As the report describes, it is encouraging to see that children with special needs report having many friends, and that they spend time with their friends. The majority of children with special needs feel that most kids like them. However, it is troubling to see that children with special needs do have a somewhat less positive experience socializing with their peers than do children without special needs, and this at a crucial time in their social development.
The experience of children and youth with special needs at school is consistently less positive than it is for their peers without special needs. They miss more school, they change schools more often, they perceive themselves as not doing as well at school (as do their parents), they feel somewhat less positively about school, and they are slightly less likely to look forward to going to school. Again, while these differences are not large, they are consistently in the same direction. The good news in school is that they are more likely to get extra help and special education. It is impossible from this data to determine if the amount of help they receive is sufficient.
The second part of this report is based on a survey of community-based agencies conducted by the Canadian Council on Social Development. The purpose of this survey was to understand the capacity of community-based organizations to respond to the needs of children and youth with special needs. For the purpose of the survey, children and youth with special needs were defined to include: children/youth with physical disabilities; children/youth with chronic physical health problems; children/youth with emotional health problems; children/youth with developmental disabilities; and children/youth with learning disabilities. This was consistent with the NLSCY data analysis. There were 112 respondents to the CCSD survey, a 56% response rate.
According to this survey the needs of children and youth with special needs are not being served adequately. There are many barriers to service for these children and their families. Some of them are characteristics of the services themselves, such as inadequate funding; others involve problems facing families, such as inadequate financial resources and an inability to provide support. Still other barriers are community-wide, such as attitudes of the public and some professionals. There are physical attributes that still bar children from services, such as the physical inaccessibility of facilities and the lack of transportation.
Go To Page: 1 2
