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Resumen: Explores the sex education needs of school students with severe learning difficulties with reference
to curriculum content, teaching, resources and work with parents. Gives examples of a developmental approach
to the curriculum.
Texto completo: Ann Craft: Ann Craft in Massey, D. (Ed.), Sex Education Source Book: Current Issues and
Debates, Family Planning Association, London, 1995
David Stewart: David Stewart in Massey, D. (Ed.), Sex Education Source Book: Current Issues and Debates,
Family Planning Association, London, 1995
Angela Mallett: Angela Mallett is Head of Department for Students with Profound and Multiple Learning
Difficulties, Di Martin is Head of the Primary Department and Sue Tomlinson is Head of the Senior Department,
all at Shepherd Special School, Nottingham, UK
Di Martin: Di Martin is Head of the Primary Department and Sue Tomlinson is Head of the Senior Department,
all at Shepherd Special School, Nottingham, UK
Sue Tomlinson: Sue Tomlinson is Head of the Senior Department, all at Shepherd Special School, Nottingham,
UK
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This article is based on a chapter by Ann Craft and David Stewart in Massey, D. (Ed.),
Sex Education Source Book: Current Issues and Debates, Family Planning Association, London, 1995.
In many ways, the health and sex education needs of children and young people with severe learning difficulties
are similar to those of any other young person. There are, however, important differences which require special
consideration. For example, there is likely to be a difference in the attitudes of significant adults such as
parents, teachers and school governors. Whereas youngsters without learning difficulties are expected
(eventually) to take responsibility for their own health and to become sexually active, therefore needing some
form of health and sex education, this is not the popular expectation for pupils with severe learning difficulties.
This is particularly so as far as sex education is concerned, for there is a widespread, albeit erroneous, belief
that individuals with intellectual disabilities are not sexual beings at all and possess an eternal, childlike
innocence. Even though their bodies are seen to mature physically, they are viewed as "children for ever", in a
limbo where they will never achieve the status of sexual adults. Echoes of this attitude can have a profound
effect on social development and opportunity.
A second difference lies in the degree of cognitive impairment present in children with severe learning
difficulties. That educational label subsumes a wide range of intellectual potential, communicative ability and
social skills, but the general characteristics of the population so described are likely to include a decreased
ability to make use of informal, unstructured social and sexual learning opportunities. They do not pick up cues,
ask questions or acquire information from friends in the same way that other youngsters do. This is
compounded by the often very sheltered lives that students lead outside school hours.
Two important similarities between children with and without severe learning difficulties are, first, that the vast
majority will reach puberty within normal parameters. By the time that they leave school, almost all youngsters
with severe learning difficulties will be at or near physical adulthood. Second, to a greater or lesser extent,
members of both groups are subject to teenage cultural pressures, whether their parents and teachers like it or
not.
Provision of sex education
The Health of the Nation[1] tells us that "Good personal and sexual relationships can actively promote health
and wellbeing". How, as a society, we formally teach any child to establish and maintain such good
Autor: Craft, Ann; Stewart, David; Mallett, Angela; Martin, Di; Tomlinson, Sue
Tomo: 96
Número: 6
Páginas: 11-18
Número de páginas: 0
Año: 1996
ISSN: 09654283