We invite
articles from everyone in the field of childhood disability in
the UK and other countries, whether practitioners, academics,
disabled young people, family members, professional writers, journalists,
campaigners or politicians.
Articles will usually be between five hundred and three thousand
words, written in an accessible form for a varied readership and
without jargon. Diagrams and pictures can be included.
Articles fit into the following topic categories:
TOPICS |
PURPOSE |
What
my life is like |
Disabled
people and family members often say about particular practitioners
or services: ‘They have no idea what my life is
like’. This is often true about practitioners
who have not worked closely with disabled people and their
families or visited their homes. This section is part
of a remedy, the articles enabling all of us to understand
more and to be better able to empathise and anticipate. |
| Guideline:
Articles can be stories, reports, journals, diaries, etc. |
The
place where I work and the work that we do
|
The
effective functioning of networks (whether local, regional,
national or international) depends on practitioners knowing
about what organisations and services are out there, what
they do and how to get in touch. This section also helps
spread the word about successful models for statutory,
voluntary and private organisations, and about innovative
projects and campaigns.
|
| Guideline:
Articles can be descriptions of the organisation –- or of
aspects of it. Case histories can be included. User feedback
and other evaluations can be referred to. |
My
work, what I do & whom it benefits
|
Practitioners
cannot work together in multi-disciplinary teams or collaborate
more closely in Teams Around the Child unless they have
a good understanding of what each others’ role entails,
what protocols apply, what the satisfactions and frustrations
are. This section can also help everyone understand how
a particular type of practitioner can support a child
with a particular need.
|
| Guideline:
Articles can be descriptions of the work – or aspects of
it, case histories, A Day in the Life of…, Journals or diaries
(perhaps by practitioners taking on a challenging role),
My Life as a…, etc. |
Exploratory
education, therapy or other interventions
|
With
children with particular needs or combinations of needs
More
and more ‘complicated’ children arrive each year. While
we have to meet their learning, development, health and
care needs in pre-school and educational settings, there
are no established texts about successful interventions
for children with each unique combination of conditions,
disabilities and needs. We all have to resort to some
extent to trial and error, learning as we go along. Our
successes are rarely captured or passed on. This section
invites practitioners to contribute to a growing body
of practical information about what sort of interventions
have worked with particular unique children.
|
| Guideline:
Articles can be case histories, reports of a specific intervention
or programme, journal of a particular child’s progress in
a particular setting. |
Our
successful joined-up initiatives
|
All
children with special needs and their families require
their practitioners to be joined-up to some extent, whether
at the simplest level of networking, at the level of co-ordination
of date, time & place of interventions, or at the
deepest level of collaboration around particular children
and families – because of complexity, crisis or whatever.
But joined-upness does not always come naturally and sustainable
systems that fit in with current resources and roles are
usually the result of much effort, commitment and ingenuity.
In this section we can all learn from other people’s journeys.
|
| Guideline:
Descriptions of a successful joined-up system, journals
of the journey to achieve it, innovative collaboration between
practitioners, innovative user/practitioner partnerships.
|
What’s
new? |
Reports,
research, surveys, theories, ideas & new thinking
This section
helps us all to keep up to date with new developments
and might bring a timely nudge when we get a bit stuck
in doing things as we have always done them.
|
| Guideline:
Summaries of new reports, research & surveys (+ link
to full document), articles about new theories, ideas &
thinking. Reviews & criticisms of relevant books, papers
& other publications. |
Alphabet
of helpful hints |
For
new practitioners working with families
This is a cumulative
document of particular help to students, recently qualified
practitioners and those working with families for the
first time. It is written each quarter by Peter Limbrick. |
Please e-mail peter.limbrick@icwhatsnew.com
to discuss your contribution to the Journal.
.
|
|
