Exploring the complex issues that surround special educational needs (SEN) both in and out of the classroom, this reader-friendly text considers the impacts that these issues have upon the child, the parent, the teacher, and the school as a whole.Fully cross-referenced and including suggestions for further reading with each entry, areas discussed include:
- pupil rights and empowerment
- parents and care workers
- curriculum and teaching
- inclusive approaches
- historical dimensions.
Providing an informative combination of practical, historical and legal terms and concepts, Special Educational Needs: The Key Concepts is a highly useful resource accessible to a broad audience.
This book is all about children and young people who are ‘different’.It explores the ideas, concepts, policies and processes through
which we have sought to address the increasingly diverse ways in which learning and social performances are manifest in schools and
other settings. There is no intention to provide a comprehensive coverage of every aspect of what has always been viewed as a
complex and multidimensional part of the field of ‘education’ as a whole. Nevertheless, a set of over 100 terms, approaches, definitions,
historical events, policies and controversial issues have been compiled in order to give the reader a real sense of the core concepts
in special educational needs (SEN), all of which have links to practical manifestations in educational provision for children and
young people who experience learning difficulties of one kind or another.EN is now a commonly used expression to refer to the difficulties
in learning that are encountered by a significant minority of a school’s population. The barriers experienced by them can be linked to individual
physiological, psychological, social or environmental factors, or a combination of several of these. SEN is an aspect of education
which has always tended to bring with it controversy and questions regarding rights, equality and social justice. The book seeks to explore
some of the themes and concepts which underpin these from both a theoretical and practical orientation. In doing this it considers five
groupings of topics:
1 Historical dimensions and current themes
2 Definitions and terminology
3 Legislation and policy
4 Practice and provision
5 Pupils, professionals and parents
xii
Each of these sections is divided further into a significant number of subsections, or ‘concepts’. These variously comprise collections of
descriptions, emerging issues and reflective commentaries and questions.
rawn to the term ‘SEN’ as a focus for study and development, will be prompted to examine your own position
regarding some of the key concepts that are never far from the surface whenever the phrase is introduced into a conversation on education.
To hold an informed personal ‘position’ on the topics covered in this book is a vital aspect of personal development and enrichment.
Hopefully, too, consideration of the various key concepts addressed in this book will simply be a starting point in a more long-term process
of engagement with children and young people whose SEN often means that they are marginalised from many of the benefits of
modern society.
CONTENTS
List of key concepts viii
Introduction xii
Historical dimensions and current themes 1
Definitions and terminology 39
Legislation and policy 59
Practice and provision 83
Pupils, professionals and parents 141
Bibliography 169
Useful SEN-related websites 179
Index 180
