Children with Disabilities
This section is an additional part of your safeguarding training, and covers issues specifically related to children with disabilities.
9. Communication Barriers
9.1. Case Study
A child who made an initial disclosure using an augmentative communication system produced the following statement using her symbol board:
‘nurse R cross she tell me up children up she mean cruel hurt leg her hand I cry’
The statement was subsequently repeated by the child in an interview and was clarified through careful questioning to mean:
‘nurse [beginning with] R [got] cross. She tell me [to shut] up, [that I would wake the other] children up. She [is] mean/ cruel she hurt [my] leg [with] her hand I cry’
The child did not have shut, smack or hit on her word board and therefore was
not able to tell her story accurately the first time. (Source: Triangle, as cited by Gov.uk, July 2009)
