Service Provision For Children Research Articles

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, behavioural and emotional problems in children excluded from mainstream education: a preliminary study of teachers' ratings

The aim of this study was to measure the rates of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and behavioural and emotional problems in children attending Behavioural Support Units (BSUs), as rated by teachers. Children (N=45) were selected from two Behavioural Support Units (primary and secondary education). Teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the ADHD Rating Scale. The levels of hyperactivity and emotional problems were high among primary school age children. Children attending primary school age BSUs had significantly higher hyperactivity and emotional scores than their older counterparts. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature on ADHD and other mental health problems in children. The implications for the provision of services for children excluded from mainstream education are also discussed.

Culture and the care of children with chronic conditions: their physicians' views.

Little is known about physicians' perceptions of the influence of culture on the health care of children with chronic and disabling conditions. To identify physicians' perceptions of the impact of the family's ethnocultural background on the health care of school-aged children with chronic conditions and recommendations for improving care. Qualitative study in 2 midwestern metropolitan areas. General community. Convenience sample of 52 physicians nominated by 60 African American, Hispanic, and European American families of school-aged children with chronic conditions. In-depth interviews were conducted with the physicians. Content analytic techniques were used to analyze the data. In 44% of the responses, the physicians reported that ethnocultural background did not influence the care the child received, noting that comparable care was provided to all of their patients. In 14% of the responses, the effect was unknown. The overall effect was negative in 26% of the responses and positive in 16%. Physicians' recommendations focused on 4 topics: improving the training and education of health care professionals and families; ensuring good communication between the child, family, and health care professionals; supporting families; and improving the access and provision of services for children from diverse cultural backgrounds. Although the majority of participants reported that ethnocultural background did not affect the care the child received from the health care system, physicians' recommendations reflected awareness of the influence of culture on the care of children with chronic conditions and the need for further training on this issue.

Developing partnerships between the voluntary and statutory sectors for the provision of services for children in need

The Children (N.I.) Order has introduced the concept of children in need to Northern Ireland. Article 17 of the Order defines a child in need and Article 18 requires Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts to assess for family support those referred to them as children in need. Article 18 also specifically states that such support should be facilitated where feasible by voluntary organisations. This study investigates the level of partnership between the voluntary and statutory sectors in the provision of such services. A survey of six voluntary agencies which are representative of this sector in Northern Ireland shows that limited partnerships have developed between the two sectors, but as the legislation is still in the early stages of implementation there are lessons to be learnt on how and in which areas partnerships can be developed and further enhanced.

Assessment and Service Provision for Children with Autism

This paper considers issues to do with the assessment of, and provision made for, children with autism. Reference is made to some of the key principles of current legislation and guidance, together with developments in the voluntary sector. These are discussed in the context of personal experience of managing a school for children with autism and diagnostic and assessment services for children with disorders of development and communication. Greater awareness has led to an expansion of services, often in response to pressure from parent organisations, but careful attention needs to be given to ensuring that continued development meets the very complex and specific needs of children with autism.

Assessment and Service Provision for Children with Autism

Assessment and Service Provision for Children with Autism

Informing research and practice on service provision for children and young people with a disability in northern ireland through the use of documents

This paper describes the analysis of documentary evidence as an approach to research that has value to both the research community and child care professionals. This is demonstrated through the use of documents produced by both statutory and voluntary agencies who provide services to children and young people with a disability in Northern Ireland. Documentary research is a valuable source of information used by the Centre for Child Care Research (CCCR) within its core research programme. The findings from one research project within this programme are used to demonstrate its value through an investigation into service provision for Children and Young People with a Disability prior to the implementation of the Children (NT) Order 1995. This source can be clearly seen as giving valuable insights into both policy and practice in relation to service provision in the area of disability.

Tracking Behavioral Progress Within a Children's Mental Health System

In recent years, children's mental health agencies have been called on to demonstrate increased accountability for the services they provide. At the same time, the advent of managed care approaches to service provision for children and their families has placed increased emphasis on the use of outcome measures to monitor client progress as well as track system efficiency. In this article, we begin by discussing the role of behavioral adjustment as an outcome variable for children's mental health. Then, the Vermont Community Adjustment Tracking System (VT-CATS), which includes four behavioral instruments designed to provide intensive, ongoing, and interpretable behavioral assessment of a service system's most challenging children and adolescents, is described. Next, the adjustment indicator checklists that compose VT-CATS are described, including the rationale behind their development, structures, and psychometric properties. Finally, the ability of VT-CATS to address agencies' multiple evaluation demands is discussed, including examples of behavior tracking of individual clients, evaluation of the impact of an intervention, and the use of behavioral data to guide service system policy.

Network of care for children and teenagers with cancer: an overview for adult cancer nurses

The network of care for children and teenagers with cancer has developed over the years, addressing the needs of children, as well as the specific needs of children with cancer. Models of care that incorporate child health and paediatric cancer care have been established. Publication of the recent report by the Expert Advisory Group on Cancer (Calman-Hine 1995) in the UK has prompted a fundamental review of all cancer services within the National Health Service (NHS). One of the main recommendations of this report is that Cancer Centres working with local District General Hospital Trusts and the Primary Care Sector produce standardized treatment plans and referral protocols. This concept is the foundation of the model of care in paediatric oncology; consequently, service provision for children and teenagers with cancer is mentioned briefly within this report. The established model of care is perceived as effective. Overall, this paper intends to present a perspective on paediatric oncology nursing for adult cancer nurses, a perspective that will be illuminated and examined further as cancer nurses communicate via future publications within this journal. This is done with the expectation that communication and collaboration with colleagues within the field of adult cancer nursing will assist both disciplines in further advancement within their respective specialty areas, particularly in light of the recommendations put forward by the Expert Advisory Group on Cancer (1995) .

Promote Appropriate Assessment

Target 5 of the National Agenda for Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance is examined in this article. Specifically, this target highlights the need for improving assessment practices within the provision of services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbance. Three assessment areas are reviewed: risk factors, problem behavior, and reintegration of students. Within each of these areas, current research is reviewed and recommendations for best practices are provided. Implications for improving appropriate assessment are then considered.

Mother and teacher ratings of maladaptive behaviour in children with special needs

ABSTRACT Parents and teachers of 109 children selected from the Special Needs Register and living in a multiethnic urban health district participated in the study. Their perceptions of children's behaviour at home and at school were measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist(ABC). About two‐thirds of the subjects presented with at least one type of maladaptive behaviour of at least moderate severity within their family, and 50 per cent had similar difficulties at school. The dimensions of hyperactivity and irritability were the main causes for concern by both sources. Contrary to previous studies, high rates of parent‐teacher agreement were found. This significant association was not affected by factors such as age, ethnicity or type of school. The implications for the provision of services for children in special education are discussed.

Provision of services for cleft lip and palate in England and Wales

In 1991, 773 liveborn infants were reported to have a congenital cleft of the lip or palate.1 Although the incidence of clefts is relatively low, affected children require multidisciplinary surgical and non-surgical care from birth until adulthood. The results attained are now considered to be falling below those achieved in centres overseas, particularly in northern Europe.2 View this table: Numbers of repairs of cleft lip and palate undertaken by surgeons in England and Wales, 1992-3 inclusive ### and results Concern about the provision of services for children born with cleft lip and palate led to a survey of current surgical activity in England and Wales by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. A questionnaire was sent to all consultant …

Schools' Role in the Provision of Support Services for Children and Families: A Critical Aspect of Program Equity

Attempts to redefine equal educational opportunities not only in terms of spending, but also in terms of student performance, are important, but if all students are to achieve a certain level of academic achievement, we must broaden our understanding of how children learn and what influences their capacity to learn and ensure that financial resources are provided for child and family-support services that begin at birth. This article reviews the research that forms the basis for this recommendation and describes the School of the 21st Century as an approach to optimize the growth and development of children and their ability to profit from academic instruction.

Single Parenting in Families of Children with Disabilities

Rearing a child with disabilities is a challenge, per- haps even more so for single parents who most often are women. Stress and negative psychological effects have been considered likely outcomes for parents of children with disabilities. With the increased family focus in the provision of services for children with disabilities, it becomes even more important to understand the sources of stress and the types of adaptations made in these families. The research literature was analyzed and similar results were found. Single mothers of children with disabilities often were younger, had less education, and lower incomes. Few studies included these socio- economic factors. Findings indicate that gross differences betweensingle- and two-parent mothers tended to become nonsignificant when maternal education and income were taken into account. Stress levels and adaptation were not pervasively different for single mothers and mothers who were parenting with a partner, after SES variables were controlled. On a few dimensions-including family harmony, integration, and cohesion-some studies found mothers in single parent families to be at a slight disadvantage relative to two parent families. Research findings indicate that other factors need to be considered in research and in provision of services to understand the interplay between stress and adaptation and to facilitate the fami- lys coping. Further study is needed on factors on two levels; task demands and emotional responses, the diversity among mothers, their life situations, and their task demands must be recognized, and socioeconomic conditions and participation by other adults in care- giving. Positive adaptation by single mothers of children who have disabilities is a reasonable expectation; services should build upon family strengths and competencies.

Provision of Related Services for Children With Chronic Disabilities

Since 1975 all children with disabilities specifically delineated by law have had available to them "a free, appropriate public education that includes special education and related services to meet their unique needs." This access has been made possible by the passage of Public Law 94-142,1 The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. This law was amended in October 1990 with passage of Public Law 101-476, The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Part B of Public Law 101-476 primarily details the identification and provision of services for children with disabilities. Unfortunately, the implementation of Part B of this law has been limited for many children by a number of significant and complex issues. The term "related services" as currently defined in Part B of the IDEA includes the following: ... transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including speech pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation and social work services, and medical and counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) as may be required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education. Health care providers frequently view the related services listed above as medically necessary and/or helpful for children with disabilities without the proviso that these services must be necessary for special education. This difference in perspective and interpretation by pediatricians and parents often leads to misunderstandings, frustrations, conflicts, and problems in the development and implementation of related services within school programs for children with disabilities.

Emotional Illness in a Pediatric Population in Nigeria

In a survey of 500 children aged between 5 and 15 years in a small rural community in Nigeria, 15 per cent were found to suffer from mental morbidity. Disturbances of emotion and conduct disorder constituted 67 per cent of total morbidity detected. Children from disrupted families (due to divorce, separation, and widowhood) were found to be significantly more likely to suffer from psychiatric morbidity. The need to train primary health care workers, and for them to work closely with families and school teachers in the provision of community mental health care services for children in the rural communities of developing countries is emphasized.

The Children Act 1989 and Community Care: comparisons and contrasts

This paper compares and contrasts the Children Act 1989 with the contemporaneous developments in the field of community care and considers their likely impact upon social services departments in the 1990s. The contrasting processes of reform are analysed and related to broader changes in social policy. Specific attention is paid to the different roles envisaged for the state in the provision of services for children and families compared with those for elderly people and people with disabilities, and to issues of assessment, budgets, and user choice and participation. The implications of implementing the changes in unified social services departments are addressed.

Early education and day care: in search of a policy

This paper examines policy issues in the provision of services for children under five and their families. It argues that services have developed in response to political and economic factors rather than in response to the needs of children and their parents. It shows how the separate strands of development that have led to the current confused situation reflect different ideological and philosophical approaches which tend to militate against a more coherent and co‐ordinated service provision. In the absence of a national policy on services for children under five, the paper examines the attempts by some local authorities to rationalize their own services on a local basis. It considers some of the areas in which a policy is required, including the organizational structure of services, flexibility and responsiveness of nurseries and centres to the needs of families, the quality of day care and education, the involvement of parents, equal opportunities, the relationship between the vouluntary and statutory ...

"Traditional" Community Agencies and the Prevention of Mental Illness

[This paper examines some of the unique problems encountered by developing nations and the impact of such problems on the provision of preventive mental health services for children and youths. Several prerequisites for effective program delivery are reviewed and synthesized in order to formulate the broad outlines of a potential prevention model for developing nations. A brief analysis of the GAIN (Group Activities for Individual Needs) Program reveals some of the parameters of such a model.]

Planning for Special Education Needs

By the end of this decade we may well look back on the beginning of the 1980’s as a watershed period in the provision of services for children with special needs in Australia. This period from 1979 to 1983 has been an era in which several state and national reports on needs in special education, teacher education and related areas have been published and placed before Federal and State governments for action. Yet, as fate would have it, this has been a period of great economic difficulty dominated by contractionary budgets at the Federal level with inevitable restraint at State levels. It has also been a period of record unemployment with the average person much more concerned about unemployment, family budgets and survival than social issues such as provision of appropriate and rightful resources to educate handicapped children and adults. Indeed, the visibility and relevance of education generally as a social and political issue has been subjugated by more pressing survival issues.

Service Provision for Disturbed Children

Abstract Service provision for children classified as emotionally disturbed, behaviourally disordered or maladjusted involves a variety of service agencies including health, education and welfare. Recently a collaborative approach to service delivery, which recognises the multi‐disciplinary nature of the problem area and the necessity to avoid wastage of resources through duplication has been adopted. To determine priorities for service delivery the present study involved a multi‐disciplinary sample of experienced professionals working in the area of emotional disturbance. Using the Delphi technique, goals for service delivery in terms of system, instructional, adjustment and social objectives were assembled, clarified, rated in terms of their importance, and rank‐ordered to more clearly determine priorities. Results indicate that a collaborative multi‐disciplinary approach to service provision for disturbed children is feasible and that, despite diverse theoretical and professional backgrounds, competent...