The child with the special needs

Over
1.A child with serious chronic illness or development disability often has complex needs that differ from those of unimpaired age mates.
2. A chronic illness is any disorder that disrupts daily functioning for more than 1 month in any given year.
3. Developmental disability refers to a severe physical or mental disability that occurs before age 22 years and usually results in substantial limitation of function. Chronic illness affect an estimated 10%to 15% of all children under age 18 years. Asthma and congenital heart defects and spina bifida carry the highest mortality of all childhood illness .Adding speech , learning sensory , cognitive and emotional problems an estimated 40% of children between kinder garden and sixth grade have significant long-term disabilities.
4.In contrast to care of unimpaired children, health care the child with special needs is related more to development age than to chronologic age , nursing interventions should be aimed at promoting optimal adjustment of each family member.

Trends in health care:
1.The education of all handicapped children Act of 1975( Public Law 94-142) , Probably the most significant recent federal legislation affecting children, provides for the following:
a. Free, appropriate public education for all handicapped children.
b. Identification and evaluation of all handicapped children .
c. Preparation of an individualized education program for each handicapped child.
d. Provision of education in the least restrictive environment possible .
e. Procedural safeguards for parental grievances ( due process).
f. Protection of the rights of children placed by the state in private schools.
g. In- service training for educations.

2. National organizations and local support groups geared to the needs of children with specific disabilities and their families provide opportunities for children and parents to improve their understanding of the disability and its management and to develop networks for self- help.
3. In hospitals , parent- care units and rooming-in arrangements provide of a disabled child with the opportunity to learn the specialized care measures that their child requires and frees the child from the stress associated with separation from family , allowing the child to mobilize all of his or her emotional resources to cope effectively with the threat posed by the disability.
4. The advent of pediatrics home care agencies has enabled shorter hospital stays by providing a variety of continuous of episode services for disabled children in their home environment.