Labelling Children with Special Educational Needs: To Label or not to Label?

Authors

  • Mary O'Shaughnessy

Keywords:

Labels, SEN, Special Educational Needs, Definition, Categorisation, Inclusion, Labelling

Abstract

The Warnock Committee in 1978 recommended that statutory categorisation of handicapped pupils should be abolished. Instead it espoused the concept of special educational needs. However, as inclusive educational practice continues apace, the issue of labelling remains contentious.

References

Barry, M. (2006) Labelling Students: What Purpose is Served? LEARN Journal of the Irish Learning Support Association, Vol. 28, pp. 62-72.

Beutler, L.E., Bongar, B. and Shurkin, J. L. (1998) Am I Crazy, Or Is It My Shrink? How to Get the Help You Need, New York: Oxford University Press.

Clarke, C., Dyson, A. and Millward, A. (1998) Theorising Special Education, London: Routledge.

Cole, T. (1989) Apart or a Part? Integration and the Growth of British Special Education, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Corbett, J. (1998) Special Educational Needs in the Twentieth Century: A Cultural Analysis, London: Cassell.

Department of Education and Science (DES) (1978) The Education of Handicapped Children and Young People (Warnock Report), London: HMSO.

Department of Education and Science (2003) Circular SP ED 24/03: Allocation of Resources for Pupils with Special Educational Needs in National Schools, Dublin: DES.

Department of Education and Science (2005) Circular SP ED 02/05: Organisation of Teaching Resources for Pupils who need Additional Support in Mainstream Primary Schools, Dublin: DES.

Dyson, A. (2001) Special Needs in the Twenty-first Century: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going, British Journal of Special Education, Vol. 28 (1), pp. 24-29.

Feiler, A. and Gibson, H. (1999) Threats to the Inclusive Movement, British Journal of Special Education, Vol. 26 (3), pp. 147-152.

Fish, J. (1989) What is Special Education? Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Frostig, M. (1976) Education For Dignity, New York: Grune & Stratton.

Hornby, G., Atkinson, M. and Howard, J. (1997) Controversial Issues in Special Education, London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.

Jackson, S. (1966) Special Education in England and Wales, London: Oxford University Press.

Kelly, N. and Norwich, B. (2004) Pupil’s Perceptions of Self and of Labels: Moderate Learning Difficulties in Mainstream and Special Schools, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 411-435.

Kirby, A., Davies, R. and Bryant, A. (2005) Do Teachers Know More About Specific Learning Difficulties than General Practitioners? British Journal of Special Education, Vol. 32 (3), pp. 122-126.

Lewis, A. (1995) Children’s Understanding of Disability, London: Routledge.

Norwich, B. (1990) Special Needs in Ordinary Schools: Reappraising Special Needs Education, London: Cassell Educational Limited.

Norwich, B. (1993) Ideological Dilemmas in Special Needs Education: Practitioners’ Views, Oxford Review Of Education, Vol. 19 (4), pp. 527-566.

Norwich, B. (1999) The Connotation of Special Education Labels for Professionals in the Field, British Journal of Special Education, Vol. 26 (4), pp. 179-183.

Norwich, B. (2002) Education, Inclusion and Individual Differences: Recognising and Resolving Dilemmas, British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 50 (4), pp. 482-502.

Riddell, S. and Brown, S. (1994) Special Education Needs Policy in the 1990s: Warnock in the Market Place, London: Routledge.

Rose, R. (2001) Primary School Teacher Perceptions of the Conditions Required to Include Pupils with Special Educational Needs, Educational Review, Vol. 53 (2), pp. 147-156.

Sainsbury, C. (2000) Martian in the Playground: Understanding the Schoolchild with Asperger’s Syndrome, Bristol: Lucky Duck Publishing Ltd.

Scanlon, G. and McGilloway, S. (2006) Managing Children with Special Needs in the Irish Education System: A Professional Perspective, REACH Journal of Special Needs Education in Ireland, Vol. 19 (2), pp. 81-93.

Yselldyke, J.E., Algozzine, B. and Thurlow, M. L. (1992) Critical Issues in Special Education, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

Downloads

Published

2021-01-24

How to Cite

O’Shaughnessy, M. (2021). Labelling Children with Special Educational Needs: To Label or not to Label?. REACH: Journal of Inclusive Education in Ireland, 21(2), 67–76. Retrieved from https://reachjournal.ie/index.php/reach/article/view/116

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2008)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright Notice

Authors contributing to REACH: Journal of Inclusive Education in Ireland retain the copyright of their article and at the same time agree to publish their articles under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License allowing third parties to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms:  

  • Attribution (BY): You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • NonCommercial (NC): You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • NoDerivatives (ND): If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

Learn more about Creative Commons  licensing.