Introduction

The following chapters will focus on the practicalities as well as the theories of caring/nursing children with disabilities. There is a chapter on the social and historical context with the focus on the continually changing attitudes towards the disabled as the social model of disability is more readily adopted. Following on from this, Chapter 3 challenges the assumption that having a child with disabilities is necessarily a tragedy and Chapter 4 discusses the ethics relating to the allocation of resources for children with disabilities. Chapter 5 discusses best practice for giving the initial diagnosis to the family as recommended in Right From The Start (Leonard 1994). Building a trusting relationship is a prerequisite for working with children and families, and the next chapter will focus on how trust can be helped to develop. Play is central to the development of children (Roberts 1995) and if the opportunity to play is restricted or denied, children can suffer developmentally (The Children’s Play Council 1998). Thus another chapter will discuss the increased importance of play for children with disabilities when in hospital, and also how children learn to move and to play. Other chapters will consider some of the problems disabled children may have in obtaining sufficient nutrition to sustain growth and make some practical suggestions for helping children to eat and drink. Following on from this there will be a discussion of communication methods in order to dispel the myth that if a child does not speak, he/she cannot communicate. Further chapters will focus on attachment and boundary setting; the assessment of pain; managing difficult behaviour in the acute setting; the importance of respite care; the transition into adult services; and finally, the way forward for services as they strive to work more closely together.