We have three articles this month focusing on communication. Valerie Jackson describes Makaton and the Paget Gorman Sign System work. Chris Durkin focuses on the importance of listening in communication. We also include the announcement of a book by Jeanne Willis, Mole’s Sunrise, in a format designed specifically for blind children.
Charles Pragnell has contributed another of his trenchant pieces, this time about the way that psychopaths mislead professionals in the Court system. Keith White takes on the massive topic of the suffering of children in India, following a recent visit. Nikki Rule-Jackson encourages parents with children with disabilities to battle for proper assessments.
Then we have two articles on the food which children need. The first, by Dr Lin Day, addresses the needs, particularly of young children, for the food needed to help their brains develop. The second is a briefing prepared by the Howard League, criticising the catering for young offenders in YOIs.
There are two contributions to the ICSE Professional Insights column this month. Marion Thorpe writes about the need to change the way that foster care is organised. Rowan Dickman takes a look at the child care profession with a mixture of hope and concern. In the Editorial we try to stand back from the politics to consider the underlying aims of the Big Society.
There are three very different items about residential child care. Jim Hyland talks about staffing and other aspects of the approved school system. David Lane raises issues about secure care. A.J. Stone provides chapter 20 of Beyond Caring – the last chapter next month.
Robert Shaw’s two Key Texts this month are both reports. The Underwood Report made a very balanced assessment of the services needed by maladjusted children and the Ingleby Report reviewed services for young offenders.
In the section on reading, we have responded to a reader’s request last month, and Gabriel Eichsteller has suggested books about social pedagogy. We also review two books for children – a comprehensive introduction by D&K to world religions called What Do You Believe? and Malcolm Hulme’s story about Eric and the Woolly Jumpers.
And if the nineteen articles listed above don’t have anything which interests you, try News Views, which this month has another dozen topics.