Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Schools: A Critical Introduction

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Schools is a key resource in supporting student teachers during and beyond their teaching training to begin to understand how, and be able, to address the needs of children and young people within schools and college in line with the Code of Practice (DfE, 2014).

Drawing on her wealth of experience and up-to-date theory, Janice Wearmouth explores current legislation related to special educational needs and disability (SEND) within a historical and geographical context so that readers can understand how and why the current SEND policy and practice has developed as it has. She considers assessment and planning in relation to both informal and standardised approaches, and offers ways to engage with young people's, peers' and families' views and experiences. Wearmouth focuses on ways to understand, assess and address the most common forms of SEND: literacy and numeracy difficulties and behavioural concerns related to social, emotional and mental health. She discusses how ICT might be used to include young people with various degrees of difficulty in learning and explores professional relationships and partnership work with parents and families.

Throughout this engaging guide, readers are supported with clear questions of focus for each chapter, and within each chapter exemplars and vignettes, and reflective and discussion activities for individuals and groups, can be found to enable them to consider their own practice to ensure that all young people can learn effectively in their classrooms.

The supportive companion website provides a wealth of further reading resources.

“Professor Wearmouth's timely new book makes an insightful and very accessible contribution to the development of trainee teachers' awareness of key issues, policies and practices in the area of special educational needs and disability support. This essential resource for teacher training programmes takes a holistic approach encompassing student, teacher and parents, while showing the clear links between policy setting and the development of codes of practice. This informative, stimulating and well-written book concisely covers a wide range of topics, delivered from a practical perspective, relevant not only to pre-service teachers and those providing support to students and their families in different educational contexts in England and Wales, but also to a more general audience with an interest in the field.”

Professor Wearmouth's timely new book makes an insightful and very accessible contribution to the development of trainee teachers' awareness of key issues, policies and practices in the area of special educational needs and disability support. This essential resource for teacher training programmes takes a holistic approach encompassing student, teacher and parents, while showing the clear links between policy setting and the development of codes of practice. This informative, stimulating and well-written book concisely covers a wide range of topics, delivered from a practical perspective, relevant not only to pre-service teachers and those providing support to students and their families in different educational contexts in England and Wales, but also to a more general audience with an interest in the field. Mario Moya, Programme Leader for the MA in English Language Teaching, University of East London, UK This new book from Janice Wearmouth is both comprehensive and insightful. As in her other books, the author digs deep and provides answers to crucial questions - extremely comforting in times of change and uncertainty. The book provides a blueprint of how to deal with the changes and the challenges in today's schools through informative chapters discussing a host of key issues facing teachers and educators in all sectors of education. Without doubt this will emerge as a key text in teacher training. Gavin Reid, independent educational psychologist, UK Janice Wearmouth's new book presents a very engaging critical perspective and introduction to the field. It combines a breadth of coverage of the range of special educational needs while providing in-depth discussion of the social and political context and of the key issues. The opportunity for reflective activities while reading the book makes this a very helpful resource to those starting out in the field, as well as those preparing to become SEN Coordinators. Brahm Norwich, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs, University of Exeter, UK A helpful introductory book that will be useful for students who are new to the area of Special Educational Needs. It is clearly structured and the reflective activities are useful to help the students engage with the material on a deeper level. Sian Templeton, University of Gloucestershire, UK

Janice Wearmouth is Professor of Pedagogical Studies at Liverpool Hope University, UK. She is an experienced teacher, lecturer and researcher in the area of special and inclusive education.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.