Tma 01 E214.

TMA 01

As I worked through Units 1,2,3 and 4 (E214,The Open University, 2010) I reflected upon the nature of social justice and rights, how a rights discourse changes what we think about needs and the rights children and young people have and should have.

I decided to choose resources that I felt were relevant to the course materials, models and the conceptual frameworks. My articles focus on boy’s underachievement at school and the challenges faced by parents of children with Asperger's syndrome.

The underachievement of boys within the education system is explored and supported by research from Chris Skidmore in my first article (Appendix A). It emphasis that boys are more likely to be permanently excluded and that one out of five have a reading age of half their years by the age of 14 and a quarter of do not gain a single good GCSE. I would perceive the article as being of interest to parents, teachers and educationalists because of the concerns about boys within the class and school environment. The conclusion drawn by the reporter is that to tackle underachievement, schools need to provide a curriculum and environment that engages boys with particular emphasis on competitive sport and a practically connected curriculum.
Locating suitable out-of-school activities for children with Asperger's syndrome can be a challenge and this is the focus in my second article (Appendix B). The reporter has interviewed a family in the south-west where a network of out-of-school clubs, run by the National Autistic Society (NAS), provides support for children and young people with autism, and their families. This article has uncovered possibly a lifeline, the NAS, which other parents can explore. This piece follows one family who have three children with an autistic spectrum disorder, one who is severely autistic and the other two have what their parents refer to as "high-functioning" autism. I perceive that this article is for parents, practitioners and...