NCJ Number
216255
Journal
Child & Youth Services Volume: 27 Issue: 1/2 Dated: 2005 Pages: 51-73
Date Published
2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes the development of social competencies in group care practice by focusing on the relationship between practice in schools and those in group care centers.
Abstract
The main argument is that the commitment to promoting competencies rather than curing illness should be one of the most important goals of child and youth group care practice. The authors show how despite the potential for common ground between teachers and group care workers, the common ground goes largely unrecognized in practice, particularly in the area of special education. Indeed, the beneficial relationship that could exist between group care workers and special education teachers, who have focused extensively on managing surface behaviors in the classroom, is largely lost in the gaps that are present between the services. The importance of linking the teaching of social competencies to individual learning styles is discussed, with a focus on the need to consider the child or young person as a whole, unique being who expresses him or herself through different modes of functioning: perception, cognitive functioning, emotion, language, and motor functioning. It is important to assess an individual’s competencies in each mode of functioning in order to respond to the special needs of children and young people in group care practice. The point is to shift the focus away from individual pathologies and toward an emphasis on individual differences in learning styles, which then necessarily shifts the attention toward helping children develop social competencies in all areas of functioning. Attention is placed on furthering developing existing competencies and developmental assets rather than on the child’s deficiencies or disabilities. Through these shifts in focus, the whole group care program becomes a comprehensive learning environment that is responsive to children’s different learning styles. Several program features of a responsive and comprehensive group care program are identified including the daily curriculum, the use of physical space, and the social climate of the learning environment. Note, references