helping children with additional needs to be safe, strong and free

HELPING CHILDREN WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS TO REMAIN SAFE, STRONG AND FREEKat Lee – BASPCAN – April 2015

Welcome! Aim: The presentation of the Safe

Strong and Free Project’s plan for expansion into special schools in the Highland Region

This presentation: Brief history of the Safe Strong

and Free Project Why is expansion into the special

schools needed? (Be prepared for some practical activity!)

How will the testing for change pilot be carried out?

What does the project hope to achieve?

Conclusions and discussionKat Lee; BASPCAN 2015. Helping Children with Additional

Needs to Remain Safe Strong and Free.

Children: A blessing Deserving Have rights UN Convention on the Rights of

the Child (1989), Article 19: “Every child has the right to be

protected from violence, abuse and neglect” (Unicef 1989 http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publication-pdfs/UNCRC_summary.pdf)

Should feel safe, strong and free as a MINIMUM – capable of self actualisation in a loving and nurturing safe environment irrespective of where they are placed upon a diverse scale of need and ability

Should not have to be subjected to any form of abuseKat Lee; BASPCAN 2015. Helping Children with Additional

Needs to Remain Safe Strong and Free.

Children should be:

Kat Lee; BASPCAN 2015. Helping Children with Additional Needs to Remain Safe Strong and Free.

A brief history of the Safe Strong and Free Project

“The Safe Strong and Free Project believes that every child has the right to grow up safe, strong and free and that preventing sexual assault and exploitation of children is the responsibility of the whole community.”

What the project is about: “1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused”

(Radford et al 2011, page unknown) “Over 90% of sexually abused children were abused by

someone they knew” (Radford et al (2011, page unknown)

“Over 5,500 sexual offences were recorded against children under 11 last year”. (NSPCC 2013)

“One child dies at the hands of another person every week… as many as one child in six is exposed to violence in the home. In this social media age children face new threats of online grooming and cyber bullying… Perhaps most strikingly, more children than ever before are expressing their own anguish and distress through inflicting pain on themselves by self-harming.” (Jutte et al 2014 p4)

Safe Strong and Free – teaching, empowering and furnishing with tools to help prevent abuse.

Highly valued throughout the HighlandsKat Lee; BASPCAN 2015. Helping Children with Additional Needs to Remain Safe Strong and Free.

Why is expansion into the special schools needed? “31% of disabled children had been abused

compared with 9% among the non-disabled child population. Disabled children were 3.4 times more likely to be abused or neglected than non- disabled children. They were:

3.8 times more likely to be neglected 3.8 times more likely to by physically abused 3.1 times more likely to be sexually abused 3.9 times more likely to be emotionally abused”

(Sullivan and Knutson (2000, page unknown).


Why is expansion into the special schools needed?


In relation to bullying (which is one of the key focuses of the SSF project) the literature states that ‘nearly 8 out of 10 young people with a learning disability have experienced bullying’ (Mencap 2007, page unknown); and that bullying and other forms of abuse are often perpetrated by their main care givers;

“Severely disabled children were suspected of being abused by their parents almost three times more often than typically developing children.” (Hershkowitz, Lamb and Horowitz 2007; 629-635).

At present – SSF has access to one of the three special schools in the Highland region and needs to pilot a testing for change programme to address presenting materials that are age and ability appropriate and reduce the impact of communication barriers

Many children with additional support needs are educated within the mainstream system with additional support – implications re successful summative learning from programme in relation to retention and recall ability?

The importance of an effective communication environment Practical activity Signing


How will the testing for change pilot be carried out?

One school – pilot Data collection Creation of materials for testing for change pilot project: BSL signer or video PECs Objects of reference Tool for measuring distress in children with alternative and augmentative

communication styles that is designed as a universal and standardised tool ward to ward; region to region

The pilot will then be carried out with the target group and a control sample, and the recall of the main messages will be summatively assessed after a one month period. The study data will then be collated and evaluated in relation to the original hypothesis, the approach/ materials etc evaluated and then refined for official delivery.

Future expansion: Booklets in braille/moon/ large print Ebook development Resource pack Instigating and then sustaining ongoing research to assess continued effectiveness of

the programme as a preventative measure in both mainstream and soecial schools.


What does the project hope to achieve? A flexible programme that has adaptations

to suit a variety of different needs, cognitive abilities and communication styles whilst still imparting the central tenets – the key themes.

A programme that reaches all groups of children within society in the geographical locations within which it is presented

A legacy that can expand, has longevity and continues to evolve to meet societal need


Conclusions and discussion Handouts – a very brief review of the

literature Thank you!

Kat Lee; BASPCAN 2015. Helping Children with Additional Needs to Remain Safe Strong and Free. Image from

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helping children with additional needs to be safe, strong and free

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