A comparison of training approaches for support assistants using the Hanen philosophy

The introduction of the Hanen Programme (Watson, 1993) for parents of children who will in the future attend special schools can have training implications for their school's staff. These factors have led to a speech and language therapy service working in collaboration with its local schools to offer courses for special needs support assistants. The design, planning and delivery of the courses were based on Hanen philosophy. Some courses were exclusively for support assistants and others offered the opportunities for them to work in differing degrees of partnership with children's parents. The successes and the limitations of support assistants attending parents Hanen courses were evaluated.