Conceptualizing Special Educational Needs Using a Biopsychosocial Model in England: The Prospects and Challenges of Using the International Classification of Functioning Framework

Norwich, Brahm

doi:10.3389/feduc.2016.00005

Cited by 26 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…This suggests that perhaps the use of such system as a supporting tool in the developing stage of the EHC plans could potentially help to improve their quality-by reducing vague statements, introducing standard levels of information of social and individual nature as well as by providing a common language between professionals from different areas of intervention. The ICF is of particular relevance for the English context as it has the potential to address key issues in the current SEND policy including: ensuring parent and child access rights to an adequate, relevant and user-friendly assessment; adopting an interactive causal model and holistic model of disability, which is relevant to a range of areas of functioning; covering personal strengths, not just difficulties; and supporting inter-professional collaboration (Castro and Palikara, 2016;Norwich, 2016).…”

Section: The Use Of Icf As Theoretical and Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing the Voices of Children in the Education Health and Care Plans: Are We There Yet?

et al. 2018

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The need for a focus on the voice of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has received increased recognition internationally both in policy and research. In England, this was emphasized in the new special educational needs framework introduced in 2014. As part of this new policy, children with disabilities and/or additional needs can receive an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan. The EHC plan is a single document that should describe the children's strengths and needs in a multidisciplinary and holistic way. Section A of the EHC plan must include the child's own perspective. In this context there is much need for evidence on the quality of these new plans and in particular on the quality of the depictions of children's voices. The aim of this study was to address this knowledge gap by analyzing the depictions of children's voices and the process by which these were gathered in 184 EHC plans of children with SEND attending mainstream and special schools in the Greater London area. The content analysis of the section concerning the children's voices was conducted using the categories of a multi-dimensional classification system, which includes aspects relating to the child herself, but also to her environment and relationships-the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The findings revealed high levels of variability in the way the voices of children were captured, including the methods used to ascertain their views. Additionally, the type of school that the child was attending seemed to play a significant role on how his/her voice was captured, favoring mainstream schools. The findings of the present study provide the first set of evidence-based data concerning the quality of the content of the newly introduced EHC plans and are discussed in light of the implications they have for policy, practice and further research in the area.Keywords: special educational needs (SEND) code of practice, voices, children, international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF), education, health and care (EHC) plans INTRODUCTIONCapturing the voices of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has increasingly been recognized as a key element of relevant policy initiatives internationally (United Nations, 2006;Porter, 2014). In England, there is increased emphasis on participation of children and young people in the decision-making process through the new SEND Code of Practice, which was introduced following the enactment of the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014 (Department for Education and Department of Health, 2015). These reforms have been described as the most Palikara et al.The Voices of Children With SEND substantial ones in the UK over the last two decades (Department for Education, 2014;Norwich and Eaton, 2015;Curran et al., 2017). The CFA introduced the Education, Health and Care plans (EHC plans) to replace previous statements of Special Educational Needs. The EHC plan is a single document that should describe th...

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Section: The Use Of Icf As Theoretical and Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing the Voices of Children in the Education Health and Care Plans: Are We There Yet?

et al. 2018

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“…A further and deeper appropriation of the ICF-CY framework, matching its conceptual and taxonomic properties with the principles defining inclusion and special needs responses, may embody a second stage that would trigger a greater ease in use of the ICF-CY. The relationship found between the extent of collaboration and the ease of using the ICF-CY, seems to reinforce-once again-the use of the ICF-CY as requiring and facilitating the intersection of different perspectives and areas of knowledge (e.g., Hollenweger, 2013;Norwich, 2016).…”

Section: Extent Of Collaboration and Valued Contextual Attributes Formentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Within special education field, a wide consensus on the utility of multidimensional models has been reached, as providing comprehensive information on students' performance and enhancing the continuity between assessment and intervention processes (e.g., Simeonsson et al, 2008;Hollenweger, 2013). The ICF-CY use on education-as reflecting a multidimensional perspective over human functioning-has been, then, conceived as an important support for guiding special needs assessment and eligibility processes (e.g., Simeonsson et al, 2006;Brown and Guralnick, 2012;Norwich, 2016;SilveiraMaia et al, 2016;Castro and Palikara, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This situation specific approach frames a holistic and comprehensive description of student functioning within a socioecological perspective, matching participation-oriented goals for students in environmental terms (Imms et al, 2017). The value of aligning universal documents (child and human rights declarations and classifications) with policies and services for children with additional support needs (Simeonsson et al, 2006;Brown and Guralnick, 2012;Norwich, 2016;Castro and Palikara, 2017), has taken the form of adopting an ICF-CY informed approach to special needs assessment and eligibility in a number of countries (Tokunaga, 2008;De Polo et al, 2009;Francescutti et al, 2009;Hollenweger, 2011). In this context, it is important to prioritize the procedures and measures in the adoption of the ICF-CY in order to implement a comprehensive, systematized and shared socioecological approach in education to meet the additional support needs of students with disabilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conditions for Implementing the ICF-CY in Education: The Experience in Portugal

et al. 2018

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“…Involvement is of particular importance in an inclusive education setting where democratic values play an important role (Nilholm, 2006). Similarly, of Nilholm's (2007) three perspectives on special education-the Compensation-, the Critical-, and the Dilemma perspective-the Dilemma combines individual and social perspectives and could potentially be practically put into operation by the ICF.A previous review of the ICF in the field of education has found that the framework is currently used as a research tool, theoretical framework, and tool for implementing educational processes (Moretti et al, 2012, p. S103). Similarly, while operationalizations of participation are not always consistent with definitions used, when focussing on participation within inclusive education aspects relating to adaptations made and making support available are most prevalent (Maxwell et al, 2012a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Inclusion Through Participation: Understanding Participation in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health as a Methodological Research Tool for Investigating Inclusion

2018

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This paper investigates the use and validity of the International Classification of Functioning disability and health (ICF) as a common language for describing inclusive educational settings. There is a specific focus on investigating participation through the ICF as one aspect of inclusion as an improved understanding of participation as a measure of inclusion will greatly benefit children with additional support needs. In addition there will be a better understanding of the operationalization of participation, in terms of both policy and practice, and improved applications of the ICF. The study uses a narrative summary review to analyse the findings from a selection of studies where the ICF has been used as a methodological tool in the field of education. In the 16 included studies the ICF is either used to present a new theoretical position, synthesize a new research approach or tool, or is integrated into the framework of an existing research method. Findings also show that the ICF is used in a number of different ways and that when it is used directly, variation is found in the type of information that was linked to ICF codes or categories. In conclusion further clarity on defining and measuring participation with the ICF framework is required in order to create a more consistent tool for investigating inclusive education. One way to improve the construct of participation is to take a bi-dimensional approach. It is the authors' belief that this newer approach to modeling participation will be considered in any future revisions of the ICF/ICF-CY-a so-called "ICF-2". This would thus create a more accountable classification framework that succeeds in capturing the involvement experience of the individual and in doing so achieves a more effective and useful classification framework for the field of inclusive education. Keywords: ICF-CY, methodology, education, participation, inclusionMaxwell et al. Participation for Investigating Inclusion INTRODUCTIONA number of challenges are often encountered by children with additional support needs when they attend school, these can range from logistical access-related issues to the school itself to a lack of technical or human support services. In order to overcome these issues and reduce social exclusion we need to furnish education with effective policy that enhances inclusive education (Grammenos, 2003 (Florian et al., 2006) and can provide common terminology for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers (Simeonsson et al., 2008). Hollenweger has also expanded the basic ICF model for application in education and recognizes that a definition of disability used for eligibility purposes is required within the general curriculum for all children (Hollenweger, 2011).A short note on the terminology and the ICF, as the theoretical underpinnings of the ICF and ICF-CY are identical (the differences lie in the execution of the coding framework), in this paper we will refer to the ICF when referring generally to the framework and to the ICF-CY when referring to specific agere...

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Conceptualizing Special Educational Needs Using a Biopsychosocial Model in England: The Prospects and Challenges of Using the International Classification of Functioning Framework

Cited by 26 publications

References 40 publications

Capturing the Voices of Children in the Education Health and Care Plans: Are We There Yet?

Capturing the Voices of Children in the Education Health and Care Plans: Are We There Yet?

Conditions for Implementing the ICF-CY in Education: The Experience in Portugal

Inclusion Through Participation: Understanding Participation in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health as a Methodological Research Tool for Investigating Inclusion

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