow children to interact directly with the images on the computer screen, ensuring that the visual stimulus received is related to their own actions.     

Blissymbols in the Classroom

Practical considerations in the use of Blissymbols with multiply handicapped children at The Spastics Society's school, Hawksworth Hall, near Leeds, are presented by Pam Galloway, senior speech therapist at the school     

Helping parents to become partners in the education of their handicapped child

Conclusions Educators are beginning to seek methods of improving parent-child relationships and school and parent relationships, as the evidence accrues and is assimilated, which shows how much more important is the child's family experience. The handicapped child brings the desirability of successful home and school links into clear focus, as the six-hour school day is clearly inadequate for the needs of many severely handicapped children, who require a consistent programme of developmental experiences from waking to sleeping. The only way in which the trust and confidence imposed by close relationships in the home may be continued in the school is by a mutual effort directed at common goals: the development of the child's capacity to learn and care for himself. Perhaps it is the similarity of the tasks undertaken in home and in school, with the severely and profoundly handicapped child, the severely and profoundly handicapped child, which has shown just how powerful the home-and-school combination can be when working in harmony. There are clearly lessons here for the education system at large. Perhaps the longstanding schism between parents and schools can be bridged in the next decades.The importance of social abilities, self-help skills and the confidence which all emanate from a successful family life, are emphasized by Smith and Sykes (1981) and others, who show that social competency is perhaps the key factor in determining vocational and post-school success for handicapped students. These competencies and confidence cannot come from school alone. The initiatives alluded to in this article, and described in full in the literature cited, show that schools have come a long way from believing that they alone can cope.Has written a number of studies on the development of education for the visually handicapped.     

Evaluating Behavioural Observation Audiometry with Handicapped Children

Behavioural Observation Audiometry is an alternative to conditioning paradigms in the assessment of auditory sensitivity of handicapped children. Three observers evaluated the responses to sound from twenty‐one mild to severely handicapped children. The results showed that inter‐observer agreement was high and that responsitivity of the children was not affected by the mode of stimulus presentation.     

‘Settling in’

Abstract

This study examined the ‘settling in’ behaviour of newly enrolled children who entered an established preschool classroom. Settling in can cause emotional distress and behavioural problems in children. Thus, it is important to document the ways in which young children successfully adjust. The behaviours of the ‘new’ children were tracked across the school year and compared with ‘old children’, or those previously enrolled. Results indicated that new children did not differ from old children in terms of unengaged behaviour. While all children's socially interactive behaviour and social fantasy increased across the school year, the new children engaged in lower levels of these behaviours. Further, the signals they used to initiate social interaction were less sophisticated than those used by established children. Results are discussed in terms of the role of familiarity in supporting children's exhibition of competence. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.