Pedagogical approach in the ICF Children and Youth classification. A common language for the health of children and youth, Scientific Committee of the ICF-CY Conference, World Health Organization, Venice, 25-26 October 2007, p. 30

The classification ICF Children and Youth was developed in response to a need for a version of the ICF that could be used universally for children and youth in the health, education and social sectors. The manifestation of disability and health conditions in children and adolescents are different in nature, intensity and impact from those of adults; documentation of disability and risk factors for disability in early childhood is crucial for prevention and early intervention efforts. These differences need to be taken into account so that classification content in sensitive to the changes associated with development and encompasses the characteristics of different age groups and environment. A version of the ICF for children and youth, particularly, can facilitate continuity of documentation of disability in transitions from child to adult services, for example. All contents in the ICF-CY are in conformity with international conventions and declarations on behalf of the rights of children. The major themes of these conventions and declarations are: UN Convention on the Right of the Child (1989); the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities (1993); the Salamanca Statement on the Right to Education (1994); UN Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (2006). The ICF-CY is also in term of same references such as the biopsychosocial approach of disability (Engel 1977), the transactional model of person-environment interaction (Sameroff); the theory of environmental systems (Bronfenbrenner 1986), the theory of the development of child (Piaget, Vygotskij, Miller), others research of the development of child and the international results of field trials of the ICF-CY. In Italy, into the field trials of ICF-CY the IRCCS Medea – La Nostra Famiglia (Conegliano TV) completes a research with this hypothesis: the ICF-CY describes more detailed the functional profile of the children compared with original ICF and describes the specific feature of development: learning, school age, play etc. The results prove that the classification ICF-CY describes the functional profile of the child in development pointing out functioning and problematic areas; that ICF-CY describes the differences between capacity and performance in relation to the environment of life; ICF-CY describes better that original ICF the specific areas of development: language and mobility development, learning, school age, play, development and growth delay etc; information by ICF-CY permit to elaborate the project of life of the person; the subjectivity is still a problematic element. Therefore the goal of ICF-CY are tracking developmental manifestations of disability, yield classification of functional characteristics to complete diagnoses (consequences of diagnoses) and provide base for development of tools measure childhood disability. The ICF-CY implications for practice, measurement and research are to give a common global language of disability in children and youth; to document individual differences with other classification; to monitor demographic trends of children receiving services. For all these elements the classification ICF-CY is particularly in relation with the perspective of inclusive pedagogy for the social and school integration of people with disability. In international contest the special education divides school integration, mainstreaming and inclusive education. School integration is specific of the history and praxis of Italian contest, mainstreaming is specific of English contest and inclusive education is the perspective that the majority of international education experts back up. Inclusive education such as the classification ICF-CY are both based on a value of person, on biopsychosocial approach of disability and on the theory of interaction between person and environment. They are both direct to inclusion of all the cultural, linguistic, social, racial, mental and physical differences, to promote the social pa...