An Emerging Approach for Education and Care: Implementing a Worldwide Classification of Functioning and Disability

An Emerging Approach for Education and Care provides a synthesis of the extensive research that has been conducted worldwide about the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth in education and care. The main purpose of the ICF is to provide a classification of functioning for adults and children with difficulties, considering their everyday lives, all the activities they perform and the environments they are embedded in, in addition to their health condition, which has been the traditional focus of Special Education provision in many countries.

Each chapter presents an evidence-based study describing how the ICF has been used to improve the provision of services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs around the world. Moreover, each chapter is written by an expert on the ICF from a different country, thus providing an overview of how the ICF can be applied in international educational contexts with different educational and health systems and cultural backgrounds. This synthesis of world-leading research focuses on the ICF as a framework to approach assessment, intervention and classification for children and young people with SEN, whilst also providing practical examples of how it can be implemented.

An Emerging Approach for Education and Care will be essential reading for academics, researchers and practitioners working on Special Educational Needs provision and rehabilitation. It should also be of great interest to those involved in the study of early childhood education, and for postgraduate students aspiring to work in these settings.

Susana Castro is a Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at the University of Roehampton. She has a background in Early Childhood Intervention and has an extensive research background on research and professional applications of the ICF/ICF-CY in education and care. She has also conducted extensive training on the use of the ICF-CY for education and care.

Olympia Palikara is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology at the University of Roehampton, London. She trained as an educational psychologist and her research interest concerns the educational and psychosocial outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.