Children with Special Health Care Needs

Abstract

The health care model presented in this paper is a non-linear, systems approach to service delivery. The model was a by-product of three ethnic-specific conferences that were convened to discuss strategies for improving access to care and the quality of services provided to children with special health care needs (CSHCN) from diverse cultural backgrounds. The model evolved as insights regarding the common values and norms held by parents, health care providers, and cultural representatives were shared. Content analysis was used to identify core themes identified by participants. These themes were incorporated into a model that included the following elements: community-based, culturally competent, health-oriented, resiliency-focused, and family-centered care. At the fourth Consensus Conference, selected participants from the previous ethnic specific conferences reviewed the proposed model and deemed it a vehicle for facilitating health care service utilization by culturally and linguistically diverse CSHCN and their families.     

Thirty Years of Change: Children with Special Educational Needs

SUMMARY. With reference to reports and educational legislation as key markers, the article traces developments in special educational needs over 30 years. The terms special educational needs and needs are critically appraised, the effects and impact of reports is examined and two notably significant areas are singled out to chart change over time, namely, working with parents and integration. Finally the notion of shared responsibility is outlined as a formula for ensuring policy and maintaining provision for special educational needs.     

Transracial and Inracial Adoption of Special Needs Children

About 300 families who adopted a special needs minority or mixed race child responded to a mailed questionnaire. Twenty-two percent of these adoptions were transracial. Transracial adoptees were more often handicapped and had more often experienced sexual abuse, group home or psychiatric placement, and adoption disruption prior to placement. Inracially adopting families evidenced less problematic parent-child relationships but little difference was apparent when multiple regression controlled for the above-mentioned factors. Exploratory analyses reveal interactions of transracial placement with several other factors.     

Jamaican Children with Special Needs: concerns, realities and possibilities

Official documentation on Jamaican children with special needs attending mainstream schools is limited. Consequently, the extent to which 'education for all' is a reality cannot be assessed. The absence of a national special education policy adds to the concern. To ascertain the presence and status of children with special needs attending mainstream secondary schools, individual interviews were conducted with guidance counsellors from 24 secondary schools and 102 children attending those schools. Information was also obtained from the national census data-base. There was evidence that children with a variety of special needs were present in these schools. Concerns of both students and teachers including inappropriate teaching methods and large classes were highlighted, and suggestions for improvement made. The researchers made recommendations including the better utilisation of existing services.     

The Postadoption Needs of Adoptive Parents of Children With Disabilities

Adoptions of children with disabilities are considered special needs, due to the higher level of support needed pre- and postadoption by families and children for adoptions to succeed. Despite this fact, very few studies examine the specific postadoption experiences of families with children with disabilities. Using secondary analysis of a national survey of adoptive parents, as well as interviews and a focus group with adoptive parents in one state, this study examines families’ with adopted children with disabilities challenges and unmet needs after adoption, as well as the postadoption needs and experiences of adoptive families with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and adoptive families of children with emotional, behavioral, and mental health disabilities. Findings indicate that families with children with disabilities do report higher rates of challenges and barriers to service access, and that this is particularly true in families with adopted children with emotional, behavioral, and mental health disabilities. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

美国特殊需要儿童早期教育中的家长参与

美国特殊需要儿童早期教育中的家长参与经历了合法化、专业化和机制化的发展历程,也实现了从弱势争权到反客为主的地位转变。美国家长参与的有效实施得益于畅通的外部保障机制和家长内在的自我实现机制。其中,联邦政府、州政府、地方教育当局和科研机构在外部保障机制中发挥了重要作用,而家长倡导则是家长参与不断深入的主要推动力量,在此过程中,家长专业性的提高和文化、社会资本的积累是家长赢得参与话语权的关键因素。     

Developing Virtuous Children: A Theological Perspective

This paper examines various predominant moral theories and their impact on moral education. It makes a case that of these theories, virtue ethics can best handle not only the large, contemporary moral issues but also the mundane moral choices that we make day to day. It also stresses that because virtue ethics includes in its purview not only actions but also intentions, dispositions, attitudes, etc., it offers many insights into how to help children develop the capacity to make moral decisions.     

Developing Virtuous Children: A Theological Perspective

This paper examines various predominant moral theories and their impact on moral education. It makes a case that of these theories, virtue ethics can best handle not only the large, contemporary moral issues but also the mundane moral choices that we make day to day. It also stresses that because virtue ethics includes in its purview not only actions but also intentions, dispositions, attitudes, etc., it offers many insights into how to help children develop the capacity to make moral decisions.     

Testing Respite Effect of Work on Stress Among Mothers of Children with Special Needs

Extant research is ambivalent about whether or not working outside the home provides mothers of children with special needs a buffer against the stressful effects of caregiving. The empirical evidence of a respite effect is based primarily on small, non-probability samples. The study reported here used a large nationally representative sample of families from the National Survey of American Families (NSAF) and analysis that addressed the biasing effects of simultaneity between the dependent variable (parent stress) and employment. Results produced are consistent with a caregiver-specific respite effect from work, at least among mother caregivers of older children who were not concerned that working will have negative effects on their child’s well-being and who worked regular shifts in higher level occupations.     

The Needs of Gender-Variant Children and Their Parents: A Parent Survey

ABSTRACT

Parents of children with gender-variant behavior, while doing their best to handle their child's preferences and needs, are forced to contend with societal bias and assumptions that allow their children to be marginalized. This exploratory investigation aims to provide a basis for supporting all children with gender variance and their parents by identifying their needs. An Internet survey was designed to elicit the experiences of parents with gender-variant children to identify the needs of both parents and children. Data were analyzed using content analysis to establish the major themes. The dominant identified needs for parents were related to finding correct information and obtaining professional support, parenting strategies, and peer support. The children's primary needs were related to discussing their feelings, being accepted, and being supported to express their gender preference.     

Developing Partnerships to Meet Clients' Needs in Changing Government Organizations: A Consultative Process

The article outlines the development of partnerships across 3 employment‐related government ministries, in a context of organizational restructuring and downsizing. The article describes a consultation process conducted with workers from 2 provincial ministries and 1 federal government ministry regarding effective collaboration to assess unemployed clients' employability needs. In individual and focus group meetings, the workers developed a process that involved the cooperation and involvement of those from all 3 ministries in offering and monitoring the effectiveness of a needs assessment program.     

Role Reversal Imitation and Language in Typically Developing Infants and Children With Autism

Three types of role reversal imitation were investigated in typically developing 12‐ and 18‐month‐old infants and in children with autism and other developmental delays. Many typically developing infants at both ages engaged in each of the 2 types of dyadic, body‐oriented role reversal imitation: self‐self reversals, in which the adult acted on herself and the child then acted on himself, and other‐other reversals, in which the adult acted on the child and the child then acted back on the adult. However, 12‐month‐olds had more difficulty than 18‐month‐olds with triadic, object‐mediated role reversals involving interactions around objects. There was little evidence of any type of role reversal imitation in children with autism. Positive relations were found between role reversal imitation and various measures of language development for 18‐month‐olds and children with autism.     

Teaching Special Needs: 'tell me where it hurts'

This paper explores the relationship between life-long learning and a career in teaching. The focus is upon special education and the way in which special educators perceive their role. It is also about the distinct stages of a teaching career, from the process of initiation to later reflections and decisions to alter practice and philosophical positions. In the discussion, growth of self as a teacher and a learner is explored within the context of definitions of 'special educational needs'.     

Special Educational Needs: From Disciplinary to Pedagogic Research

A review of research on special educational needs in Britain over the last two decades indicates that two concerns have been paramount. First, there has been an attempt to broaden research styles in response to the growing critique of traditional positivist research. Secondly, the problem of the perceived gap between theory and practice has been addressed. Developments have included the use of small-N studies within a positivist framework, the adoption of qualitative research strategies and the critical perspectives of sociologists. It is argued here that such developments have been largely restricted to what Michael Bassey refers to as 'disciplinary' research, neglecting the 'pedagogic' research associated with the growth of practitioner research in other areas of education. The article examines both why teacher research has been relatively neglected in special education and the kinds of contributions it might make.