Working with Children or Adults with Special Needs

What Kind of People might I be Working With?

Special needs can cover a broad canvas. You may be working with people whose issues might include:

• Behavioural problems
• Cerebral palsy
• Learning difficulties
• Autism
• Speech defects
• Physical care needs
• Blindness and numerous others too.

What Kind of Work does it Involve?

Yet again, because special needs is a vast area, there are many different roles that you might be asked to perform. It could be things like taking a blind person shopping in an unfamiliar place, helping a child out of a wheelchair and into a swimming pool or helping with music therapy, for example.

What I Might I Learn

Working with people who have special needs will teach you about many important aspects about life in general. You’ll acquire much more knowledge about the difficulties certain sections of your community face in their everyday lives and gain a better understanding of how you can help to improve the lives of those less fortunate than yourself. You might also wish to help overcome stereotypical opinions that are held by certain sections of society who sometimes only see the ‘problem’ and never the person behind it and you’re bound to have a new and very different appreciation of life in general, which will permeate through to other areas of your everyday life.

In essence, not only will you be helping individuals directly, but you’ll often become a type of ‘ambassador’ who will enable others to better understand the difficulties faced by people with special needs.

What are the Benefits and what Skills do I Need?

In addition to helping others, you’ll learn so much about yourself and your own abilities to help. Many people tend to think that it must take a great range of skills and super-human effort to be able to work with people with special needs but the truth is that as long as you have a desire and a commitment to assist and a good helping of compassion, this type of work does not require any kind of extraordinary skill. It will, however, help you develop all of the positive personal qualities such as compassion, understanding, patience and, determination that are skills which are highly prized amongst many professions.

Whether or not you’re looking to follow a career path in the medical or care areas or intend choosing an entirely different career path altogether, any potential employer will be impressed by you choosing to commit yourself to this kind of voluntary work as it indicates a social interest in the well-being of other people and your commitment to the issue of values both of which are prized qualities when looking to impress a prospective employer.

Overall, however, the love and gratitude that will be reciprocated as a result of you working with children and adults with special needs (even though there will be challenges along the way) will live long in your memory and will have a positive influence and might even transform your outlook on life and the way you conduct your life in the future.

To find out more about such opportunities, you should research the areas you are looking to specialise in or speak to your local GP practice or your local council - they might be able to point you in the direction of some local organisations that would be only too glad of your help.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our DBS Check Guide lets you not sure if you need a DBS check for volunteering? Answer a few questions about the role and find out what level of check is needed, how to apply, and how long it takes. Try it now →