Chapters authored
Supporting Communication Vulnerable Children to Communicate Their Pain
Communication vulnerable children need an alternative way to express their pain to receive appropriate pain management. In this chapter, the concept of communication vulnerability will be explained by using the social-communication model of pain as a theoretical framework. The concept of pain is difficult to describe due to its subjective nature and individuals’ different experiences to pain. Clinicians and researchers find it challenging to understand the dynamic interplay between the biological, psychological and social determinants of pain. Understanding any episode of acute or chronic pain therefore necessitates considering the holistic pain picture to analyse the essentials at biological, psychological and social levels. The chapter concludes with suggestions to use augmentative and alternative strategies to support communication vulnerable children to communicate their pain.
Part of the book: Pain Management
What Accommodations Do Courts Provide for Abused Children with Communication Disabilities? A Legal Scoping Review
Children with disabilities are at higher risk for becoming victims of violence and sexual abuse than peers without disabilities. Despite this, very few of these cases are heard in court due to a plethora of reasons. In the rare event that they do, the court appears to be unaware and unable to efficiently provide accommodations that would allow these children to testify and obtain justice. The aim of this legal scoping review was to identify the range of documented court accommodations to enable abused children with communication disabilities to testify in court. The legal scoping review methodology developed by White et al. (2021) was used to search the extant evidence related to court accommodations for children with communication disabilities across electronic social sciences databases (i.e., PubMed, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library and PscyInfo) and law databases (i.e., Hein Online, Lexis Nexis, Sabinet and Saflii). Results describe the available accommodations used across different countries and jurisdictions.
Part of the book: Child Abuse and Neglect