The rising number of babies born prematurely will cause a rapid increase in special-needs pupils in schools, and that could overwhelm the school system, a leading academic has warned.Is it a bit of rent-seeking, perchance?
Medical care has improved so much in recent years that 80 per cent of premature babies now survive, but half of them have severe disabilities and represent a "new breed" of special needs children, said Professor Barry Carpenter of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.Ah. Could be.
Many premature babies are born so early that they are likely to have been born before the "wiring" in the brains develops properly, Professor Carpenter said. As a consequence, it is likely that they will form part of a group of children who will need to be taught differently from most other pupils requiring special-needs education.Now, this looks like a bit of ‘look on the not-so-bright side’ of the premature babies/medical advances situation, until you read on:
To help identify how schools and other educational establishments can best help the special-needs children, many of whom were disabled in the womb by drug or alcohol abuse, the Government is providing £550,000 to fund a research project.So, are we talking about premature babies here, or the sort of blighted lives that we have all seen on heartrending documentaries, caused by pre-natal parental abuse?
And which group is the rise actually in?
According to some, there is no rise at all:
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, questioned whether the actual number of children requiring special needs provision has risen but said there is greater recognition that they need help. She added: "I don't think the actual number has increased. What has improved is the recognition and diagnosis of conditions which create special learning needs.Well, quite.
With improved recognition and diagnosis comes greater demands for resources to meet identified need."
It’s an odd little report, isn’t it?
3 comments:
Was chatting with a paediatric medic about this the other day, the rise in premature births not only gives rise to special needs mental kids but also to those with lifelong medical problems who previously would have died.
It seemed churlish to suggest that maybe the Spartans were onto something re their post-natal care, perhaps it is.
Have no fear; it won't be long before every child in the land has 'Special Educational Needs', and consequently there will be a short halt in the relentless rise in expenditure on them.
Shortly after, of course, some children will be found to have 'REALLY Special Educational Needs', an the cycle will go round again, except faster and more expensively.
"It seemed churlish to suggest that maybe the Spartans were onto something re their post-natal care, perhaps it is."
I've often thought that when viewing one of those 'challenging' documentaries.
You can understand why parents don't want to give up, but it was the slipped-in mention of 'disabled in the womb by drug or alcohol abuse' that made me look twice at this...
"Have no fear; it won't be long before every child in the land has 'Special Educational Needs'..."
Except those educated privately!
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