Complex Needs & Learning Difficulties
Complex Needs is the term used to refer to a range needs and requirements that arise from the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), moderate to severe learning difficulties and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
There are many approaches to complex needs, but all of them hinge on the practise of a holistic approach to care, education, health and wellbeing and providing a stimulating environment, tailored to the individual to maximise their potential.
Learning Difficulties is the term used to describe the 'barriers' to learning that a person may experience. These May Be mental, physical or environmental.
By employing a tailored approach to learning experiences, individuals can flourish and lead fulfilling lives, the key to success is the way in which learning opportunities are presented to the learner.
In many cases traditional, classroom based, lessons are not conducive to a person with learning difficulties' way of thinking and will often result in frustration and a 'distancing' from education.
Specialists in complex needs recognise this and present learning opportunities as experiences where the learner can take a very different approach to a subject and still learn successfully. Many experiences may be delivered without the service user realising the educational content.
This approach to learning is very successful and requires everyone concerned with the learner to be taking the same approach to ensure continuity for the learner.
Residential care and educational establishments are very successful with this tailored approach as they can ensure the consistency required over the 24 hour period required for the successful process of Life Long Learning.
A recent emerging approach to providing learning opportunities to people with complex needs is the introduction of the Learning Mentor.
Mentors have been a feature in education for several years but GeneRally in mainstream education. Mainstream Mentors tend to be from business backgrounds and spend a few days with a select group of students - usually the 'gifted and talented' set - and lend their knowledge and experiences to them.
In specialist schools, the role of Learning Mentor is somewhat different. The Learning Mentor uses their knowledge base to provide experiences and opportunities for the learner. This is done in conjunction with the teacher.
The teacher sets the learning objectives, the Learning Mentor finds a way of helping the student achieve these goals, and the teacher then accredits the outcomes.
For example, a timetabled morning may be Maths, English, PHSCE and ICT.
Instead of having the student sit in a classroom for the classic ‘chalk and talk’ approach, the Learning Mentor provides and experience that covers all of the subjects and, in many cases, others too.
An activity will be planned where the student and Learning Mentor access a bus timetable on the net, catch the bus into the town centre with the student asking for the ticket and paying, arrives in the town centre, navigates her way to the library to hire a CD, does some shopping for ingredients for a cookery class, then has lunch in a cafe, ordering the food herself and paying for it, then returning on the bus.
In the same time scale, the student has used maths, English, ICT skills and covered several areas of PHSCE topics. She has even prepared for her afternoon lesson.
This learning experience has delivered the learning targets in an interesting and accreditable manner.
Learning Mentoring is not a widely spread programme and is only being used in a few special schools, but it is successful and it is the future of specialist education.
The following links may provide useful information on the topics discussed:
1 National Autistic Society. 2 Mencap - help and advice for people affected by Learning Difficulties. 3 The Garden School - Some interesting case studies on Complex Needs and Learning Mentor programmes. 4 British Institute of Learning Difficulties. Help and advice.