ten-year-old Sarah had long wanted to join the after school club with her younger brother. Although her cerebral palsy meant she had indistinct speech and used a wheelchair, she had always attended mainstream school with the support of a non-teaching assistant.
Now she was becoming aware of her friends' steps to independence and was nagging her parents to let her attend club. As the staff made their plans to receive her a number of interesting points about inclusion came to the surface.
UNDERSTANDING THE PARENTS
First and foremost, the playworkers had to recognise the anxiety of Sarah's parents. Some parents in their position would be anxious about the child's safety and ability to cope. In Sarah's case this was less of an issue because her carer would be going to club with her. But, of course, this new step for Sarah was highlighting her parents' anxiety about how she was going to cope with life as a teenager.
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