Learning Disability Nursing

A child’s early years of life could be said to be one of the most physiological, psychological and emotional susceptible stages of their development. It is at this stage that the effects of poverty on issues such as, health, social well-being, education, family life and housing conditions have an ever-lasting influence on the child. “Problems during childhood cast long shadows into adulthood” (Acheson 1999 p.34). The author will throughout the assignment touch on these issues, but in his estimation the effect these issues and particularly education, have on children with disabilities especially learning disabilities are the most under researched and under published and for this reason he will develop this initiative.

To give us some perspective we must first examine a connotation of poverty, a definition. “Persons are beset by poverty when ‘resources are so small as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life of the Member State in which they live’” (Townsend 1979). Townsend’s definition implies to the reader that it is the members of the state, which define or sets the parameters of poverty, is it not they who set the ‘minimum acceptable way of life’? But what of the child, who sets the parameters for them or is it the circumstances that they are born into that, exemplifies their status?

So, what expectations do we have for our children? A good education for many parents is in all probability a priority. But evidence shows that for the poorest of the population this is not being attained. “Children who fail to benefit from schooling tend to come from families and communities characterised by poverty” (Mittler 1999 p. 3). If we could be in agreement regarding the group, which fall into ‘our’ definition, what help is available to them? ‘Sure Start’ is a government initiative aimed at selected areas of recognised underachievement and poverty with the proposal to prevent learning difficulties in the first place by focusing on children from birth to