Ways of Supporting Individuals With Additional Needs

Overview

Rebecca Brown is an 8 year old child who was involved in a road traffic accident when she was 5. Due to the accident Rebecca suffered a spinal cord injury and damaged her cervical spine. This means that Rebecca is disabled from the neck down, only 10% of her body still works which would be equal to just her eyes and her mouth. She will require support for all her needs such as eating, bathing and going to the toilet. The severity of Rebecca’s injury has left her profound as she cannot do anything for herself and requires 24 hour care every single day. Rebecca browns disability cannot be cured, she will be disabled forever. The additional needs that Rebecca is facing Rebecca suffers from discrimination as a result of her physical disabilities and differences, this lead to social and emotional needs such as social anxiety she often avoids going out because she receives unpleasant comments. Rebecca is a wheel chair user but her social and emotional needs are impacted again due to the fact that her home is not wheelchair friendly. Rebecca could become distressed and frustrated as she does not have the ability to get away because her apartment is too small and due to the fact that she is disabled she needs somebody with her at all times.

The expected developmental progress of an 8 year old The physical developments Is a process that happens from infancy all the way to late adolescence it consists of physical and mental growth and change. The physical development of an average 8 year old is due to their muscles strengthening. They should be able to use their gross motor skills such as run, jump, skip and perform tasks that require physical movement. Intellectual development is learning and how the brain function develops. At the age of 8 the expected intellectual development is that they will be able to talk, some children may even be able to talk 2 languages if they are come from a cultural bilingual family. They should also be able to count, both forwards and backwards as they have learnt to do this with ease. A child aged 8 should be able to stay focused for up to an hour or more if they are interested in the activity they are participating in. Emotions are about feelings and the ability to cope with them, young children cannot do this as easily. An average 8 year olds emotions become more balanced, they start to learn to cope with their frustration, failure and disappointment. They learn to mask their true emotions to stop prevent hurting somebody else’s feelings. As they are progressing they usually desire more privacy this is also due to their emotional state.

Social development is the ability to make friends and socialise with the people around you and understanding the feeling of other people. At the age of 8 a child is learning to be generous, supportive and kind. They learn to express their own wants and needs. A child also starts to give their own opinion on certain topics. How does Rebecca differ from an average 8 year old?

Rebecca brown’s physical progress differs from an average 8 year in many ways. Her physical development is being affected as Rebecca is a wheel chair user old she is unable to do activities such as walking, running or skipping. Her intellectual development is also being impacted as she cannot do simple things like reading a book without assistance. She also cannot read or write on her own either. Unlike an average 8 year old Rebecca’s speech is often impaired or reduced. This also affects Rebecca’s social development as she cannot socialise with the people around her and finds that often people treat her badly due to her differences. Rebecca’s emotions are the same as an 8 year old but she is unable to act upon her feelings for example when she is angry or upset and she desires privacy or to be alone, she is not allowed too because she must be under the care of somebody 24 hours a day, every single day. Unit 12 supporting individuals with additional needs.

Following Rebecca browns car accident when she was aged 5, the hospital staff will have assessed the level of risk of her cervical spine injury using the Canadian C rule. The Canadian C rule is a tool used to assess the severity of the injury. After being assessed Rebecca’s injury was confirmed as high risk as she was involved in a high speed motor vehicle collision and had paraesthesia in the lower and upper limbs. Following the assessment using the tool Rebecca would have had, she will have gone for an MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging). An MRI scan will look at your organs and the structure of inside your body. MRI scans are very useful for examining the brain and spinal cord. The professional who will have carried out Rebecca’s MRI would be a Radiologist, they specialise in diagnosing and treating disease. The MRI scan showed that Rebecca had a cervical spine injury and was 90% paralysed. An act of parliament meaning its part of the law in this country. To make a law there is a long process you have to go through. First it goes to the MPs in the House of Commons and to the Lords in the House of Lords to check if it needs to be amended or if they are happy with that to go through it then goes to the queen and once signed it is officially the law. An act which helped Rebecca and her family is the children’s and families act 2014. This act contains 9 main things to help children and young adults who have specialist educational needs. The 9 things are getting education (health and social care services working together), telling children, young people and their parents what they need to know about their disability or special educational needs, letting them know what support and facilities are available to them, making sure the different organisations work together, giving patient and families more say about the help provided, having overall assessments all at the same time, a plan for meeting their education and lastly providing ways to help sort things out or help their families appeal about the help they get. The children and families act will help Rebecca and her family because it requires all services to work together to meet all her needs. Rebecca’s additional needs will be assessed by the local authority, they will have set in place an Education, health care plan. This means that Rebecca will have somebody to clearly represent her, to set the needs and goals for a family and an individual. There will be a few professionals who will be assessing Rebecca and reporting back to the local authority; her GP, her clinical Phycologist, occupational therapist, social worker, Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and her Speech and Language Therapist. Rebecca’s professionals will all be registered to a programme. This is to ensure that they follow a criteria to then be assessed by the health care professional council. To become a radiographer you must register with the Health care professional council to do this you must have successfully completed an approved degree in diagnostic radiography, you will need 2-3 A-Levels including Rebecca’s GP would treat common medical condition and refer her to hospitals and other medical services for urgent and specialist care. The GP would provide Rebecca with consultations. Giving her diagnosis and treatment.

To become a GP you must have a 5 year medical degree, 5 GCSE’s A*- A including math, English (grade B). Rebecca’s clinical phycologist will meet with her to monitor her emotional, mental and behavioural difficulties. They’ll meet with Rebecca to discuss and identify problems. To be a Clinical psychologist you must have a bachelor’s degree, a doctorate degree, to have enrolled in master’s degree and complete training. Rebecca also has an occupational therapist. Her occupational therapist will assess her home and working environment to improve her living state. The occupational Therapist will help Rebecca develop, recover and make it as easy as possible for her to live in her living environment.

To be an occupational therapist you must have 2-3 A-Levels and 5 GCSE’s including maths, English and science, you’ll also need to register with HCPC. Rebecca’s Social worker is there to help her and her family cope with their problem and her condition. Rebecca’s Social workers responsibility is to ensure that Rebecca and her family are talking about their problems and the social worker should suggest ways to improve the difficulties of Rebecca and her family.

To be a social worker you must have 5 GCSE’s (including math and English) and 2/3 A-Levels. A Special Educational Needs Coordinator will be responsible for Rebecca’s day to day operation at school for the SEN policy. The SENCO will ensure that Rebecca and all other children are kept on a record with the up to date SEN policy. To become a Special Educational Needs Coordinator you must have GCSE all 4-9 grades and have passed a numeracy and literacy test.

Finally Rebecca’s speech and language therapist, they will provide support for Rebecca as she has difficulty with communication. The speech and language therapist will assess children or adults with specific speech, language or communication skills. To be a professional in this are you must have a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, supervised clinical experience, fellowship year, praxis exam and a teaching certificate.