|
|
 |
| Special
Education Needs |
|
 |
CASE STUDIES
Scenarios
Mr and Mrs Black live
about 7 miles from Strabane. They have three children, two already
attending the local 3 teacher school. Their youngest child Ben has
autism. They had been hoping he could attend the same school as his
siblings but they have said they don't feel they can cope, so reluctantly Mr
and Mrs Black looked around for another mainstream school. Because of
his severe problems it proved difficult to find such a place. |
 |
| |
| Eventually a larger
school with an impressive record of teaching children with special needs,
agreed to take Ben on a trial basis although they did suggest he be placed
in their special unit rather than in an ordinary class. In P1 he was
first allocated 15 hours a week support from a classroom assistant but
despite this he still had tantrums where he screeched at the top of his
voice, lay under the tables and wandered the room constantly. His
support was increased to 25 hours. Despite this he was never able to
stay in school beyond mid-day. The year had been very difficult for
the class teacher - she had had to restructure her whole class, sometimes
having the classroom assistant leading the rest of the class while she
attempted to teach Ben. Despite regular entreaties to the parents they
insisted he could cope with mainstream education, until eventually the
principal was forced to tell them Ben would be suspended unless they agreed
to placing him in the special unit attached to the school. This they
reluctantly agreed to do. |
|
 |
Mr and Mrs McIlgorm have three
children. The eldest has an ASD and is at a special school.
Paul (see case study) is in P1. As soon as Paul
knows it is time for home he has his coat on and is outside the door waiting for
his mother. Unfortunately Mrs McIlgorm chooses to pick up her daughter
first from the classroom across the playground. She frequently finds
someone to talk to while Paul jumps up and down, getting increasingly upset
until he starts to scream. When his mother eventually comes across she
inevitably wants to know everything that Paul has done that day and how he
is progressing. The teacher has an older class 3 afternoons a week and
can't stand around talking to parents. Mrs McIlgorm will also often
come into the classroom in the morning with Paul and ask about what he is
going to do that day. |
Acknowledgements & Copyright
|
