My first experience of working with children with learning disabilities was at age 18, when I made the brave decision to move to Romania for a gap year. After initially applying to a paediatric nursing diploma straight from school, I was unsuccessful and it was suggested that I gained more life experience first. Being very determined to get the career I wanted, I didn’t let this hold me back and signed myself up for a gap year working with children with additional needs in an orphanage in Transylvania. What I was met with when I arrived will stay with me for the rest of my life and made me realise the change I wanted to make to vulnerable children’s lives.
Our role within the charity was to take the children out of their “holding room” and give them an hour a day of sensory therapy and warmth. It was heart-breaking to have to return them to an empty room at the end of each session, knowing that they would spend the rest of their day with 80 other isolated children and no stimulation or love. From this moment, I knew that I would return to supporting children with additional needs when I got home.
Upon my return, this life experience was clearly enough, and I successfully gained a place on a three-year paediatric nursing diploma course. I consolidated my clinical skills by moving to paediatric intensive care and uprooting to Wales. During 13 years in this post, I undertook my BSc in critical care and continued to develop my clinical nursing skills. However, the passion that I had for working with children with additional needs stayed with me, and I always put myself forward to care for children who were admitted with learning disabilities.
In 2015, I was lucky enough to obtain my current post as a nursing team leader at a special school. Within the school we have children aged 3-19 with a range of both learning and physical needs. It is our role within the school to enable pupil’s health needs to be met so that their learning can be optimised. Our school is very much focused on inclusivity and giving the pupils every opportunity that children in a mainstream school would have. As a nursing team, we aim to support education staff where possible with the correct training and knowledge to meet the pupils needs within the classroom.
Ensuring that a child has a safe and suitable environment within their educational setting is of utmost priority and we act as care co-ordinators to achieve this. It may be as simple as ensuring that a child can come out of their wheelchair and access a safe place within the classroom, or have a designated and private changing facility that they can access. It is essential that when working with children with additional needs that they are given a voice, this might be listening to their wishes or by acting as their advocate to support best interest decisions. It is also key to involve parents or carers in discussions around their child, as a lack of information sharing and strength in communication is a recurring concern.
I’m currently in the final year of my MSc in community health studies and hope that by having this qualification that I can continue to develop my knowledge and support children with additional needs in a holistic way.
It is evident that things have changed dramatically during the 20 years that I have been working with children with additional needs. During those first days at the orphanage, my role may have focused at a very basic level on giving those children the time and warmth they needed to develop, but I can honestly say that this has been the foundation of my practice to this day. If every person that meets a child with additional needs is able to follow this principle, then the child and their family will feel valued, respected and able to flourish.
Our role within the charity was to take the children out of their “holding room” and give them an hour a day of sensory therapy and warmth. It was heart-breaking to have to return them to an empty room at the end of each session, knowing that they would spend the rest of their day with 80 other isolated children and no stimulation or love. From this moment, I knew that I would return to supporting children with additional needs when I got home.
Upon my return, this life experience was clearly enough, and I successfully gained a place on a three-year paediatric nursing diploma course. I consolidated my clinical skills by moving to paediatric intensive care and uprooting to Wales. During 13 years in this post, I undertook my BSc in critical care and continued to develop my clinical nursing skills. However, the passion that I had for working with children with additional needs stayed with me, and I always put myself forward to care for children who were admitted with learning disabilities.
In 2015, I was lucky enough to obtain my current post as a nursing team leader at a special school. Within the school we have children aged 3-19 with a range of both learning and physical needs. It is our role within the school to enable pupil’s health needs to be met so that their learning can be optimised. Our school is very much focused on inclusivity and giving the pupils every opportunity that children in a mainstream school would have. As a nursing team, we aim to support education staff where possible with the correct training and knowledge to meet the pupils needs within the classroom.
Ensuring that a child has a safe and suitable environment within their educational setting is of utmost priority and we act as care co-ordinators to achieve this. It may be as simple as ensuring that a child can come out of their wheelchair and access a safe place within the classroom, or have a designated and private changing facility that they can access. It is essential that when working with children with additional needs that they are given a voice, this might be listening to their wishes or by acting as their advocate to support best interest decisions. It is also key to involve parents or carers in discussions around their child, as a lack of information sharing and strength in communication is a recurring concern.
I’m currently in the final year of my MSc in community health studies and hope that by having this qualification that I can continue to develop my knowledge and support children with additional needs in a holistic way.
It is evident that things have changed dramatically during the 20 years that I have been working with children with additional needs. During those first days at the orphanage, my role may have focused at a very basic level on giving those children the time and warmth they needed to develop, but I can honestly say that this has been the foundation of my practice to this day. If every person that meets a child with additional needs is able to follow this principle, then the child and their family will feel valued, respected and able to flourish.
