Reasons on Why Individuals May Experience Additional Needs

In this assignment I will be looking at two study cases, the first study case is about an 8-year-old girl named Rebecca Brown who needs special care due to her physical disabilities and the other is about Ben Grace who is fifty-two and has down syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Throughout the assignment I will be talking about how they got diagnosed and who they were diagnosed by. Also, what qualifications did they needed to get there.

Additional needs are when a person requires an additional support and accommodation if they have a physical, emotional, behavioural or learning disabilities and they require additional services so they can participate in activities and educations. The term learning disability refers to a range including; mild, moderate, severe and profound/multiple learning disabilities.

People with Mild General Learning Difficulties (MGLD) have intellectual functioning significantly below the average line compared to their peers. People with Mild learning difficulties will have delayed mental development, difficulties in expressing ideas their emotions, limited attention-span and poor retention ability, slow speech and language development. They will find it difficult adapting to changes and an underdeveloped sense of spatial understanding. They will also experience difficulty acquiring literacy and numeracy skills. People with moderate learning difficulty is more likely to show serious delay in reaching developmental milestones. People may have impaired development and learning ability in various of basic activities like literacy and numeracy, language and communication, mobility and leisure skills and social and personal development. Many people with moderate learning disabilities will have difficulties with the length of time for which they can concentrate on activities, with generalising and transferring knowledge across situations and with processing input from more than one sense at a time.

People with Severe/profound learning difficulty are likely to be harmed with their basic self-awareness and of people around them and the environment they are in. People with this additional disability will have self-injurious behaviour, hearing impairment, physical impairment, emotional disturbances and they may have hearing and sight problems. They will exhibit a wide range of characteristics like depending on others for basic needs such as feeding and toileting and some may have associated behavioural problems. They will have few communication skills and therefore will not have control of their communicative intent.

Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and ADD stands for Attention Deficit Disorder. People with this condition usually find it challenging to multi-task and maintain their concentration. There are three types of ADHD/ADD:

• Inattentive – This is typically referred to when someone uses the term ADD, this can mean the person shows enough signs of inattention but isn’t hyperactive or impulsive.
• Hyperactive-Impulsive – This is typically referred to when someone uses the term ADHD, when a person shows a typically behaviour of hyperactive or impulsive but is not easily distracted.
• Combined – When a person shows signs of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.

While ADHD/ ADD can be very challenging, people with the condition can manage the symptoms through medication and strategies.

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

Childhood disintegrative disorder is also known as Heller’s syndrome and disintegrative psychosis, is a rare condition characterized by late onset of developmental delays in social, language and motor skills. CDD is similar to autism, and sometimes expressed as a low-functioning form of it. Many children have been somewhat delayed when the disorder becomes apparent, however the delays are not always obvious in young children. This is a devastating condition, poignant both the family and the person’s future. Between the age of 2 and 10, skills that are gained are nearly lost in at least two of the six functioning areas; expressing language skills, motor skills, social and self-care skills, receptive language skills, play skills and control over bowel and bladder. Also, lack of normal function or impairment also occur in at least two of the following three areas; communication, repetitive behaviour and interest patterns and social interaction.

Case study 1- Rebecca Brown

She is 8-year-old girl who is a wheelchair user after she got into a traffic accident when she was five years old. She requires one to one personal care due to her physical disabilities, as she fractured her spine in the accident. She got diagnosed by physical therapists as they are a spine specialist who focuses mainly on treating spine conditions. But before that the doctor may have prescribed her a CT scan to prove detail of the fractured bone and the nerves around it. Or when she got into the accident and after taken to the hospital the doctors might have done a MRI scan to see greater detail of nerves and nearby discs.

To practice as a physiotherapist, you must be registered with the Health and Care Professional council (HCPC). But first you need to strongly complete an approved degree (BSc) in physiotherapy. Full time takes 3 years but part-time takes from 4 to 6 years. Courses involve practical work with various patients. You usually need 2 to 3 A levels, including a biology science or PE, with five GCSEs grades A to C, including English language, maths and at least one science. You could also get into a course with these alternative qualifications:

• BTEC, HND or HNC which includes biological science
• relevant NVQ
• science-based access course
• equivalent Scottish or Irish qualifications
• a previous degree or a full practicing qualification in a related area.

You need to also show that you have an understanding of physiotherapy and an aptitude of caring for others. After successfully completing the programme you are then eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC.

Finally, you are a professional physical therapist. Treatment options include observation, pain management and bracing. For some patients a minimally invasive procedure including vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty could improve pain and aid to prevent further compression.

Case study 2- Ben Grace

Ben Grace is fifty-two and has Down Syndrome and type 2 diabetes. He also has learning age of 8 and needs support with all aspects of daily living. He was diagnosed with Down syndrome before he was born by the doctor. As cells are taken form the placentas and used to analyse the fetal chromosomes. The test is run in the first trimester, between 10 and 13 weeks of pregnancy.

He was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but before that he was probably taken to the nearest GP straight away and checked if he had the symptoms of diabetes. After the test they would have called him again to explain the test result and what the next step is. To become a General practical, they need to complete a degree in medicine, recognised by the General Medical Council (GMC). A specialist training in general practice and a two- year foundation course of general training. After a medical degree, they need to complete a two-year foundation programme; Foundation Year 1 and Foundation Year 2. The specialist training takes at least three years to complete. This includes 18 months as a speciality registrar in a range of hospital roles and another 18 months as a GP speciality registrar in general practice.

Finally, they need to pass the exams for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners and then they will be awarded the Certificate of Completion of Training. This clarifies that you gained an entry to the GMC GP Register and you can now start to apply for jobs. Type 2 diabetes shows up later in life, this disease is characterized by high blood glucose or hyperglycaemia and usually results from a combination of unhealthy lifestyle habits, obesity and genes.