Children with special needs: Use of health services, behaviour and ethnicity

The aims of this paper are to 1) describe the types of health services used by children with special needs, in relation to their ethnic background and 2) to investigate the relationship between the severity of their behaviour and the use of services. A sample of 106 children (European=42, Asian=45, Afro-Caribbean=19) was selected. Hyperactivity seemed to be most problematic for the three groups, though there were no significant differences between them in terms of the five aberrant behaviours, Over the previous year, no children had been seen by their General Practitioners (GPs) for mental health difficulties, rather they had been seen mainly for chest problems, particularly Afro-Caribbeans, or cold-related problems, particularly Asians. A large proportion of children had sought nursing care for health monitoring. Two European and two Asian children had received nursing help on their behaviour and living skills. Some had also sought help from hospital doctors for such physical problems as epilepsy, hearing and vision impairment, cardiovascular problems, mobility and ENT (ear, nose and throat). More Afro-Caribbean than European children had sought help from ENT doctors. Some had also sought dental check-ups, preventative and corrective treatments, as well as help from opticians. The majority of mothers thought that the services they had received were satisfactory. Out of all services, they thought that teachers and GPs understood their children's problems best. Some opinions were also expressed on the improvement of the above services. A significant association was found between social withdrawal, lethargy or inappropriate speech and GP contact.