Mentoring and Tutoring for Youth With Special Needs

[Page 485]Special needs children are children with special learning difficulties that make it harder for them to learn than other children. These learning difficulties may exist because of disabilities, abuse, neglect, living in poverty, or other factors that impede the children’s ability to learn. Children who are placed in foster care by a court because of abuse or neglect may be considered to have special needs because of a number of factors that may interfere with their opportunity for a permanent placement and that may also impede their learning opportunities.

The similarities in school experiences of children in foster care and of children who have committed juvenile crimes are considerable. Some research indicates that a high percentage of children in the delinquency system have also spent ...