ABSTRACT
Since 1978, when the Warnock Report Special Educational Needs: Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People stated that 20 per cent of all children will have special educational needs or experience a difficulty in learning at some stage in their school career, this statistic has remained true (Department of Education and Science (DES) 1978). This means that in a class of 25 children, there could be 5 children experiencing difficulty — quite a handful in a busy classroom. Taking all special needs into account, there are more boys than girls affected (approximately four to one) but social background does not necessarily affect occurrence.
