|
8. TYPES OF PLACEMENT Regular classroom Children with EBD many of them with diagnosed Hyperkinetic Disorders or ADHD may be educated in regular classrooms of regular schools. In case of such placement, intervention measures must be adopted in the organization and conditions of education. A child with EBD served in regular classroom of regular school should be properly assessed in a counseling center. Pedagogical-Psychological Counseling Centers are the ones that specialize in children with learning disabilities and EBD in the Czech Republic. The school with cooperation of the center and parents provides the child with individualized education program (IEP). The IEP must be tailored to the individual student's needs as identified by the evaluation process and must help teachers and related service providers understand the student's disability and how the disability affects the learning process. In other words, the IEP should describe how the student learns, how the student best demonstrates that learning and what teachers and service providers will do to help the student learn more effectively. In case of a child with EBD, the IEP should also specify ways of behavior management and many other important issues concerning the number of students in the classroom, teacher’s assistant or evaluation system.
Special classes in regular schools Children with more severe EBD may still be educated in regular schools, but in separate classrooms established for children with EBD. Special teachers are often the homeroom teachers of such classes and the class usually has reduced number of students. The students are educated according to the same school educational program as the students without EBD.
Special schools for children with EBD The Regulation 73/2005 Sb. on Education of Children, Pupils, and Students with Special Education Needs and Children, Pupils, and Students Extraordinary Gifted lists in section 5 all types of special schools. It also enables the establishment of a special school for children with EBD. However, as it means a concentration of many children with EBD at one particular place, not very many schools of this type exist.
Institutional and preventive educational care for children and youth with EBD Children and youth with severe EBD often characterized by long term truancy, substance abuse, violence and crime are traditionally served by facilities providing institutional and preventive educational care. These facilities are part of the secondary prevention system. Specialized school facilities providing institutional and protective care may be divided to four types:
The function of these institutions is to provide substitutive care in the interest of the child focusing on healthy development and proper rearing and education. Children from the age of three to eighteen, in special cases nineteen, may be placed in these institutions only on the basis of court decision or provisional order. The courts in the Czech Republic may either order institutional care for the child or impose protective care on the child, according to the type and severity of the problem (social, behavioral, psychiatric, etc.) The final decision about placement to concrete institution, however, is not done by the court, but by a professional team at diagnostic centers.
Diagnostic center Diagnostic center is a residential institution for preliminary assessment. Children that should be placed in any kind of collective care institution on the basis of court order of institutional or protective education should be first assessed by the center. The center would accommodate a child on the basis of parents’ or guardians’ request (voluntary stay) or on the basis of court decision. The assessment is done by complex evaluation of the child during eight weeks of permanent stay. Part of the assessment program is also education in classes located directly at the center. After the assessment is finished, professionals decide about the final placement of the child.
Children’s home Education of children without serious behavioral problems with court ordered institutional care is provided in children’s homes. The age of the children ranges from three to eighteen and they are placed to children’s homes mostly due to social reasons. Their parents cannot or are unable to take care of them. Children’s homes perform educational, rearing, and social functions.
Children’s home with school Children with serious behavioral disorders or psychiatric disorders with court ordered institutional or protective care are educated in children’s homes with school. The institution may also accommodate underage mothers with serious behavioral disorder or psychiatric disorder, who may be placed here with their children. The age of the clients ranges from six to the end of their compulsory education. In case that the disorder remains serious after the child finishes his/her compulsory education, the child is transferred to juvenile home.
Juvenile home Children with serious behavioral problems who are fifteen and older with court ordered institutional or protective care may be placed in juvenile homes. In exceptional cases a child older than twelve may be placed in a Juvenile home. This is allowed only in cases of behavioral problems so serious that it would not be possible to place the child in Children’s home with school. These children have usually repeatedly committed serious crimes. Juvenile homes perform educational, rearing, and social functions. A boarding primary or secondary school is always part of the institution.
Preventive educational care
Centers for Educational Care Act no. 109/2002 Sb. on Institutional Education or Protective Education at School Facilities and on Preventative Educational Care at School Facilities is the law that specifies the aims of Centers for Educational Care. The centers offer ambulant, all-day, and residential services. Residential stays last approximately eight weeks. The clients are children from the age of six to eighteen without court ordered institutional or protective care. The stay is always voluntary and initiated by the guardian of the child or in some cases the child himself/herself. The center provides preventive special education and psychological services for children at risk of EBD, children with behavioral disorders, and children who finished institutional care. The services focus on eliminating or reducing behavioral disorders and preventing the occurrence of new problems. The centers also provide consultations, information, and support to parents, teachers, schools, and school facilities in the area of children at risk or with EBD focusing on possibilities of social integration.
Counseling As treatment and education of children with severe EBD is often very problematic and sometimes ineffective process, professional try to identify and intervene before the disorder fully develops. This is why so much attention nowadays is given to counseling and intervention before the child’s disorder is so severe that it must be dealt with in residential institutions. Counseling and intervention at schools is conducted by the following professionals:
Classroom teacher The teacher focuses on children without behavioral problems, children at risk and children with EBD. The main aim of the teacher is to identify problematic behavior and its context. Furthermore, the teacher should help the child to concentrate on the problems and support his/her motivation to change.
School counselor School counselor is a counseling professional and also a teacher at a given school. He/she works with the children, parents, and teachers. The main tasks of school counselor are:
School psychologist and special teacher The position of school psychologist and special teacher is not required by law, therefore only some schools employ these professionals. However, many schools that accommodate students with special needs have their own psychologist and/or special teacher. These professionals work on
|