Lessons from special education: enhancing communication between health professionals and children with learning...

Children with learning difficulties have potentially greater health needs than non-disabled children, and as a consequence, are more likely to access health services. Parents of children with learning difficulties express concerns regarding the ability of health professionals to meet their needs, one of these concerns is the capacity to communicate effectively with the child. We suggest in this discussion paper that to facilitate improved communication a more collaborative approach between all individuals involved in the care and everyday life of the child with learning difficulties is advantageous. Collaboration has the potential to enable health professionals to adopt methods of communication that are familiar to the child, such as those used in the school setting. The advantage of such collaboration will enable health professionals to learn some of the methods used in the education of children with learning difficulties, which could be transferred to the health care setting. How greater collaboration and knowledge of communication methods used in education will enhance communication with children with learning difficulties are also discussed in this paper.