In recent years there has been a major shift in thinking about the nature and treatment of special educational needs. The principal benefit of this change has been an increased awareness of"educational" needs and a focus on improving the quality of educational provision, in both ordinary and special schools, for much larger numbers of children. The benefits which have accrued from this change have been enormous and there can be no doubt that the quality of special educational provision has been enhanced. The intention of"Special""Educational Needs" is not to argue against the new conceptualization but to suggest that a generic approach can be made more effective if it is informed by awareness of the specific problems associated with particular impairments which some children may experience and the ways in which those problems may be most effectively responded to. The aims of this book then, are to review contemporary understanding of the frequency, nature and sources of special education needs; to consider the various conditions which give rise to learning difficulties; to provide authoritative accounts of the special methods and resources that may be required by pupils with particular difficulties; and to examine general and specific needs in relation to assessment, curriculum planning, and the organization of educational provision, parent involvement, support and advisory services.

Keith Bovair, Brian Fraser, Heather Mason, Carol Miller, Heather Murdoch, Christina Tilstone and Colin Smith, all of the University of Birmingham; Neil Hall, Senior Educational Psychologist, Birmingham LEA and Ian Glenn, Headteacher, Victoria School for the Physically Handicapped, Birmingham