ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the task of teachers faced with the great number of children who need at some time during their school career more understanding than many teachers feel able to offer unaided. It reviews the growing advocacy that professionals with special expertise in the field of children's special needs should include in their remit systematic work with more teachers than those whose pupils are individually referred to them. The chapter shows that efforts to offer teachers the kind of support which may deepen their understanding of special needs and assist them to adapt their approach are still isolated. It examines one more feature of the consultative joint problem-solving approach: its potential in providing much needed support for the supporters. The chapter also examines if supporters are to operate effectively within and across schools and school services, in a co-ordinated staff development structure designed to achieve the professed aim of the new legislation.
