“The Policy for Impementation Challenges of Individual Plans for Preschool Children with Disabilities”.

This article is part of a project that focuses on collaborative groups for children with special needs attending daycare centres. The goal is to generate knowledge about how daycare centres can contribute to developing positive forms of collaboration between the public health and welfare systems and the child's home. The article examines the purpose and use of a five-year-old girl’s individual plan at the daycare centre.

The study shows that the collaboration in the team on the individual plan does not function optimally. Three main topics are highlighted in the analysis: (a) the importance of the individual plan, (b) a clear policy and (c) unwillingness to accept responsibility and transfer of responsibility to others. Participants in the study state that they do not consider the individual plan as useful, as it is not being used extensively and is not updated. However, several participants believe that the meetings held every six months are worthwhile. If and when progress was made, it was a result of these meetings. The authors conclude that there are conflicts in the collaborative group which result in a reluctance to engage and take professional responsibility. This leads to stagnation in the collaboration. It also means that the individual plan is not important to the participants, and that it only to a small degree ensures that the child receives the adapted support which is the point of the plan.
The study shows several examples of how adapting to the policy in the individual plan is articulated by the team participants. For instance, statutory guidelines are not necessarily followed, and team participants can adapt the policy to their individual and professional needs. The girl’s mother also tells that when the authors of the project took part in a meeting, the responsible person from the municipality showed up, unlike normal practice. This shows that the research project itself has affected the collaboration in the group.
Furthermore, the study showed that participants often tried to avoid responsibility for example by highlighting tasks other people in the team were responsible for rather than their own tasks. In addition, several tasks were postponed, as they were described as less important.

This study is a case study, in which five participants who function as a team for a five-year-old girl’s in the preparation of her individual plan are interviewed and observed. The group of participants comprises an ordinary child carer, a child carer for children with special needs, a health visitor and the girl’s parents.

Cameron, D.L. & Tveit, A.D. (2011). “The Policy for Impementation Challenges of Individual Plans for Preschool Children with Disabilities”. International Journal of Parents in Education, (5)1, 12-23.