Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Vox Populi

Perfect timing! I chanced upon these protesters while at County Hall recently. I suppose they are parents who support the Every Child Matters campaign, but are angry that there doesn’t seem to be enough support available to children with special needs.
If you had a special child, what services might you require from your County Council?
I am many things - a life coach, a diversity champion, a freelance writer and translator, a dog lover, a citizen of the world, etc - but never thought of myself as a photographer. Norwich inspires me to capture snapshots of this fine Norman city. Take a trip down Norwich lanes or enjoy a walk in the park with me.
on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 3:26 am:
That would depend on what the special needs were of my child.
Sounds like what we have over here. Its called No child left behind. They only left the teachers and the funding behind.
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 3:27 am:
In our area (U.S.), special needs children receive a great deal of support in the public school system due to the national “No Child Left Behind” program. I wonder if that is similar to what they are trying to do in your area? My sister teaches first grade, and she usually has at least one special needs student in her class for at least part of each day. If the public schools aren’t able to provide adequate support to special needs children, they are required to provide funding for private schooling for that child, so there is a lot of initiative to provide adequate instruction.
I hope that they accomplish what they hope to.
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 4:02 am:
thanks for you visit our blog.welcome any time.
And also you have a very nice pictures !!
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 4:56 am:
I do have a child with special needs, and while I can’t say what would be required from a county council, the severity of the disability pretty much determines the needs. But all need public accommodations that will include them as much as possible in the overall community, from wheelchair ramps into businesses and offices to an appropriate education that is really an education and not just a babysitting service. When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed years ago, I recall reading a letter to the editor asking why certain businesses needed wheelchair ramps…a skating rink for example, since people in wheelchairs could not skate anyway. Well, in our case, our other two children could skate, and it was nice to be able to take our wheelchair-bound child along to the rink, and a ramp sure did make getting in and out of the place much easier!
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 5:37 am:
certainly a good cause. nice shot!
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 6:33 am:
No support for special needs children? That’s definitely something to protest about. There seem to be a lot of protesters. Good for them. I hope something positive happens for them.
Paz
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 7:47 am:
I would have to say. Tougher curriculum so they can stay competitive. Teacher who can actually “teach”
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm:
Gordon Brown has a special needs child. Perhaps now he’s in charge somebody in government might pay some attention.
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 7:10 pm:
I worked for a long time at an inner city school where the children performed very poorly on their tests–they were poor children and it was my job to bring them up to speed, but it was an impossible task. I;’d have 35 children all at different levels, some who didn’t speak English, some who were being physically and sexually abused or not fed etc. They needed love, food, guidance, help, protection and one-on-one tutoring, but there was no money available for services. I felt like a FOOL trying to teach them about ecology (which I love) for example, when they were desperately hungry and covered with bruises.
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 10:00 pm:
Hard to say. Responsiveness is prertty important I think.
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on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 11:03 pm:
Can’t really say.
My twins had to get some support on speech therapy but I paid 60% of the bill. The rest was Social Security.
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