TALKING ABOUT
sex education
FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO HAVE ADDITIONAL LEARNING NEEDS
Fiona Boorman is a paediatric continence nurse and former special school nurse. Fiona works with the BBUK team at Disabled Living. Fiona, found she was able to explain and demonstrate ‘embarrassing’ body events in a way both families and pupils could understand, to help demystify and promote healthy living. This opened the door to becoming very involved in health, puberty, sex and relationships education too. This is a subject which historically people commonly ignored because it proves difficult to talk about for many reasons, such as • Fear of how to broach it and what level to pitch the information at. • Fear of opening a ‘can of worms’, encouraging experimentation or maybe even starting a new obsession in some young people. Parents and carers may feel that the child will not require the information• they will never be able to experience sexual feelings. • they will always need 24 hour care so will not be alone. • they will always remain as a child and they would not be able to become pregnant. Let’s look at these ideas There are a very small number of conditions in which the young person will not experience hormonal and bodily changes as they progress through puberty. With some children
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these changes occur even earlier than for their peers. For a child who is unable to question what is happening to their body and emotions, or access information on the internet as their neuro typical peers might, these changes may well produce fear, as they are unsure what is happening to them. They may become more isolated and sometimes depressed. Even a child who struggles with social contact may change over time, it is important to help them to prepare for appropriate contact, particularly to learn what is acceptable behavior for themselves and others. Sexual experimentation often starts with our own bodies, it is good to help these children to understand what behavior is acceptable in
the society they live in, to learn what can be done and where. They need reassurance to comprehend the urges and feelings that they experience as a normal part of maturing. Many parents of children with disabilities, may view their child as unlikely to become an adult, imagining them as perpetually dependent and ‘childlike’, they may be protective and not wanting them to grow up. Unfortunately, since the demise of the crystal ball, most of us are unable to give accurate predictions of the future and reality generally turns out to be little like we thought. It is a common misconception that girls with a learning disability are unlikely to become pregnant. The vast majority have fully
