Educational and Mental Profile of Looked After Children

1
Educational and Mental Profile of Looked After
Children

• Dr. Zeev Levita
• Consultant Clinical Psychologist
• Young Options

2
The Scale of the Problem (2001)

• 60,000 LAC in England (Majority in Foster Care)
• 6,400 in children homes including secure units
• Higher incidence of Mental Health Disorders
• 19-31 enter further education (68 in general
  population)
• 4 times likely to be unemployed
• 60 times likely to be sent to prison
• 30-40 of women in prisons have spent some
  childhood in care.
• 12 of children in Tier 4 are LAC

3
Experience of Young People Taken to Care (2001)

• Abuse and Neglect 62
• Family Dysfunction (10)
• Disability (4)
• Parental Illness and Disability (6)
• Family in acute stress (7)
• Socially unacceptable behaviour (4)
• Low income (1)
• Absent Parenting (6)

4
Challenge

• The physical and mental health problems of
  children in care and leaving care may be deeply
  rooted in their pre-care experiences and
  circumstances, the very factors which led to
  their coming into care but the worrying issue for
  care providers is the evidence that the period
  in care can actually exacerbate rather than
  reduce existing problems and can even create new
  dangers
• Chambers et al (2002)

5
Learning Difficulty

• Learning difficulty is a term used to describe
  any one of a number of barriers to learning that
  a child may experience. Children with learning
  difficulties may find activities that involve
  thinking and understanding particularly
  difficult, and many need support in their
  everyday lives as well as at school.
• Every Child Matters

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Definition of Learning Difficulty

• He has a significantly greater difficulty in
  learning than the majority of children of his
  age,
• He has a disability which either prevents or
  hinders him from making use of educational
  facilities of a kind generally provided for
  children of his age in schools within the area of
  the local authority, or
• He is under the age of five and is, or would be
  if special educational provision were not made
  for him, likely to fall within paragraph (a) or
  (b) when of or over that age.'
• Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001,

7
Specific Learning Difficulties

• A lack of progression with learning to read,
  write and spell and/or numeracy, contrary to the
  expectation built up by the normal development in
  other areas, with evidence that the problem is
  severe and persistent, despite appropriate
  learning opportunities.

8
Examples of Specific Learning Difficulties

• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Dysgraphia
• Dyspraxia
• ADHD
• ETC

9
Definition of Mental Disorder(from DSM IV)

• A mental disorder is a clinically important
  collection of symptoms (behavioural or
  psychological) that causes an individual
  distress, disability or the increased risk of
  suffering pain, disability, death or the loss of
  freedom.

10
Examples of Mental Health Disorders

• Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Depression
• Oppositional-Defiant Disorder
• Contact Disorder
• Reactive Attachment Disorder

11
Identifiable Mental Health Disorders in General
Population(Great Britain) Meltzer et al (1999)
Half of the cases are Conduct Disorders Boys
twice as girls presenting Conduct Disorder or
Hyperkinetic Disorder
12
Identifiable Mental Health Disorders in Looked
After Children(Great Britain) Meltzer et al
(2003)
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Identifiable Mental Health Disorders in
LAC(Great Britain)Meltzer et al (2003)

• 66 of LAC have at least one physical complain
  (most common eye-sight, speech and language,
  co-ordination and asthma)
• 42 of LAC Boys and 31 of LAC Girls present
  Conduct Disorder
• 33 of LAC with MHD are 3 or more behind
  intellectual development
• 60 of LAC have difficulties with reading,
  spelling or maths ( those with MHD twice as much
  literacy difficulties that other LAC)
• LAC with MHD are 4 times more likely than other
  LAC to report not spending time with friends

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What does it all mean?

• Look at the individual young person
• The sad story is not the whole story
• Many of the presentations are pervasive
• Many of the circumstances are pervasive
• Significant number of LAC do not present MH
  disorders or learning difficulties

15
Food for Thought

• Undoing or Creating
• Healing or Coping
• Past or Present and Future
• Same Story or New Story
• What makes us ill or what makes us healthy
• Pessimism or Optimism
• Despair or Hope