This unique resource book explores what wellbeing, community participation and independence mean to young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). Bringing together results of an extensive survey of more than 100 schools that teach young people with PMLD, the authors present many innovative ways in which schools are working to ensure young people with PMLD have lives of value that are as rich and meaningful as possible. Organised into three cohesive parts, this book provides a comprehensive insight into established theories and current perspectives on wellbeing and independence for people with PMLD before exploring the results from the Lives Lived Well survey and other international research, and then it helpfully illustrates best practice in action with a close look at an established, very successful specialist school. This book can be used as a guide, resource and inspiration for adults sharing their lives with young people with PMLD – whether practitioners or parents – and concludes by asking what we can learn from these young people to support us all in living life to the full.

A Different View of Curriculum and Assessment links a theoretical pedagogical model with a sympathetic practical model of curriculum and assessment difference for those with PMLD, CLD and SLD. Split into two parts, this accessible resource combines theoretical explanations with first-hand accounts of how this works in educational establishments, through the analysis of evidence-based practice carried out in a number of English special (specialist) schools. The expert authors challenge the notion that a national, or common core standards, curriculum, however expertly differentiated, is fit-for-purpose for the PMLD, CLD and SLD populations in any country. A Different View offers cogent and reasoned arguments for considering that irrespective of age, such learners learn differently to their neuro-typical, conventionally developing peers. If they learn differently, this book shows how we should be teaching them differently. Reflecting the centrality of process over product, this book will clearly explain how each individual learner might be enabled and facilitated to become the best they can be and do the best they can do, in order to fully realise their potential as equal and independent citizens.

This book aims to raise awareness about the possibility of achieving the goals of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), in order for all disabled people to enjoy the benefit of human rights. The stories of people who have been supported to enjoy their rights and their citizenship will enable readers to focus on how services and support can enable people with a learning disability to have their rights upheld, with an outcome of citizenship, independence and achievement. Despite the UNCRDP being in place since 2006, a significant number of learning disability service provider organisations and professionals in the UK are not aware of its existence. This book aims to bridge the gap between policy and practice to demonstrate the value of a human rights approach as the foundation for services and support for people with a learning disability.

This book provides important philosophical insights concerning the kind of creatures we are such that we can experience something we understand as well-being, with these insights then being applied to various areas of social policy and welfare practice. The author defends what he calls The Ontology of Well-Being Thesis (TOWT), addressing ontological questions about the human condition, and how these questions are fundamental to issues concerning what we might know about human well-being and how we should promote it. Yet, surprisingly, these ontological questions are often side-lined in academic, political, and policy and practice based debates about well-being. Addressing these questions, head-on, six features of the human condition are identified via TOWT: human embodiment, finiteness, sociability, cognition, evaluation, and agency. The main argument of the thesis is that these features reveal the conflicting character of human experiences, which can, in turn, have a profound bearing on our experience of well-being. Notably, it is our conflicting experiences of time, emotion, and self-consciousness, which can potentially help us experience well-being in complex and multi-dimensional ways. The author then applies these insights to various social policies and welfare practices, concerning, for example, pensions, disability, bereavement counselling, social prescribing within health settings, the promotion of mental health, and co-production practices. This book is of importance to philosophers, social policy analysts, and welfare practitioners and is also relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, politics, and the health sciences.

Revitalizing Special Education presents neither a pessimistic nor a Pollyannish view of past or future, but rather is a careful assessment of some of the greatest threats to robust special education posed by distorted and misguided thinking about what special education is and does.

With a focus on the progression and dismantlement of the Asylum system, this book examines key issues around the policy and practice of in-patient mental health provision in the UK, making comparisons with similar services in other parts of the world. Part narrative history and critical analysis, part autoethnography, this unique volume critiques the ethics of early policy decisions which led to the closure of the old Victorian asylums and the advent of care in the community, identifying continuing issues of institutionalisation, containment, and segregation. Drawing parallels with the continuing dilemmas of ‘inclusion’ in other areas of public policy and provision, chapters discuss controversial issues such as the response to the Covid pandemic, the influence of ‘anti-psychiatry’, and the continuing use of electro convulsive therapy. Ultimately, the book makes a vital theoretical and practical contribution to the continuing debate around in-patient mental health care in the 21st century. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy makers in the fields of healthcare policy and history of mental health provision more broadly. Psychiatrists interested in the history of the asylum system in the UK, as well as present day mental health professionals will also find the book of use.

Young adulthood - ages approximately 18 to 26 - is a critical period of development with long-lasting implications for a person's economic security, health and well-being. Young adults are key contributors to the nation's workforce and military services and, since many are parents, to the healthy development of the next generation. Although 'millennials' have received attention in the popular media in recent years, young adults are too rarely treated as a distinct population in policy, programs, and research. Instead, they are often grouped with adolescents or, more often, with all adults. Currently, the nation is experiencing economic restructuring, widening inequality, a rapidly rising ratio of older adults, and an increasingly diverse population. The possible transformative effects of these features make focus on young adults especially important. A systematic approach to understanding and responding to the unique circumstances and needs of today's young adults can help to pave the way to a more productive and equitable tomorrow for young adults in particular and our society at large. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults describes what is meant by the term young adulthood, who young adults are, what they are doing, and what they need. This study recommends actions that nonprofit programs and federal, state, and local agencies can take to help young adults make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. According to this report, young adults should be considered as a separate group from adolescents and older adults. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults makes the case that increased efforts to improve high school and college graduate rates and education and workforce development systems that are more closely tied to high-demand economic sectors will help this age group achieve greater opportunity and success. The report also discusses the health status of young adults and makes recommendations to develop evidence-based practices for young adults for medical and behavioral health, including preventions. What happens during the young adult years has profound implications for the rest of the life course, and the stability and progress of society at large depends on how any cohort of young adults fares as a whole. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults will provide a roadmap to improving outcomes for this age group as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

"I wish I had this book when I started teaching! Every teacher starts out with an empty bag of tricks; it is nice to peek into someone′s bag!" —Nicole Guyon, Special Education Teacher Westerly School Department, Cranston, RI Classroom-tested strategies that help students with learning disabilities succeed! Teachers are often challenged to help students with learning disabilities reach their full academic potential. Written with humor and empathy, this engaging book offers a straightforward approach to skillful teaching of students with learning disabilities. Developed for K–12 general and special education classrooms, this resource draws on the author′s 30 years of teaching experience to help teachers gain a greater understanding of students′ learning differences and meet individual needs. Strategies are organized by skills—including reading, writing, math, organization, attention, and test-taking—helping teachers quickly identify the best techniques for assisting each student and encouraging independent learning. Readers will find: More than 100 practical strategies, interventions, and activities that build students′ academic abilities Recommendations on appropriate accommodations, assessment techniques, and family communication Support for complying with recent federal mandates related to learning disabilities, including the ADA, Section 504, and the reauthorization of IDEA 2004 Helpful guidance and stories from the author′s own classroom experiences Ready-to-use tools, forms, and guides Discover innovative, easy-to-implement teaching methods that overcome barriers to learning and help students with special needs thrive in your classroom.

Being a parent of a neurodivergent child can be challenging and exhausting. It can feel like a constant battle to be heard and to gain the support that you and your child need. This book provides an accessible overview of the SEND system and how it works, so that you can successfully untangle and navigate the system and draw upon the best resources offered. The handbook is divided into three main parts: SEND systems, policy and legislation; support for your child in school; and looking forward. Chapters: Introduce the world of SEND systems and break down key documentation and the roles and responsibilities of school staff Take you on your child’s journey through school and explore key aspects from assessment and EHCPs, to funding and gaining further support for your child Look ahead and consider important transitions through each of the school phases in your child’s journey and allows you to acknowledge some of your own fears and challenges as a parent Include a range of both practical and reflective activities to bring each area to life The voices of parents and carers are woven in throughout the book, as well as key staff who you might encounter, from occupational therapists to speech and language therapists. This comprehensive guide will be an essential tool to support your journey to get the best from your child’s school experience.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.