Title of Product
Special Educational Needs
Name of Author(s)
Ronald Gulliford, Graham Upton
Name of Producer
Routledge
Date of Production
03.04.2013
Language of the review
English
Language of the product
English
Type of product
Online Publication
Thematic Area
Students with learning difficulties
Target Group
Headmasters, Teachers, Parents
Description of Contents
The online form of the book “Special Educational Needs” it’s a Google electronic book, presents a very short part of it and can be bought from Google.
The book contains 10 chapters
1. Curriculum issues
2. Management of special needs
3. Learning difficulties
4. Severe learning difficulties
5. Emotional and behavioural difficulties
6. Visual impairments
7. Hearing impairments
8. Physical disabilities
9. Psychological and health-related problems
10. Multi-sensory impairments
The introduction presents the term of special educational needs who began to come into use in the late 1960s as a result of increasing dissatisfaction with the terminology used in the Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations (1945), which classified handicapped children into ten categories according to their main handicap.
The book presents the conclusions of Warnock Report who pointed out that whether a disability constitutes an educational handicap for a child depends upon many factors such as the school’s expertise and resources , the child’s temperament and personality, the quality of support and encouragement within the family and environment. The committee wished to see a more positive approach and recommended the term special educational needs, seen not simply in terms of a child’s particular disability but a relation to “everything about him, his abilities as well as disabilities – indeed all the factors which have a bearing on his progress”.
The Warnock Report suggested that the the provisions for special needs was likely to take the form of one or more of the following: special means of access to the curriculum through special equipment, facilities or resources, modifications of the physical environment or specialist teaching techniques, the provisions of the special or modified curriculum, particular attention to the social structure and emotional climate in which education take place.
It was suggested that these were not exclusive and a child may often need more than one of these forms of provisions.
The Warnock Report prefaced its summary of recommendations by identifying three areas of first priorities: provisions for children under 5 with special educational need; provisions for young people over 16; teacher training for special needs.
In summary, curriculum and assessment have often been viewed as tow different activities.
The Management of special needs are very important. Managers of different levels might address some more specific questions about how much progress has been made towards the achievement of the broader concept of special educational advocated by the Warner Report.
The suggested topics are offered as illustrative examples, many other questions will come readily to mind; the important point is that management decision making should be informed by a perception of progress towards long-term aims and not merely be reactive to new developments.
The book presents also the effects of recent reforms, new administrative arrangements such as local management of schools and open enrollment with their underlying philosophy that “money will follow the pupil” and it is certainly possible that increased competition between schools.
Review
The contributors focus on particular areas of special educational need, arguing that effective educational provision can be enhanced with reference to the particular problems experienced by children. Set in the context of a generic understanding of special education, this timely book addresses commonly-raised questions: what is the condition and how can I recognize it? why does it occur? what sort of educational, personal, and social consequences are there associated with it? are there any specialist skills and resources which I should know about? what are the implications for educational provision, teacher support, curricular access, assessment and classroom management? This popular book has been fully revised to provide a comprehensive overview of special needs provision. A such it is the key text on special needs in the '90s.
The book addresses to the teachers, local authorities educational support services such as advisers and inspectors.
The largest group of teachers needing the opportunity for in-service special education courses are those who are concerned with special needs in ordinary schools. They are concerned with methods of support teaching, school organization, and knowledge about a wide range of difficulties in learning.
