Education is a right for each individual.

It is a means of enhancing the wellbeing and quality of life for the entire society. This includes children with Special Education needs, (SEN). The need for the services of a multidisciplinary team becomes envitable in the provision of education and related services to children with Special Education Needs. This paper endeavors to define the term multidisciplinary team and identifies the professionals in Zambia who constitute this team and describes their roles. It highlights the challenges that successful implementation of a multidisciplinary team in Zambia is likely to encounter. To begin with, multidisciplinary team refers to a group composed of members with varied but complimentary experience, qualification and skills that contribute to the achievement of the organizations specific objectives. (Castro and Julia; 1994: 22). This definition emphasizes that the members of this team will have different skills and expertise which contributes to the attainment of the school (Institution) Specific objectives. In this case the best way to meet the needs of the children with special education needs. Secondly Garner (1994: 7) defines it as a team or group consisting of representatives from several different professional backgrounds, who all have different areas of expertise. Team members help one another and create an environment that allows everyone to go beyond their limitations. The professionals in Zambia who constitute a multidisciplinary team include the special education teacher, a school psychologist, school social worker, school nurse speech and language pathologist and reading specialist. Other professionals, such as counselors, may also be included in the core team, or they may be consulted on an adhoc basis. School psychologists help the team in evaluating students referred for special education services. Apart from that they administer tests and other forms of assessments and interpret assessment results. Durand (1990:78) mentions that school social workers assist in collecting information about the pupil and also observes the students interaction in settings outside the

classroom. In addition, to that social works provide consultation services to the pupils, teachers and parents. The role played by nurses cannot be emphasized. They collect medical information regarding students with Special Education Needs, for instance they can screen students for possible vision or hearing problems. They also play a key role in interpreting medical records and reports. Apart from that they provide medical services to students requiring medical attention. Haynes (1998:201) stresses that, the speech and language pathologists serve students with language disorders while the reading specialist identify and assist students with various reading disorders or difficulties and propose remedies for such. The Special Education teacher also has important role to play the multi-displinary team. They assist in carrying out identification, screening, assessment and intervention activities. Additionally they develop identification, screening and assessment tools. Hence their role should not be down played. The successful implantation of a multidisciplinary team in Zambia is likely to encounter a number of challenges, among them include: Lack of school psychologists, school nurses in some day and boarding schools, speech and language pathologists including social workers. The absence of the above mentioned professionals in most of the schools means that these people have to be sourced from other ministries like the ministry of health. It is common knowledge that these people are in short supply in the country like Zambia. This means that if they are to be included in the multidisciplinary team which would be meeting from time to time, their work would suffer. In addition to that Social workers will need to be recruited from the Ministry of Community development and social services. This too is another challenge if these people have other committements under the social welfare department of their ministry.

It is vital to mention that even the number of special education teachers has not grown at the moment that we find them in all the schools across the country. This is a problem because children with special education needs are found in all parts of the country. Malcolm (2005: 1) indicates that members of a multi-professional team including social workers, nurses, psychiatrists and teachers will have different training, ways of working and culture. Social care, health and education are all sectors which have undergone huge change, restricting and re-organization. Evolving roles and boundaries consequently affect how professionals work together and can cause confusion. In this regard then everyone needs clarity in their own role and to be clear about what other team members do. The other challenge worth noting is that of other team members competing for control maybe because of the status their professions have over others. Even the languages used in the multi-professional teams could be different. Social work; health and education all have their own Jargon, which can be alienating. As different professionals have different views, some professionals especially difficult ones may tend to cause friction between others who may have different views on best practice. This will in the end lead to a situation where some professionals who articulate their needs strongly make some staff feel threatened. Despite the challenges that have been cited above, that successful Implementation of a multi-disciplinary team in Zambia is likely to encounter. It is important that they are formed and become operational in most of the schools that cater for normal students and even those with special education needs. This is because the knowledge and skills of many professionals are needed to conduct a comprehensive multidimensional assessment of the physical, mental, emotional, functional and social status of children with special education needs. This will be done in the best interest of the children with special education needs and will in the long run assure the nation of the best future of the children concerned.

REFERENCES Castro, R.M. and Julia M.C (1994) Interprofessional Care and Collaboration Practice, California: Brooks/Cole Publication Company.

Durand, V.M (1990) Severe behavior problems, New York: Guilford Press.

Garner, H.G (1994) Teamwork in Human Services, Massachusetts: Butterworth Heinemann.

Hayes, S.C. (1998) The challenge faced by behavioral assessments, London: Longman

Malcolm, P (2005) Health and Social care, Oxford: Heinemann publishers oxford

http://Society.Guardian.co.uk

www.dwp.gov.uk

COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

NAME: BERNARD MVULA ID/NO: 11020335 COURSE: EDU 110 ASSIGNMENT NO: 01 DUE DATE: 31st MAY, 2011 (TUESDAY)

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION The need for the Service of a multidisciplinary team in an effort to provide education and related services to children with special education needs (SEN) is on the increase (a) Define the term Multidisciplinary team (b) Identify the professionals in Zambia who would constitute a multidisciplinary team and describe their roles (c) Explain the challenges that successful implementation of a multidisciplinary team in Zambia is likely to encounter.