Recording Support Measures in the Sequential Pedagogical Documents of Children With Special Education Needs

Abstract

This study investigates the descriptions of support measures in the sequential pedagogical documents (individual education plans or programs and others) of children with special education needs from early childhood education and care to preprimary education. According to previous research, the role of pedagogical work is largely disregarded in these documents, which typically focus on describing children's challenges instead of support measures. In this study, the sequential pedagogical documents (N = 257) of 64 Finnish children were studied for approximately three to six years, and the data were analyzed by investigating the textual and content-related coherence, as well as the linguistic precision, of the descriptions of support. Consequently, four chronological patterns of describing and developing the support measures -missing, repetitious, disorganized, and explicit -were introduced, and the study results emphasize the importance of the specificity and continuity of documentation.

Erityisopettajan pedagoginen työ varhaiskasvatuksen sosiaalisissa systeemeissä

“…Havaintojen hyödyntäminen ei kuitenkaan automaattisesti seuraa onnistunuttakaan havainnointia. Aiemmasta tutkimuksesta tiedetään, että lapsen tuen tarpeen tunnistaminen saatetaan tehdä hyvin yksityiskohtaisesti, mutta tuen systemaattinen suunnittelu ja erityisesti tuen vaikuttavuuden arviointi on usein vähäisempää (Heiskanen, 2019). Näissä prosesseissa juuri tehtyjen havaintojen systemaattinen hyödyntäminen olisi ratkaisevaa, kun lapsen ja pedagogiikan tilannetta koskevasta tiedosta muodostetaan yhteistä ymmärrystä ja suunnitelmaa eteenpäin.…”

Documenting the development and achievements of early and preschool children: Different curricular approaches

“…Bećirović-Karabegović (2014) states that the observation of educational practice should be daily, complete and continuous, but also unobtrusive. It should not be focused only on the description of the social situation, but should also problematize the children's perspective, their learning, development and well-being (Heiskanen, 2019).…”